13.06.06 - 17:52

Well, now I do have real news with which to update my loving readership. You're not going to like it. (Though, at the request of my mom, I promise to make my next few entries light and funny and happy. In other words, they'll be about Morocco... :)

So here's the deal. Espoir et Vie has run out of money. Funding has not come through from our various governmental and UN sources, perhaps due to the complex web of politics and corruption that tends to surround NGOs in developing countries. Espoir et Vie, as I have mentioned in the past, is one of the very few (indeed, the only?) non-corrupt NGO with which I've had personal experience. Hussein puts a lot of his own income into the NGO. More money than he can afford, I often think.

But now all the money has run out. Our electricity has been cut off in the office because we can not afford to pay the bill. We can not pay transportation for "members" to come to our office for support, money for medication, and nutrition kits.

Most worryingly, we can no longer afford to buy medication for AIDS patients, who often can not afford it. Another center (CTA, run by the government) distributes anti-retroviral medication free of charge, but medication for AIDS-related opportunistic infections are not provided. Our NGO is the only organization which reimburses AIDS patients - so often poor, unemployed, abandoned - for the medicine they need.

Espoir et Vie has provided funds for patients suffering from thrush (oral candidiasis), diarrhea, fever, skin infections, parasites, and illnesses requiring only the most basic antibiotics.

Without money to pay for medicines, many Mauritanians try to make do with whatever they CAN afford. Thomas told me a story of an ill boy who, unable to buy the drugs he needed, tried to cure himself by using vitamin C tablets. He almost died.

The real tragedy of it all is that Espoir et Vie's monthly budget for medicine is about $475. Less than 500 dollars assures that every one of Espoir et Vie's 300 "members" can get the medication they need.

You know where this is going, don't you? Because I sound like Sally Struthers. But I'm going to make my plea anyway: if anyone is willing to contribute even a little bit of money, could you please contact me?

I would not ask, except that this is an emergency situation for Espoir et Vie, and all the people we help. All donations would be unofficial - going straight from your hands to the hands of the organization. I can not promise receipts. I can not give any sort of proof that your money is actually going where I say it will. So, obviously, I don't expect any strangers to respond to my request. But hopefully I've proven my honesty and good judgement for those who know me?

Less than $5 buys a course of antibiotics that can make the difference between life and death. I just gave Hussein the equivalent of $20 and he fawned over me. "You don't know how much we need this."

I'm sorry to ask this. Forgive me, and look forward to the following entries about shiny happy Morocco.

But if you are willing to give even five dollars, please e mail: mollytania (at) gmail (dot) com

(Miriam keeps telling me I have too much empathy for my own good. My skin is getting thicker, I swear it! And yet, watching Espoir et Vie turning away suffering people cuts me to the quick. Alas for the bleeding heart.)

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