Gratitude for the generosity of people in times of change
EMMS has a longstanding relationship with India, partners and donors connected to the country. In her monthly blog, EMMS CEO Cathy Ratcliff reflects on the generosity of people in times of transition.
India - familiar to many, exotic mystery to others, wildly beautiful natural and human heritage, and place of paradox due to its size and complexity. What is undoubted is the affection in which many, many EMMS supporters hold India, and this has become clearer to me as EMMS transitions from our model of being largely government-funded to being largely privately funded.
Some of these supporters are from India, some are of Indian heritage, some spent formative years of childhood or youth or early work there, some have spent memorable holidays or work trips there, or travelled widely in India, and all have surely been inspired and moved by the vivid beauty and culture of India – not least its famous cuisine. Undoubtedly all hold a deep respect and love for India and its people. For many this is life-long, and this has become ever more apparent as EMMS and our work with our Indian partners benefit from ever more gifts from these supporters.
Many years ago, EMMS merged with Emmanual Hospital Association (EHA) UK, cementing a closeness with India which lasts today. The support of these admirers of India comes to EMMS in regular giving, surprise gifts, and legacies. The result is that this year 60% of our spend is now for India, in a wonderful show of solidarity between these supporters, EMMS and our Indian partners. These partners are all hospitals providing excellent healthcare. We help them to staff their hospitals with qualified local women, to improve their infrastructure and capacity as teaching hospitals, and to develop some of their specialist services such as palliative care.
We take joy in the work that we can do with these generous gifts, and we appreciate them all. But you can imagine our joyful surprise when we heard that South Asian Concern wished to give us a large gift, big enough to build a new hospital building at Kachhwa Hospital - and moreover encourage their supporters to donate to us as South Asian Concern closes, after 40 years of tireless, productive work. Last week, we signed a project agreement with Kachhwa Hospital, to build this new hospital building.
This gift is on top of our long-term extremely generous supporters, Jackie and Gordon Mackay and their Mackay Clinic, whose generosity transforms The Duncan Hospital in Bihar, while simultaneously helping to keep EMMS stable, as we shift more towards private, voluntary income.
All these generous gifts for India give us the stability and scale to do all our work, in all the countries we work in – Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia, Nepal and Scotland along with India.
Our work to transition to a more privately funded model is going well and to plan, with two new Fundraising and Communications staff settled in, two more due to start soon, and the development of new departmental strategies. All these gifts, surprise or not, are very welcome at smoothing our transition, lifting our mood in the midst of the hard work of all our staff, and helping us to know better those areas and aspects of India which these benefactors have loved. They help to shape our work, our travel, our inspiration and our future fundraising and plans.
I thank all these donors and assure them that their influence will live on for many years both in and through EMMS and through all the many, many people whose lives have been changed forever by the improved healthcare that these gifts enable. And who knows what changes those people themselves will bring about in turn?
Leave a legacy
"Thank you from the generation that is not yet born"
Shrimikhi, Graduate Nurse, India
By leaving a gift in your Will to EMMS International (SC032327), together we can continue to tackle the injustice of healthcare inequalities in some of the world's poorest communities for generations to come.
Please email legacies@emms.org for more information.
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