Still truckin'

Andrew Murphy has been training for weeks getting ready for the big day.  He is running the Waddell and Reed Kansas City half marathon on October 17 and has a huge incentive!

He's running for HealthEd Connect with all proceeds going to the Teacher Mentor fund.  The initial mentoring lovingly provided by Lisa Ash and continued by Andrew has resulted in two of our schools being named Model Schools by USAID.

Please encourage Andrew and help the kids by donating to the Teacher Mentor fund by clicking here Donate Now

What's next?

This little Nepali cherub seems to be asking, "what's next?"  She's not the only one!

After months of trying to survive the earthquake, aftershocks, and subsequent monsoons, little has been done by way of reconstruction.  The Huffington Post recently published an article saying  the $4 billion donated for aid has still gone undistributed.  In the meantime, the people suffer.

This underlines again, the agility and importance of small NGOs like HealthEd Connect that get the job done.   Most recently the health workers have concentrated on trying to make life a bit easier for the children.  Activities have been organized for playing as well as  sharing their stories of the earthquake.  We've found a delightful little book in Nepali that tells a story of The Day the Earth Shook that the children love.  The most recent activity was held in Kathmandu with over 80 children.  A previous event in Biratnagar reached 40 children.

Ending Preventable Deaths

Sinkhani Angela in Chisemphere Malawi

The World Health Organization has huge and worthy goals with a plan to end all preventable deaths of women and children by 2030.

Flavia Bustreo, WHO Assistant Director-General for Women's and Children's Health, recently said, "As we approach the end of 2015, it is clear that progress in child and maternal survival is one of the great success stories of international development."  Child and maternal deaths have been halved since 1990.  In 1990, one in 10 children died before the age of five.  Today that number has dropped to one in 20.

We know who the real heroes are in bringing about a significant part of this change: the health workers who have worked tirelessly to weigh and monitor babies, teach moms, and raise health standards wherever they live.

Unbelieveable!

Red tape has totally mired the post-earthquake aid efforts in Nepal.  Over $4 billion in aid sent by good-hearted people like you has still not been distributed.  Here's an update from the Huffinton Post. 

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nepal-hasnt-spent-an-of-the-4-billion-in-donations-since-earthquake_55e74a6ee4b0c818f61a486e

Entirely different story for HealthEd Connect.  Your $14,000+ dollars were put to work within hours.  Now we're bringing long-term relief through other means such as post-traumatic-stress programs for the children.

The 3 Musketeers

The three girls chatting with Natalie Sherer

Tara Sheehy reporting:

Joyce, Catherine, and Precious all introduced themselves to us on the very first day that we were in Chips [in June]. I couldn't believe how confident and brave they were to just come right up to us. I felt immediate friendship. Catherine even told me that I was beautiful and that she loved my dimples! (I thought that was pretty funny). All three of these girls are involved in GAP  [Girls Achievement Program] and spoke very fondly of it. Joyce, Catherine, and Precious also all live with their grandparents and have 8, 5, and 4 siblings respectively. These three girls were inseparable while we were in Chips and always loved to break out in song together.

GreatNonprofits

If you love HealthEd Connect then tell the world! You have an opportunity to help us make even more of a difference in our community. GreatNonprofits (a review site like TripAdvisor) is honoring highly reviewed nonprofits with their 2015 Top-Rated List. Please help us raise visibility for our work by posting a review of your experience with us.  All reviews will be visible to potential donors and volunteers.

It’s easy and only takes 3 minutes! Go here to get started! http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/write/healthed-connect

Please do it NOW.  We're nearing the deadline and won't get another chance until this time next year.

Many thanks!

Talk about cute!

Just like Mommy

While walking back to the church after home visiting in Kasompe, we veered off the path to greet Abigail, one of our Kafwa, at her home.  When we rounded her little thicket fence we were in for a real treat!


It was laundry day at Abigail's and she had given her daughter, Shalom, and the little neighbor girls a pan full of water brimming over with soap suds so they could 'help.'  They were obviously having an awesome time making bubbles, sudsing clothes, and getting wet all over.   The camera subdued them a bit but not for long.  The one standing up was scrubbing with both hands as fast as she could.  Just like Mom.  So cute!!

Old Lamplighter

Are any of you (besides me!) old enough to remember the song, The Old Lamplighter?  I heard it again recently and it struck a new cord.  For those of you who don't know, the words go like this...

He made the night a little brighter,
Wherever he would go.
The old lamplighter
of long, long ago.

That's an excellent description of our Kafwa!  Whether delivering babies in the DR Congo in the middle of the night, or taking supplies into villages devastated by an earthquake in Nepal, or visiting home-bound AIDS victims in Zambia, or weighing babies in Malawi to get them on a road to health, the Kafwa are making people's lives brighter wherever they go.  The exciting part is that it's not "long, long ago."  It's happening even as you read this.  Hats off to the Kafwa lamplighters!