( KPL) The contributions to those people who suffered from the recent typhoon named Ketsana, in the three southern provinces, Sekong, Attapeu and Saravane, is a spirit of human friendship, but the donation is far from adequate and so they were in need of more assistance.
Dr Jenice Heard, a paediatrician, of the University of Calgary, Canada, now a volunteer of Canada who taught the medical staff of Champassak provincial hospital, teamed up with her friends from the same country team to contribute help to the typhoon victims of Songkhone village, Lamam district, Sekong province.
In an interview by a KPL News reporter in Champassak province, Dr Jenice said “Before I worked in Champassak provincial hospital, I knew about Typhoon Ketsana from my friends, Mr Jerome Letemplier and Mrs Mettasak Phosanarack, both of them managers of Pakse Hotel, who emailed me and asked me whether I could be of assistance to the victims.”
She also said she emailed her friends in order to raise money from organisations and from the government of Canada.
Dr Jenice said that on 8 November, she went to Songkhone village and she saw with her own eyes the local people who were lacking food, clothes, housing and formal schooling.
She said she raised money from Canada and 50 of them donated US$ 9.000 and she was sure it should come within two months.
This Canadian doctor had contributed to the Lao government in various ways in several provinces over a period of time, working for projects that were funded by her government.
She served in the country’s only medical school and then for a six-month stint at Mahosot Hospital and a hospital in Thalath, Vientiane province.
Dr Jenice went on from there to provide medical assistance to a community in Luang Prabang and moved from this location to villages in Saravane and Champassak provinces.
KPL Lao News Agency
18-11-2009
