World Malaria Day

Today is malaria awareness day. Of all of the tragedy face by the third world today malaria may be one of the most heartbreaking because not only is it treatable it is preventable. However a child dies of malaria every 60 seconds. This is something that is particularly important to me because last year Humble lost its first student ever to malaria. Many of the children who attend Humble are orphaned so to lose a friend and a classmate to something so easily prevented is heart wrenching. As you get ready for bed tonight please take a moment, the time the children at Humble will be lowering their bed nets, to think about how something so ordinary (nighttime) changes the lives of those around the world so drastically. - Malaria is preventable and treatable - Every minute, a child dies of malaria - An estimated 655,000 people died of malaria in 2010 - The most deadly malaria is plasmodium falciparum - Malaria deaths have fallen by more than 25% since 2000 - Malaria is caused by a female mosquito that bites at night - 91% of malaria deaths occur in Africa - World Malaria Day is April 25th - Malaria costs Africa $12 billion annually - In Africa, 40% of health resources are used to treat malaria What we know, is the most effective prevention is the use of bed nets. Over 90% of those with access to IRS treated nets use them, and the nothing but nets campaign has been able to send more than 6million nets to Africa. To read more about malaria and the nothing but nets campaign please visit http://www.nothingbutnets.net

The man behind the mission.

Today after church I had the opportunity to meet Steve, the man who was so inspired by his trip to Mukono in 1999 that on the plane ride back he began to sketch his vision for what became to Humble School in 2004. It never ceases to amaze me how much of a difference just one person can make! Standing in the rain Steve told me about how when he went to the meeting for the church's first international mission he was more than hesitant to sign up, in fact he was the last person to join the mission team. Yet this couragous father of a two year old and a four year old returned to Norther Virgina with a plan!

Humble opened its doors for 116 children in february 2004 and today more than 50 students finished primary school at Humble and are in Secondary Schools around the country. I can only hope that 13 years from now my vision for Humble is a successful as Steve's and the the number of children who graduate from the school continues to grow!

You can STILL Donate!

Gaining momentum

Yesterday I had the opportunity to share my vision of bringing computers to Humble with some women who work with my mother at the National Maritime Center. I am excited to see women in my community getting behind this initiative, and it is my hope that my female friends and colleagues here in the states continue to set precedent for involvement over the next nine months. For those who don't know, organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank have indicated that the most successful development programs in the third world are those which not only involve, but target women in the community. Support is support nbo matter how you cut it, however it is refreshing to see young women in my community who are eager to share their gifts with the world!

With that being said, over the next few days I will continue to work on my business plan which I will share with you hopefully by Tuesday. Unitl then I leave you with some light reading about the role of women in economic development from the World Bank

http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2000/06/28/000178830_98101903345035/Rendered/PDF/multi_page.pdf

See your support in action

While we were in Jinja we had the opportunity to celebrate the opening of the women's empowerment center. Here women from around the region will be able to come and learn skills that will help them support their families. The center will also be able to utilize its land to grow food for the community and children will be able to attend primary school in the building on site. What a blessing it is to see our support in action!

Below the article link are some of the pictures I took at the center. I think the brown paper skirts (and pants which are not pictured) are so cool and very inventive! These amazing women do not let their lack of fabric stand in the way of them improving their sewing skills!

http://www.eaac-umc.org/Women%20empowerement%20Center.html

If you look really close you can see my BIG sunglasses in the far left of the picture!

Its been a month...now what

Now that we have returned and caught up with the daily rigamarole my mind cannot help but wander to the children we met at the Humble School. After spending a week with those amazing children all of us left with a spark to do something, however small. For me, I've never been good at small.....so now the blog will begin to highlight the journey BACK to Mukono.

Some families in Uganda recieve free primary education (k-7) for upto four children. However, orphan children, vulnerable children, and children born 5th will not recieve a free education. For these children (specifically those in the first two groups) raising the funds for primary school prove daunting to say the least. Further in order to continue education beyond primary school, students must excell on their Primary Leaving Exams AND gain sponsorship to pay for their eductaion. All of this means that as much as we love the 315 children at the Humble school, most of them will never step foot in another classroom once they leave the humbe school.

I would like to help the children at Humble increase their chances of successfully completing their primary leaving examinations AND gain sponsorships, as well as provide viable skills to those students who will leave Humble and enter the work force. To do this I would like to take 10 desktop computers which will be placed in a common room in the girls dormority. These coputers will help engage the students in learning by matching learning software with the learning objectives set my the Ugandan government. Further, the older students will have the opportunity to learn IT, web design, and advanced computer skills which will help them succeed in an economy where the need for those with computer skills is growing exponentially.

Some Pictures from the trip