Abbott Laboratories
Four Abbott Canada employees in Malawi
When you work for a pharmaceutical company that develops medicines for HIV/AIDS, you start to develop a sense of the impact this disease is having on communities globally.
As a company, Abbott works through its Global Care Initiatives to improve access to care in the developing world. But four employees at Abbott Canada felt the need to get involved on a much more personal level. So what did they do? They volunteered with an AIDS Service Organisation (ASO) in Malawi.
Dianne Stephens, Matthew Steele, Tiffany Stone and Michael Gregson did not know each other well when they boarded the plane to Malawi in July 2006. What they shared was a burning desire to see first hand what HIV/AIDS in Africa looked like and find a way to be helpful. None had ever worked in development and only one of the four had previously been to Africa. Their desire might have remained just that, but Director of Governmental Affairs at Abbott Canada, Mr. Laurence Dotto, helped the four find an organization that could get them to Africa and put them to work. He contacted the Program Officer of the Leave for Change program in Montreal and got the ball rolling. The company was supportive; while employees used their vacation time for the trip, Abbott contributed 57% of the cost involved for the airline ticket and accommodation and food stipend.
Leave for Change offers short term volunteer assignments to employees and is implemented by Uniterra. This innovative volunteer program is an initiative of the Canadian Centre for International Studies and Cooperation (CECI) and World University Service of Canada (WUSC). Uniterra arranged travel, accommodation and identified an ASO in Malawi that could use four short-term volunteers. “If we were going to Africa by ourselves, we wouldn’t really know where to start,” says Steele. “Uniterra takes your credentials, interviews you, sees if you’re appropriate and then connects you with a relevant project in the country decided on. For us that was Malawi.” The Aids Service organization (ASO) they worked with was CAPLWA (Caring for People Living with HIV/AIDS), in the town of Bangwe just outside Blantyre. CAPLWA was established in July 2003 and has about 15 regular volunteers. “They are totally committed to prevention and awareness of HIV/AIDS, says Stephens. They travel to the villages in the surrounding area providing information to people who may need it, and visit people living with AIDS to offer non-medical support.
We would meet at the centre each morning and head off on patient visits,” says Stephens. The roads were very bad so much of the journey was made on foot. “We’d arrive at a little hut perched on top of a hill, where several children lived and dad or mom, or both were HIV positive. If dad was HIV positive, we’d ask whether mom knew if she was positive. Usually the response was no because she’s never been tested. We’d try to explain the importance of mom being tested, and if she was positive, for the children to be tested as well. We would emphasize that for mom to stay well and healthy and be able to look after the family, she needs to know if she’s positive, because if she is, she could get her name on a list and eventually start treatment.” Many people are on lists waiting for treatment.
The Canadians also participated in CAPLWA’s education efforts in the schools, where the message was ‘be responsible, look after yourself, and
if you are HIV positive, you’re not necessarily going to be sick because there are medications you can take. But it does mean you need to be responsible, look after the people around you to protect them. “It may sound ‘pie in the sky,’” says Steele, “but there has to be a global effort to act as a community and make sure people stay together as families, look after each other and look after their children.”
He describes how women bear the brunt of a lot of the problems. “They have to look after the children and if they get sick and get tested and turn out to be positive, their husbands generally leave. The social structures really let the women down, and they have to struggle on their own while the man goes and hooks up with another woman and perhaps gets her infected as well. ”HIV/AIDS is only part of the problem. “People don’t have adequate water and food,” says Stephens. “Many of the people we met had no idea when they would eat next.”
Some of the volunteers who work at CAPLWA are not much better off than the people they visit. One of the volunteers is a girl named Anisha. She lost both parents to AIDS, is herself HIV positive and must provide for an older sister paralyzed with spinal tuberculosis and three younger siblings. She’s 12. “I can’t imagine the pressure on that girl,” said Stephens.
There’s only so much you can do in a few weeks, but the visit was helpful to CAPLWA. Having Western visitors gave the group more clout. “We were told that our presence opened the door for the organizer to gain access to the chiefs,” says Steele. And people were happy to talk with the Canadians. “To them, we represent resources,” Steele observes. “The message we took home from all the leadership was “don’t forget us” you see what we need: water, infrastructure, help.”
Stephens feels the only way to meet such overwhelming need is through each individual citizen doing his or her part in a small way to make a difference. “Once you get to know a group and the needs they face, you can imagine what to do for them. As a start, we brought back about 500 pins made by the volunteers with the red ribbon and the Malawi flag, and are selling them here and sending the money back.” Steele agrees that having people on the ground who you know helps.
The four have made a commitment to keep in touch with CAPLWA and do as much for them as they can from Canada. Their goal is to continue to make some small gesture to help.
"Abbott Canada has been a proud UNITERRA partner since 2005, the introduction of this international volunteer program fits perfectly with one of Abbott's core values "caring". This program has allowed Abbott Canada to take corporate citizenship to another level and to demonstrate that commitment to our values by offering employees this unique opportunity. Abbott Canada employees have experienced personal growth through this program and shared their experiences at company gatherings where they received standing ovations. Some have on their return, engaged in their own fundraising and all of them felt that in their own way, they have made a difference in someone's life in Africa. Abbott was recognized as a Top 50 Employer for 2006 and 2007. The Uniterra program has certainly come through in our company surveys where our employees recognize we are active in the local and the international community." -Laurence L. Dotto, Director, Government & External Affairs
(text and photos Abbott Canada)
As a company, Abbott works through its Global Care Initiatives to improve access to care in the developing world. But four employees at Abbott Canada felt the need to get involved on a much more personal level. So what did they do? They volunteered with an AIDS Service Organisation (ASO) in Malawi.
Dianne Stephens, Matthew Steele, Tiffany Stone and Michael Gregson did not know each other well when they boarded the plane to Malawi in July 2006. What they shared was a burning desire to see first hand what HIV/AIDS in Africa looked like and find a way to be helpful. None had ever worked in development and only one of the four had previously been to Africa. Their desire might have remained just that, but Director of Governmental Affairs at Abbott Canada, Mr. Laurence Dotto, helped the four find an organization that could get them to Africa and put them to work. He contacted the Program Officer of the Leave for Change program in Montreal and got the ball rolling. The company was supportive; while employees used their vacation time for the trip, Abbott contributed 57% of the cost involved for the airline ticket and accommodation and food stipend.
We would meet at the centre each morning and head off on patient visits,” says Stephens. The roads were very bad so much of the journey was made on foot. “We’d arrive at a little hut perched on top of a hill, where several children lived and dad or mom, or both were HIV positive. If dad was HIV positive, we’d ask whether mom knew if she was positive. Usually the response was no because she’s never been tested. We’d try to explain the importance of mom being tested, and if she was positive, for the children to be tested as well. We would emphasize that for mom to stay well and healthy and be able to look after the family, she needs to know if she’s positive, because if she is, she could get her name on a list and eventually start treatment.” Many people are on lists waiting for treatment.
The Canadians also participated in CAPLWA’s education efforts in the schools, where the message was ‘be responsible, look after yourself, and
if you are HIV positive, you’re not necessarily going to be sick because there are medications you can take. But it does mean you need to be responsible, look after the people around you to protect them. “It may sound ‘pie in the sky,’” says Steele, “but there has to be a global effort to act as a community and make sure people stay together as families, look after each other and look after their children.”He describes how women bear the brunt of a lot of the problems. “They have to look after the children and if they get sick and get tested and turn out to be positive, their husbands generally leave. The social structures really let the women down, and they have to struggle on their own while the man goes and hooks up with another woman and perhaps gets her infected as well. ”HIV/AIDS is only part of the problem. “People don’t have adequate water and food,” says Stephens. “Many of the people we met had no idea when they would eat next.”
Some of the volunteers who work at CAPLWA are not much better off than the people they visit. One of the volunteers is a girl named Anisha. She lost both parents to AIDS, is herself HIV positive and must provide for an older sister paralyzed with spinal tuberculosis and three younger siblings. She’s 12. “I can’t imagine the pressure on that girl,” said Stephens.
There’s only so much you can do in a few weeks, but the visit was helpful to CAPLWA. Having Western visitors gave the group more clout. “We were told that our presence opened the door for the organizer to gain access to the chiefs,” says Steele. And people were happy to talk with the Canadians. “To them, we represent resources,” Steele observes. “The message we took home from all the leadership was “don’t forget us” you see what we need: water, infrastructure, help.”Stephens feels the only way to meet such overwhelming need is through each individual citizen doing his or her part in a small way to make a difference. “Once you get to know a group and the needs they face, you can imagine what to do for them. As a start, we brought back about 500 pins made by the volunteers with the red ribbon and the Malawi flag, and are selling them here and sending the money back.” Steele agrees that having people on the ground who you know helps.
The four have made a commitment to keep in touch with CAPLWA and do as much for them as they can from Canada. Their goal is to continue to make some small gesture to help.
"Abbott Canada has been a proud UNITERRA partner since 2005, the introduction of this international volunteer program fits perfectly with one of Abbott's core values "caring". This program has allowed Abbott Canada to take corporate citizenship to another level and to demonstrate that commitment to our values by offering employees this unique opportunity. Abbott Canada employees have experienced personal growth through this program and shared their experiences at company gatherings where they received standing ovations. Some have on their return, engaged in their own fundraising and all of them felt that in their own way, they have made a difference in someone's life in Africa. Abbott was recognized as a Top 50 Employer for 2006 and 2007. The Uniterra program has certainly come through in our company surveys where our employees recognize we are active in the local and the international community." -Laurence L. Dotto, Director, Government & External Affairs
(text and photos Abbott Canada)