The Rotary clubs in
The week-long blood drive, in which all seven Malian Rotary clubs participated, was inspired by a blood drive, held in February 2009 by Rotary Club Bamako Djoliba, in connection with the Rotary Day, commemoration the founding of Rotary International. This blood drive had secured 80 bags of blood.
"We were thinking that we could do even better with a bigger involvement of Rotarians," Rosa Cisse says. The responsibility for organizing a campaign over six days was then placed in the hands of her club.
After several meetings of work and preparation, which took place in the
The campaign group consisted of Rotary, the Mali Red Cross (CRM), the Association of the Voluntary Blood Donors of Mali, The Islamic Association of Blood Donors, CNTS and medical staff members from CNTS.
The blood drives were held in the city hall of six municipalities and took place from nine in the morning to one o'clock in the afternoon.
The week-long blood drive became "a beautiful action in the public interest," Rosa Cisse reminisces.
Each day, a truck from The National Center for Blood Transfusion would park on a big square to mobilize interest among the public to give blood. Representatives from all the participating organizations took part in this awareness drive.
In gratitude for their gift of life, Rotary gave the donors a beautiful shirt and a tombola lottery ticket.
The tombola prizes were sponsored by the
"We had collected 360 bags of blood and felt a general satisfaction. The promise was then made to organize a blood drive again after the same pattern, but to increase the public awareness by making use of local radio and television", says Rosa Cisse, the chief organizer of Mali's first Rotary blood drives.
The lack of blood in
Of the seven Rotary Clubs in
Editor's note:
Go to the Photo Journals to see pictures.
Past President Rosa Cisse of Rotary Club Bamako Djoliba can be contacted at this e-mail address: rosa_cisse@yahoo.fr
Association des Donneurs de Sang Bénévoles du Mali):
Contact to Rotarians Eleminating Malaria, a Rotarian Action Group (REMaRAG), click here.
or:
Aissata Coulibaly, PAG, Coordinateur District 9100 Groupe D'Appui Santé & Faim REMaRAG West Afrique Coordinateur Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoir, phone (225) 22 43 72 50 / 07 67 35 59, e-mail: aisscoul@yahoo.fr