Since the Oscar night win of Roger Ross Williams’ “Music By Prudence,” a short film that tells the heartfelt story of Zimbabwean band Liyana’s journey to fame, which was replayed for days due to co-producer Elinor Burkett’s Kanye West-inspired Academy Awards speech, Americans have a newfound appreciation for discovering authentic African bands.
Riding on that wave of interest are the students at the Mbiriizi Advanced Primary and Day Care School in the village of Mbiriizi, Uganda. The school, which is comprised of 1,001 children, with a quarter of them left orphaned due to the AIDS pandemic, is currently on the hunt for donations of various musical instruments, which they will use to start up their own Ugandan band. The goal is to have the student band hired to perform at local events and help cover school expenses.
The school is welcoming any and all donations of musical instruments, including everything from classic marching band fare like trumpets, trombones, tubas and marching drums to guitars, violins, tambourines and keyboards.
The school is the first of many models of African entrepreneurship being created by New Jersey-based charity Sylvia’s Children, an organization which raises funds and awareness for orphaned African youth. The non-profit seeks to help the school create a self-sustainable economy for itself, which will then be shared with schools in surrounding sub-Saharan African villages.
Since its launch in 2003, the organization has succeeded in ensuring an annual sponsorship for 93 of the 235-orphaned children and has raised $300,000, all of which has gone directly to the school. It has built a well and a fully stocked
library; purchased seven acres of land; donated an Internet-equipped computer; constructed a dormitory with triple-decker bunk beds; built a playground; provided sporting and musical equipment; and built three additional double classroom blocks as well as providing a full-time nurse and new stoves for increased cooking efficiency.
For more information, or to donate instruments, visit www.sylviaschildren.org, call (732) 946-2711 or e-mail Sylvia’s Children founder Sylvia Allen at Sylvia@sylviaschildren.org
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Update from Sylvia
It has been almost eight weeks since we returned from the medical trip and so much has happened, all in the positive.
The trip was rough.
The group was able to give a physical exam on all 1,000 children and what a group we had. Dr. Trish Gilbert with three nurses ... Dora Burke (Aunt Dora), Betsy Ann Gilbert (Trish's Mother-in-law) and JoDee Anderson (a nurse NOT related to Trish!) ... and her Father, Joe Todisco, worked non-stop to get everything done.
Found some medical problems ... some of which have already been solved and others that we are working on. One boy needed to have surgery on his arm ... one of the members of the trip stepped forward and paid for it. Thanks to Joe, Derrick will be fine!
Eight children had heart murmurs so they were taken to the clinic (run by an American doctor) for Echocardiograms. Two of them will need surgery within the next two years or it could be fatal. Currently have someone who will pay for transportation of the children and families to the U.S. - we just need a hospital/doctor to donate the service. Do you know of anyone we could approach?
The teeth are in terrible shape. I took two trips to the Masaka dentist: 12 children day one and 17 day two. Never liked going to the dentist that much in my life and discovered the African children like it even less! Apparently one of the "threats" that parents use is "If you don't behave you are going to the doctor/dentist." Whew.
We can certainly help the younger children by teaching them how to brush and having fluoride rinses. (We need 1,000 toothbrushes, 1,000 tubes of toothpaste and 1,000 fluoride rinses to start solving this problem.) Thanks to Dora, we now have large water containers outside each classroom and children can learn to brush their teeth. They can also drink more water as many of them were dehydrated.
It is so wonderful that we now have a baseline medical history for the children and can begin charting problems and successes!
REVENUE GENERATING ACTIVITIES
1. March 20 (the day we got back!) there was a Battle of the Bands (called Band-Aid for Uganda) at Holmdel High School which raised over $2,000 dollars.
2. The Joseph J. Catena School in Freehold held a penny wars and raised $1,080 which pays for three orphans to go to school.
3, And, the Joseph J. Catena School has been selected to be the sister school to the Mbiriizi Advanced Primary and Day Care School.
4, The third grade at Village School in Holmdel has been writing letters to P-3 and the P-3 children have been writing back. They are beautiful letters, from both sides, and the children are establishing wonderful international bonds and understanding.
5. With the JJ Catena school it is our hope to have children from Kindergarten to Fifth grade establish the same type of relationships with Top Class through P-5 and maintain those over a period of time. (Do any of you remember having a Pen Pal? I do ... mine was in Norway!)
6. Briana Stanfield and her mother, Ruby, have been promoting Sylvia's Children in Wayne, NJ and have had me speak to a number of groups. One of them, the Mothers' Club, is doing a clothing drive on Monday, May 17, to raise money for the chicken farm.
7. Brenda Thaner, from Middletown, has organized an eleven (11) Starbucks locations program for a clothing drive as well. From May 1 to June 15 people are being encouraged to bring their old clothes, shoes, stuffed toys, blankets ... you name it ... and drop them in the collection boxes at these 11 stores. (By the way, these boxes were designed and donated by AlphaGraphics in Red Bank who are WONDERFUL supporters of Sylvia's Children.) PODS donated a storage area that is parked in my turnaround. Our goal is 100,000 pounds which, at 13¢ a pound, would generate $13,000 which would allow us to buy 40 treadle sewing machines and build a facility to house those machines. Then the children can learn a trade and we can bring in the widows at 4 pm to learn how to sew uniforms which will be a revenue-generating business.
8. On Friday, May 14, Ryan Dolan is running the second annual Battle of the Bands (Band-Aid for Uganda) which will help us raise money for the sewing machines and building as well.
9. Sylvia's Children has been selected by the Lakewood Blue Claws (The Philadelphia Phillies farm team) as one of their charities for the year. We have to sell some tickets, though; anybody want some tickets (I have 100 left!) ... only $10 each! Any game you want ... just buy the tickets.
10. We had an exhibit at Monmouth University for two months and what a wonderful experience! We closed on April 30 with African food, a drumming circle and over 100 people! Next Brookdale and then Georgian Court in the fall. If you have any contacts with colleges or universities that would like to host this unbelievable exhibit, give me a call (732 946 2711).
And there is more and more ... just not enough time and room! We are getting ready to go back June 17-29 with 13 people! We are all so excited!
The trip was rough.
The group was able to give a physical exam on all 1,000 children and what a group we had. Dr. Trish Gilbert with three nurses ... Dora Burke (Aunt Dora), Betsy Ann Gilbert (Trish's Mother-in-law) and JoDee Anderson (a nurse NOT related to Trish!) ... and her Father, Joe Todisco, worked non-stop to get everything done.
Found some medical problems ... some of which have already been solved and others that we are working on. One boy needed to have surgery on his arm ... one of the members of the trip stepped forward and paid for it. Thanks to Joe, Derrick will be fine!
Eight children had heart murmurs so they were taken to the clinic (run by an American doctor) for Echocardiograms. Two of them will need surgery within the next two years or it could be fatal. Currently have someone who will pay for transportation of the children and families to the U.S. - we just need a hospital/doctor to donate the service. Do you know of anyone we could approach?
The teeth are in terrible shape. I took two trips to the Masaka dentist: 12 children day one and 17 day two. Never liked going to the dentist that much in my life and discovered the African children like it even less! Apparently one of the "threats" that parents use is "If you don't behave you are going to the doctor/dentist." Whew.
We can certainly help the younger children by teaching them how to brush and having fluoride rinses. (We need 1,000 toothbrushes, 1,000 tubes of toothpaste and 1,000 fluoride rinses to start solving this problem.) Thanks to Dora, we now have large water containers outside each classroom and children can learn to brush their teeth. They can also drink more water as many of them were dehydrated.
It is so wonderful that we now have a baseline medical history for the children and can begin charting problems and successes!
REVENUE GENERATING ACTIVITIES
1. March 20 (the day we got back!) there was a Battle of the Bands (called Band-Aid for Uganda) at Holmdel High School which raised over $2,000 dollars.
2. The Joseph J. Catena School in Freehold held a penny wars and raised $1,080 which pays for three orphans to go to school.
3, And, the Joseph J. Catena School has been selected to be the sister school to the Mbiriizi Advanced Primary and Day Care School.
4, The third grade at Village School in Holmdel has been writing letters to P-3 and the P-3 children have been writing back. They are beautiful letters, from both sides, and the children are establishing wonderful international bonds and understanding.
5. With the JJ Catena school it is our hope to have children from Kindergarten to Fifth grade establish the same type of relationships with Top Class through P-5 and maintain those over a period of time. (Do any of you remember having a Pen Pal? I do ... mine was in Norway!)
6. Briana Stanfield and her mother, Ruby, have been promoting Sylvia's Children in Wayne, NJ and have had me speak to a number of groups. One of them, the Mothers' Club, is doing a clothing drive on Monday, May 17, to raise money for the chicken farm.
7. Brenda Thaner, from Middletown, has organized an eleven (11) Starbucks locations program for a clothing drive as well. From May 1 to June 15 people are being encouraged to bring their old clothes, shoes, stuffed toys, blankets ... you name it ... and drop them in the collection boxes at these 11 stores. (By the way, these boxes were designed and donated by AlphaGraphics in Red Bank who are WONDERFUL supporters of Sylvia's Children.) PODS donated a storage area that is parked in my turnaround. Our goal is 100,000 pounds which, at 13¢ a pound, would generate $13,000 which would allow us to buy 40 treadle sewing machines and build a facility to house those machines. Then the children can learn a trade and we can bring in the widows at 4 pm to learn how to sew uniforms which will be a revenue-generating business.
8. On Friday, May 14, Ryan Dolan is running the second annual Battle of the Bands (Band-Aid for Uganda) which will help us raise money for the sewing machines and building as well.
9. Sylvia's Children has been selected by the Lakewood Blue Claws (The Philadelphia Phillies farm team) as one of their charities for the year. We have to sell some tickets, though; anybody want some tickets (I have 100 left!) ... only $10 each! Any game you want ... just buy the tickets.
10. We had an exhibit at Monmouth University for two months and what a wonderful experience! We closed on April 30 with African food, a drumming circle and over 100 people! Next Brookdale and then Georgian Court in the fall. If you have any contacts with colleges or universities that would like to host this unbelievable exhibit, give me a call (732 946 2711).
And there is more and more ... just not enough time and room! We are getting ready to go back June 17-29 with 13 people! We are all so excited!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Nathan Myhrvold: Could this laser zap malaria?
Nathan Myhrvold and team's latest inventions -- as brilliant as they are bold -- remind us that the world needs wild creativity to tackle big problems like malaria. And just as that idea sinks in, he rolls out a live demo of a new, mosquito-zapping gizmo you have to see to believe.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Sylvia’s Children Takes Business Model To Ugandan School
May 10th, 2010
By Andrew Robertson
Sylvia Allen has used her expertise in sponsorship and public relations as head of New Jersey’s Allen Consulting to spearhead Sylvia’s Children Inc., a non-profit created to help the children of Masaka, Uganda using a unique twist on education. When she reaches her ultimate goal, she will then apply the same model to ...... Read On!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)