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
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