work. Ruth is shy at first, but

soon she eagerly describes

her work with the World

Health Organization and the

Red Cross. We are encour-

aged by what she has learned

and her practical experience.

Next, Gary, Janet and Jean

spend time seeing patients

and learning the operations

of the Nabbingo Clinic, which

is serving our students and

their families. We seek to

understand its challenges

and to facilitate a much-

needed expansion of services

and facilities.

Amy and Mikaela learn to

cook Ugandan food with

Julie, Fr Lawrence‟s family

cook and a great source of

information on Ugandan

culture. Dave meets with

Collins, our accountant, to

share procedures and catch

up. (see page 2)

Never in the history of

Change a Life have so many

come to see, learn, hope, cry,

wonder, celebrate, mourn

and share the special gift of

life with our Ugandan

friends. Our team is made up

of the best volunteers money

can‟t buy. We are an HIV

Specialist Physician‟s Associ-

ate, a nurse midwife, a re-

tired Merck VP, several cur-

rent and retired Merck em-

ployees, a city planner, a

retired Wall Street venture

capitalist, and an enterpris-

ing social director who also is

the daughter of the President

and Vice President of CALU.

We bring a wealth of skills

and enthusiasm, and we are

about to experience life les-

sons that we will keep with us

for the rest of our days.

Our Ugandan Team meets

us at the airport. In no time,

we are off and running to

meet students and work at

the clinic in Nabbingo. First

we head to Makerere Univer-

sity to visit Ruth, one of our

sponsored

students.

She is one

of our first

university

graduates

and needs

only to complete her senior

research paper in social

Uganda Trip 2010 “The Dusty Dozen” D. Thelen

Fr. Lawrence joins us from Sept 14 to Sept 27

As many are preparing for the

Sept. school opening, the CALU

team is getting ready for Fr.

Lawrence‟s return visit. With a

2010 goal, the expanded diver-

sity of our sponsors, we are

delighted that Jackie and Greg

Robinson are hosting an event

for their friends from the Afri-

can American community on

9/17 .

Old Tappan welcomes him

9/18 at the Grifonetti „s and

at St. Pius X Church on 9/19

followed by the College of St.

Elizabeth at 6PM on 9/20.

Board members Kerry Chan-

dler and Nancy Singer have

planned events hosted re-

spectively in Rumson on

9/24 and in North Wales, PA

on 9/25. Our previous

breakfast welcome will be

replaced by an evening gath-

ering on 9/19, location TBD.

Our Connecticut team is fi-

nalizing their plans. Call 732

899 8483 to host a gathering

or for schedule info. Check

www.changealifeuganda.org

for updates.

Our Ugandan staff and nine of our

US team get to know one another

during their Nile and Murchison

Falls team building experience.

Meet Grace Tabu and her

sponsor Sandy Gallagher

Longley. Thanks to Sandy,

Grace is safely housed in the

new dormitory at St. Lawrence

School. Grace‟s family situation

deteriorated last year when her

mother, in response to an abu-

sive home situation, left with her

young baby leaving four other

children in a precarious situa-

tion. With help from two other

Change A Life sponsors, her two

sibling Simon and Maria are also

in the dormitory. We are work-

ing to provide a similar safe ha-

ven for the third sibling Henry.

August 2010 Volume 1, Issue 1

TODAY

CHILD SPOTLIGHT

We meet Karen, Nancy and

Harry, our new arrivals, and

are off to Murchison Falls for

“team building”. Our Ugan-

dan team has never seen gi-

raffes or lions in the wild. A

late night call of nature turns

into a great story: we are all

grateful that Gary thought

quickly to run for the roof of

his cabin when confronted

with a first-startled, then-

charging hippo!

As we visit families enrolled

in Change a Life‟s microfi-

nance program and the

St Lawrence School in Mi-

geera, we get down to busi-

ness. The school has become

a model school in the Na-

gasangola District with

502 students (120 are spon-

sored by Change a Life) and

17 teachers, plus 3 staff. The

dormitory houses 60 stu-

dents, thanks to our “Bucks

for Beds” program. We now

have a library, a secretary, a

copy machine, a warden and

matron for the dorm resi-

dents, an art and music pro-

gram, and expanded demon-

stration garden and an empty

computer room (no com-

puters yet, waiting!)

The latest hit on “Dancing

with the Stars” could be our

St. Lawrence School students

with the rhythmic moves of

their traditional dances.

Next, the teachers played the

student‟s soccer team in an

exhibition game. Their soccer

uniforms have CALU (Change

a Life Uganda) on them. The

school pride is palpable.

The school still desperately

needs a well and rainwater

cisterns to ensure permanent

access to water for drinking,

cooking, and hand washing.

$22,000 from our “Quarters

for Water” project will fund

three collecting tanks and

begin the well process.

Next, we learn about the

status of our 10 pilot microfi-

nance projects. Scott (our

latest arrival) makes astute

business observations, which

are helpful. He immediately

sees the weakness in live

stock projects where the pigs

are all bought at the same

time. The borrower can‟t

payback loans until the pigs

mature and are sold. The sim-

ple answer is to buy a few pigs

at a time and stagger their

development so when a pig is

sold a payment can be made

on time. He sees the strength

of group approaches and

varying the projects. Also

parents who have not been

educated in saving and budg-

eting, need to be taught about

banking and good financial

practices.

On the plus side, the brick

maker, the owners of the

beauty salon and the retail

shop that sells hair extensions

and phone cards, the women

raising chickens and pigs,

sewing uniforms and selling

charcoal have successful mi-

crofinance projects and are

repaying their loans.

The team members on our

health committee visit clinics,

to understand why patients

seem to prefer private clinics

over government clinics. The

government‟s clinics run out

of medicine regularly and

seem to offer services that are

not provided in reality. Our

clinic building in Migeera has

stood empty for 4 years and is

75% finished. We are commit-

ted to find funds to finish,

furnish and staff it. Untreated

HIV, TB, malaria and mater-

nal health issues create an

urgency to provide health care

services to our people of Mi-

geera and Nabbingo.

As our folks return home, we

set priorities and plan to take

action based on the needs

identified by our Ugandan

colleagues. It is clear that we

are going to need to move to a

whole new level of growth to

continue to improve educa-

tion, provide effective health

care, expand our water efforts,

and help develop markets and

self-help economies so that

our parents can sustain their

families. The extended fami-

lies headed by women, grand-

mothers with 12 children,

grandfathers with 8, orphans

with no one to rely on but

Change a Life and their

neighbors -- need us to take it

to the next level.

The “dusty dozen” has the

talent and the drive to take

our efforts further. I try to

give, but I always receive more

than I give. My spirit grows,

but some days I feel off bal-

ance with the responsibilities.

Then I get a boost from the

extraordinary people who join

us on our journey to change

lives. I know we are on a mu-

tual trip, giving and getting at

the same time. Dave Thelen

A Model School

Uganda Trip 2010 “The Dusty Dozen”

A hard working brick maker

help his family with a microfi-

nance loan from ChangeALife.

Quarters for Water

Health/HIV

Janet exams a pregnant mother.

Microfinance

Future Priorities

St. Lawrence School

www.changealifeuganda.org

changealifeuganda@gmail.com