- About SIMaid
- Orphans & Vulnerable Children
- Hope For Aids
- Rebuilding Southern Sudan
- Projects Needing Funding
- Arsenic Alleviation
- Kushtia Community Development
- Forest Fruit and Forage
About SIMaid
SIMaid is the relief and development arm of SIM Australia. SIMaid manages projects which help the poor and disadvantaged in Africa, Asia and South America to live with wholeness and dignity. Projects are conducted in partnership with local churches, government and NGOs and include
- Literacy and skills development
- Income generation
- Health care including hospitals and HIV projects
- Environmental protection
- Long term food security
- Emergency aid
Gifts to SIMaid are tax deductible
SIM International has over 2000 staff, 170 of whom are Australians, working in 40 countries throughout the developing world. SIM becomes aware of situations where help is desperately needed because we already have people on the ground with established long-term working relationships. To meet these needs, carefully structured projects are planned by people working with nationals amongst local communities.
When emergencies such as flood, earthquake and famine strike, SIMAID and its partner agencies are able to deliver Australian donations direct to the location where they are most effective.
SIMaid was begun by the Australian branch of SIM in 1983. SIMaid’s motto is “aid that gets there”. Accordingly eight-five cents of every dollar donated is expended directly in the field. Each project is carefully monitored and supervised with progress publicised in the quarterly newsletter, imagine.
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Keeping the children on milk formula will reduce HIV infection by avoiding solids. We are doing a pilot project in goat milk, so that instead of milk formula we can put the children on goat milk. This will be a more sustainable option as milk formula is expensive.
We will distribute the milk formula through church volunteer care givers, who are trained to assist the guardians in looking after these children.
Among other things, the volunteers will teach the guardians (usually grandmothers) how to use the milk formula. USD70 can feed one infant for 6 months and the child will be weaned onto solid food.
We have also planned to provide supplementary feeding to approximately 80 orphan families per year, hard hit by the drought and economic conditions in the country. We intend to cover about 6 districts of the country. Church volunteer care givers who visit the orphans regularly to support them have already identified the needy families and will help in distributing the food.
Once the funds are available a policy to guide the selection of beneficiaries and the distribution of the food will be designed. USD20 can feed a four member family with supplies such as 20kg mealie meal, 750 ml cooking oil, 500g salt, 2kg beans/ dried fish for a month.
Hope for AIDS Zimbabwe will buy the food locally. In both activities the gospel will be presented to the families first.
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HIV is devastating communities in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. In these areas the disease prevalence may be as high as 1 in 3 adults |
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Project Volunteer gives staff at Syntex clothing a talk during lunch. These sessions cover not just prevention, but how to care for sick family members, breaking hte stigma associated with HIV |
The Master Project funds a whole suite of projects in HIV-related work. Australian Project Coordinator Russell Pratt and I visited some projects in the Pietermaritzburg and Port Shepstone areas of South Africa.
One of these was part of project ‘Positive Ray’, where project volunteers are invited by employers to give HIV education to staff. The pandemic is having such an impact that in a baby clothing business we visited in July, 18 workers had died from AIDS so far this year.
Syntex Company Chief, Ansuya Singh, told of the devastation brought about by sickness “In my small factory alone, they are getting wiped out. I keep them till they can no longer work, but their production dwindles as they deteriorate.
The project has helped us to provide counselling to the family and we try to employ another girl from the same family so that the family won’t suffer more through lack of a breadwinner. Actually the program has made an amazing difference in cooperation here because staff see we care.”
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This former SIM hospital site in Doro was on the front line during Sudans long civil war |
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The only borehole providing clean water in the Doro area. Installed by SIM many years ago it serves thousands of returning Sudanese refugees in surounding communities. Pray for resources needed for SIMs water development program as demands on water skyrocket |
Gradually southern Sudanese people are returning to their homeland after the ravages of war. The Grieve Memorial Clinic & Community Health Workers Training School will provide health services and training for the Mabaan peoples and surrounding area. With an emphasis on training of Sudanese locals, graduates
of this school will in turn establish and run village health clinics in villages throughout the region.
SIM has reclaimed its former mission site in the Mabaan area of Sudan. (We realize it doesn't look like much to reclaim!) This building was a SIM hospital until the 1960's (and again periodically in the 70’s & 80’s until the civil war escalated).
Nearby are the graves of an SIM missionary doctor & his wife who were killed in a bomb attack by the Italians back in the 40's. Soldiers now using the former hospital as barracks are building their own homes elsewhere & officials have permitted SIM to return.
Some of the buildings can easily be restored so that basic medical services can soon begin. More extensive construction is planned.
Please pray for our doctor & nurses who will establish the medical work and for the recruitment of a building supervisor able to oversee the construction work at Doro.
Clean Water Projects
Rebuilding Southern Sudan: Safe Drinking Water
Drilling boreholes to provide safe drinking wells for the returning refugees in southern Sudan. Also training people in sanitation and protection of wells from contamination.
Project: Sudan 98021
Need: $127,313Arsenic Alleviation Program
Improves human health by providing water filters to families to eliminate naturally-occurring arsenic from drinking wells. Includes awareness raising and training.
Project: Bangladesh 98335
Need: $61,316
Download Project UpdateEthiopia Water
Trains local people to build and maintain water supplies, providing safe drinking water to communities.
Project: Ethiopia 92219
Need: $84,854
Download Project UpdateHolistic Development Fighting Poverty Among the Bokos
Training for rabbit and pig farmers and improved agricultural methods, micro-business for income generation, medical clinic personnel, medicine and equipment and providing higher education to future leaders.
Project: Benin 68140
Need: $185,000
Download Project UpdateCHETNA Community Health and Development
Provision of health care and promotion, motivating and equipping people with knowledge and skills, so they may become ‘agents of change’ within their community.
Project: India 98260
Need: $47,954
Download Project UpdateKushtia Community Development Project 98226
Adult literacy classes, formation of cooperative savings groups and business skills training, preventative health training, and training farmers.
Project: Bangladesh 98226
Need: $78,101
Download Project Update
Food Security and Agriculture Projects
Sowing Seeds of Change in the Sahel
(previously Maradi Integrated Development Program) Providing food security and nutrition through sustainable farming, forestry and land rehabilitation and improved health and sanitation through workshops with village women.
Project: Niger 97355
Need: $98,472Awanno Animal Health
Provision of vet services for farm animals in an area prone to tsetse fly problems. These animals are very valuable to farmers who use them to plough their fields and provide food for families.
Project: Ethiopia 92232
Need: $80,949.342
Download Project UpdateForest Fruit and Forage for Farm Families
Improves nutrition and reduces poverty by working with farmers and government agriculturalists to identify and propagate local plants for food, animal forage, firewood and other needs.
Project: Ethiopia 92235
Need: $179,067
Download Project UpdateMursi Agriculture
Teaches agricultural development skills to improve crop and animal production, generation of non-farm income and clean water supply.
Project: Ethiopia 92797
Need: $74,200
Download Project Update
HOPE for AIDS Projects
AIDS Counselling and Testing
Provides voluntary HIV testing, counselling and medical and pastoral follow-up, and subsidises the cost of medicines to treat opportunistic diseases in HIV+ people.
Project: Burkina Faso 93876
Need: $86,744
Download Project UpdateCoordination & Equipping of church AIDS program
Provides for the employment of a full-time coordinator and secretary/accountant who train and equip local church teams to coordinate and promote HOPE for AIDS activities.
Project: Burkina Faso 93881
Need: $67,089
Download Project UpdateAIDS Training for Pastors and their Wives
In this country the church leaders are the main community leaders. This project trains church leaders in mobilising their community for an appropriate response to the HIV epidemic in their midst.
Project: Burkina Faso 93884
Need: $55,760
Download Project UpdateHope for AIDS – SHALOM Delhi
Responding to people living with HIV in Delhi and the surrounding areas through: a clinic; volunteers providing home-based care; awareness-raising activities; and training in HIV interventions..
Project: India 98551
Need: $168,041Hope for AIDS Master Project
Resources HOPE for AIDS projects around the world, and directs funds to where they are most needed. Also provides resource materials and coordinates research and training for all participating countries.
Project: International 99383
Need: $4,956,444Orphans and Vulnerable Children
Supplies food to 80 child-headed families orphaned by HIV-related illness, as well as providing milk to approximately 80 infants per year.
Project: Zimbabwe 96298
Need: $24,506Medan Addis Ababa
Provides help to those with AIDS, including; counselling, a testing clinic, an orphan and vulnerable children program, and a network of volunteers who conduct homebased care.
Project: Ethiopia 92748
Need: $452,767
Download Project UpdateMedia Development for AIDS
Develops HIV/AIDS education material and a Biblical view of sexuality, using booklets and pamphlets, radio programs, audio cassettes and videos.
Project: Burkina Faso 93883
Need: $60,964HIV/AIDS Reduction Program
Empowering people to look after others in their communities – includes the Deduza Orphan Home, a programme of HIV education at workplaces and resources for community care-giving.
Project: South Africa 97397
Need: $15,575Home-Based Care
Resourcing volunteers from community groups across the country with training in counselling, medicines and nutritional supplements, to care for HIV+ people in their community.
Project: Malawi 96253
Need: $216,340HIV/AIDS Self-Directed Learning Program
Training key SIM-related personnel through a program involving both a theoretical component and practical fieldwork under supervision, to care for HIV/AIDS sufferers and their children.
Project: International 99389
Need: $3270 per studentSkills Building in AIDS Ministries
Increasing the skills of SIM and SIM partners in local communities to better implement SIM’s HIV/AIDS response framework – home-based care, orphan care and HIV/AIDS prevention.
Project: International 99388
Need: $184,634
Download Project Update
Health Care Projects
Health Centre Ambulance
Provides an ambulance and vehicles (motorbikes, 4WD) for remote health centres.
Project: Malawi 96455
Need: $20,198Health Centre Service Support
Provides medical services and equipment to around 40,000 people in the remote hills of southern Malawi.
Project: Malawi 96456
Need: $22,643
Download Project UpdateMedical Personnel Development
To provide adequate and on-going training by the African Evangelical Church Medical Department so the Health Centres are supplied with much needed qualified staff.
Project: Malawi 96457
Need: $69,612
Download Project UpdateMahadaga Primary Health
Communicates a better understanding of causes of poor health, provides vaccinations, baby health clinics and antenatal clinics.
Project: Burkina Faso 93280
Need: $10,827Milk for Malnourished Children and Orphans
Restoring malnourished children to health, teaching mothers to prevent malnutrition, and providing milk and education for orphans and their foster mothers.
Project: Burkina Faso 93291
Need: $76,997
Download Project UpdateGalmi Hospital Benevolent Fund
The fund allows Galmi Hospital to care for the many people who are in need of urgent medical attention but otherwise could not afford it.
Project: Niger 97245
Need: $219,144Rebuilding Southern Sudan – Clinic & Community Health Workers Training School
To provide a health clinic and training for the Mabaan people of South Sudan, now returning to their homeland from refugee camps.
Project: Sudan 98018
Need: $1,283,417
Education and Community Projects
Family Life Education
A 'train the trainer' programme where couples from regional areas are trained pastoral care and marriage and family counselling. They then go back to their local region where they will train others.
Project: Burkina Faso 93882
Need: $25,687
Download Project UpdateRebuilding Southern Sudan: Southern Blue Nile Academy
Building a high school to provide education and a brighter future for refugees returning to the Yabus region after suffering displacement through war. This is the only high school in the region.
Project: Sudan 98019
Need: $999,182Emergency Fund
Earthquakes and famines happen in countries where SIMaid has people ready and willing to provide assistance. This fund enables our personnel to launch an immediate emergency response.
Project: International 68001Where most needed
Sometimes SIMaid hears of one of its projects being short of funds at a critical time. In these situations we are extremely thankful to those gracious donors who say 'Please direct this money to the tax deductible project that needs it most'
Project: International
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Bodiur Rahman, a second-generation weaver, has a wife and 3 children. He purchased a SIMaid filter and is very pleased with it - "words and deeds match up in your organisation" he said. |
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Children whose parents have purchased one of our filters. They now have all the water they need for drinking and cooking |
Figures for the period Jan-March this year:
Household tube wells tested 153
Wells with arsenic too high 53%
Training sessions conducted 30
Males at training sessions 300
Females at training sessions 473
Arsenic filters distributed 58
Total filter beneficiaries 357
Arsenic contamination of the groundwater in the Hasimpur area of the Kushtia District is quite high. Prior to beginning work in this area, there was no locally available alternative for producing arsenic free water for these people.
Through the project, subsidised filters that are safe and affordable can now be purchased by families for their homes. The filters provide fresh drinking water to families who would otherwise be drinking arsenic contaminated water.
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Kushtia local checking blood pressure |
This project will assist in developing underprivileged peoples of Bangladesh through adult literacy training, formation of cooperative savings groups, preventive health training Traditional Birth Assistant training and training farmers to use more effective and profitable agricultural techniques. There is a strong emphasis on sustainable development so that beneficiaries do not become economically dependent on the project.
Here is an account of how the program is helping people to rise up from poverty and make a sustainable living…
Nizamuddin, age 20, from the Pangsha area, is one of the project’s youngest farmers. He’s currently finishing his higher secondary education. His financial burdens include paying for his own schooling and helping with family expenses.
Before becoming a project partner eighteen months ago, he didn't know how to cultivate a vegetable garden. After joining the program, he began to work a small plot of land on a part time basis and produced cauliflower, cabbages, spinach, tomatoes and beans for his family and earned an additional 1000 Taka from selling his produce.
He reported to us that last year he increased his garden to 5 times the size and had enough saleable produce to gain 5000 Taka in profit for the year.
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Project worker and trained local food expert, Gataneh, training out apple tree branches to increase yeild |
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Short termer, Debbie a qualified agriculturist from new Zealand checking strawberry quality |
Once again, women were trained in nutrition and in cooking vegetables. This time the training took place in the Lideta area. Also, 80 farmers were each trained in highland fruits. Nine development agents also received training on highland fruits.
From trials it was clear that highland fruits have potential in this area. The question is whether the fruits have a market. In December the strawberries are giving abundant fruit. They were sold to passers-bys as a demonstration to farmers of their potential, and as market development. The aim is for farmers themselves to eventually sell and make profit from the fruit they grow.
After training, it is important to do follow-up visits. This quarter Ato Getaneh made 21 farm visits to see highland fruit production and give suggestions on improving their management. W/t Asabei made 53 visits to farm families to see their garden production.