How can we raise the funds needed to help and what policies can we improve to make a dent in the fees with a logical approach? Anyone have any ideas?

22 March 2019 at 8:27pm
Mozambique orphans of Cyclone Idai escaping floods in Dunkirk style evacuations

Children in Mozambique who have been made orphans by Cyclone Idai are slowly being evacuated from flood hit areas - in rescues reminiscent of those in Dunkirk during WWII.


Many children have been made orphans by the cyclone. Credit: ITV News

They have been rescued and ferried to safety but are completely on their own - their families did not survive.

The rescue operation out of Beira, Mozambique's fourth largest city and one of the most badly affected by the cyclone and flooding - 90% of all buildings were damaged or destroyed - has involved local fishermen volunteering to help.

Without the assistance of aid, fishermen with boats of varying sizes headed to cut off areas and collected as many people as possible - just like British sailors did following the Battle of Dunkirk.
Local fishermen have volunteered to help. Credit: ITV News

Close to the city of Beira is the district of Buzi which has effectively been turned into a huge lake, littered with ruined homes.

Buzi is effectively now a large lake. Credit: ITV News

Those still in Buzi have been forced to wait for waters to recede after taking refuge on the roofs of the remaining buildings.

Most people affected by what is one of the worst natural disasters to ever hit Mozambique, have had to survive on the bare minimum, without any help from the government.
Survivors have been forced to wait on roofs, hoping aid arrives. Credit: ITV News

More, including video, at the link.

https://www.itv.com/news/2019-03-22/orphans-mozambique-cyclone-idai/

Join Dan in his run for Congress to put country before party and get things done.

Called to Serve

Dan McCready is a Marine Corps veteran, small business owner, husband, and father of four. Dan grew up going to Charlotte-Mecklenburg public schools and camping in the North Carolina foothills on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout. Dan is now running for U.S. Congress as a Democrat in North Carolina’s 9th District.


Dan first felt called to serve our country in the years after 9/11, which happened while he was in college. Dan felt he had been given a lot and wanted to give something back, so he joined the Marines. Dan led 65 Marines in the 2007 Iraq surge. While in Iraq, Dan found another calling. His fellow service members helped him find his Christian faith, and Dan was baptized in water from the Euphrates river. He went on to be honorably discharged as a Captain.


Dan returned home to start a family and a business. After graduating from Harvard Business School and working at McKinsey & Company, he started a small business in Charlotte with another Marine and helped build dozens of solar farms throughout North Carolina that put 700 North Carolinians to work in good-paying jobs. Dan played a key role in North Carolina becoming number two nationally for solar power, and today North Carolina supports over 30,000 clean energy jobs. Witnessing the loss of mom-and-pop shops to big box stores, Dan was also inspired to support the craftsmen who still make things here in America. Dan started an online retailer called This Land that supported more than 50 American craftsmen.


Today, Dan once again finds himself called to serve. Dan was more than happy to keep building his small business and to spend time with his four kids and his wife, Laura, a former children’s attorney. But today Dan sees politicians who are so concerned with partisan games, they’ve forgotten who they are supposed to serve. They put party before country, special interests before working families, and divisiveness before solutions. North Carolina families deserve better. Dan’s volunteering to fight once again — this time for the families of the 9th District.

Donate at the link.

https://www.danmccready.com/

FDA approves first drug for treating postpartum depression
by LINDA A. JOHNSON AP Medical Writer

Tuesday, March 19th 2019


TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug specifically developed for severe depression after childbirth.
The agency on Tuesday approved Sage Therapeutics' Zulresso, an IV drug given over 2 1/2 days.

Sage said Zulresso will cost $34,000 without insurance, plus costs for staying in a hospital or infusion center. Whether the treatment gets covered by insurance is determined by each insurance company, which also sets the out-of-pocket costs, depending on the plan.

In a company-funded study of new mothers with moderate or severe postpartum depression, half the women given Zulresso had depression end within 2 1/2 days, about double the rate of those in a comparison group given dummy treatments.

Postpartum depression affects about 400,000 American women a year. It often ends on its own within a couple weeks, but it can continue for months or even years. It can be treated with antidepressants, which can take six to eight weeks to work and don't help everyone, or with counseling.


Much more at the link.

http://kmph.com/news/nation-world/fda-approves-first-drug-for-treating-postpartum-depression

From PBS Newshour:
Hat tip Arkansas Granny.

Extra arts education boosts students’ writing scores — and their compassion, big new study finds
BY MATT BARNUM - FEBRUARY 12, 2019

When you’re the big fish, it’s not OK to pick on the little fish just because you can.

That’s an important lesson for everyone. But some Houston first-graders got a particularly vivid demonstration in the form of a musical puppet show, which featured fish puppets and an underlying message about why it’s wrong to bully others.

The show left an impression on the students at Codwell Elementary, according to their teacher Shelea Bennett. “You felt like you were in that story,” she said. “By the end of the story they were able to answer why [bullying] wasn’t good, and why you shouldn’t act this way.”

The puppeteer’s show was part of an effort to expand arts education in Houston elementary and middle schools. Now, a new study shows that the initiative helped students in a few ways: boosting students’ compassion for their classmates, lowering discipline rates, and improving students’ scores on writing tests.

It’s just the latest study to find that giving students more access to the arts offers measurable benefits. And adding time for dance, theater, or visual arts isn’t at odds with traditional measures of academic success, according to the research — which amounts to one of the largest gold-standard studies on arts education ever conducted.

More at the link.

https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2019/02/12/study-arts-education-boosted-compassion-and-writing-scores/