TV Stations Publicize Airlift

TV stations in various parts of Uzbekistan announced the airlift and covered the delegation's activities.

For example, film crews met the delegations at the Andijon, Karshi and Samarkand airports. Uzbek women – including medical and nursing students in native dress – greeted the delegations with bouquets, and local health ministers thanked Physicians With Heart for the medical supplies.

In Tashkent, TV stations covered the Sept. 27 unloading of the cargo plane, chartered by the U.S. State Department; the Oct. 2 symposium; and the Sept. 28 visit to Boarding School #106, a grade school for handicapped children, including many with hearing problems.

The spouses of AAFP Board members and vice presidents collected soap bars, other toiletries and $275 for the boarding school students. Mica Copeland of Albany, Ga., and Ruth Ostergaard of Olathe, Kan., told the delegation, "We first thought we'd use the funds to buy rice for the children. Once we got here, we realized what they really needed were batteries for their hearing aids." In Uzbekistan, hearing aid batteries cost about $1 a month, far more than many families can afford.

Physicians With Heart partnered with the humanitarian organization Mercy Projects in selecting the school as an aid recipient. Many of its students had received hearing aids from Mercy Projects months ago. A Tashkent TV station filmed the children's skits, dances and welcomes. Mercy Projects staff said that when the children first received their hearing aids, many of them could hardly say their own names clearly. The speeches they gave Sept. 28 could easily be understood, showing their rapid progress.