I have the privilege of greeting you this Christmas with a message of thanks for all you have made possible in our work this past year. Our clinics and schools continue to serve the needy, out-reach programmes get to parts other projects don't, arsenic filtration work has been maintained in Malda District and vocational training centres and the Handicraft workshop produce items for patients, our school-children and our Fair Trade exports.
One September morning I was out with Street Medicine. Whilst the mothers and children from the pavements in central Calcutta were being given basic, but vital, health education - vital for the survival of both adults and children - I went to see their 'living' conditions. A woman was cooking on the pavement over a small fire built between bricks. Her home was adjacent - a piece of plastic hanging from a wall, with a few scattered items consisting of her entire possessions. A TV camera focused on the woman, excluding the roaring traffic and hordes of passers-by, would have produced a film comparable to Darfur. Except the huts in the Darfur camps are superior!
There are more than 1 billion people in India and a third live below the poverty line of 50 pence daily income.That is the extent to which the Boom of Booming India has reached the ears of our stakeholders. Calcutta Rescue promotes family planning, since the birth rate of 2.26% and the net growth rate of 1.606% will lead to economic collapse. But our efforts are also to improve the quality of life of those in our care to the extent our resources make this possible. This will help to encourage the planning of smaller families.
Among all the needs, there is one aspect of our medical care which makes Calcutta Rescue unique in West Bengal. We are the only source of free drugs for resistant cases of HIV/AIDS in the State. And patients come to us for this treatment from neighbouring States also. Our funds are nearing exhaustion and the personal friends and contacts who have helped me finance this programme to date are also nearing exhaustion. One of our Calcutta Rescue Founders, Frances Meigh has produced and exhibited an icon depicting an AIDS patient being held in the arms of Christ. "Go and do thou likewise " is my appeal to you this Christmas, echoing Christ's parable of the Good Samaritan.. We are now turning away HIV+ patients in need of second-line drugs, because we do not have the funds. Please mark you donation for our HIV project.
I thank you for your generous support. I assure you we in Kolkata will do our utmost to be worthy of this help. And I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Jack Preger.