Hope comes in a 40-foot container: From Saskatchewan to Mozambique with love

February 21, 2008

Today SaskTel employees, SaskTel Pioneers, high school students and others will fill a 40-foot shipping container with donated medical equipment, school supplies, clothing and other essential items for the community of Massinga, Mozambique. SaskTel, Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region (RQHR), the University of Saskatchewan and STC are among the many partners teaming up to ensure the success of this latest Africa mission. This will be the third SaskTel-sponsored container sent to Africa since 2006.

“Our latest container project provides a wonderful way to mark our centennial,” SaskTel President and CEO Robert Watson said. “For one hundred years we’ve brought people together through communications technology and now we have the opportunity to bring our many generous partners together to bring hope to people in our world who just need a helping hand.”

As it has in the past, the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region will donate much needed medical equipment and supplies.

“The Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region is pleased to continue supporting the global right to health,” said Dwight Nelson, President and CEO, RQHR. “We look forward to our ongoing partnership with SaskTel and to sending medical equipment, supplies and expertise to developing nations to assist in improving health care.”

The University of Saskatchewan’s Training for Health Renewal Program (THRP) will coordinate delivery and distribution of the container’s contents in Massinga. THRP is a partnership between the university’s health science colleges and the Mozambique Ministry of Health. The program works to strengthen both health systems and local communities so they can develop positive social and economic conditions for health.

“The recipients in rural Mozambique will be delighted to receive the container and each of its items will go to good use,” said Dr. Gerri Dickson, Director of the Training for Health Renewal Program and a Professor in the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Nursing. “As much as the contents, though, they will appreciate our friendship. This container represents solidarity between the people of Saskatchewan and Mozambique. This container builds global partnerships, communities to communities.”

SaskTel will cover all costs associated with renting and shipping the container to Massinga, which will amount to approximately $10,000.

In addition to medical equipment and supplies, other donated goods will complete the shipment, including blankets, clothing for children and infants, children’s books, 100 school bags filled with school supplies, more than 300 pairs of running shoes, carpentry tools, soccer equipment, homemade teddy bears, bikes, dental equipment and supplies, and items to set up an alternative energy demo site in Massinga, Mozambique. Donations were provided by SaskTel employees from around the province, Brainsport, WSE Technologies, the University of Saskatchewan College of Dentistry, Canadian Food for the Hungry International and Western Cycle.

The SaskTel Pioneers volunteer organization collected and organized donated goods from 19 SaskTel locations around the province. STC, Coutts and CanDo Deliveries volunteered their time and services to ensure that all items got to the SaskTel Provincial Warehouse in time for loading.

Student volunteers from seven high schools are helping to sort and load donated items. The schools are: Balfour, Miller, Robert Usher and Scott Collegiate in Regina and Bedford Road, Mount Royal and Nutana Collegiate in Saskatoon.

This is the third shipment of a larger mission to respond to the challenges of AIDS, malaria and poverty that impact the lives of people in the developing world. The first shipment was sent to Makina, Kenya in December of 2006 and the second container was sent to Arusha, Tanzania in April of 2007.

For more information, please contact:

Andy Tate, SaskTel Media Relations
Phone: (306) 777-4548
Email: andy.tate@sasktel.sk.ca