Running4Rwanda

Not content with climbing Kilimanjaro in aid of Shyira Trust, now Chantelle Winstanley has taken on another challenge to support Maternal Health in Rwanda. On 4th August, she will be jumping on her trusty two wheels and taking to the streets of London and Surrey for her first road cycling sportif - the London-Surrey 100 - ridden over the course of the Olympic road race. As a novice cyclist, she sees the prospect of this huge event as both exciting and daunting! And if 100 miles of pedal power isn’t exciting enough, the week after the race she’ll be heading out to Rwanda to learn, share and work as a midwife with the people of Shyira. She says "I feel extremely privileged to be visiting the community to see first-hand how this small charity has transformed the lives of the people in this part of Rwanda". Like all visitors travelling to Rwanda on behalf of Shyira Trust, her trip is self-funded on a voluntary basis. Every penny raised by Shyira Trust goes to the intended p...

Jane Morgan from Formby has been awarded an MBE for services to midwifery in the UK, and the provision of maternity services in Shyira, Rwanda. Typically modest, she says “I was overwhelmed to hear that I am being given an MBE because I feel as though I’ve just being doing my job. I’m no good at shouting about my achievements, I don’t really like the attention, but it’s lovely to be recognised for what you do. This is a huge honour - it still hasn’t sunk in yet.” A trustee of the Shyira Trust, a small Formby-based charity, she continues “My life changed when I went to Rwanda in 2001, and I went to visit the maternity hospital in Shyira. I was completely unprepared for what I saw. There were five nurses, only one of whom was trained, and no midwives. There was no running water or electricity and it was filthy. The delivery room had a big hole in the window so everyone congregated outside and looked in during deliveries. And on the ward, mothers who had just given birth were mixed wi...

There are Santa Dashes, and there is the Santa Dash - the Liverpool Santa Dash, the biggest and best in the UK, and probably the world. And for 2012, the biggest and best has just got bigger and better - the Liverpool Santa Dash 2012 has teamed up with ITV's Text Santa appeal, aiming to bring over 10000 Santas to the centre of Liverpool raising funds for charity. Once again, I will be running for Shyira Trust, raising funds for Maternal Health, Midwifery Training and Safe Motherhood projects in Rwanda. In previous years we have had a team, as many as 15, but this year there may be just me. However many we have running, we will have fun, while Running for Rwanda. If you would like to help, you can, and you have two choices - you can join me, get sponsorship, and we can all run for Rwanda. Alternatively, to help me raise much-needed funds for Maternal Health in Rwanda, you can sponsor me at www.bmycharity.com and every penny raised by Shyira Trust, plus Gift Aid, will be used...

It's almost a year since the last 'running' post, but don't worry - things are still happening. Maybe not much running, but things are still happening for Rwanda. I stopped running after falling during a run on March 12th - the second time this had happened - so decided to quit before anything serious happened. Since then, I have heart surgery to cure a long-standing heart problem, and hopefully allow me to run without feeling faint, and keeling over. So far, so good. I had my first run on October 27th, and have done a couple of runs since. Not far, and not fast, but at least I'm running again. Join us at Liverpool Santa Dash 2012 My last 'race' was last year's Liverpool Santa Dash. All being well, my next race will be the Liverpool Santa Dash 2012! As always, anything I do will be targetted to help the aims of Shyira Trust - Poverty Relief, Child Education, and Midwifery Training and Safe Motherhood in Rwanda - our very own Millennium Developm...

The welfare of mothers and children is at the heart of the Millennium Development Goals. And mothers and children are at the heart of the projects Shyira Trust supports. Our first project, in 2001, was the rebuilding of the maternity hospital, providing safe motherhood and supporting maternal health in the area around Shyira. But a maternity hospital without midwives is not much good, so we supported the training of a local nurse to become a midwife. That nurse, Robinah, qualified in 2009, and since then, there have been no maternal deaths in Shyira – over 3 years without a death in a country with one of the poorest maternal health records in the world – truly a remarkable achievement. We have subsequently funded the training of a second midwife, Fidele, who qualified in 2011. Both are working in Shyira, supporting each other, but more importantly supporting the women around Shyira. With our help, they continue to improve standards of maternal health in Rwanda, providing safe mot...

Poverty is part of a vicious circle, also including health and education – without education, people cannot find work. Without work, they cannot afford healthcare. Without health, they cannot hold down a job. And so the cycle goes on. The relief of poverty is a way of breaking the vicious circle. Directly or indirectly, all the projects we fund are aimed at poverty relief in Rwanda. We do not give handouts to individuals, but support projects to achieve sustainable development. We have funded coffee growing, a long-term project to lift the whole community out of poverty. We have rebuilt or refurbished the homes of child-headed families, so they can afford education and healthcare costs. Over 100 children from the poorest families have had their school fees paid, relieving their families of the expense of education. All these projects, and the many others we support, are in keeping with the Millennium Development Goals and are having a noticeable effect on the area around Shyir...

Children in Rwanda have a thirst for knowledge, and a hunger for education - education is a route out of poverty, both on an individual basis, and for society in general. Primary education is free in Rwanda, but conditions are not always in place to provide the service. Secondary education has to be paid for, and although it is subsidised, it sometimes involves boarding, adding to the cost. Add to that the fact that some children are heads of families, and have to provide for younger siblings, it is easy to see that universal child education is still a long way off. Shyira Trust has supported projects to help enable child education in Rwanda, specifically in Shyira in North-West Rwanda. In the primary school we have provided funds for rebuilding and improvements. But our main achievement is providing opportunities for secondary education for children from the poorest families who would otherwise not be able to afford school fees. Although Rwanda is moving away from boarding ...