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Imagine tomorrow you wake up in  a town with no doctor. Imagine that you will not find a nurse or chemist either. In fact, this town does not have any health care facility in any form. Imagine that you discovered that you have aquired an infection on one of your toes.

This infection can spread to your whole leg, which can become yellow or black and become fatal. Or it could be that you have a tumour on your neck or nose as big as your head. How would you cope?

The above scenario is very real in rural parts of Africa. A lot of men and women of villages in the world’s second largest and second most populous continent die without having seen a doctor or nurse in their lifetime. The problem being they live in areas so disconnected from urban areas.

Aimes-Afrique is a non-governmental organisation which is helping these people by bringing health care and awareness to remote and impoverished communities in Africa for free. To demonstrate this institution’s work, to date, Dr. Kodom, the founder of Aimes-Afrique, and his team , has conducted over 10,000 operations since 2007.  Clearly, Aimes-Afrique is doing a great job. But more help is needed!

I intend to launch an awareness campaign to encourage doctors, nurses and other health care to signup to Aimes-Afrique and help people in need of medical support in remote areas of Africa. The campaign objective is to get a celebrity doctor to write about Aimes-Afrique in a medical journal, thus mobilising more health care professionals to the cause.

It means a lot to me to see people achieve a better life, especially in terms of health. My grandfather, uncles and aunties have fought against diabetes, heart diseases or cancer during their life-time. It’s a scenario all too common to many of us. The battle of my relatives was not easy and what about those without appropriate facilities around them?

I invite you to join me to get more health care professionals to help people in need in rural Africa. I invite you to join me in getting a celebrity doctor to write on Aimes-Afrique. Wouldn’t it be rewarding to do something good and bring a smile to someone in need!

So Let’s get a Celebrity Doctor to write about Aimes-Afrique!

Image attribution in order: "Village life in Somaliland" by Charles Roffey, "infection" by daniel, "Fluoroscope" by Cindy B, and "Regard" by DeGust. All images in this post are under Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND.

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It was a busy week for our Guide Dog project this last week as the next events began to take shape. I'm really pleased that our newest member, Lynda, who moved to Reading from Glasgow to take up a job at Guide Dogs for the Blind, quite separate from our JCI Reading project, has chosen to get involved witht he community project currently being run by JCI Reading to raise funds for Guide Dogs for the Blind and awareness for its campaigns. 

Whilst the aim of JCI Reading to raise funds for Guide Dogs for the Blind continues to go well, we have now put in place plans for a Blind Awareness Evening, aimed at raising awareness - which will be open to all, not just JCI Reading members, but members from all JCI chambers and non members also. 

Whilst all of us can imagine what it might be like to be blind, none of us can truly say we totally understand without experiencing it for ourselves. Having an understanding of the difficulties blind people might face and how we can assist with campaigning, fundraising or even just helping a blind person we meet on the street, can help us to become more aware and more knowledgeable in today's community where people with visual impairment and other such difficulties have the right to play a full part of society. 

Lynda and I both feel very strongly about these aims and we are working together to put together an awareness evening which we hope will be educational, challenging, interactive and enjoyable, and cover a whole range of issues faced by those who are visually impaired. We also hope to have at the evening individuals who are visually impaired, those who work with such individuals, for the Guide Dogs for the Blind organisation and evn we hope, Guide Dogs and/or puppies!!!! 

The proposed date for the evening will be 10th May 2012 and the location, Reading town centre. Please check back to our website for updates and arrangements. 

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By Clare Franklin:

What a great JCI Reading board meeting last night. There was real positivity in the room, ideas being thrown around and lots of tasks being taken up that will all develop into a great few months of JCI Reading programme.

For me it was really good to have linked up with our newest member Lynda who has joined us from JCI Glasgow having moved here for work. The world is full of coincidences, one of the biggest being that having chosen Guide Dogs for the Blind as our charity for the year, Lynda recently contacted us prior to her move down from Scotland to Reading, in readiness to take up her new employment at.....yes you've guessed it...Guide Dogs for the Blind!!!!!

Obviously, Lynda as an employee of Guide Dogs for the Blind and I as the JCI Reading Charity Projects Director, share our interest of Guide Dogs for the Blind and wanting to raise awareness of the issues that come with blindness and impaired vision. Having shared my idea of a Blind Awareness Evening with the meeting and bouncing ideas around, Lynda and I agreed to work jointly on the idea, even carrying on our chat after the meeting whilst we waited for our bus and train home.

As a result we're hoping to hold the evening in early May, which will be open to non JCI members, as well as JCI Reading and other JCI members as all events are. The early plans are to invite representatives from Guide Dogs for the Blind to tell us of their work, the effects of blindness and how the Guide Dogs really help. Nothing is better than to actually experience something if you are truly to understand it, so we're going to be arranging for there to be all sorts of aids that are available for the visually impaired to assist them with daily tasks, such as making a cup of tea - tasks that can easily be taken for granted.  Ideas are building but interactive activities explaining how to guide a blind person will also be included we hope.

Keep an eye here as I'll blog as Lynda and I work together to complete our plans for the evening if you want to get involved and help feel free to email me clare.f@jcireading.co.uk

Clare

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Yesterday I (Clare Franklin) banked the cash from JCI Reading's Guide Dogs for the Blind Pub Quiz (boy was it heavy!) having done the final count ups and accounts.  Its fair to say the event was a massive success. 

The evening had been a sell out two weeks in advance with 12 teams of 6 players each booked their places for the competition with entry fees covering players' dinner and a donation to the charity.

We were very pleased to welcome a quiz team from Guide Dogs for the Blind Reading Branch including Steve (one of many Steve's to be mentioned here, i hop you can keep up) with adorable guide dog Warner who were also joined by a freind of mine with her Hearing dog.

Steve's address to the attendees made it very clear what a positive impact Warner, like his three previous guide dogs, has on his everyday life.   He told us that so many people including himself in Reading are on a waiting list for either their first guide dog or a replacement as their present dog, like Warner, is waiting to retire. 

The quiz got underway with all the teams doing really well. A huge thanks has to go out to Steve our quizmaster whose quiz, as always, was challenging and thought provoking.  Steve gave his time free of charge and for this, JCI Reading are very grateful. 

The evening ended with the drawing of the raffle, prizes for which were donated by local businesses including a massage from Sharon Charles (www.mysportstherapy.com), AIM to Succeed Ltd (www.aimtosucceed.co.uk) Vue Cinemas and JCI Reading members.

After the quiz attendees had one final the opportunity to donate their spare change and purchase small items of Guide Dogs for the Blind merchandise that the Reading branch team had kindly brought along - at an event like this every penny really does count.

An event like this really is hard work to put on and my thanks goes to Steve Wells, JCI Reading President who helped with arrangements and the running of the evening.  All the organisation however is definitely worth it though as our final overall figure raised after all food was paid for was £651.20!

Our quiz total takes  our overall amount raised in the first two months of our 20112 campaign for Guide Dogs for the Blind to £819.00 - putting us on target for our overall 2012 target of £5,000 to fund a Guide Dog puppy named "Jaycee" through his first year of life and training.

At yesterday's evening's project meeting lots of ideas were shared for our next fundraising and support events.  Whilst planning is put in place for these our fundraising continues with the implementaion of our Recycling Awareness Project which includes the collection of :-

• Used postage stamps
• Unwanted clothing, shoes and bedding
• Unwanted books
• Unwanted dvd's and cd's
• Unwanted computer games
• Unwanted soft toys
• Unwanted mobile phones
• Used printed cartridges
• Clean plastic milk bottle tops
• Sellable items for bic-a-brac (our ebay account is going well)
• Spare knitting wool and fabric

By making people more aware of what can be recycled/reused and sold for cash we are both helping raise money for Guide Dogs for the blind and making a difference to the environment, by reducing landfill, so that we all have a better world for future generations.

Please contact me, Clare Franklin using clare.frankklin@jcireading.co.uk if you would like more information on how you can help. We will have members at national events so can easily collect items that you wish to donate.

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Well what a week JCI Reading has had. I'm exhausted but like all JCI Reading activities its been fun and full of challenges!

First of all beginning of the week there was the scramble to collect in payments and food orders in readiness for the Guide Dog pub quiz we're hosting next Tuesday at Walkabout in Reading. Unbelieveably the quiz sold out a whole 13 days in advance. Then it was off to place one massive food order - 39 burgers - can you believe it, plus other menu tems too! Anyway with room hire paid, food orders placed and boomerang drinks discount cards in my pocket I left feeling we were a huge step forward. 

Out and about on Wednesday I popped into Vue in Reading town centre who donated two pairs of free cinema tickets as prizes for our raffle quiz. 

Wednesday evening saw the close of another round of Ebay auction bids and the evening was spent wrapping up the items, leaving me with a tidy pile of parcels. Now, let me think - in these were a man's blazer, a lady's trouser suit, a girl's denim jacket, a girl's denim dress, girl's cargo trousers, girl's tops, easter cards, notecards, pashmina, a cd single and a girl's cardigan! All in all these items alone raised some £22 profit all of which goes to straight to JCI Reading's account for Guide Dogs for the Blind. 

Thursday, being the fourth Thursday of the month was training evening. We were very pleased to welcome Soraya from JCI London to talk to us about how to run good projects. I was especially keen to hear this talk as I have very little project management experience, not having opportunities to develop such skills in my day to day job. I later found out that the training was Soraya's first workshop that she had delivered - not that you would have guessed - she talked us through the stages of a project and the important recording process. This workshop is going to be invaluable for this year as the Community activites of the chamber develop. 

Now it's Friday evening, my JCI Reading week is by no means over. My husband's brought home a large bag of used postage stamps that all need sorting and trimming, it's a free listings weekend on Ebay which will give me another opportunity to advertise many of the items that friends, family and colleagues have donated towards our huge fundraising efforts. What have i got to put up this weekend - teddies, ladies' clothes, books, notecards, jewellery, alsorts in fact!

Of course the big job of the weekend will be getting the final arrangements in place for Tuesday's quiz. It's odd because organising these sort of events are hardwork and can be stressful - but I really enjoy it! There's the float for the raffle to organise, raffle tickets to buy, seating plans to arrange, outstanding ticket payments to follow up, gift aid sheets to put ready and lots of other things to collect together. 

Finally I'm hoping to harness all the support that attendees to the quiz are giving us on Tuesday by letting them know how they can help us further. This could be by collecting stamps for us, donating unwanted clothing, linens, cuddly toys, shoes, books, cds, dvds, game discs and good condition bric-a-brac. Desktop publishing is always a challenge for me, but the beauty of JCI Reading is that once you have something in draft there is always someone, like our president Steve Wells, who will look it over and put my efforts right.

Well, there's a particularly busy week in JCI Reading but it shows the different opportunities that are on offer for members in any one week for them to choose from. 

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We've now booked our launch event for our 2012 Guide Dogs for the Blind year long campaign. 

Our pub quiz will run on Tuesday 28th february 2012 at Walkabout in Reading town centre. The quiz is open to absolutely everyone, so start asking your family, friends, colleagues, business contacts, neighbours and get your team or teams booked asap as places are limited. 

Booking the quiz, like any project has involved challenges that had to be overcome. As I experienced when I was Personal Development Director, getting venues to book us for venues is very difficult because we're a smaller community group and cannot afford to pay up front large deposits, so we're grateful to Walkabout for helping where others could not. 

Anyone wanting more information, wanting to book a team, wanting to donate a raffle prize or wanting to know more about JCI Reading should contact me, Clare Franklin, on 0118 9605792 or email me on Clare.f@jcireading.co.uk 

Download the flyer for the quiz at www.jcireading.org.uk/events/2012-02-28

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I've just totalled up the amount raised for Guide Dogs for the Blind from sales of my handmade Christmas cards in my place of work to my colleagues. £29! Not bad when the idea to sell Christmas cards for Guide Dogs for the Blind was quite literally last minute. I've made cards for a couple of years and have enjoyed it as a hobby-trouble is, I make more than cards than i can actually use! Friends and family have become accustommed to handmade cards and I began to offer the odd card for sale through work. 

A sudden idea struck me-maybe I could offer handmade Christmas cards for sale with the profit going to Guide Dogs for the Blind. I sent out the email to colleagues and within just a day, I had an order for 25 Christmas cards, as well as 2 larger personalised Christmas cards - one of a traditional street scene - and one one Christmas pandas - yes, pandas! 

The days of delivery soon came and nervously i delivered my orders - they were all delighted! I'll definitely prepare more cards for next Christmas, to add to JCI Reading's 2012 total raised for Guide Dogs for the Blind!

In the meantime, I could make cards for all occassions to be sold with profits being donated to Guide Dogs for the Blind.....hmmm! 

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Today I collected a car load of clothing and textiles from one of our JCI members towards our recycling campaign for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

We all, I'm sure, have bundles of clothing, bedding, curtains, shoes, handbags, belts and soft toys in our wardrobes, cupboards and attics - things we'll never use again. 

Taking the time to clear out these items not only gives a sense of satisfaction in knowing you're clearing out, but will also, if you donate them to JCI Reading, help to raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind! 

Collect together all your unwanted clothing items as detailed above and contact me at clare.f@jcireading.co.uk to arrange handover. They'll be added to our ever increasing piles of sacks ready for collection on 20^th January 2012 - so hurry, let's make a good start to our 2012 Guide Dogs for the Blind 'Name a Puppy' campaign. One full sack of clothing could add as much as £5 to the campaign depending upon the weight, so every last item counts! 

By Clare Franklin

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Stamps - they appear on envelopes everyday, yet we hardly give them a second thought. It is in fact the case that they can be collected and traded in for cash for charities, such as the JCI Reading 2012 charity, Guide Dogs for the Blind.

With Christmas post, there's been many more stamps to collect and my box of stamps is looking healthy, having received at least a couple of envelopes a day! It takes me little or no time to carefully tear off the stamp, leaving a border of paper and they take very little space to store - keeping them in an envelope is perfect! Contact me clare.f@jcireading.co.uk to arrange handover of your stamps throughout 2012.

I've even asked my family, friends and even my work colleagues to collect their stamps for me. Remember too that organisations receive post too - set up a box where the post is opened for stamps to be saved and make it known to colleagues they can add their own to the collection.

All stamps can be collected as all are valuable. Do keep your eyes open for all foreign and UK pictorial stamps which are of particular value and attract extra funds for charity.

Happy collecting! 

From Clare Franklin

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