Letter from the Chairman

Dear friends,

2009 has been a year of consolidation for CCHARM. Let me give you a summary of what CCHARM has been able to achieve to date: Islam and Khamzat. They are now well settled in their life in the UK. Islam has come a long way since January 2005 when he was finally allowed to go to school. He has taken GCSE exams in Math, in Science, in Religious Studies and English. He is continuing studies in Math and Economics through the Oxford Open Learning University. You cannot imagine how rewarding it is to see him re-born to a new life and new hope!

The Pankisi Hospital in Akhmeta has performed some 1500 operations since 2007 and is starting to generate a small income. However, our help is still essential with the running costs of the hospital – salaries of medical staff and medicine – and in purchasing equipment.
The Duisi dispensary is now a fully equipped field hospital able to perform routine surgery. It was equipped with a dental cabinet in 2008, the only one in Pankisi, and an ambulance. We have started a pilot TB program in Pankisi in May 2010. We have continued providing treatments in Chechnya itself on an ad hoc basis. The Board believes that Georgia remains the safest channel to alleviate some of the hardship of the Chechen population given the disastrous Human Rights situation in Chechnya. However we are actively exploring ways of implementing a TB program in the rural areas of Chechnya. We will keep you informed of progress.

We are very proud of what we have achieved so far but we need your generous support in order to continue what we have started seven years ago. Fighting in Chechnya has increased dramatically in the last two years and we cannot afford to become complacent and stop our humanitarian efforts at a time when NGOs workers risk their lives every day in Chechnya. We are now appealing for funds to continue paying the salaries of our doctors and nurses, to provide medicines for the hospital in Akhmeta, to buy urgently needed endoscope machines, to develop our TB program and to bring the chief surgeon for short training in TB treatment in Europe.

Last but by all means not least, I would like to thank the many people without whose generous and wholehearted support this CCHARM adventure would never have been possible. Special thanks of course to our dedicated medical team in Pankisi and to Mrs Lees for her loving care and constant attention in following Islam in his education progress over the last 5 years. We are always very grateful to Qamar from MDUK Media, London and Adriana from AstudioF Milan; without them the website will not be such an interesting window on our activities.

The entire Board, Marie, Nick and myself wish you all the best,

May 2010

Carlo di Pamparato
Chairman