Thanks to the generosity of the Fraser Valley Sikh community, a pediatrician and highly trained nurses traveled to Haiti on monies raised locally.
After the earthquake hit the Caribbean island country on Jan. 12, the news compelled local Indo-Canadians in the region to give $60,000 to the Vancouver chapter of the non-profit Rose Charities, Canada.
The Khalsa Diwan Society, which oversees the main Sikh temple on South Fraser Way in Abbotsford, raised $25,000, another $25,000 came from the Guru Nanak Sikh Society in Surrey, and the Mission Gur Sikh Society provided $5,000.
This allowed the RCC to send senior pediatrician Dr. Pargat Singh Bhurji from Surrey and works at B.C. Children's Hospital, to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to help for about two weeks.
Bhurji is no stranger to catastrophe - he also went with the Rose Charities to Sri Lanka when it was devastated by the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.
In Haiti, Bhurji and registered Kirby Pickard of St. Paul's Hospital worked in a specialist unit for small children and newborn babies, which they had set up outside the hospital. Joining them at the pediatric clinic was Ruby Kaur Gill, a young RN who works at St. Paul's Hospital and who volunteered to go to Port-au-Prince.
In his e-mail reports back, Bhurji said the workload is challenging, as there "are a lot of sick, dehydrated babies. Many kids are malnourished and will need formula as their mother's milk has dried up."
Rose Charities organiser Dr. William Grut said more pediatricians and nurses are going to Haiti.
"Accommodation has been a problem but we are working on that. People have offered rooms in their homes as places for medics to stay. In a small way, that brings much needed money into a family," he said.
There are still ways to help people in Haiti. Roger Potter, the Neil Young tribute artist from Abbotsford, who performs in his show Live Rust, will be part of a Haiti benefit Friday night at the Clarke Foundation Theatre, 33700 Prentis Ave., Mission. The Harmony for Haiti is an initiative of the Mission Foursquare Church and the Foursquare Missions International.
© Abbotsford Times 2010