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After a year of trying to figure out a way to help support children in Burma, John Margetson travelled in 2000 to Senegal with his friend Michele Claiborne, a qualified medical herbalist. They were both appalled by the number of children and adults suffering from severe stomach problems caused by the staple diet of processed white rice. They determined to do something about this problem and the complete lack of any notion of general health care by the population. HELP – Hands on Health Education for Life Project – was consequently inaugurated in 2000. Five villages were selected in the Casamar area in the south of the country and during 2001 and 2002 a general healthcare programme was started in each village, a medical orderly or a nurse appointed and basic health products supplied. However severe political problems and the burning down of their base in Casamar made further work there almost impossible.
In the autumn of 2002 John and Michele travelled to India. Their itinerary included an invitation to a Tibetan monastery at Dolanji in the North of the country, there they discovered a monastic home for lay refugee children—The Bon Children’s Home run by the monks. The monastery is based on the Bon Po tradition; the original religion of Tibet before Buddhism arrived. John left with the profiles of five children to be sponsored. “I didn’t have a clue if l could find enough sponsors but l knew my girlfriend and l and friends would support these five children.” Thus ‘Love a Child’ was born. Steadily the number of sponsored children increased and in 2004 a general fund was started to help with the construction of new buildings at the home.
However Burma was still niggling away at John’s mind and then fate stepped in. A friend, who he hadn’t seen for ten years suddenly turned up in Spain and during dinner the subject of Burma came up. To John’s surprise he discovered that his friend's neighbour was the Secretary General of the Burma Forces Welfare Association, Lt. Col. Sam Pope. A meeting was arranged in the autumn of 2004 and the Burma project of ‘Love a Child’ became reality.
In the autumn of 2005 John returned to Burma to initiate the first project. Also in 2005, after discussions with trustees and Spanish sponsors it was decided to look for a project in a Spanish speaking country (The Spanish are very generous with their donations to charity, but understandably they prefer to give to a Spanish speaking project).
John travelled to South America in early 2006 and plans to return and identify a suitable project in 2007.
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