Each and every one of us can do our part to change the world - Day 34

I’ve always been a very weak person.  At the sound of Sara McLaughlin, I immediately change the channel because I know I am incapable of stomaching the sight of her sad ASPCA animal commercials.  I remember about 6 years ago when my friend Anne and I toured a severely underfunded orphanage in Swaziland and were warned not to hold the innocent babies because then they would know what it was like to be touched and therefore miss what they didn’t have when we quickly returned them to their existence consisting of a dirty mattress on a cold concrete floor.  We also met the most amazing orphans living entirely alone in child-headed homes with no access to food, education, or love from an adult.  They’d sit all day alone in a cow-dung hut just existing.  This is something I could not turn away from… no channel could be changed to eliminate these images from my memory. It was that first trip to Swaziland that I realized that I had to try to do something for these children and the 120,000 others just like them – no matter how tiny that something may be.  I am shocked and incredibly thankful that years later my feeble attempts at helping this insurmountable feat has turned into Give Hope, Fight Poverty with people across our nation teaming together to help children that they have never – and may never – meet.  These children’s lives are forever changed because of the kindness of perfect strangers – you!  Words cannot express how indebted and eternally grateful I am to those of you who have donated time, money, or warm thoughts in our orphans’ directions.  Their future is changed because of you.  

Thanks to our donors and our team of service-learning volunteers, this summer 2013 we performed the following programs in rural Swaziland Africa:

·         Solar Energy/Cell Phone Program (completed):  Now all of our child-headed households have solar energy in their homes offering access to lighting.  We’ve also provided a basic cell phone that has a special charger able to connect to the solar battery. This program not only provides a safer environment but also offers a means of studying, cooking, and playing in the evening.

·         Hygiene Program (ongoing):  We delivered hygiene packs to all of our child headed homes containing basic items including toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, sanitary pads, deodorant, toilet paper, etc.  We need $900 annually to complete this project. 

·         FOODOM Feeding Program (ongoing): This program is able to provide nutrition for 634 eLangeni Primary School children, 630 eLangeni Secondary School children, and 19 child-headed homes.  We provide school lunch mainly consisting of mealies or rice and beans but also provide fresh vegetables and occasionally minced beef or cubed chicken for stew. 

·         eLangeni Primary Computer Lab (completed): Previously, we provided 7 brand new desktop computers and JumpStart animated educational software.  This summer we were able to add 10 additional laptops to our computer lab providing technology training to 634 impoverished elementary school children.

·         eLangeni Primary Children’s Library (completed): We built 4, double sided, 1.5 meter bookshelves and filled them with books for all ages.  We also created a reading area with a large carpet, painted lettering, pillows, and stuffed animals.  This is the very first of its kind!

·         eLangeni Primary School Sanitation/Hygiene Program (ongoing): Currently the primary school has only 8 pit latrines for 634 students.  Each pit is equipped to accommodate only 25 students so they are all overflowing.  To alleviate this public health disaster, we are building 8 brand new pit latrines and a handwashing station.  Right now the ground has been dug and the materials have been purchased.  We still need $1,200 to complete the project. 

·         Child-Headed Household Special Programs (ongoing): Each time we are in Swaziland, we identify a specific need at one of our sponsored homes.  This time we selected the Maziya homestead’s request for a fence around their subsistence farm.  Without it, the neighbor’s goats and pigs have been eating the vegetables the children have been growing to eat.

·         eLangeni Secondary School Agriculture Program (ongoing): In December, the school gave us our own land to plant crops.  This was to alleviate the burden of purchasing vegetables from far away farms to incorporate into our FOODOM school lunch program.  They have successfully cultivated enough crops to not only feed the school but to also offer a monthly grocery bag full for our sponsored child-headed families. 

·         Malindza Give Hope, Fight Poverty Primary School construction (ongoing): The builders have completed our pit latrine and laid the bricks for the first grade classroom foundation.  They will have completed the grade 1 and the grade 2 classrooms by December ready for the school year to start in January.  We still need $8,000 per classroom for the remaining 5 classrooms ($40,000 total)

We have loads of new programs on the horizon depending on funding including a reading/resource program at our eLangeni Pre-School, the ongoing construction of the Malindza Primary School, the ongoing construction of the eLangeni Primary School Sanitation Pit Latrine Program, the continuation of sponsoring our child-headed household orphans, and hopefully the start of a very first GHFP college scholarship!

 If you’d like to get on board, we’d love to have you.  You can:

1.       Volunteer in the Indianapolis area (contact annie: anniefightspoverty@gmail.com)

2.       Attend one of our “party for a purpose” fundraisers across the US (find dates and locations on our website: http://www.ifightpoverty.org/)

3.       Join us on an upcoming service-learning trip to Swaziland (find dates on our website: http://www.ifightpoverty.org/take-action.html)

4.       Sponsor one of our child-headed household orphan’s education: http://www.ifightpoverty.org/orphan-education-sponsorship.html)

5.       Donate toward one of our programs either by mailing a check made out to GHFP to 2436 N Alabama Street Indianapolis IN 46205 or online: http://www.ifightpoverty.org/donate.html)

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! There won’t be a new blog until I return to Swaziland November 23^rd. So until then, siyabonga (thank you) for reading, helping to spread the word, and for your support! Our orphans are lucky to have you. annie (anniefightspoverty@gmail.com)