Tragic news from the frontline in Somalia, where two Médecins Sans Frontières staff members have been killed in the Hadan District. The deaths will see the poverty charity end all activities in the area due to fears for the safety of it’s staff, including the closure of two separate 120-bed medical facilities.

Philippe Havet and Dr. Karel Keiluhu were caring for malnourished children and treating measles and cholera, were killed by gunmen in Mogadishu. Médecins Sans Frontières now see the risks of further attacks too high, so are removing their staff for the safety and security reasons. This awful tragedy follows on from the kidnapping of two colleagues in December 2011.

Médecins Sans Frontières General Director, Christopher Stokes, said -

It is hard to close health services in a location where the presence of our medical teams is genuinely life-saving every day, but the brutal assassination of our colleagues in Hodan makes it impossible for us to continue working in this district of Mogadishu.

Médecins Sans Frontières has been almost 200,000 Somaliains in Hadan, vaccinating 67,228 children against measles in the process. Having worked in Somalia continuously since 1991, it is a real tragedy that their work will no longer continue in this district due to these unnecessary killings.

> > Click here to make a donation to Médecins Sans Frontières

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."

Medicine San Frontieres are still working hard on the frontline of Somalia, where millions of people are still desperately in need of food, clean water, medicine and shelter. Below is a video of their hard work during September 2011 -

Even though charity workers are working tirelessly on the ground in Somalia, they still need your help to reach all of those people who are so desperately in need of help. It’s thanks to your donations that Medicine San Frontiere can continue to try and help the world’s poorest people, please give generously if you can, every dollar counts.

> > Click here to make a donation

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."

Médecins Sans Frontières are currently working overtime in the poverty stricken country of Somalia as the nutritional crisis expands further across this drought stricken land. Currently running a total of nine medical programs within Somalia, the ground force team certainly seem to have their work cut out for them.

Some of the medical programmes were put into place by Médecins Sans Frontières representatives in Somalia when they first entered to help the country in 1991. Patient numbers have obviously increased  over the last four weeks as the effects of malnutrition really begin to take a strong grip upon the inhabitants of this now barren desert.  Up to four hundred children a day are being admitted as outpatients in Marere in southern Somalia, with other medical clinics in Guriel, Dinsor, Galcayo and Galgaduud report significant increases of patients under five years of age.

With much of Somalia inaccessible to the international community due to conflict, it is really important that these areas that these areas are reached somehow to help the people caught in the crossfire. Médecins Sans Frontières are desperately trying to reach clear agreements with those in control for safe passage to attend to the worst affected parts of Somalia. Until this has been granted, it is simply too dangerous to enter and provide the medical assistance that is so desperately required.

> > Click here to to make a donation to  Médecins Sans Frontières

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."

The Oxfam Australia Trailwalker event kicked off last Friday, in what is seen as one of the countries toughest team endurance charity challenges. 1200 people took part in some 300 teams, all of them looking to run 100kms in just 48 hours to help raise funds for Oxfam Australia’s life saving work, quite a feat!

Kicking off early at Mt. Glorious in Brisbane, the 300 teams, made up of four competitors, will travel the equivalent of more than two marathons simultaneously. The Trailwalker event was originally used as a military training exercise by Gurkhas, and this year will be it’s first time in Brisbane after 12 years in other cities. During this time, over $35 million has been raised to help Oxfam’s work around the world and in Australia to help people overcome poverty.

Oxfam Executive Director, Andrew Hewett, said -

Despite all the recent major catastrophes over the last year it is due to the outstanding commitment of Queensland participants and their generosity of spirit that we can hold Oxfam Trailwalker Brisbane and raise vital funds for the work we do around the world. I cannot thank them enough for taking up the challenge. Oxfam Trailwalker Brisbane is expected to be the most challenging Trailwalker held in Australia to date and we expect the spectacular mountainous bushland and fauna will exhilarate our walkers to go the distance.

Participants travelled through D’Aguilar National Park, Lake Manchester, through the Gold Creek and Brookfield, before finally climbing to the top of Mt Coot-tha to finish. Teams travelled from Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Christchurch, America, England and China to participate in one of Australia’s greatest team events in a great, if gruelling way to help Oxfam’s tireless work both at home and abroad.

Well done to all those that took part and helped raise millions for Oxfam Australia.

Help Support Oxfam Australia at the Fair Trade Store

You can help raise funds for Oxfam Australia with a Fair Trade Gift. Items start at just $1, and there’s loads to choose from. They are the perfect present for a loved one, and ensure that the producers are given a fair price for their goods and not exploited.

> > Click here to purchase from Oxfam Fair Trade Store

Other great charity gifts

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."

Australian Red Cross officials are becoming increasingly concerned at the lack of safe blood that is currently available to the public, which could in turn result in the needless deaths of both new born children and their mothers during birth.

These fears come as the Red Cross launch a project on the Solomon Islands to introduce a youth education project to increase blood donations. In some extreme cases, locals have been forced to pay for blood donations as the banks are now so lowly stocked. This could have catastrophic consequences unless a turn around in blood donation is found, and fast.

Australian Red Cross spokesperson, Neil Waters, said -

This is not sustainable and it’s also not particularly safe. We need to dispel some of the myths that exist around the Pacific about blood donation. There are many myths about blood donation making you weaker. If your blood went to a woman for instance, that might even make you weaker. And there’s also a widely held perception that blood is for family.

Mr. Water’s believes that the low rate of blood donations in Solomon Islands is due to a lack of understanding on the the whole, and that with better schooling and advertising on the subject, more donors will come forward. By offering information in schools and colleges on the benefits on giving blood, hopefully the stores on areas such as the Solomon Islands will be replenished before needless deaths begin to occur.

Help Australian Red Cross with a Fuzzy Warm Gift

A Red Cross Warm Fuzzy is a fast, easy way to send a virtual charity gift to someone you care for and also help vulnerable people in Australia and around the world. Each Warm Fuzzy gift you send will help Red Cross to help people in need.

Choose a Warm Fuzzy gift to suit your special person, then choose an eCard to send with your personalised message.

> > Click here to send a Fuzzy Warm with Australian Red Cross

Other great charity gifts

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."

Médecins Sans Frontières Australia has commended the UN AIDS Summit meeting’s proposed plan to try and treat up to 15 million people with AIDS in the next 4 years. Though this figure is seen as an admirable target, their are concerns that unless new funding is found, alongside more affordable drugs, this target may be completely unachievable.

New research has shown that HIV treatment is also a good form of prevention, with a 96% reduction in the risk of transmission of HIV from one person. So, by expanding treatment, this could also help reduce by more than half the number of new infections by 2015. To do so though, an additional $6 billion must be found each year until 2015, and if it is, up to twelve million infections and  seven million deaths could be averted by 2020.

Policy/advocacy director of Médecins Sans Frontières, Michelle Childs, said -

Without affordable medicines, access to treatment cannot become a reality. Over six million people are on treatment today, largely because generic production drove the price of the first generation of AIDS medicines down by 99% since 2000. This success can only be repeated with newer and more potent medicines if barriers to-low cost drug production are removed. But countries are making promises to treat AIDS in one meeting and working hard to keep prices out of reach behind closed doors in other meetings. This double-speak has to stop.

Médecins Sans Frontières currently provides treatment to some 170,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in 19 countries across the globe.  More affordable medicine must be high on governments agendas to help the battle against more cases. If free trade agreements can be negotiated between the US, the EU and developing countries, further barriers can be broken in the search for affordable new medicines to stop and treat the AIDS epidemic that is prevalent in many third world countries.

HIV/AIDS Policy Advisor for Médecins Sans Frontières, Sharonann Lynch, said -

By agreeing to expand HIV treatment to 15 million people in four years, governments are committing to take the latest science that treatment is prevention and turn it into policies that save lives and can stop the virus. The clock starts now – everyday, we need to get more people on treatment than the day before.

> > Click here to make a donation to Médecins Sans Frontières

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."

Former Australian MP Pat Farmer is aiming to run a staggering 13,000 miles across the globe to raise funds for the Australian Red Cross. This monumental effort is the equivalent of running two marathons every day, without a day off, for A YEAR!! This amazing effort will see Pat take in 14 countries as he travels from North to South Pole in a bid to raise an amazing $100 million for the Red Cross.

Already a multiple world record holder for endurance, Pat has already raised millions of dollars in his 20 year running career, but this is his greatest challenge to date (I’m not surprised!). Pat has now completed 1000 km in Canada in just under a week, so just the 12,000km left to go!

Pat Farmer, said -

This run has been my dream for more than half my life. And to touch the lives of so many needy people is all the motivation I need. Something I have always kept firmly in mind is that this run isn’t about me, and it’s not even really about running a route that has never been attempted before. It’s about getting funds to thousands of needy people worldwide through Australian Red Cross. I am serious about raising millions of dollars for this cause. The rest is details.

Pat will now continue to run 80km per day over the next year to travel from Pole to Pole, with no days off as he travels through 14 countries including Mexico, El Salvador, Panama, Columbia, Peru and Chile. Having just personally been to Colombia, let me tell you, there’s some seriously hazardous terrain to encounter on the way, as well as some amazing scenery.

Australian Red Cross CEO, Robert Tickner, said -

We are incredibly proud of the amazing progress Pat has made and congratulate him on reaching dry land. We are in awe of his resilience and determination and we send our continuing support and encouragement as he continues his run on dry land to make a real difference to the lives of millions.

I’ll leave the final words to Mr Farmer…

18 million more steps to go. Stay with me Australia – South Pole here I come!

> > Click here to donate to Pat Farmer’s Pole to Pole Run

Help Australian Red Cross with a Fuzzy Warm Gift

A Red Cross Warm Fuzzy is a fast, easy way to send a virtual charity gift to someone you care for and also help vulnerable people in Australia and around the world. Each Warm Fuzzy gift you send will help Red Cross to help people in need.

Choose a Warm Fuzzy gift to suit your special person, then choose an eCard to send with your personalised message.

> > Click here to send a Fuzzy Warm with Australian Red Cross

Other great charity gifts

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."

WaterAid Australia is calling for your help to transform the lives of the people of East Timor this Christmas. Only 69% of the one million population have access to safe drinking water, with the others having to travel miles by foot just to receive a safe drink. The most at risk are young children, who could die from preventable diseases such as diarrhoea due to a lack of simple medicines.

East Timor, sounds like a world away, and it is in terms of facilities, yet it is less than 1,000 kilometres from Australia. WaterAid helps communities to have access to clean safe water and adequate sanitation, whilst educating the locals on the importance of hygiene.  For example, in the three years since WaterAid began working in the village of Saerana, they have helped the local community to plan, design and build a water and sanitation system. Thanks to this amazing work on the frontline, village life there has been totally transformed.

WaterAid staff member, Freya Paterson, said -

The tap stand is the most modern thing in the village. Everything else is made from local materials, like trees, bamboo and palm leaves. The people of Saerana take enormous pride in the fact that they’ve constructed this tap and that safe water flows freely, without the burden of walking for hours back and forth to the nearest water source. It’s hard to have a real impact in these areas if you don’t first provide people with a solution that incorporates safe water and effective sanitation – that’s why WaterAid’s work is so important.

WaterAid needs more donations to continue transforming lives in East Timor, like -

• $50 could pay for two tool and spares kits for village water committees to maintain their water supplies.
• $125 could pay for enough cement to produce 20 latrine cover slabs.
• $250 could pay for the construction of a tapstand providing water for five families.

> > Click here to donate to East Timor with WaterAid Australia

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."

Medicins San Frontières Australia has a new interesting way for followers to find out how their life saving work is going across the globe through their series of podcasts available online. This innovative medium is a great way for people to hear first hand accounts of what is actually taking place on the frontline of some of the world’s disaster zones.

Medicin San Frontières is currently working on the ground in Chad, where a long drought followed by heavy rain has destroyed crops and cut off villages. Medical teams in the affected areas are expecting a huge increase in patients as roads become usable, with diseases such malnutrition, malaria and diarrhoea rife.

Médecins Sans Frontières medical coordinator in Chad, Oscar Niragira, said -

We did an assessment in a flooded village called Kishena, about ten kilometres from Kerfi. There we found that people struggling to find food had started to eat wild kinds of cereal found in the bush which they wouldn’t eat normally. We also found that many of the wells had been flooded or destroyed during the rains and people had to drink from dirty water sources. They were using unboiled water from the wadis for everything: drinking, cooking and washing.

> > Click here to listen to Chad Crisis podcast

Médecins Sans Frontières has so far treated more than 27,000 malnourished children with many more expected in the coming weeks.

> > Click here to make a donation to Medicins San Frontières

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."

We’ve all been there, scrabbling around on a Sunday morning looking for a suitable gift for the big man. It’s not enough that he helped create you, but the day you are supposed to say thanks, you forget! I’m such a kind and considerate son that one father’s day I was in such a rush that I bought my dad a delicious bottle of white wine….

he only drinks red!

So don’t get yourself tarred and feathered for life like I did with that ridiculous gift, and get your dad something special this father’s day. A charity gift is a great way to say thank you for all the great work being the scenes your father has put in throughout the year to help you become the person you are today, and there are loads to choose from.

Oxfam Unwrapped
Have over 40 gifts choices available from just $10, from a simple chicken to provide eggs, to a toilet!
> > Click here to order charity gifts from Qxfam Unwrapped

WaterAid Australia
Many different gifts to choose from starting at $25 for two water taps, all the up to creating a village waterpump.
> > Click here to order charity gifts from WaterAid Australia

Australian Red Cross
Offer a selection of ‘Warm Fuzzy Gifts’ start at $10, from a trip to the doctors to providing a clean water well.
> > Click here to order charity gifts from Australia Red Cross

Oxfam Fair Trade Shop
Loads of gift items to choose from, starting at under $3, such as toys, games, homewares and clothing. Plus a whole host of delicious Fair Trade wines, coffees and preserves.
> > Click here to order charity gifts from Oxfam Fair Trade

Why not sponsor a child this Father’s Day? By sponsoring a child you will be giving not only a unique gift, but hope to someone less fortunate, a real helping hand to help themselves -

World Vision Sponsor a Child
Providing aid to over 20 million people a year you can help a child break the poverty cycle for less than $1.50 a day. You will receive an annual progress report plus the ability to write to your child through the World Vision online  portal.
> > Click here to sponsor a child with World Vision

Plan Sponsor a Child
Plan accept all children into its child sponsorship program, regardless of their sex, race or religion. You can help for only $1.41 a day. You will receive a great welcome kit and regular updates on how your child is progressing.
> > Click here to sponsor a child with Plan

So many different gift ideas, all of them completely unique, and definitely not a pair of socks! All of these gifts will be helping some of the world’s poorest communities to help themselves, whilst also providing a thoughtful gift for your Dad this Father’s Day.

Ps If you plan on buying your Dad a bottle of Fair Trade wine, make sure you know what colour he drinks first!

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."