African Focus

 

Local pediatrician Dr. Emanuel "Manny" Cirenza is shown on a medical mission to Uganda, where he has gone several times with AOET, which our club helps support.

Cirenza was the speaker at this morning's meeting. He talked about the challenges of tackling HIV, TB, malaria, diarrhea and other serious conditions in a country where per-capita income is only $1,800 per year. The challenges include decreasing US goverment aid, and the poverty of the students in the AOET schools -- who nonetheless perform very well in tests.

In discussion, our member Mike Williams and his son Justice talked about their experiences in Africa, and our club's current fund-raising for AOET and QMC in Lesotho. Estelle Genest said she has noticed distinct improvement in the English writing of a QMC student with whom she has been corresponding.

Joints, Africa, Santa

 

Last week's speaker was Dr. David Quinn from The Bone & Joint Center, who told us about their new facility on the Saratoga Hospital campus off Route 67, west of Northway Exit 12 in Malta. 

At this morning's meeting, we took care of some business regarding the two African projects which we have helped support in recent years. We voted a baseline amount of support, which will be supplemented by some members' individual contributions. The total amount will be reported soon on this blog.

In other business, Santa Claus stopped by to lead a holiday singalong.

Gift of Life Via Malta Sunrise Rotary to Ugandan Boy

 

A story in today's Albany Times Union is headlined "Toddler in Uganda gets life-saving surgery with help from Malta man". (It is published online today, December 3, and will probably appear in print over the weekend.) The story concerns this boy, Mark Kasajja, who is now recovering well after operations on November 25 at the Uganda Heart Institute. The treatments were paid for by Gift of Life International, which has long been associated with Rotary and to which our club has made modest donations over the years. We have also helped support through AOET a school in Uganda where Mark's father works.

At a meeting of Malta Sunrise Rotary last March, the Zoom speaker was Rob Raylman, CEO of Gift of Life. In attendance was our member Paul Phillips (the aforementioned "Malta man"), who for 18 years has led local efforts to support AOET in Uganda. Paul brought up with Rob the plight of Mark Kasajja, then aged two-and-a-half. They followed up later to good effect.

Coincidentally, the Times Union reporter, Wendy Liberatore, spoke to our club in 2019.