Friday, December 31, 2010

New Year's Postcard From Uganda

To all our extended family~

This new year, when we are popping champagne and making our resolutions to lose those "extra 10 pounds", let's try to remember how fortunate we are and how much we do have in comparison with others around the world.

Let's be thankful for our families and friends, for our health and for everything we are fortunate enough to be blessed with.

And let's make one of our resolutions this year a totally unselfish one ~ let's resolve to make this a better world to live in for everyone...please keep Umar Jjubya in your thoughts this New Year, he is one of our orphans who is very sick right now and needs all of our strength to get better.

All the best in the new year to you and your families and thank you for continuing to be part of ours!

Sylvias' Children

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Charity seeking medical doctors, nurses for Ugandan trip in 2011


Sylvia’s Children, a 501(c)3 organization based in New Jersey, is looking for all types of medical professionals interested in a voluntourism opportunity caring for children in Uganda, Africa, March 17-29, 2011. Those interested can contact Sylvia Allen at sylvia@sylviaschildren. org or call 732-946-2711.

Sylvia’s Children supports more than 1,000 children at the Mbiriizi Advanced Primary and Day Care School, located in Uganda, Africa, and situated 40 miles away from the nearest health facility. The charity has been making one medical trip a year for the past two years to help service the needs of the population.

According to a press release, there is very limited access to health care in this part of Uganda, and care that is available is often years behind the standard of medical care in developed parts of the world. Something as simple as sanitary supplies for girls is often not available or unaffordable.

As such, the charity is looking for nurses, nurse practitioners, pediatricians, dermatologists, ENTs, dentists, dental assistants, physical therapists and infectious disease specialists who would be interested in making the trip to help provide care. The cost of the trip is $3,500 all inclusive—airfare, hotel, all meals, ground transportation, water, and a three-day safari at the Mweya Lodge.

Last year the group of volunteer nurses and a doctor examined each child and created a medical history for each youngster. Children were treated for a range of ailments, including diseases of poverty, consequences of malnutrition and complications of HIV/AIDS. The group also carried over donated medical supplies that were used for treatments.
The charity was launched seven years ago by Sylvia Allen, a New Jersey businesswoman who made her initial trip to Uganda with a mission group she met while teaching at New York University. The Mbiriizi school was one of the places the group visited. A quarter of the children at the school had been orphaned or lost one parent to the AIDS pandemic plaguing their country. The mission of Sylvia’s Children has been to raise awareness and funds to educate, feed, clothe and shelter these children at the school, according to the press release.

Since starting the organization, Allen has succeeded in getting annual sponsorship for 93 of the 235 orphaned children and has raised $400,000-plus, all of which has gone directly to the school as all administrative expenses are covered by her public relations firm, Allen Consulting. She has also constructed a fresh water well; built a library and filled it with books; purchased 7 acres of land; donated a computer with Internet access; constructed a dormitory; built a playground; bought additional bunk beds for the boys’ dorm; provided sporting and musical equipment; and built three additional double classroom blocks as well as hiring a full-time nurse and building new stoves for increased cooking efficiency.

In addition, two businesses have been started. With the building of a chicken coop and raising chickens, each child can now get one egg a day (needed protein) and the extras can be sold at the market. In addition, the school now has a building with 40 sewing machines so the children can learn a trade and additional business can be garnered by sewing uniforms for the private schools in the area.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Catena pupils link up with Ugandan youths

BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Sylvia Allen, the founder of a nonprofit organization that provides children in Uganda, Africa, with services and necessities, recently put into place a program that now connects Ugandan youngsters with children in Freehold Township.

The children are writing to each other as pen-pals.

Recently, Freehold Township postal worker Jennifer White brought a “special delivery” of hundreds of letters to students at the Joseph J. Catena School, Burlington Road, from pupils who attend the Mbirizi Advanced Primary and Day Care School in Uganda.

Read on........

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Merry Christmas!!

This year every girl got a new dress and every boy a new shirt plus a “goody bag” with sun visor, crayons, sunglasses, pencils, crayons, thumb puppets, candy and more! We stuffed 1,000 bags! Here you see 1,000 children assembled in their new “outfits”!

In addition, we had a wonderful lunch with Betty’s great rice and meat sauce, cake and soda. Serving 1,000 can be fun, particularly when it decides to rain halfway through! J .

We also had jewelry so the staff was able to have a “shopping spree” in the library. This is becoming an annual affair and is fun for all of us! All the jewelry is donated and then laid out according to necklaces, bracelets, rings, watches, pins and miscellaneous. Sylvia with the lovely Sara from the kitchen (and ALL the jewelry and ALL the stuffed bags!

For many of us, this trip provides us with the real meaning of Christmas. It is a joy to provide these children with something they might never get as well as providing those of us who went a lifetime memory of joy and happiness.

From all of us at Sylvia’s Children and the Mbiriizi Advanced Primary and Day Care School in Uganda, Africa we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Joyous and Happy New Year. Let’s pray for peace around the world in 2011!