Samburu school girls

All over the world it’s been a difficult year with loss, illness, drought, death and  economic turmoil. Many started to lose hope.

“Hope is never lost,” “Impossible things are only the things you refuse to do.” John Dau, Lost Boy of Sudan

Where is  hope for a crumbling world wrought with corruption, empty rhetoric, apathy, greed and plain ignorance? How do we get out of our own selfishness, posturing for position and obsession with what I got that I don’t want or what I want that I haven’t got?
In the midst of my own self-centered fog, I first got a taste volunteering at a single mom’s program in Chicago in 1998. I witnessed young, homeless single girls turn into good parents, highschool graduates and skilled workers with big smiles.  Years later I watched some great kids leap up in grades just reading with Whiz Kidz in Denver. http://www.whizkidstutoring.com When I stepped out of the USA to fulfill a dream in Kenya I was part of an organization empowering poor farmers to start businesses that get them out of poverty permanently and quickly. It was a blast. www.kickstart.org
I’m hooked on hope. We create it. It’s not about handouts. Handouts don’t work. The answer is in empowerment, education and opportunity. The more you know, the more you can do to change the root of the world’s problems.

This short video shows how one girl does change the world. www.thegirleffect.org

•   With 7 years of education, girls marry later, have fewer children
•    Educated girls have healthier babies.
•    When women start businesses and earn their own money, they use the funds for: clean water, healthcare, food, education for their children
•    HIV risks and incidences decrease
•    They earn more respect and  a voice with the men and the leaders of their community
I believe in the girl effect. I am the girl effect.

Vumilia Home for Girls

My dear friend Rose runs an orphanage in western Kenya www.vumilia.org. She’s had a tough year, at times there wasn’t any food to feed the 22 girls at the home. Funds are short.  She thought about giving up. Kenya government officials told her if she gave up she’d have to give the girls back to relatives. “But they are the ones who raped, neglected and abused them.” The girls are happy and safe at Vumilia.

“I’ll do my best, whatever that means, “ she said a few weeks ago.

Linda

The oldest girl Linda was homeless and caring for her very ill mother before she came to Vumilia. They had no food or few shillings to buy candle wax so she could study at night. She walked  miles to ask Rose if she could stay at Vumilia so  she could improve in school. Linda did pass the  exam to get into highschool and worked vigilantly the last few years.  She is a natural leader, poised and bright.  The little ones look up to her and follow her lead in helping others and doing chores.  Linda did not pass the exam for university. Now she has the opportunity to continue school  to become a flight attendant, if she can raise the funds for tuition and housing.  Consider donating $200 or more to Vumilia. You’ll give a girl like Linda a chance to fulfill a dream of education, opportunity and the chance to succeed.

To make a tax-deductible contribution to Vumilia in the USA:

African Children’s Haven supports Vumilia as one of its projects as their agent in the United States.

  1. Make check payable to: African Children’s Haven
  2. Write in the subject line: Vumilia Fund
  3. Mail to:
 African Children’s Haven c/o Mary McVay, Vumilia Fund Manager 
641 N. Humphrey Ave
Oak Park, IL 60301
.
  4. You will receive an acknowledgement of your gift with a receipt

    little ones at Vumilia

    laughing with miss cindy

You can donate on-line through the Africa Children’s Haven website, although handling fees are deducted from your donation: www.africanchildrenshaven.org
Questions? Contact Mary McVay, Vumilia Fund Manager: mary@mcvay.us

Recommended Reading

Half the Sky, Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide This book  by Nicholas Kristoff (NY Times writer) and his wife Sheryl Wudunn provides thoughtful answers and suggestions to give in a way that will benefit a real person and won’t just finance corruption or aid bureaucracy.
 
To learn more, check out Global Giving http://www.globalgiving.com

Global Giving is an online marketplace that connects you to the causes you care about–AIDS, microfinance, education — and the location. You select the projects you want to support through a tax-deductible contribution. You get regular progress updates and see your impact.

Giving is better than taking. I guarantee you’ll have the time of your life.