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Dear FNAME,
I’ve just returned from my first ever trip to Timor-Leste, my dad’s country of birth. What an experience!
A lot of our time was spent in the back of four-wheel drives on some of the roughest roads I’ve ever been on, visiting the remote villages where East Timor Hearts Fund does its heart screening and preventative health work.
Until you’ve been to Timor-Leste you can’t imagine how isolated some of these communities are. Places where people have to walk for hours to get to the nearest basic health care. Or where you may have to travel for days by bus to reach a city hospital.
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Australia is a lucky country.
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Here, a visit to the doctor or hospital for most means a short drive. But this trip to Timor-Leste really showed me how tough it is to deliver good health care in a place where most people live in isolated and remote places.
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That’s why I’m stoked to be supporting East Timor Hearts Fund’s Every Heart, Everywhere campaign. We're raising funds to send East Timor Hearts Fund volunteer medical team to some of the most rugged and inaccessible corners of Timor-Leste next year.
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If we can raise $25,000 by 24 December, East Timor Hearts Fund will be able to mount its first remote area mission of 2019 in February. We can deliver on our goal of providing heart screening for more than 300 people from remote areas next year.
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Funds raised by the Every Heart, Everywhere appeal will also support education and preventative health programs in remote areas and help East Timor Hearts Fund provide follow up care for those who need it.
Can you kick in, to help us raise $25,000 by 24 December?
To mount these remote area missions, we need to charter light aircraft and hire four wheel-drive vehicles.
We need logistical specialists, pilots and drivers to transport and support our volunteers.
We also need specialist equipment. The machines used in hospitals for heart screening are the size of a washing machine. To go out on the road to remote areas, our volunteer medical team needs a portable device, which is about the size of a laptop computer.
A kind supporter has offered to match all donations made before midnight on 24 December. So if you contribute before Christmas Eve, you can double the value of your donation at no extra cost to you.
Donate before 24 December and double the value of your donation!
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Thank you in advance for helping East Timor Hearts Fund to deliver heart health help for Every Heart, Everywhere.
Lin Jong
Western Bulldogs
East Timor Hearts Fund ambassador
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PS: When I was in Timor-Leste I met 29-year-old teacher Roberto, who comes from the isolated western district of Oecusse. Although gravely ill, Roberto had to travel for days by ferry and bus to get to our clinic in Dili, so that our doctors could diagnose his rheumatic heart disease. Roberto's just had life-saving heart surgery in Australia. But with one in 28 young people in Timor-Leste suffering from rheumatic heart disease, there are many more like him.
I hope I can count on your donation.
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Donate by 24 December to
double the value of your donation!
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WATCH: Lin Jong's mission for Every Heart, Everywhere
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