What we are worth is not what we have but just how much we are willing to do for others.

As we come to the end of a difficult and cruel year for many, I would like to thank those marvellous people we call volunteers.  It is thanks to their efforts and dedication that we have been able to help as many children as we have, both here in Mallorca and in the third world.

Mediterranea is not an end in itself, it is a means where by people, mainly children, get the help they need, firstly to help them survive and secondly to help them develop and grow as they deserve. We are at present helping over 2000 children in all our projects. 

The next few years are going to be very challenging. The way things have gone in our society makes it very unlikely that families struggling through great hardship are going to be able to climb easily out of the pit of misery. We have two options, either we as a society get organized and help those we can, as best we can, or we just turn our backs on them and  leave them to their destiny. These situations challenge us a species and as a society. What we are worth is not what we have but just how much we are willing to do for others. 

Europe over the last 400 years has had civil wars, revolutions, social movements, political unrest, wars and world wars in its struggle to obtain a better quality of life, social justice, well being, and even peace. Now with the crisis all of that, that was obtained with so much sacrifice, is being destroyed bit by bit, plucked like the petals of a daisy. 

 Society has been tested to see just how much it will tolerate before erupting and we are sadly becoming accustomed to accepting the suffering of others. In Mediterranea  we feel that as humans we have the ability and right to decide and we have the chance to get up and work for a better and more just society. We refuse to stand and watch the suffering of others and we do not accept injustice as a natural part of our social make up. 

It is an honour to help in a just cause with people who do not take in to account race, colour, political ideology or creed and who just work for the love of mankind. 

So as to be able to keep up our projects, and even expand them we are going to need the help of our fortunate, like ourselves, members of our society. Volunteering or becoming a  member, or even better, becoming both things is a sure way of being able to become a part of the solution.

So if you too want to help make our society a better place and help give children a better future then do not hesitate to become a member of Mediterranea, and if you have some time on your hands then become a volunteer too. It will help change other peoples lives, and it will very likely change and enrich yours too.

Happy New Year.

Michael Stoma

Truth.

These pictures of our programs in Africa are real. No Photoshop. They might look idyllic but that is the reality we have in the little microworld we have created. Often we have been asked if the pictures are touched up. The answer is “No”.

We also try to avoid the pictures that underline the miseries of those in need and that show the “superiority” of the north. In Mediterranea we strive to better the quality of life of those we are trying to help, and this is obtainable. Because of this we do not flaunt pictures of misery and poverty, there are plenty of those about.

We also do not want to build buildings out of bits of wood and call them schools. We do not believe in giving the minimum and saying that what they now have is better than what they had before. We believe that all children are equal and deserve the same opportunities, love and help all over the world. Children are the future, and how we treat them and how we educate them conditions the future of humanity.

FUTURE VISION

FUTURE VISION IN CONJUNCTION WITH MULTIOPTICAS

The visual health programme we set up this summer is gradually taking shape, thanks to the help of the optometrist Margarita Canyellas and- through her- the company she works for, Multiopticas.
So far 16 people from Sa Pobla have had their eyes tested under the coordination of volunteer Maria Dolores Aguiló. 7 of them needed glasses, which were donated by the Multiopticas Foundation.
We are sure you’ll agree that actions like this, however small they might seem, have a tremendous effect on people whose financial situation determines something as basic as their eyesight. It was when the son of an elderly lady told us about his mother that we started thinking about whether the people we are supplying with food and clothing can see the blackboard at school or the television properly or whether they can read a book without the letters or pictures jumping all over the place. His account of how she never went out because of her poor eyesight which meant that she was afraid of tripping over and breaking something, being old and frail, was a real eye-opener for us and subsequently for volunteers and professionals in the eye care sector. Now there are still one or two links missing to complete the chain of solidarity: someone prepared to drive those next in line to have their eyes tested from Sa Pobla to Palma, since none of them drives or has a car. We would also need funding to cover the volunteer’s petrol and parking expenses. Any suggestions or contributions would be welcome.
Before signing off, however, we should like to once again thank Marga and Multiopticas for their generous help, little gestures that go a long way to make our world a better place.

RAINBOW HOUSE

In Rainbow we have children and young people with cerebral palsy, serious undiagnosed mental retardation, behavioural problems, two deaf children not admitted to the village school but who are having a great time at Rainbow, where they are being taught to read and write and can thus make headway even though they are not receiving a regular education. We also have a girl with congenital hydrocephalus who even if she can be operated on still cannot even sit down because her head is too big…we carried out a brain scan on her and on a severely mentally and physically handicapped boy…but we couldn’t with another boy because although they sedated him with Diazepam it had no effect on him..however, we did manage to carry out an electroencephalogram on him, because he suffers from epilepsy as well as cerebral palsy, and we’re now waiting to see the results.

IMAN

Do you remember Eman or Iman, the little girl who was operated on for spina bifida? WELL, DURING THIS TRIP I WAS DELIGHTED TO SEE HER WALKING! Her chances of walking were not rated at all high, but there she is demonstrating that in medicine like in maths 2 plus 2 doesn’t always make 4. We embarked on the scanning trail with her too, a bit like the Santiago trail but a lot less fun. She needed a cranial scan to check that she didn’t have hydrocephalus plus a lumbar scan. She went first to the centre where the Rainbow children went but they didn’t want to sedate her (as they had with the others). Instead they gave her a shower saying that this would help her go to sleep???? but of course that made her even more lively, they then told her mother to get her to sleep as if that were easy with a super-active child just two and a half years old (the terrible twos)- in short, a wasted trip. We were told that Enmanuel hospital did scans, so off we set, but nothing doing..it’s a psychiatric hospital just keeping its head above water; we then went to a higher clinic that’s got everything, they gave her Diazepam orally which seemed to perk her up rather than make her sleepy, they tried to inject it intravenously but again to no avail, poor thing- all this lasting 7 hours. The radiologist then told us to take her to Bethel hospital where there are anesthetists who can sedate her, so off we go: And she fell asleep! They put her in the tube, completed the cranial scan and were just about to start the lumbar scan when the little rascal woke up! Oh dear! So they’ll have to go back and do it when she’s sleeping..But Eman is walking!! That’ll change her life..everything else is just incidental..

Our milk program continues to grow in response to the demand.

We have started operating in another area of Palma. In this case we are colaborating with the " Asociación de vecinos de Sa Gerreria", they form part of the  Aliments en Xarxa solidarity network . Every Friday they are sent families in need from the Palma Social Services. At present they are helping to feed 80 children between the ages of 2 and 14. These children will be, as from now, receiving 15 litres of milk a month from the milk we buy or are donated by kind folk from around Mallorca.
If you would like to collaborate please do not doubt in getting in touch with us.

In the photo you can see Alejandra an Carmen collecting the first 500 litres from our centre in Portals Nous