friends of msf group updates - feb 2011
DESCRIPTION
Updates from all FoMSF groups in the UK and Ireland February 2011TRANSCRIPT
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Friends of MSF Group Updates: February 2011
Aberdeen FoMSF
St Andrews FoMSF
Barts FoMSF
Birmingham FoMSF
Brighton and Sussex FoMSF
Bristol FoMSF
Cambridge FoMSF
Cardiff FoMSF
Cork FoMSF
Dundee FoMSF
Durham FoMSF
Edinburgh FoMSF
Glasgow FoMSF
Hull and York FoMSF
Imperial FoMSF
Keele FoMSF
Kings College London
FoMSF
Kingston and St Georges
University London
Leeds FoMSF
Leicester FoMSF
London School of Hygiene
& Tropical Medicine FoMSF
Manchester FoMSF
Newcastle FoMSF
Nottingham FoMSF
Oxford FoMSF
Sheffield FoMSF
Southampton FoMSF
Swansea FoMSF
Trinity College Dublin
UCL FoMSF
University of East Anglia
Warwick FoMSF
Aberdeen FoMSF: News: We were delighted to donate £2000 to MSF UK last year!
For our 2010 Welcome / Film Evening we screened "Hotel
Rwanda" to illustrate the type of work that MSF has
been involved with. Our recent bake sale raised £90. We have
continued to email members our own monthly newsletter which
includes MSF updates, our previous and upcoming events and
student articles relevant to worldwide medicine.
Committee member Ciaran Doyle shaved off his beard to raise £250! We will be holding
our "starved for attention" film evening on November 16th and have also invited a clinician to talk
about assessing malnutrition.
For World AIDS Day on December 1st we are planning a pub quiz due to last year’s success. We are
also teaming up with the charity Marrow this term to produce a tasteful semi-naked calendar to
fundraise over the festive period! Our annual fancy dress Christmas Party (with fake snow) is
planned for December 14th!
Plans for 2011 so far: a Swing themed evening with live big band, Pimms on the Pitches, car boot
sale and a Speaker evening.
Would like to hear more about/ from: We are currently teaming up with the charity Marrow to
make a calendar in time for Christmas. We would be very grateful for any advice from those of you
with experience in this - especially tips for sponsorship! Would Dundee, St.Andrews or Edinburgh
groups fancy a sports day?
Contact email address: - [email protected] and [email protected]
Webpages: www.msf.org.uk/aberdeenfriendsofmsf.friend
Facebook group: - Friends of MSF at Aberdeen University
St Andrews FoMSF: News: So far this academic year at University of St Andrews FoMSF
we have had a very successful time. Having been a new group last
year, we have expanded our committee membership from 4 to 10
members this year, having been successful in our campaign to
include other members of the University society (i.e. non-medics) in
our Committee. We also were successful in attracting new members
to our society, and we now boast a mailing list of over 100 members. We had a very fun and
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successful "Duck Race" which we held in November and raised around £250. We also have arranged
club nights in St Andrews which all have been popular fund raising events. Sadly, our main speaker
event which we organised, in co-ordination with AIDS week which we were involved in, was
cancelled due to all four of our speakers being snowed in! However, we hope to hold this event
again, along with many more speaker events, in the second semester!
Would like to hear more about/ from: more information about speakers and information about
how we ourselves could go about finding them. This has been our biggest barrier to success at St
Andrews. I also believe some sort of blog system would be very useful in order to create inter-
communication between FoMSF groups. There is a similar sort of thing on Facebook for Charity
Societies in St Andrews, and it has proven to be very useful for all charities involved.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=204862960795
Contact email: [email protected]
Barts FoMSF: News: Bart’s Friends of MSF has raised awareness through educational
talks featuring MSF doctors, film showings, fundraising events and
socials. The society is still very much in its early days but there has been
huge interest from all years to become a part of our cause. So far this
year we have held a World Aid’s Day talk featuring our guest speaker
Dr Jane Deayton, HIV specialist, and a cake sale to raise money for
MSF. Our next big event is the Fun Run in Regent’s Park on March 20th
, in conjunction with the other
University of London Friends of MSF groups. Furthermore we want to have more film screenings,
and also organise socials, including our pre Fun Run social in March.
Contact email address: [email protected]
Birmingham FoMSF: Contact address: [email protected]
Facebook group: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2312013604
Brighton and Sussex FoMSF: Contact address: [email protected] Facebook group: www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=59344519688
Bristol FoMSF - *New Group* Facebook group: www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/home.php?sk=group_180802255
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Cambridge FoMSF: News: Since the last AGM, we have held a number of
fundraising, speaker and social events. We participated in a joint
fundraiser for Haiti and started Easter term 2010 with a RAG
street collection for MSF. In April, we organised a fundraising
dinner for students and invited our previous speakers to join us,
finishing the term with a "Without Borders" garden party.
Speaker events have included presentations about the Global
Fund and Neglected Tropical Diseases as well as a general introduction to working with MSF in
October and a more detailed insight into a Vaccination Campaign in Niger. We also showed the film
Living in Emergency, which was very well attended. This term, we held a hugely successful panel
debate featuring representatives from MSF, the Red Cross, Médecins du Monde and PIDG discussing
whether AID organisations should bear witness. Future events include the showing of "The Devil
Came on Horseback", as well as speakers from MSF and Khandel Light.
Contact email address: [email protected] and [email protected]
Facebook group: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20658834954
Website: www.msf.org.uk/cambridge
Cardiff FoMSF: News: We had a brief introductory meeting to welcome new
freshers' and to talk about new reps from our first year, where
we also showed a few stories from the Invisibles. After that we
held a film night in a local pub (Shooting Dogs) and then held a
fundraising Pub Quiz where local businesses kindly donated
prizes and we raised some money.
Then one of our favourite annual events, a very successful
carol service in a beautiful local church where we offered free
mince pies and mulled wine and had Cardiff’s Healthcare music society perform a few festive pieces.
At the moment we are currently awaiting details of a confirmed speaker who will come from MSF to
talk to us (very excited) and have plans for a band night (to be held with the reggae society) which
will also act as a fundraiser. We also hope to show Positive Ladies at some point this year and are
currently trying to organise an information evening with Cardiff based Medsin where we can give
people more information on what it is like to work abroad, what things to think about before leaving
the UK where we hope to have another speaker who can give us more of an insight into what life is
like in the life of an MSF healthcare staff working abroad.
Would like to hear more about/ from: what events have other FoMSF societies held which have
been particularly effective in raising money? Our carol concert is very popular but we would like to
be able to have more events which create as much revenue. Also are there any possibilities
volunteering for FoMSF at festivals and things? I can think of a great many people who would be
keen to represent MSF there, and are there any other things that MSF need doing (except
fundraise!!) which FoMSF could help with?
Contact email address: [email protected]
President: Rosie Tomlins - [email protected]
Cork FoMSF: News: This year has been extremely positive so far. Our first guest
speaker was John Fiddler an MSF nurse talking about his work on
Sleeping Sickness in the Central African Republic, this attracted a lot
of newcomers. We also held a bake sale event raising over 700 euro!
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A joint screening of Paradise Now with the UCC Muslim Cultural Society on International Day of
Solidarity with the Palestinian People was also a great evening.
Our biggest event was on World AIDS Day where we promoted the Hands Off Our Medicine
Campaign by getting around 800 signatures for the campaign and nearly 500 euro selling ribbons.
On the day we had African Drumming and we got people to cover their hands with red paint and
slap it on a sheet of canvas.
We expect to have more fundraising events like a table quiz, another bake sale and more guest
speaker and movie nights. We also are planning a 40 hour fast to coincide with Starved for Attention
Campaign.
Would like to hear more about/ from: Pete Scolding’s discussion set ‘What is Humanitarianism
Anyway?’ was awesome and we had a great evening holding our own discussion event with this.
More sample discussion sets would be great, although we are planning to try some of our own this
term.
Contact address: [email protected]
Facebook group: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=182961155774
Dundee FoMSF - *New Group*: Contact email address: President – Thomas Downs - [email protected]
Secretary - Lakshmi Nayar - [email protected]
Durham FoMSF: News: Although recently set up, we already managed to hold a
successful cake sale and a film night, where we screened 'The
devil came on horseback'. We have plenty of other fundraising
ideas, so if you want to get involved join our facebook group.
Contact: [email protected]
President – Madeleine Moat: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=309140392222&v=info
Edinburgh FoMSF: News: We held a film event last term to show the film Living in
Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders. It was very well
received by the whole audience and quite a few medical students left
the event feeling awed and inspired. We have two upcoming events
in March. The first is a talk titled HIV AIDS: WHERE IN THE WORLD
ARE WE which we are jointly hosting with the Scottish MSF Group.
Our second event will be an end-of-term ceilidh which we're also
jointly hosting with Mary's Meals.
Would like to hear more about/ from: At our last AGM, you mentioned potential educational
opportunities (e.g. workshops) for our members. Has any Friends group initiated this and does the
NC have any plans for such programs?
Contact email address: President - Annie Ning - [email protected]
Facebook group: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=69556919695
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Glasgow FoMSF - *New Group*
Contact: President - Muti Goloba -
Hull and York FoMSF: Contact emails: Co-President: Emma Lewis - [email protected]
Co-President: Sally MacVinish - Co-President - [email protected]
Imperial FoMSF: News: Hello! This term [autumn] as our first event we showed
'Living in Emergency' for the first time! It was a great success,
and I feel people appreciated seeing an honest and raw insight
into what working for MSF is actually like. We also did a
Halloween Movie Marathon to raise money, and we are about
to have our first speaker event of the year! This Christmas we
hope to do a raffle/quiz.
Things are going well this [Spring], although we're finding it
harder to get our free Pret sandwich incentive which is annoying! We've developed links with
Imperial Engineers without Borders, and also Global Brigades. Our Starved for Attention event was
not as popular as we would have liked, but a recent screening of Triage went down well.
Would like to hear more about/ from: In the spring our committee is doing a tube collect in
London. I was wondering if any other London groups would be interested in organising a larger
event for later next year? Our members really enjoyed watching Living in Emergency and were
disappointed that we could not do another showing of the film as we had many requests (and we've
never had requests to reshow a film before!!!).
Contact email address: [email protected] or [email protected]
Webpages: www.msf.org.uk/imperialcollegelondon.friend
Facebook group: www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=2220273561&ref=ts
Keele FoMSF: News: Keele Friends of MSF is at present in the exciting process of
formation! The group developers have been meeting and emailing to
set up the group. Support had been gathered from interested student
medics and pharmacists and there are plans to reach out to students
of other healthcare professions very soon. An encouraging response to
our promotional emails and some initial networking with other
Friends of MSF groups, has prompted the group to set up its own
email account. The FoMSF run in London is the main aim this term. French evening classes are a
popular potential future development and certainly we aim to bring a guest speaker from MSF to
Keele very soon.
Would like to hear more about:
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Keele FoMSF would be very keen to participate in an online discussion board with other FoMSF
groups around the UK. Each group would be able to post messages and interact with other groups.
Contact email address: [email protected]
Kings College London FoMSF: Contact address: [email protected] Webpages: www.kclmsf.com and
www.msf.org.uk/kingscollegelondon.friend Facebook group: www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=8803433742
Kingston and Saint George’s University London
FoMSF: Contact: [email protected]
Leeds FoMSF: Contact: President: Alice Rima Findlay - [email protected]
Secretary: Katie Newman - [email protected] [email protected]
Leicester FoMSF: News: This year has been very successful. We kept on the things we
did last year and also did as much fundraising as we could with a lot of
focus on our Rapid Response Team. We have shown Living in
Emergency which went very well with about 35 people attending. We
also held our annual International Christmas Dinner and Raised over
£250. On World AIDs day we went out to the university campus and
collected signatures for the Europe, Hands of our Medicine!
campaign. We also worked with Medsin and braved the snow to raise awareness, we released
balloons over the city and main park, had speakers come in and talk about their experiences with
AIDs and also held a social. We collaborated with the medical student society in an event called
Funday Sunday, we had our own little part where we provided Pimms and other drinks.
On the fundraising part of things our Rapid Response Team has done very well and has raised over
£500 for the Pakistan floods. As well as doing street collections we have also tried novel ways to
collect money, the best has to be making foods from South East Asia which we sold.
Would like to hear more about/ from: We would like to thank the NC for all their help. The only
problem we have had is getting a speaker. It’s been very difficult to get anyone to come to Leicester,
we have offered to pay for travel and accommodation yet the response has been very slow. We
would also like a list of resources that are available to us for example pens, posters, t shirts etc that
we could order.
Contact email address: [email protected]
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Webpages: www.msf.org.uk/universityofleicesterteachinghospitals.friend
Facebook group: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=137256982282
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
FoMSF: Update: The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Friends of MSF group was formed in December 2011. The
School has students from broad and diverse backgrounds, many
of which have experience with governmental organisations and
NGOs including MSF. With intercalating medical students and
those keen on pursuing careers in the humanitarian sector, forming a FoMSF group was a good
opportunity to maximise on the interest within the School.
Since starting, we have had a speaker event where we invited Andy Dennis to talk. Andy is walking
from Amsterdam to Barcelona for the ‘Walk a2b’ charity event to raise money for MSF. He spoke
about his experiences with MSF in Uganda and Sudan and the build up to his walk. We are currently
organising a panel discussion where we will invite speakers who work in various disciplines within
MSF to answer questions about careers with MSF.
Would like to hear about/ from: It would be nice to establish links between LSHTM FoMSF and
other local London groups to communicate and potentially coordinate events and other activities.
Additionally, there may be scope to develop links between students who go on to work with MSF
from LSHTM and the ‘Post-MSF’ group.
Contact email address: [email protected]
Facebook group: www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_137916519608974
Manchester FoMSF: News: The current committee is fairly new. Despite this however,
we have been fairly busy and have organised several events. We
work quite closely with the UMSU (University of Manchester
Student Union) and help organise their events. During the "Black
and Ethnic Minority Week" we had a screening of "The Invisibles"
and made Congolese inspired baked goods in the cookout. We
decided to raise money for a specific campaign each semester and
last semester it was for the work MSF is doing in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We also
organised a screening of "The Positive Ladies Soccer Club" and got a speaker from BodyPostive for
"AIDS awareness Week". We rounded the term off by organising a Christmas Market, which
unfortunately wasn't that successful - the event itself was good but we had exams and X-factor finals
to contend with and not a lot of people showed up! We've been doing bake sales, selling glow sticks
and selling plain t-shirts and hats that people design themselves in various events.
At the moment we're working with Medsin Manchester to try and promote the upcoming Global
Health Conference. I have secured a workshop in the conference and we plan to focus this on
Sleeping Sickness and Chagas Disease, showing parts of "The Invisibles". We are also organising for
some of us to join the Fun Run in Regents Park and we're planning to screen "Triage" and we have
secured two speakers - who have worked for MSF - to come. We are currently preoccupied with
these events but we have several plans: organising a weekend with a Mountain Rescue Volunteers,
possibly a sports day type of event at the end of the year and maybe a night of world music. We are
currently trying to raise money for the flood victims in Brazil. Contact email address: [email protected]
Webpages: www.msf.org.uk/manchester.friend
Facebook group: www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=49088236938
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Newcastle FoMSF: Contact address: [email protected]
Facebook group:
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=322527902755&ref=ts#!/gro
up.php?gid=48017935662
Nottingham FoMSF: Contact address: [email protected] Facebook group: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=133158911916
Oxford FoMSF News: The OGHG (Oxford Global Health Group) have been
extremely busy this past term and we have two large and exciting
events coming up in the next month. The wine tasting event held
on the 15th
November raising just over £400 in aid of Médecins sans
Frontières and Schistosomiasis Control Initiative was a particular
success with a fantastic presentation given by Dr Peter Bourne
(former special assistant for health to President Jimmy Carter).
Contact email address: - [email protected]
Webpages: - www.oxfordghg.co.uk/ and http://groupspaces.com/OxfordGlobalHealthGroup
Sheffield FoMSF News: The Sheffield group has enjoyed the success of Medstock
2010 in March, where bands representing the first and second
year medics showcased their talents. We also were able to
organise a couple of speaker events. Students were given the
opportunity to ask questions and as a result gain a better insight
about working with MSF in the future.
Together with Medsin, we were able to hold a number of cake
sales outside lecture theatres to raise money for the victims of the Pakistan earthquake. We feel
that collaborating with other societies within the university is the key to raising awareness and
funds for MSF.
In the near future we aim to organise a film night, a pub quiz, more cake sales and speaker events.
Would like to hear more about/ from: We are also keen on collaborating with other Friends of
MSF groups in the same region this coming year, to organise events on a much larger scale. We are
still in the process of planning and discussing these, and it would be helpful if other interested
FoMSF groups with similar ideas contacted us.
Email address: [email protected]
Webpage: www.msf.org.uk/sheffieldfriendsofmsf.friend
Facebook address: www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=32394312373
Southampton FoMSF: Contact address: [email protected] Facebook group: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=27596958118
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Swansea FoMSF: News: We held the Medsin Conference in November and had a
MSF stall which was a great success, with huge interest shown and
all the flyers etc you sent us being taken home by over 200
delegates. At the conference we had Dr John Pratt, give a talk on his
experiences within MSF, which was greatly received and had an
excellent turn out. We were very thankful for his time and efforts.
The starved for attention campaign videos were also shown throughout the conference weekend to
raise awareness and support the campaign. During World AIDS Day the Hands OFF campaign was sent out to all students and staff within the
med school at Swansea.
Would like to hear more about/ from: Will the Living In Emergencies film be shown in Swansea?
Would Cardiff be interested in holding a joint fundraising event in 2011?
Contact email address: Anna Woodman – President: [email protected]
Webpages: www.msf.org.uk/swanseauniversitymedicalschool.friend Facebook group: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=120904407933913&ref=ts
Trinity College Dublin: Contact: James De Boisanger - [email protected]
Ariella Abramovitch - [email protected]
University College London FoMSF News: We began the term with an workshop on
humanitarian aid and a freshers' social, followed by a
symposium evening a week later entitled "What can students
do for global health", with a range of high-profile speakers
including Sid Wong (MSF) and David Heymann (WHO).
We also held a lunchtime Pakistan fundraising event selling
food and raffle tickets, and offering henna art; together with
Jean-Marc Jacobs (MSF) talking to us about their work after the floods: these events raised just
under £450! We have also done bucket collections at various UCL plays and events, and held a
Christmas Pub Quiz to finish off the term.
During AIDS week we screened 'The Positive Ladies Soccer Club' and raised awareness about the
Hands Off campaign.
Our main focus this term is the 'Starved for Attention' campaign: at our launch event we screened
the films, offered Plumpy Nut samples, and encouraged members to sign the petition. We will be
raising money for the campaign this term at UCL's very own Battle of the Bands and at the medical
school Music Concert, and we are also holding a workshop entitled "Is aid dead", highlighting the
issue of malnutrition. We also have two more speaker events planned: Andy Dennis will be coming
to talk to us about his 'walk a2b', while Jean-Marc Jacobs will be talking in French about MSF's work
and his experiences. It has been a busy year!
Would like to hear more about/ from: We would love to hear from anyone who would like to
get more involved with any of our events! This term, much of our time and energy has been
dedicated to the Fun Run 2011 - so if you'd like to get more involved with the planning then do get
in touch with us at [email protected]! The run will be taking place on Sunday 20th March, a
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collaborated event between the Friends of MSF around London and the south-east England - do get
in touch!
Contact email address: [email protected]
Webpage: www.msf.org.uk/ucl.friend
Facebook group: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8582308847
University of East Anglia FoMSF: News: UEA FoMSF has held two speaker events so far this year,
both of which have been very well received with a great turnout.
We have held a bakesale which we raised just under £100 in and
are planning another very soon. In the summer we teamed up
with Cambridge for a Street collection, raising over £1000. We are
currently running an MSF tea towel project where we are making
year group tea towels, where everybody gets to draw their face,
and are planning to sell them raising money. We are involved in the UEA charity week where we
hope to do another bake sale and speaker event. We are also trying to team up with the drama
society to run some kind of sketch representing the work of MSF. We have had requests to do a
screening event of the documentaries about the work of MSF. Contact email address: Group President - [email protected]
Warwick FoMSF: News: Last term we showed "Triage", "Invisibles" & "Living in
Emergency", interspersed with talks discussing issues covered in the
films. We were pleased to invite Dr Helen Liebling Kalifani to talk
about her research in Uganda around the effects of sexual violence
on former child abductees in Uganda, & MSF speaker Alison Criado-
Perez, to talk about her experiences nursing in Colombia, Uganda &
Nigeria. Later in the spring term we are planning an Elective Photo Competition, talks on Sexual &
Reproductive health, & social fundraisers.
Would like to hear more about/ from: The future of NGOs taking into light the recent criticism
as to how much good NGO's actually do?
Contact email address: [email protected]
Facebook group: Warwick Friendsof Msf [sic]