Past Newsletters |
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This Issue:Facts-at-a-Glance: Health: Education: Getting Involved: About Us: Facts-at-a-Glance:
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Health: Happy Anniversary to the Calaba Town Clinic!
On opening day in February 2009, the clinic helped 350 people free of charge. Nestled in the same complex as the IDEA-sponsored Women’s Literacy and Vocational Program, the clinic continues to provide low-cost medical care for the people of the Calaba Town neighborhood in east Freetown.
Nick Hallack of MediSend was particularly pleased to assist with equipping the clinic. “Primary care clinics help preventing small health concerns from becoming lifethreatening. This also relieves the burden on local hospitals and emergency rooms.”
The clinic priorities for 2010 are to buy a microscope, lab supplies, and hiring a lab technician. The clinic learned that people were having a hard time finding them.Radio advertisements only reach people with electricity and a radio. A man with a megaphone now travels to gathering places at busy times. He lets people know that no one is turned away for inability to pay.
Counterfeit drugs are a big problem in Sierra Leone and the clinic has gained a reputation for having “good medicine.”
Clean Water
Clean water is so basic to human life that it is a health, education, and gender issue. Up to 90% of people in some areas of Sierra Leone suffer from water-borne parasites. An estimated 30% of girls are kept out of school to carry water from unclean wells to their homes.
IDEA is working with Water2Thrive and partners in Sierra Leone to hire local contractors to hand-dig ten wells. Construction of four wells began in January. We anticipate that all ten will be producing clean water by March.
Clean Water The program provides education about sanitation, repairing and maintaining the wells, and collecting fees for those repairs. Nine out of the ten new wells are in communities of less than 1,000 people. This means that girls will have time to go to school and people can be more effectively treated for parasites.
— Linda S. Templin, MPA Director of Development
Education:
Livestock Program:
This year another 1,133 families will receive livestock, but from other Sierra Leoneans.
The IDEA Foundation is proud to have sponsored 1,133 families in their new livelihoods as ranchers in 2009. The Livestock Program operates on a simple principal - Pay it Forward. “Living loans” of livestock are given to program participants on one condition: that they give away the gift animal’s first offspring to a new program participant.
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The IDEA Foundation partner nonprofit Heifer International has three, five-year projects in Port Loko, Kailahun District, and Western Rural District. A year was spent training recipient families in the care and uses of livestock appropriate to the environment and culture. Drugs and veterinary support services are also provided. Many of the recipient families are headed by war widows. Having extra food and income from the livestock means that they will be able to send their children to school. One of the most exciting aspects of the program is the relay-giving.
Additional families are being trained in 2010, and in November, the First-year recipients will have the honor of presenting someone else in their community with a gift of livestock. This program also trains Community Animal Health Workers to continue the program practices in future years. — Linda S. Templin, MPA Director of Development your friends and family, set a fundraising goal and track your progress. You’ll create a personal webpage, write your own description and add photos if you want. Go to www.heifer.org to get started.
Nurse Education Program
Congratulations Graduates!
The IDEA Foundation is pleased to announce that our first class of nursing students will be completing their studies at Njala University at the end of Spring 2010. This rigorous program is internationally accredited. As a bonus, the tuition support is renewing the university system.
Text Book Program
Providing elementary schools with sets of English and Math textbooks, it is easier for teachers to plan lessons and for students to learn. The school library books will provide additional resources for education. In addition, the container includes four pallets of books for Njala University’s Department of Nursing.
Women’s Literacy & Vocational Program
Congratulations to Ambassador Barnett!
The program welcomes two new staff members. The new Women’s Center Director is Halima George. The new Women’s Desk Coordinator is Princess Kobba. The Rev. Marie Barnett has resigned her position as Director of the Women’s Literacy and Vocational Program to serve Sierra Leone as Ambassador to Liberia. Rev. Barnett is a former Member of the Sierra Leonean Parliament and has considerable experience in the political arena.
IDEA wishes Rev. Barnett well in her prestigious new post.
— Jennifer Seaborn, MBA Executive Director
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IDEA congratulates our scholars on their dedication and hard work!
Students will not only receive a better education today, they will be better able to build better lives for their families for years to come. Students are learning how to read, write, and manage a balance sheet, so that they can run their own businesses. They also learn trades which are in demand: tailoring and cloth dyeing.
Once the students graduate from the 18- month program, they receive everything they need to open their own shop.
— Linda S. Templin, MPA Director of Development
Thanks to all who purchased holiday honorarium cards! Your generosity has helped sponsor a 40-foot container of books which is scheduled to arrive in Freetown in April. Ms. Kobba reports that the students are all so excited and eager to learn. They are really engaged.
Event-in-a-box
Recently groups gathered at the First Unitarian
Society in Denver and St. Andrew Lutheran Church
in Pittsburgh to learn more about the work of the
IDEA Foundation and enjoy a (mostly) authentic
Sierra Leonean buffet lunch.
The savory yam balls made a delicious pairing
with ground nut stew. PowerPoint presentations
provided information about Sierra Leone.
Each event raised enough to support the
education of one student in the Women’s Literacy
and Vocational Program and to fund the equipment
and supplies for her to open own tailoring shop.
If you would like to hold your own event-in-abox,
please email info@theideafoundation.org. The
kit includes recipes, a PowerPoint presentation and
staging suggestions
Donating Made Easy and Free
If you shop online, then you can give to the IDEA Foundation at no cost to you. Just go to iGive.com, select the IDEA Foundation as your charity, and shop to your heart’s content.
An average of about 2% of your purchase will be donated to IDEA. There are over 700 stores in the iGive network including perennial favorites Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ebay, Expedia, Home Depot, Nordstrom and overstock.com.
Blog from Sierra Leone
Each week, power supply permitting, Rev. Kate Warn blogs about her experiences living in Sierra Leone. Since moving to Freetown in February 2009, she has learned a great deal about this remarkable country and her observations provide a window into its rich culture. Kate’s blog is posted online at: onmissionsierraleone.wordpress.com
About Us:
Board of DirectorsExecutive Committee: Members-at-Large:
Management
(303) 260-6411 Public Relations
(303) 260-6411 Linda S. Templin, MPA Director of Development ltemplin@theideafoundation.org (303) 260-6411 | From the Executive DirectorAs you might expect, my first trip to Sierra Leone was a bit of a culture shock. My visit to an amputee camp was particularly enlightening. It was 2003 and the civil war was not long over. We visited people who had lost limbs in the violence. We spoke with a man whose arm had been cut off below the elbow. A fellow traveler wondered aloud what had happened to the man who had wielded the machete. The man we told us that the offender lived two villages up the road. We were stunned into a moment of silence before someone asked, “How are you with that?” The man paused a moment before responding,“When he cut my arm off, he hurt me. I cannot do the things I would like to do. I cannot care for my family the way I would like to. But people can see this injury and they can understand it." "When he cut my arm off, he maimed my soul in a way that no one can see and no one can understand. I do not need to do anything to him. He has enough problems.” Words fail me when I try to describe the awe I felt at that moment. So many of the people of Sierra Leone share this attitude and I am truly honored to be able to work with them as they rebuild their nation. Jennifer Seaborn |
Our Donors:
To our friends who have built this dream into a reality...
our heartfelt thanks.
Program Partners
Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Sierra Leone
Heifer International
Njala University
Water2Thrive
Honorariums
To commemorate an important event, consider sending an Honorarium Card in lieu of flowers or a wrapped gift. Because a grant supports IDEA’s administrative costs, 100% of the sales of Honorarium Cards go to support programs in Sierra Leone. Connecting with the greater good is a great way to mark an important occasion and share the love.
Special Thanks
Bishop Tom Barnett, ELCSL
Dr. Basiru Koroma, Njala University
Sarah Nichols, Gala Chair
Becky Gray, Gala Volunteer
Rev. Kate Warn, ELCA
Pr. Janet Grill, St. Andrew Lutheran
Church, Pittsburgh, PA
Arnie Carter, First Unitarian Society of Denver
Catherine Tietjen, Freedom House
Breanna Deidel, Johnson Well PR
Financial
$100,000 and up
Anonymous
MediSend International, Dallas, TX
$10,000 - $99,999
Books for Africa, St. Paul MN
Heart to Heart International, Olathe, KS
King of Glory Lutheran Church, Dallas, TX
$5,000 - $9,999
Northern Texas - Northern Louisiana Synod of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
$2,000 - $4,999
Friends of the Aurora Public Library,
Aurora, CO
Majors Scientific Books, Dallas, TX
Town North Bank, Dallas, TX
$500 - $999
Anonymous
IndexingPros, Denton, TX
Laura & Malcolm Learner
St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, Richardson, TX
$250 - $499
St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, Pittsburgh, PA
First Unitarian Society of Denver, Denver, CO
iGive.com, Evanston, IL
up to $249
Anonymous
Rita & Bernie Humphrey
Beth & Scott Haswell-Kirkby
Pat & Kenn Mingus
Bonnie & Keith Oltmann
The Toohey Family
