Where We Work
Poland: started in 1982 in Lodz. It was the time of martial law and great need in all the hospitals. The Lodz Paediatric Institute asked for our help and we bought and cadged medicines and equipment for them. Requests for help soon came from Poznan’s cardiac surgeon for children, then the nephrologist for children in Gdansk and over the next five years from many hospitals all over Poland. About six containers each year arrived with as much medicine as we could get and all kinds of equipment, from kidney dialysis machines to mammography machines! In 1994 we opened a charity shop for a time in Warsaw in the grounds of the Wolski Hospital. The profit from this shop funded the breast clinic which started with the donation of a mammography machine by Jacob’s Well. In 1994 the Polish Government registered Studnia Jakubowa as a Polish NGO. Poland has seen great changes since the revolution in 1989. The market economy is really happening, but unemployment and high prices are a great problem. Basic living takes most of their salaries and these are small. Now many Poles have sought work abroad, particularly in Germany and the UK. In recent years we have responded to appeals for help after the floods with food and clothes and distributed clothing and bedding to the poor through the Polish Charity S.O.S. Our medical aid work in the hospitals was brought to a swift end when after the revolution the government started to deduct the value of our aid from the annual hospital budget.
Romania: came second when in 1987 during Ceaucescu’s era we helped several hospitals in Bucharest but we had many problems and by the end of 1988 we backed out as it was too dangerous to continue. Christmas Eve, 1989 found us helping the Red Cross to fill the first plane of emergency aid for Bucharest. The revolution had happened. In March 1990 we sent supplies to a 450 bedded hospital for handicapped children in Siret on the Ukraine border. When Anneka Rice took up the challenge to do up this hospital many hearts in Britain were touched by the plight of these children. By this time we had decided that the greatest need was people to give some individual attention, love and care to these children. They escaped their cots to play for a precious half hour each day and the kids loved the attention of gap year and other volunteers. Follow this link to find out about volunteering opportunities in Romania.
Siret: The Day Centre and Rehab: The large Neuropsychiatric Hospital for handicapped children closed in 2001. The children under 18 were dispersed to small units in their home counties. Those over 18 who had been unable to achieve independence were placed in the dismal former town boys’ orphanage. Jacob’s Well has built a Rehabilitation Centre which is now the home for 8 of the older boys & 4 girls from the former hospital. We aim to teach them to care for themselves and to provide living and occupational skills. Jacob’s Well is continuing to run a day centre for handicapped children and young adults in Siret. The Rehab is now funded by 3 Romanian charity shops which provide good cheap clothing and a service to the community. Medical aid is still needed and distributed locally in Northern Romania. In summer 2008 work started to build a school for autistic children in Siret. The Mayor gave Jacob’s Well land for the building and our Dutch support group, who have now registered “Jacob’s Well Holland” are funding the building of the school. Work is progressing well and with God’s help should be up and running in 2009. Also in summer 2008 the Mayor gave Jacob’s Well some land to build eight houses to complete the rehabilitation of our young people who are now really ready to fly to fly the nest.
Afghanistan: There have been many changes as the communist government was replaced by the Mujahadeen, then the Taliban, and then the interim government. Repeated conflict has led to the destruction of large areas in Kabul and loss of nearly all economic activity. In recent years the situation has been worsened by severe drought adding to the internally displaced people resulting from conflict. Since 1988 Jacob’s Well has worked with the Afghan Red Crescent Society who have assisted in the distribution of medical supplies to the hospitals and clinics of Kabul and the provinces. Refugees from Iran and Pakistan are now returning, often to find high prices in Kabul and their own villages destroyed.. Afghanistan is our most expensive destination and the containers are never returned and have to be replaced. It is the most difficult logistically, but without doubt has the greatest needs. The hospitals in Kabul are still largely without supplies despite promises of generous help from around the world. Even now, for the women and the children, there are many difficulties. Many of them are dependent on handouts. Jacob’s Well has been sending regular medical supplies with some food, clothing and other necessities even during the Taliban era. In February 2002 Jacob’s Well took over the Mother and Child Clinic previously run by Halo Trust. It was set up in a poor heavily populated suburb of Kabul called Taimani, and run by qualified Afghan staff. It is equipped with a scanner for antenatal work. Recent security problems have made it very difficult to keep the clinic open and a new site is currently being sought with better security. Jacob’s Well have had links with the Halo Trust, a mine clearing NGO, for many years now and through this link it has been possible to send medical supplies to many needy rural areas. Much prayer is needed and quite a lot of funding to keep these valuable containers of medical supplies reaching Kabul, to extract them from their bureaucratic paperwork and to see them safely distributed. Please keep praying!
Pakistan: In 2002 we were approached by the Director of the Lady Dufferin Hospital in Karachi for help in fitting out their large new wing. This charitable obstetrics and gynaecology hospital was originally founded by the wife of a British ambassador in the 19th century when the city was small. It now has a population of 12 million. The contents of 5 full containers have furnished the new wing. In the aftermath of the severe earthquake that badly affected parts of Kashmir and the North West Frontier Province Jacob’s Well sent two containers of medical aid, tents, food and warm clothing and bedding. Many problems were experienced in getting the army to release these containers from the port but eventually they did move up north and were distributed by the army. Previously we have supplied two other hospitals in Karachi and one in Gilgit. Problems and delays in transiting Karachi Port with supplies for Afghanistan and Pakistan make this part of Asia particularly difficult to supply.
Ukraine: In 1991 we made our first contacts in Lviv. A year later we were welcomed to Kiev and visited 5 hospitals linked with the nuclear medicine department and saw many children with leukaemia and the problems left by the Chernobyl disaster. We visited the tiny research laboratory where cell culture and effects of radiation were being studied with much enthusiasm, despite minimal resources by Dr Nadja Bilko. In 1999 the President of the Ukraine opened a beautiful new bone marrow transplant centre but it desperately needs materials and medicines. We have also sent some supplies to Yalta & Odessa. In 2002 Dr Bilko succeeded in registering the Ukrainian charity “Krynica Jakova” which has helped us to assist the Mohyla Academy to set up good laboratories so that research work that started after Chernobyl can continue and progress.
Moldova: lies just east of Romania and is close to where we work in Siret. Thanks to the links of our Romanian leaders we have now been able to start work in this needy country. Our first container of medical aid was delivered to the Moldova charity ORA in August 2007. They have been working closely with the Ministry of Health. Their hospitals have requested beds and they are grateful for most hospital furniture and equipment. We have requests for help for old peoples homes, orphanages and dental clinics also. They are now way behind Romania and look with envy at their progress. We hope to be able to help their hospitals to update a little. Their language is Romanian though the east of the country is still Russian speaking.
Ghana: has now become an important partner. In May 2007 we linked with a Ghana registered NGO called FREED. They asked us to help them to send some medicines and equipment to Nandom Hospital in the Upper North West part of Ghana. It is the poorest part of Ghana and the hospital struggles to keep doctors and nurses. We sent sterilisers, dental equipment, anaesthetic machines and many other useful items of equipment and medicines. School books and sports equipment was also sent and was very needed as the schools had nothing. In 2008 two more containers were sent, one to Lawra and one to Tamale, both in the northern areas and more requests are still arriving. Both the cost of the shipping and the internal logistic costs are high and will restrict our work but we pray that we shall not fail to help these needy people. With the power of God everything is possible.
Unloading equipment in Afghanistan
The Tahya Maskan ARCS Hospital, Kabul
Meagre Supplies in Tahya Maskan Pharmacy
A beautiful new church called Jacob’s Well - in Romanian “ Fintana lui Iacov”