About Us

      The Wear Surma ClinicBangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the world's most densely populated countries, with its people crammed into a delta of rivers that empties into the Bay of Bengal. Poverty is deep and widespread; almost half the population lives on less than one dollar a day. Every year, Bangladesh is blighted by extreme tropical monsoon flooding which lasts from 3- 5 months. It decimates crops and makes thousands homeless. Winter months can be pleasant, but extreme cold also brings misery.

In 1992, Carole and Terry Elliott established the Wear Surma Clinic. This is a tiny charity, run from home in Sunderland, with local volunteer Trustees and supporters.Boroudha village, with a population of around 3,500 has an infant mortality rate of twenty deaths in a hundred before the first birthday. Life expectancy in the area is 51 years and the literacy rate is only 16%.There is no direct road to the village and Boroudha is flooded for 3 - 5 months every year. During the Monsoon, access is often only possible by small boat.

Currently, the Clinic is providing:
·        Antenatal care.
·        Immunisation programme for children
·        Growth monitoring of children to detect early signs of failure to thrive.
·        Vitamin supplements for the children
·        Two outreach Health Education Programmes:
       1. An oral re-hydration (prevents deaths from dehydration due to diahorreal        disorders)
       2. A nutrition programme to reduce the incidence of iron-deficiency anaemia.
·        Micro-finance for mat and basket making
·        Micro-finance for sewing machines and training
·        Blankets and warm winter clothing
·        Facilitates third-world travel experience for Tyne and Wear students

As the result of 18 years fundraising, there is now:

·        Employment for 6 local people
·        A new, purpose built Child Health Clinic
·        A deep-bore fresh water well has just been constructed
·        A Sanitation and Tropical Hygiene education programme commenced in February 2008
·        An adult literacy programme
·        Support for the village school, which includes both scholarships and equipment eg. books, slates and desks and toys
·        A rolling programme to install hygienic tropical latrines on the Water Aid model

Solar Ovens

During recent visits to the Clinic and village, we became aware of major problems the villagers had trying to cook their food. Villagers traditionally cook on tiny wood fires which are always inside the hut. These wood fires are very smoky. They cause respiratory problems and we have seen terrible burns on children who have fallen into the fire. In addition, we were told that the firewood was expensive and scarce. On return to the UK we made some extensive research and eventually discovered that there was an elegantly simple and cheap solution to what in fact is a major international problem. SOLAR cooking!
A solar oven can be simply made from cardboard and aluminium foil and can cook a meal of fish, lentils, rice etc in less than 2 hours. Solar Cooking is now widely used in Africa, China, India and other sun-rich but fuel-poor countries.
It is estimated that a family in Africa can save more than 70% of its annual fuel spending, with a corresponding reduction in de-forestation. For some reason, solar cooking is not known in Bangladesh. However, by early 2010, we have successfully demonstrated to the villagers that one parabolic mirror solar cooker could provide a cooked meal for 50 school children. We are currently active with this programme.

In 1997, the Clinic founder (Carole Elliott – a Sunderland Health Visitor) was awarded the MBE

In 2010 Carole, a member of Wearside Rotary Club was awarded Rotary International’s highest accolade, the “Service Above Self” Award. There are more than one and a half million Rotarians worldwide, each performing his/her own unique service. Each Rotarian is an eligible candidate, but only 150 are chosen out of the 1.5 million. Carole’s award was for exemplary humanitarian voluntary service in Bangladesh for the past 18 years.