A Small Hiccup

Something that is very important to be able to convey when asking people for money, is what their money would be impacting and actually going towards. I was expecting to be seeing the maternity ward in mid-build when I go to visit in the spring. However, the actual building of the ward is being postponed until a little bit later in the spring so in the meantime we had to come up with other ideas of how to support women and babies in childbirth until the clinic is up and running.

So although we are still fundraising for the clinic, we are now also thinking of raising money for mother-helper kits which is a little sanitary kit with gloves and sanitary wipes. One of the main causes of death among women in childbirth is that many births are done at home in unsanitary conditions. And even if the women are fortunate enough to make it to a clinic, if they do not bring their own gloves, the doctor will use their bare hands. This leads to a lot of disease and infection for the mothers.

So how could I be a part of this?
Well, when I go to visit in the spring, I would be traveling around with John Kahlule and be giving out/ meeting the women who will be receiving this help. There is also the need to train midwives in order to train the women and the doctors in the clinic, which I will be looking into!

I am so excited to see where these new ideas and progress take us!

Progress

My progress this semester has been slower than I had hoped. College applications are taking their toll! This past week however, I have really started to move things forward.

I had the idea of putting money jars at the check-in and check-out of several stores. A very close family friend of ours works at Capital Care Pediatrics and has gotten permission from her boss to help me place containers there! I will be making business cards with the link to my blog, a description of who it would help and how each dollar would be utilized, as well as the link to the Engeye clinic website: ( http://www.engeye.org/engeye-maternity-center/ )

She also helped me to brainstorm several other ideas about places that may be open and willing to help me fundraise, which includes several other maternal care offices, or stores that are typically geared towards supporting small villages elsewhere in the world. I will be working to solidify this over winter break by going into the stores physically and preaching my case. I am hoping to have good results!

However, these methods of fundraising are helpful but not completely effective when attempting to raise large amounts. I met with someone who works in the business office at my school named Joe Hefta, and he helped me gather ideas and potential sponsors. I am excited to work with him further in my endeavors to help raise money for the clinic!

The BIRTH of the maternity ward (get it?) and my plans for this year

This past year, two Minerva fellows from Union college went to stay at the clinic for a few months. One thing they realized was the need for a Maternity ward. 800 women die per day due to birth related complications and 3 million infants die per year in Uganda.

This year I am hoping to: 

1. develop a plan with sources of income through means of fundraising (by winter break)

2. raise awareness of childbirth complications 

3. put my fundraising plan into action (by March)

4. turn the blueprints into a real maternity ward (by the spring/summer)

What would the fundraised money go towards? 

1. training for midwives

2. employees salaries 

3. materials to build the maternity ward

I will be going back to Ddegeya village during this coming March, over spring break to see the maternity ward be built in action! I am so excited. This means that my plan is to hold several fundraisers inside and outside of the Emma Willard community and be prepared to go over to Uganda by March. I was also hoping to get others involved and hopefully some other girls from Emma Willard will be able to come with me. By April, I hope to bring my experience back home and spread awareness of the impact. I can't wait!!!

How I got involved

How I got involved: 

As the product of my parents who have always been involved in community outreach, so have I. When I was about three years old, my mom and a woman named Theresa Weinman were in the PTA together.Theresa worked at Albany Med, and part of her job was to make sure that all of the med students there do community outreach and practice medicine under different conditions or with limited access to equipment (sometimes local, and sometimes internationally). Dr. Bob Paeglow (also at Albany Med) started missions where they would take 10 or so med students at a time to Dgeye village, Uganda. 

On one of these missions they found out about a little girl named Susan. Susan had been badly burned in a fire when she was 5, and had been living for years on the floor of a hut with open 3-degree burns. John Kahlule, head of the clinic in Ddegeya village, and a highly respected man in their village, brought her to the attention of the Albany Med staff. Theresa got Boston Children’s hospital to pay for both her flight over here, and for her surgery. She was here for 6 months recovering, at age 9. 

I got to meet her.

How I REALLY got involved: 

Susan had never been to school before, as her physical condition did not allow it. About 10 families here who had been in contact with Theresa, volunteered to pay a share of Susan’s tuition for her to go to school back in Uganda. With the help of Theresa and Elaine Hickey, the program spread rapidly to supporting about 50 students to go to school. With this network in place, John Kahlule started Engeye Scholars through his clinic. Families here would support students to go to schools in Uganda. All of those chosen were from the area surrounding the clinic. They have since decided to not only send kids to schools, but to make schools better in general, by building teacher housing, libraries, solar panels, and more as well. 

My visit to Uganda: 

In the summer of 2015 my family was given the opportunity to stay at the Clinic in Ddegeya village.

Apart from just playing with the kids from the village, we visited several of the schools in which students were being sponsored to go to. All of the kids WANTED to be there. I had forgotten how much of a gift education really was. When sitting in upstate New York, I had never had the opportunity to put faces to names. I didn’t know which schools the kids were studying in. I merely knew I was “helping” as many kids as possible to get an education. My pride diminished when I got there. At one such school, St. Gertrude’s, I was shocked at what stood before me. There were 162 students on the roster and only 98 were present that day. The rest had been sent home, unable to pay their equivalent of $10 tuition. That’s 2 starbucks drinks. Or one move ticket. The fact that I can even equate a child’s education to these things makes me feel sick to my stomach. There were only 2 teachers in sight. The classrooms were falling apart. The girls only recently had been upgraded to matresses, where they previously slept on a concrete floor. 

What did I do with this experience?:

With the permission of the school administrator, I took pictures of the teacher housing, the classrooms, the students, the pigsties in the back, the dilapidated latrine coverings. I wrote down numbers on teacher salaries, and students. When I came back I presented the information to the Theresa and the group of people involved in the Engeye Scholars program. We worked with John, and managed to get St. Gertrude’s a $5,000 grant in order to rebuild parts of the school and pay teachers so that they would actually want to work there. The school was also going to be switched out of the hands of its current owner, and into the hands of the clinic. Although this switched has been stalled, the buildings have been put up and solar panels cover the rooftops. It's still a work in progress.