#GivingTuesday

Please Don't Forget!

On Tuesday, December 1 you have an opportunity to join hands with donors around the globe in supporting the biggest Give-Back day ever!  We hope you will think of HealthEd Connect on #GivingTuesday.

It's easy to make a gift: Donate Now

#GivingTuesday is a global day of giving, founded in 2012 by New York's 92nd Street Y in partnership with the United Nations Foundation. #GivingTuesday follows Black Friday and Cyber Monday, on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States. To date, #GivingTuesday has engaged more than 10,000 organizations worldwide.

Let's join hands to make this a better world! 

Where your money goes

Home client (L) with Theresa (R)

We just received this email from our Kasompe, Zambia School Board Chairperson.  It's intended for YOU!!!

You people, you have changed lives of many people. we have stories to tell, i personally you have made me meet important people by teaching us how to make beads. lives of women in Kasompe has changed. For sure Health Ed is there to empower women and children through health and education. We have one child a girl who was at our community school. she is completing her high school academics this year. look, our teachers are all females and i am happy for this because women in the past were over dependent on men in Africa. So there was a lot of cases of Gender Based Violence.

...Sherri and Jac have planted a seed of peace and it is this peace that will keep strengthening our relationships, God will always water our projects because we are doing what is written in James 1 v 27. I am happy for you. you are caught in the web of blessings of God.

                       

                                                        Icibote

                                                    Theresa, Board Chairperson

   

5060 Birthday presents!

Kali (R) and friend Grace displaying
the 5060 birthday presents

Our granddaughter, Kali, chose to forgo birthday presents for herself this year and instead asked her friends to bring hair ornaments for the girls in the Girls Achievement Program (GAP) in Zambia.  In addition to the presents, Kali and her friends wrote girl-to-girl notes to accompany the hair accessories.  There's going to be some wide-eyed GAP girls when they see 5060 colorful goodies unlike any they've ever seen before that only girls can fully appreciate!!!!

The grand total verified by calculator was:

• 4675 colorful rubber bands
• 35 Hair flowers and bows
• 26 Hair clips
• 40 Beads
• 84 soft hair bands

 

A first!

Women in DR Congo

The week of October 8 was a huge milestone against Ebola.  For the first time since the outbreak, there were no new cases reported.  A new worry has emerged, however, due to a Scottish nurse possibly relapsing after being declared Ebola free in January.

The message is still being spread from the HealthEd Connect Ebola workshop held in Zambia in January 2015.  A number of workshops have been held in various villages and towns in DR Congo, Malawi, and Zambia as the Wasaidizi health workers have shared the information they learned at the workshop.

Even though Ebola is totally off the radar screen in the U.S., people in Africa are very aware that new cases could surface at any time in their back yards.  They are eager to know the facts so they can respond accordingly should Ebola ever emerge in their areas.

Nose Above Water

It's hard to be a tweenage girl in Zambia

Our Girls' Achievement Program (GAP) is taking big strides toward keeping girls in school.  Not an easy task in Zambia!  Caregivers want girls to help out at home, older boys entice them to move in with them, girls get pregnant, etc. We're working to counteract those forces by making our GAP program so much fun that the girls work hard to stay in school so they can attend.

A recent NPR radio special verified our concerns.  According to NPR by the 5th grade, school drop out rate in Zambia is 3 times higher for girls than boys.  If they don't drop out, most girls don't make it on to 8th grade because they can't afford the government school fees. We're working on that too by providing scholarships.

Interesting...in the US it's illegal to keep your kids out of school.  In Zambia, you have to pay to keep them in school!!

Raising the roof!

The new Kasompe classroom block is rising!  The foundation was dug a couple of weeks ago, the foundation is in, and we're on the move to raise the roof before January.  The classrooms seen in the background are the first 4 constructed.  The new wing will add 3 more classrooms plus a special room designated for the tireless Kafwa health workers.  Everyone is thrilled!

For you detailed oriented people, don't panic thinking the trenches are misplaced and heading smack toward the middle of the existing building.  The trench is actually for the footings of the veranda which will connect the two classroom blocks.

The Kasompe school is about 2 hours drive from the Chipulukusu school.  The first Kasompe 7th grade students will graduate next month and we're eager to see if they meet the quality challenges set by their sister school in Chipulukusu.

Ledgers!

Grace (L) Mr. Milimo (head teacher), Jackson (contractor); Bernard sitting.

Schools don't just happen without lots of adults to keep things going.  An amazing group of volunteers provides ongoing support at each school.   Each treasurer has a committee that must sign off on every expense entry in his/her ledger.  Receipts must be verified and filed.  Supplies must be purchased for the classrooms as well as school lunches.  School buildings must be maintained and kept in good repair.  Huge job! The schools wouldn't exist without caring adult volunteers.