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GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY - The Rafiki Surgical Mission
Rickshaw Travels was honored to participate in the 2012 Rafiki Dinner and Gala on November 3 at the new Akemi Restaurant in Dar es Salaam. This year the Gala was limited to an exclusive consortium of corporate sponsors. This Mission, which started in 2004, was hosted by Rafiki Surgical Mission Tanzania and African Barrick Gold. Their goal is to raise funds to enable volunteer Australian medical teams to travel to Tanzania, to provide free life changing surgical procedures such as cleft palate, cleft lip, club feet and burn injuries, to families who cannot afford this type of surgery and for which there is no public health funding.
“The Experiential Wining & Dining” fundraising gala featured a special guest appearance by David Grier of Miles for Smiles, who is an inspirational speaker, chef and extreme adventurer from Cape Town. His presentation on “Food, Wine and Adventure – A Chef with A Cause” related to his specially designed Rafiki 6-course dinner menu and his global adventures raising awareness about “making a difference” in peoples lives.
Over the years, Rafiki Surgical Missions has contributed towards changing the lives of more than 1,000 Tanzanian children and adults with the above conditions. For each mission, an eight-person volunteer team composed of surgeons, anesthetists and nurses from Western Australia give of their time and expertise to come to Tanzania to perform these life-changing operations over a course of 10 days. The Mission also helps local doctors and nurses to work alongside their Australian counterparts, thereby getting hands-on experience.
This year alone, in Tanzania, they held 3 clinics (in Mwanza and Dar es Salaam) and the Mission helped well over 100 patients with cleft lip palates, facial and limb deformities as well as those with burn scars and Rickshaw Travels was a proud sponsor in helping them achieve their goals. The Mission has also donated medical equipment and supplies to various hospitals in Tanzania.
If you’d like to help The Rafiki Surgincal Mission, please visit them at www.asanterafiki.com.
