Donating Blood & Irish Funding

• Reports on Global Sikhs Team Six in Aceh
• Irish university consortium pumps fresh funding

In a desperate attempt to save a mother and child in an emergency caesarian operation, Global Sikhs-Waves of Mercy volunteers Abel Jaboh and Helena Salamat yesterday (March 13) donated blood. Unfortunately, the baby girl was not meant to see the world.

Team Leader Abel and fellow Sarawakian Helena came forward to donate their blood—both carrying the O Group type—when the need arose.

They are part of the 16 member team currently on their tour of duty in Pulau Weh, the island just north of Banda Aceh, where Global Sikhs-Waves of Mercy has set up base camp.

Today, according to an email from Pulau Weh, they “have a guest family living with us & we the 4 LADIES, have adopted a 3 year old child (Harmidi)—He has a hernia that is really bad—He needs an operation as soon as possible.”

The four ladies, I guess, must be Manjit Kaur, Rengwir Kaur, Joti Chugani and Harminder Kaur—have been working tirelessly at the command centre since the Aceh mission began early this year. The other members of the team, who joined through the Global Sikhs, are Shaninder Singh, Syed Ahmad Abdul Hadi, Rosanna Ong Yen Yen and Ellias Arshad.

The report says Captain Hugo Crawford, director of Waves of Mercy, who has also joined the team in Aceh, is trying to arrange for a medical team in Sabang itself. “Else, we need to quickly arrange for an operation in Aceh or KL. The poor little fellow will be in quite a lot of pain soon.”

In a text message forwarded by Harcharanjit Singh this monring, it reads:
“Min [Harminder], Rengwir and Hugo flew by helicopter to Banda Aceh this morning and have landed at the Iskandar Muda Airport. They are attending meetings with the Government officials and the Minister of Peoples Welfare on the future of the Global Sikhs-Waves of Mercy there and our involvement in the reconstruction phase. Also will meet NGOs. Stay blessed.”

AT 3pm at Sabha House, Kuala Lumpur, tomorrow (March 15), there will be a cheque presentation ceremony from the Irish Universities & Medical Schools Consortium to the Global Sikhs-Waves of Mercy. It will be witnessed by the Irish Ambassador to Malaysia HE Daniel Mulhall.

We will provide more details as they are made available. For those free at that time, do drop by at Sabha House. Captain Hugo will be giving a briefing on the latest state of the mission.

—Habhajan Singh

Global Sikhs-Waves of Mercy: Background

WHO WE ARE

GLOBAL SIKHS-WAVES OF MERCY is the name coined for the international relief effort to help the earthquake and Tsunami victims in Aceh, Indonesia. It is an informal grouping of Sikh and non-Sikh organisations worldwide that want to assist in the relief mission. While the mission platform carries the name Sikh, it is open to people from all races, religions and nationalities. We have, both on the mission and at the headquarters level, volunteers from various races, religions and nationalities.

Partners
The mission is spearheaded by Sikh Naujawan Sabha Malaysia (Malaysian Sikh Youth), a Malaysian-based 41-year old youth organisation. This is a registered NGO in Malaysia and has performed various community projects in Malaysia and the Asia Pacific region. Website: www.snsm.org.my

Its key operational partner is the WAVES OF MERCY, a group of Langkawi-based sailors who have rallied together to make the ships available to carry forward the mission. It is led by Captain Hugo Crawford. Some of the sailors have lost their boats in the tsunami incident. Website: www.wavesofmercy.com

Its main international partner is the UNITED SIKHS, an international NGO with chapters in Europe, America and Asia. It has sent five of its members to Kuala Lumpur for the relief work in Aceh. In separate missions, UNITED SIKHS have also sent their members to Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. Website: www.unitedsikhs.org

SUPPORTING PARTNERS

• Sikh Council on Religion and Education (SCORE), Washington, USA
• Guru Gobind Singh Foundation (GGSF), Washington, USA www.ggsf.org
• Gurmat Learning Zone. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learning-zone/
• The Association of Sikh Physicians for Involvement, Response and Engagement (ASPIRE), USA
• Naujawan Sabha Melbourne, Australia
• Dya Singh World of Music

MISSION

Our mission is to assist in the humanitarian relief operations in Aceh, Indonesia, in the most effective manner as possible. Funds raised and assistance rendered will go towards achieving the objective.

24-HOUR COMMAND CENTRE

GLOBAL SIKHS operates a round-the-clock control and command centre n Kuala Lumpur. Tel: ++ 603 - 2283 3713

FEEDBACK: aceh-relief@snsm.org.my

DONATION