Russian babies need YOUR help!

[nicolelh]

Hi Everyone! This is also posted in the nappies area but as it is such a broad need I have copied it here too so more can see it.

I have permission to post this here – a request for your help for an urgent need.

I am friends with someone who has just returned from 12 year’s work with orphans and poor women in Russia. She has told me of the horrible state of baby’s bottoms over there due to the unavailability of suitable nappy products. Terry towelling and modern cloth nappies do not exist. Mothers either use rags, overlaid with plastic supermarket bags taped around the baby, or worse, they use disposable nappies – but they can’t afford to buy them full time – so they use them over and over and over again – removing the middle when it is entirely saturated – and placing toilet paper or rags inside them instead. They fasten these makeshift nappies with scotch tape.

Naturally, the babies get terrible rashes and allergic reactions to the tape. Children have had urinary tract infections develop and some have even been hospitalised as a result.

I have decided that I want to make a difference to these children, so I have established an appeal called “Nappies for Russia” – here is where I need help from other mums!

My friend knows of at least 120 babies in need, however she has also told me of her friend who works in another city with babies with AIDS, and she would love us to supply nappies to improve these babies’ quality of life for the short time they have left. There are hundreds of kids in need, but we have set ourselves the initial, ambitious goal, of sending 100 nappy packages.

Each package will contain 12-13 nappies, 2 snappis, 2 covers, 1 thing of nappy rash treatment, instructions on how to prevent nappy rash and use the nappies, and a liner for each nappy. We won’t send any disposables! I would LOVE to send at least 1 nice special nappy – i.e an MCN for each baby, to send some love from Australia. I’m sure Russian mothers like seeing lovely items on their babies as much as we do.

So anyway, I need your help!
You can help by:
• Donating your used or unused nappies, including mcn and flats etc, as well as covers, and other nappy related items.
• Knitting longies (for warmth, as well as nappy covering)
• Volunteer to help with promoting the appeal, packing the parcels to post, cutting out fleece liners, spread the word to everyone!
• Donating money for postage, or special items to auction for same.

If you have a store discount or gift voucher, for a store that sells any of the products needed, that would be a valuable donation also.

We have a website which details more about the appeal. Please check it out for more information:

http://www.freewebs.com/nappiesforrussia

This is a totally voluntary thing on my part, and non-profit of course. The collections are being done through Ashgrove Baptist Church for accountability.

PLEASE, could you have a read of the website, and think about how you can help.

As the postage money will probably be the hardest thing to procure, I’m hoping that we might be able to sell/auction some of the more special nappies to raise that, so keep an eye out for a Russia nappy auction thread in the trading room shortly. If you can donate a nappy, we would love it if you could also send a small donation to help cover the postage for it. (it’s about $7.50 per 500g.)

If you can help, could you please either contact me through the site guestbook to let me know what you can help with, or email me on nicole(at)therapydogs(dot)org(dot)au

We are having a volunteer sew-a-thon and packing/sorting/mending day in Brisbane on the 29th November (thursday morning) at Ashgrove where a Russian lady will be telling us about the conditions in Russia, answering your questions and showing a dvd on the orphanage work my friend does. Anyone is welcome to come, whether or not you wish to help out on the day after the talk. Please email me if you want to come.

Of course you can also post here! Please post and let us know what you’re sending – and if you’re happy to let us sell the item for postage money, post that too so that other forum members can see what might be for sale in the auction later on. Note that some nappies donated (most, actually) will go directly to Russia, just the most valuable ones might be worth more auctioned, then the money used for postage or to buy cheaper terries. 1300 nappies is a lot to get together!

If you want to donate something but don’t have anything to hand, and you want to purchase a new item to donate, please check out the website first for guidelines on what is most needed.

Please let me know if there’s any way you can help – and pass the word along to your mother’s group, other web groups and just any group of concerned people you know!

If you are able to donate please check the website for exact details on postage/drop off locations. To be brief, I'll just say here that you can post items to:
Nappies for Russia
c/o Ashgrove Baptist Church
PO Box 2077
West Ashgrove, Qld, 4060

If you want to drop off in person, email Melanie, (the 2IC on this appeal, in charge of drop offs) at meljaffa(at)gmail(dot)com There are multiple drop off areas in each of perth, sydney, brisbane, the gold and sunshine coasts, darwin, melbourne, adelaide, newcastle, canberra, wollongong, geelong/surf coast and townsville. Tasmania may have one soon. We need to collect as many nappies as we can by the 29th to pack, but will still be accepting them after as we anticipating taking a few months to get them all sent.

Let's see what we can do to help these poor babies!

Thanks everyone,
Nicole
http://www.freewebs.com/nappiesforrussia

[Shanti]

Nicole,

I think this is a GREAT idea I am going to donate 3 cloth nappies, the ones from Kmart (one size fits all) i've seen them sold in packets and they look ok.....i don't have any of my own (just yet!) so they'll be brand new ones. Be more than happy to help out.
can i just post straight to the po box address?

[nicolelh]

hi Renstar, yes you can post straight to the po box.

I would however suggest that those particular nappies aren't the best possible investment of your money becuase they take a very long time to dry, and while we do accept those that do take ages to dry, they won't be as useful for the mums who obviously have no driers or great sunny weather.

there are some other suggestions on the website, but If in doubt terry flats are great for quick drying and also one size fits all factors. (the kmart ones really only fit until about 4 months from my use of them) That's just a suggestion - you can still buy the kmart ones if you want - but it would be great if your dollar would go further with terries or something else quicker drying like a pocket.

Thanks a lot,
Nicole

[Shanti]

No worries i will look into it (i know what you mean) sorry i'm learning about cloth nappies still!! lol... i'm still sure that a cheap Kmart one is much better than what they currently have thats for sure.....!