By Jonathan Byington
As the death count from December?s devastating Tsunami nears 9,700 in India, The Health Education and Literacy (HEAL) Foundation is asking for help in their relief efforts along the southern coast of India.
The HEAL Foundation was founded by Jordan Ash, a BYU senior, who learned of the devastating effects of the tsunami while writing a letter soliciting support for 2005 HEAL Foundation funding for the groups continuing health education efforts in southern India.
?I was deeply concerned,? Ash said. ?We know a lot of people along the eastern coast . ? I wanted to hear from them immediately.?
The HEAL Foundation is based in Provo, but has nine native employees in southern India. Five of the native employees are full-time health educators who work in several villages organizing support for groups such as homeless teens, families with HIV and pregnant women.
Immediately after hearing about the deadly tsunami, Ash sent an e-mail to HEAL Meera Naida, project manager in Hyderabad, India. Naida responded the following morning with word that all employees were fine. Naida immediately began to assess the situation in nearby villages.
Last week, Ash received an e-mail from Naida requesting financial help in assisting 464 families in 12 villages along the coast of India.
?These people live day-to-day as it is,? Ash said. ?They just don?t have the means to recover. They don?t have insurance, or anything that would be necessary to bounce back from such tragedy.?
BYU Senior Ty Turley was part of the HEAL team that taught health education classes in India this past summer.
?It was surreal,? Turley said. ?I can imagine being there and knowing that four months earlier I had been swimming in the Bay of Bengal.?
Part of the $11,300 Naida has requested will help supply clothes for children, bed sheets for seniors and provide assistance for repairing fishing nets and boats.
?We need to provide them with nets so as to enable them to earn their own living, rather than providing them with meager food material,? Naida wrote in an e-mail to Ash. ?All the houses and fishing nets are damaged. We need to help them to patch up certain repairs both to their huts and nets.?
The HEAL Foundation plans to travel to India this summer to assist tsunami victims and to continue in their normal education projects.
?What we have to offer is people who are there locally,? Ash said. ?They work locally among their own people. They know their needs.?
This year marks the third time HEAL Foundation volunteers will travel to India. The HEAL Foundation promotes self-sufficiency and a higher standard of living through health, education and literacy training worldwide.
The employees have weekly contact with over 2,000 families in six city slums and six rural villages in southern India.
?The vast majority of the slums were along the beach. The poorest parts of India were worst affected,? Turley said.
In 2003, The HEAL Foundation worked with Hope Hospital in Bapatla to hire and train four educators to teach health principles and food production safety in the local hospital, schools and communities. They wrote manuals and provided training to sustain a year-round program. During the summer of 2004, they continued to strengthen the existing program by creating a 209-page manual including teaching instruction and education materials for 72 local illnesses.
The HEAL Foundation was starting its 2005 fundraising campaign to raise $20,000 when they learned of the tsunami. The HEAL Foundation completes 12 projects every six months in various villages in southern India. Some projects include replacing water pumps where people can see the change and help build the credibility of HEAL in the villages, Ash said.
Donations for either program, Tsunami Relief or its 2005 budget, can be mailed to The HEAL Foundation at 2250 N. University Parkway, #48-35, Provo, UT 84606. Pictures and relief updates will be available in the next few weeks at www.thehealfoundation.org.