Christmas gift to Doctors Without Borders

This year, Omega’s Christmas gift will support an organization that takes care of the victims of both well-known and forgotten disasters all over the world. Omega’s Christmas gift of 500 000 NOK goes to Doctors Without Borders.

Doctors Without Borders has got more than 6000 people on assignment on 400 projects in more than 60 countries.

Omega’s Christmas contribution will support thousands of individuals suffering in world regions plagued by war and catastrophes. Our gift will provide aid to refugee victims in southern Sudan, medical aid to Haitians that are still suffering after the earthquake in 2010, and support work for the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS in Lesotho.

“We are very grateful for your gift towards our work. This will contribute to our projects, providing aid and health services in areas of war and crises in a number of countries. With your help, we are able to ensure people remain alert to forgotten abuses and crises, because fewer people die, when more people know,” says Cecilie Kaltenborn, General Director of Doctors Without Borders , Norway.

The forgotten victims

"It is not all sadness. Even here we find joy and laughter," says Kvalsvik from her assignment in the slum area in Bangladesh.

“Last year we helped more than 15 million people; many of these people are victims of catastrophes and tragedies that we are aware of through the media. However, there are also many who suffer out of the spotlight. Among them are 800 million people living in slum areas all over the world. They have little or no access to health care services and live in very poor and dangerous conditions,” Kalteborn points out.

Learn more about Doctors Witout Borders .

Sonja Kalsvik is a midwife with Doctors Without Borders, currently working in Daka in Bangladesh. She has sent us a letter from her work in the Kamrangirchar slum, where new born babies and pregnant women have an insecure, dangerous, and often short, future ahead of them.

The need for help in the slum is enormous. The projects started out as malnutrition projects, focusing especially on children younger than five years. The children are born very small, and often premature. They receive very little food and are often sick because of the polluted drinking water. Their bodies don’t have enough nutrients to fight disease. Their living conditions often result in asthma, diarrhea and skin conditions. The children who do survive are often underweight and weak. Girls may be married when they are 14 or 15 years old, and they are expected to give birth. At this age, the mother’s body is not ready for pregnancy which often results in complications and the need for cesarean sections. And again, we start over with another small baby, with terrible odds.

Six thousand on assignment

Forty-one years ago a group of French doctors and journalists started Doctors Without Borders, following the Biafra War and the famine in Nigeria. Today, Doctors Without Borders work on more than 400 projects in over 60 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Since 2003, Omega has chosen send the Christmas gift previously given to employees to a community project helping those in need. This initative was well supported by the Omega team, and our Christmas gift has been given to projects both in Norway and abroad ever since.

“Doctors without Borders is a well-known organization and one that people really believe in – as do we. In choosing to give our Christmas gift to Doctors Without Borders, we know we will reach the people that most need our help, and that is what our team wants. Our employees tell us they want to support community organizations that really achieve results – and we truly believe Doctors Without Borders does that,” says Service Center Manager in Omega, Aslaug Østrem Nesheim.

Omega Department Manager, Roger Arnesen, is a long-time private contributor to Doctors Without Borders, and says that he chooses to support the organization because he knows that his money goes directly to those who need it.

“I support Doctors Without Borders because this is an organization run by professionals - doctors and nurses - who give up their own time, travel to war-torn areas, remaining neutral and focused on helping the people involved. They have a very small administrative arm, which means that most of my money goes directly to assistance,” explains Arnesen.