Last year JCI Curepipe organized the second edition of Health Campaign under the theme of Take Care Lepep. The main objective of this campaign was to sensitize vulnerable people of the region of Pailles on taking care of their health. ‘Même si mo pauvre, mo cpv etre en bonne sante!’. So, the 2011 Health Campaign team came out with a calendar full of activities to be done during 6 months over the region of Pailles.
The first activity was the launching of the JCI Curepipe Health Club in June 2011. A first step is in guiding the JCI Curepipe’s members towards a healthier living. Through this Health Club each member was able to share articles on health, have small tips and tricks from JCI Curepipe’s Health professionals, have updates on activities that will be organized for example, walks, swimming courses, cycle races, trekking, awareness sessions, talks, yoga etc. The Health Club can be accessed online on https://healthclub.jcicurepipe.org.
The second activity that was organized was a Blood Donation at our main partner’s site at J&P Coats Mauritius Ltd on the 14th of July 2011. The target group for this blood donation was all the companies in the region of Pailles. There were more than 100 responses on that day and 62 pints of blood was collected. The Blood Bank noted it as a record .
15th September 2011, an awareness forum on Nutrition and Diabetes was conducted in the community center of Cite Jonction, Pailles. Why a forum? That’s simply because the team wanted to have an interactive session rather than just an informative session. The people from the locality attending the forum were able to ask as many questions of they had and clear all the myth around nutrition and diabetes health hazards. We had with us on that day, Dr Teeshan Bahorun, doing research on Diabetes from the University of Mauritius, Miss Sandia Bhujohary student on nutrition and Dr Vidushi Neergheen Bhujun, lecturer from the University of Mauritius.
The next activity scheduled as per the calendar was another awareness forum on Cancer and Sexuality/AIDS. We had as partners for this event Link to Life and Pils. We were quite amazed by the concerns of the inhabitants on these topics, which are tagged as taboos in Mauritius.
The biggest event, Take Care Lepep Day was organized in beginning of December at the Centre Polyvalent of Pailles. We had on that day several medical stands. The main activities were Diabetes check up, Bone checkup, Dental Checkup, Blood Donation, talks on nutrition, cancer, sexuality, Physiotheraphy, distribution of health packs amongst others. During that day, 12 new cases of Diabetes were recorded. The final activities on the calendar were to take care of the vulnerable and poor people of the locality. Several ‘Colis de vivre’ was distributed to the needy and school materials were distributed to all the children. We also had a distribution to the employees of Coats. Happiness on the faces of these people is all that we noted.
The campaign would not have been possible without the support of our partners and sponsors. I would like to convey my admiration and thanks to our main partner, J & P Coats Mauritius Ltd, without whom the impact of this project wouldn’t have been as big as it is! Big thanks also go to the other partners who have contributed to the fulfillment of the Health Campaign itself.
At last, I would salute the hard work of the 2011 Health Campaign Team. Their never ending support and commitment has allowed this project to earn the Best Community Project of the year 2011 by JCI Mauritius. Keep creating positive change around you… once again thank you Nazim, Lenita, Zubin, Nirvana, Girish, Weenela, Jacques, Veenandi, Tabrez, Nandesh, Sabrina, Deepika, Arvind, Prashant, Darshini, Yudish and all those who were present for the activities.
The dice are already rolling for the 2012 Health Campaign… stay tuned!
Long Live JCI Curepipe
Hashama Cooloo
2011 Health Campaign Project Director
2011 Local Vice President (Community Development)
2012 Treasurer