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Medical and School Assistance in Dominica

Medical and School Assistance in Dominica

The days are going by very fast and each one is a busy one with projects. Here is some of the past two days..

Assisting with Medical Supplies
The Foundation for Amateur International Radio Service (FAIRS) has bring medical supplies to the clinics in Dominica for years. The main hospital has also been on our list and many times we help furnish surgical and other supplies .
Their is always a shortage of supplies and even simple things like Tylenol, Aspirin are always in short supply.  Things list blood sugar  testing devices and the test strip that goes with them are needed. We generally bring sutures for the hospitals. These are expensive and always needed.
We are always glad to have help from folks that can furnish some supplies.  FAIRS is a 501-c-3 so we can generally accept item and issue a tax deduction. 

On this trip we has some of all the above and lots of other small items.

Assisting with School supplies

Fairs has been coming to Dominica for almost 20 years and we live with our friends, Hetty and Clement Pierre Louis in Wotten Waven while we’re here.  For many years, Dave and Gaynell Larsen have been working with the students at the Wotten Waven Primary School.  

A few years ago we were able to move a library of books we had in the little village of Castle Bruce here to Wotten Waven for the children.  They only had 10 books here for the children to use and read and now we have hundreds of books!! 

Every year we try to do a project to improve the school and make learning for enjoyable for the children.  This year we brought “Flash Cards” and wipe-off books the small children can use over and over to learn how to write numbers and letters.

Over the past few years, we’ve been able to pressure wash the school and surrounding building and and purchase paint and the girl from the US Peace Corp painted the murals on the school and buildings.  It made such a difference in the appearance of the school and brightened up the learning facilities.  

Over the years when FAIRS is here in the village, we take individual pictures of each cf the children – I have them printed out when we get home and send them back for the teacher to pass out.  For some of the children, these are the only pictures they have.

Our YouTube channel has many videos of the recent trip to Dominica. Click here to view our channel and some of our latest videos. 

Apple iPad for Bioche, Dominica

Apple iPad for Bioche, Dominica

Today (2/23/14) we donated a new Apple iPad computer  to the Dominica community of Bioche to help raise funds for repairs at the fishing village and start up of sustainable agricultural projects.  Bioche is a small fishing village of about 200 on the North West coast of Dominica. I am normally discussing vintage computers here on the blog but this project is part of a mission visit representing “The Foundation Amateur Radio International Service”  (FAIRS).   My wife Gaynell and I represent FAIRS as directors and have made many visits to Dominica and other countries during the past 22 years.

My amateur radio friend in Dominica – Clement Pierre Louis J73CPL- called and told us about the new project in his home village of Bioche to work toward self sustainability by the community. Clement ask if our foundation could help as sponsors   a donation. The idea of the Apple iPad donation is to raffle it and use the funds for the project.  They expect to get many more sponsors during the next few months before ending in July. In July they will have a big gathering with members of the community living there now and those who will return for a visit and provide project assistance.

The village has no funds for these projects and are moving ahead by raising funds and assistance on their own  to develop sustainable agricultural of raising chickens and  pigs. Most of the meat is imported and it only seems natural to grow your own & sell to the public.

It seems very reasonable that chickens and pigs could be raised here — many individuals already grow these animals for family consumption. I learned that some processing facilities are already in place. The government has facility for butchering pigs and other animals. Also near bioche is a new fish processing coop that was built in 2011 by  grant from Japan.  I visited the coop  today and it is real nice and could possibly be used for chicken processing – freezing and marketing. The prospects look good for a successful project if the folks come forward with determination and persistence.

October, 2013

October, 2013

On October 19th, we were a host location (one of several in the region) at Floyd Community Amateur Radio Station to a Simulated Emergency Test held from 9am until noon.   The test emulated weather conditions that occurred during the Flood of 85 which was a result of Hurricane Juan and a low pressure system that combined.  The ground had been saturated by four days of rainfall prior to the arrival of the major rainfall.  The hardest hit areas were the Roanoke Valley and surrounding areas.  This deluge brought record flooding in Roanoke and Lynchburg VA.

The main purpose of the exercise was to test the ability to provide radio communications to agencies that would be responding to an event of this magnitude.  Normally when something of this nature occurs, there is loss of phone and Internet service.  This includes both hard wired and cell phone coverage due to equipment overload even without hardware or infrastructure failure due to the flooding.  Amateur Radio is an important tool to fill the vacuum left when disaster strikes.  We tested our ability to tie together agencies with outlying locations and with other agencies locally and throughout the Commonwealth.  We provided communications over spans of hundreds of miles from the east coast of Virginia to the far southwestern mountains.  We operated on digital modes as well as on voice frequencies.  Hundreds of messages were successfully passed, and appropriate “actions” were taken.

Members of Floyd Amateur Radio Society and FCHS ARC were in attendance, as well as outside observers from Floyd and the New River Valley.  Licensed hams fine-tuned their skills, some participated in a simulated emergency for the first time, and others became interested in learning these communications as a result.
August 29, 2013

August 29, 2013

First weekly meeting of amateur radio club N4FCH at Floyd County High School – now making its into the second year! The club meets weekly on Thursdays, after school, and many special events and training toward amateur radio license have taken place. FAIRS has given monetary support and time as volunteers to the club. Annemarie Radke, instructor at FCHS, continues as our sponsor, Tom King, president of FARS is club coordinator, and Secretary of FAIRS Dee Wallace is youth services coordinator for the club. David and Gaynell Larsen, directors of FAIRS are part of the team of “elmers” (present or past). N4FCH is on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Floyd-County-High-School-Amateur-Radio-Club-N4FCH/387350714653818?ref=ts&fref=ts N4FCH has it’s own website: https://sites.google.com/a/floyd.k12.va.us/fchs-arc/

August 18, 2013

August 18, 2013

Russ Abbey (KG4MAV) and Tom King (W4VZH) headed up the project to run coax and install a 2 meter antenna at the high school. This was in anticipation of our move of station N4FCH to room #301 at Floyd County High School. With the help of Steve KC4VJA, Mark KK4TAH, and Don KE4UGF the work was completed in a few hours. In addition, a digital voice recorder was installed at the repeater site (school board location) – it only needs to be programmed. The antenna will be raised another day due to rain.

August 2013

August 2013

Floyd Amateur Radio Society (FARS) offers a number of functioning laptop computers by program entitled “LAPTOPS ON LOAN.” These are loaned for use by high school students of Floyd County who show interest and need by the process of application. This program was initialized by FARS president Tom King (W4VZH), who was aware of a need by area students to have laptop computers to assist in studies and to fulfill school and college pursuit obligations. Selected recipients of these computers will have use of them as long as they are active students in high school in Floyd County, with parent permission and a promise to return the computer and not sell it. It is anticipated that this program will level the playing field for students who don’t currently have use of a (laptop) computer outside of the school setting. FARS will receive applications and complete the selection process during the first part of opening semester, Fall 2013.