On Friday 27th August, a group of us from My Small Help went to the Quest International School, Lalitpur, Nepal, to present a Blood Donation Motiviation Session with the support and expertise from the Nepal Red Cross Society.

Around 60 students packed out one of the classrooms with Pramila K.C. from MSH introducing the session before Kalpit Kumar Tripathi from Nepal Red Cross Society providing the motivation for students to participate.

Nepal currently has a huge blood supply shortage; meeting only 500-600 pints of the 1,000 pints of blood required every day. After weeks of hard work, MSH proudly completed their first session under the ethos “Gift of life; give blood, save life” campaign.

Kalpit captivated the students with some interesting facts:
Per 100g, males and females have 76ml and 66ml of blood respectively; only 50ml is needed, leaving a surplus that is unused
Red blood cells can only live for 120 days inside our body, after which time they die; this makes that surplus even more attractive for donation!
There are four main blood types; A, B, AB and O.
One unit of donated blood is separated into components before use (red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, platelets etc)
Frozen red blood cells can be stored for 10 years +

In order to give blood you must:
Be over 17 years of age
Weigh over 45kg in weight
Undergo a check up to ensure that you do not have HIV/Hepititus
Not have had jaundice/typhoid in the last 2 years

As a volunteer at MSH, the motivation session appeared a success, with 50 students alone signing up to next week’s Blood Donation Day, and more friends and family of MSH anticipated on the day.

We are now only 2 days away from the actual Giving Blood session. Anyone wanting to give blood, would be more than welcome to attend. MSH will be providing refreshments and of course, a certificate to thank them for their donation. A reminder of the details:

Blood Donation Camp
Friday 3rd September,
Quest International College, Lalitpur
12 midday

I personally know the importance of giving blood, as I am sure many of you do, and I know that just one single donation can save many lives. Always remember that friends, your children, your parents, your grandparents, your relatives, your neighbours and even you may require blood due to some unfortunate condition at some point in your lives; give blood, save life.

Together we can make a difference.

Kate Baker
Volunteer August/September 2010
My Small Help