11 years of Haiti gratitude to the B.C. Sikh Community..continues to this day and current disaster relief..
Dr Pargat Singh Bhurji, Vancouver Consultant Pediatrican examines a young earthquake victim, Haiti 2010
By William Grut
Not many people know but the current Rose Charities Haiti Earthquake relief efforts https://rosecharities.org/haiti-earthquake-august-2021-rose-relief-efforts/ and numerous assistance programs in between have and are still being carried out due to the incredible generosity of the B.C. Sikh Community back in 2010 when, lead by Dr Pargat Singh Bhurji a huge effort both in donation and direct involvement were implemented through Rose Charities Canada. ‘Dr Pargat’ an experienced Consultant Pediatrician flew down on one of the Rose-Charities / AMDA (partners at the time) relief teams to partake in treatment of victims. As the main airport was congested to standstill, Dr Pargat and the team were forced to take a very long and arduous overland jouney from the Dominican Republic by local transport. The Sikh Community generously donated the bulk of the funds needed to maintain the programs, one of which has continued to this day.
Between and including 2010, programs have been implemented in emergency surgery, medicine (including cholera emergency relief) , nursing and nursing training (neonatal resuscitation). More recently the Haiti Children and Youth program has continued in Miragoane and Jacmel in southern Haiti in the form of vocational training, sports (football/soccer),education and health, and remains in operation to this day run by Jean Lubin (a native of Haiti) and his wife Terri (a qualified Nurse)
Due to Terri and Jeans Haiti Children and Youth program and the 10 year history of direct hands-on Haiti operations, Rose Charities has a huge local network of contacts and this is vital now in the current emergency situation in getting materials and assistance out to the current 2021 earthquake victims. Specialized international teams have an important role in the initial stages, but long term sustained ground level effort, locally administered with minimal or no admin costs are perhaps the most valuable type of assistance.
Both Rose Charities’,11 year history of continued assistance to the poor and needy of Haiti leading to current relief efforts have everything to thank from the generosity of the B.C. Sikh community. It is hard to estimate numbers helped (as one person has so many other connections) but it must be in the tens of thousands, or more.