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 March 2010 |
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| Report on the activities of the association and on the projects planned in 2008 |
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Ten years after the foundation of our Association, we would like to share with those who supported us, and those who wish to know and sustain our commitment, an assessment of our work as well as of the future projects we are planning to undertake. This is not only about numbers and statistics, but about the actions, efforts and emotions that have been made possible by the volunteers and the supporters of the Association during these first ten years. |
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| Progetto Sorriso in Bangladesh |
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Our medical activities in Bangladesh take place at the Hospital Saint Mary Sick Assistance, in the city of Khulna. Besides the medical endeavour, some initiatives are undertaken with the aim of providing social support. Good examples are the project of the Tokai House, which welcomes homeless children, the project „Itinerant Medicine“ and other services intended for children. Medical activities have increased by 20% per year thanks to the results obtained by the different teams of surgeons, to the extremely low percentage of failures or complications, and also to the improvement of the means of communication and of transportation.
Projects planned for the year 2008
The satisfaction resulting from the work so far performed at the Hospital in Khulna has pushed us, together with the Missionaries of the order of Saint Xavier, to invest new resources for the restructuring of the Hospital of Mymensing. The latter is a small Centre of General Medicine located in northern Bangladesh. It is intended to become a hospital equipped for providing highly specialised surgical procedures as well as reconstructive surgery to heal congenital malformations and burn injuries, long-term hospital confinement, and also a point of reference for the education of medic and paramedic local personnel.
In the next few months the technical and logistical set up of the hospital will be finalised. Afterwards, the Association will provide for the installation of the equipment for the performance of surgical procedures and will supply the operating theatre with all necessary instruments. Furthermore, we want to keep up our social commitment by setting up two kindergartens in particularly poor areas, such as Sabar, a suburb of Dhaja, and like the area around the main train station of the capital. In these overpopulated areas abandoned children live struggling to survive on their own, without any person or point of reference they can turn to.
The two kindergartens will therefore be not only places for play and recreational activities for children otherwise adrift during the day, but also night refuges for orphans. Moreover, the children will receive at least one meal per day, providing them with all the essential nutrients, and an outpatient medical service will also be provided. To our great satisfaction, the coordinator of the kindergarten of Sabar will be Noyon. A formerly homeless child in the Tokai House himself, Noyon is today a grown-up man, caring for his wife and small family, who has above all a wish: making of the kindergarten in Sabar a little oasis of hope, just like Tokai House had once been for him... |
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| Progetto sorriso in Burundi |
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In May 2006 the third mission of Progetto Sorriso in Burundi took place. After working for two years in the Hospital of Bubanza, in 2007 the operational base of our group was the Hospital CNAR in Gitenga. It is entirely run by local people, specialised in the cure and rehabilitation of patients in need of orthopaedic treatment and of those affected by traumas to the spine. This mission offered a chance to celebrate the opening of the new surgery ward.
This was built thanks to the efforts of the Honorary Consul in Burundi, Giovanni Catelli, who has been committed for years to help this country. Gitenga is the ancient capital of Burundi. Its position and its good connection to the other main cities make it a good logistic base for Progetto Sorriso, since here it is possible to gather young patients from the most peripheral zones of country.
Another reason for choosing Gitenga is of course the presence of the new surgery ward, which offers modern equipment and space to welcome our patients. During the mission in Gitega, our doctors did health checks on more than 40 children, between 11 months and 14 years old, all affected by congenital facial malformations: 20 of them received surgery and were, within a few days, discharged from the hospital. The other patients, who could not possibly receive surgery because they were too weak, or because affected by respiratory problems or infections, were examined, their data recorded and, where possible, will be contacted to receive surgery during our next mission.
At the end of the stay in Gitega, the Health Ministry of Burundi gave our surgeons an important recognition: a permanent qualification to perform the medical profession, “l’art de guerir” (the art of healing) in the words of the official documents written in French.
Projects planned for the year 2008
Our aim in 2008 is to keep on offering the services we granted so far, while evaluating the option of going back to Bubanza or of keeping on working in Gitega. In 2007 we were requested to activate the new surgery ward in Gitega; however, given the likelihood of a constant improvement of the political situation in the country, it might be good to choose a better logistic set up for our missions. We are currently evaluating the best alternatives, taking into account that, right now, we lack safe and favourable logistic support. |
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| Progetto Sorriso in Guatemala |
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The activities in Guatemala will take place in the hospital of Zaragoza, managed by the Somasche sisters in collaboration with the Association Giuseppe and Giovanna Clerici from Milan. Our endeavour in this country aims to sustain above all the ethnic groups that live in conditions of poverty and of discrimination.
The groups of Mayan descent in Guatemala represent 63% of the national population and at the same time 72% of those who live in conditions of extreme poverty. The distance of the Mayan rural communities from the town centres, the lack of health education as well as the lack of financial means impede the indigenous population's access to health services.
In 2005 Progetto Sorriso started delivering to the Hospital of Zaragoza part of the surgical instruments for the set up of the operating theatre. This included the equipment for anaesthesiological monitoring, which is crucial in order to grant the safety of our surgical services, and a system of sterilisation for the instruments.
We want to sustain the development of the hospital of Zaragoza, with the aim of establishing health services oriented towards the specialised surgical treatment of children affected by facial malformations, as well as towards the education of medic and paramedic personnel.
Projects planned for the year 2008
For 2008 the goal of Progetto Sorriso and of the Association Giuseppe e Giovanna Clerici, is to complete the restructuring of the walls of the hospital of Zaragoza, so as to obtain an operating theatre with the related awakening room and an adequate in-patient ward, as well as to start working there.. |
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| 4th Mission in Africa, Congo |
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On June 1st 2008 the fourth mission of Progetto Sorriso in Africa came to a conclusion, for the first time in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Why Congo
The choice of working at the Hôpital Général De Référence d’Uvira, a public health centre, is explained by the need to meet the demand for maxillofacial surgery there. These demand surfaced through the network of contacts organised in the last years by the Association, in cooperation with the missionaries of the order of Saint Xavier, with the nuns “Piccole Figlie dei SS. Cuori di Gesù e Maria” of Parma as well as with the health operators who work in the area.
Due to the difficult and turbulent socio-political situation in Congo, the national health service is struggling in providing care for infantile facial deformations. For this reason, since 1997 Smile Project offers its specialised surgical activity to children in developing countries, where often a malformation of the face, of the lip or of the nose causes total social alienation and even, in some cases, the rejection of the mother and her child.
The work of the team
The team, led by the president of the Association and maxillo-facial surgeon Andrea Di Francesco, was formed of one surgeon, a neonatal doctor, an anaesthetist, an instrument nurse and two volunteers taking care of the logistics. This team brought its surgical knowledge to the Hôpital Général De Référence of Uvira to visit and cure children affected by facial malformations. Uvira is a city located in the Congolese province of Sud-Kiwu, which counts about 170.000 inhabitants.
Uvira is also connected to Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, where Progetto Sorriso has operated in different hospitals during the previous three missions in Africa. In two weeks more than 20 children, some a few months old, others a few years old, have been visited and operated. These children came not only from Congo, but also from the neighbouring Rwanda and Burundi. Moreover, following a request of the administration of the hospital, the team held a training course for the medical personnel and the nurses, on different aspects of clinical and surgical activity.
Promising future prospective
During the mission in Uvira the team of Progetto Sorriso received great support and a warm welcome from the local personnel and administration of the hospital, who also asked for help in developing its activity. Therefore we now have the common objective of establishing a long-lasting relationship aimed at the development of the medical-surgical competences of the hospital.
This development will take place by sharing the know-how, by training the personnel and by providing the equipment necessary for the growth of the hospital. At the same time, our relationship with the reality of the hospital of Uvira will be strengthened by the socio-medical and charitable projects that Progetto Sorriso is planning to undertake, on top of the surgical treatment of facial malformations, during the next yearly missions to Congo. |
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Progetto Sorriso nel Mondo- ONLUS |
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International association for the treatment and cure of cranio-facial malformations and deformities in developing countries.
Progetto Sorriso nel Mondo (Smile Project in the World) is a non-profit organisation that operates in Bangladesh since 1997, in Africa (Congo and Burundi) since 2005, and in Guatemala since 2008. It deals mainly with the correction of facial disfigurements and the healing of burns.
Each year Smile Project returns to these countries and operates always in the same hospital and always in the same period of year. In this way, the association offers a point of reference and source of hope for hundreds of dispossessed people.
Smile Project realises every year three missions in Bangladesh, one mission in Africa (Congo and Burundi) and one in Guatemala.
The association, now recognised internationally, is exclusively formed of volunteers who offer professional skills and competences, each one according to their individual ability. Over time, Smile Project has decided that it is of fundamental importance to also sustain projects of a social character, like the construction of a house for homeless children and a shelter for the children of women imprisoned in the jail of Jessore, in Bangladesh.
You can sustain the association with donations and contributions (tax-deductible). Bank details:
IBAN IT82 M050 4801 6390 0000 0002 200
BIC/SWIFT POCIITM1124
addressed to Progetto Sorriso nel Mondo - ONLUS, Banca Popolare Commercio e Industria, Ag.124 C.so di P.ta Ticinese n.1 20123 Milano.
Headquarters:
Via Torino 61,
20123 Milano
CF. 97318210156
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