Life in Springland

To read correspondence from Alice about her life in Uganda, go to the first posting of this blog…she says hello and thank you to those of you helping to support her education!

So far I’ve raised enough to pay for Alice’s next term at University, her books, living expenses, bus ticket from her village 500 kilometers away, and physical therapy for her leg….thank you to those of you who have donated! She still needs $1500 for the rest of her schooling, so please pass this on. If you’d like to hear Alice’s whole story, let me know and I will send you the correspondence I’ve received from her.

Alice is a wonderful young Ugandan woman. Her parents died of AIDS, leaving her to be raised by her extended family.

2008 has been a hard year for Alice. Her family decided they could only afford to pay for their own children’s education. Then she was hit by a motorcycle and hurt her leg (Ugandans ride small motorcycles side saddle as a form of transportation).

She applied for a “dead quarter” at University and fell into a painful despair.

I had lunch with Alice during my Uganda trip in March. Seeing the pain she was in, but was trying to hide, I couldn’t believe she had come 500 kilometers from her village to meet me for lunch at Nkumba University.

She could barely walk and she had no pain medication, no walking aid and no money, but she was so calm and gentle! (In the picture above we’re all sweaty from the walk down the hill–she was holding onto my arm and nearly dragging her leg. I gave her all my ibuprofen).

I believe it was her dedication to education which gave her the drive to meet with me–by bus and foot. She knows education is the only way out of poverty, and I am her only hope for an education.

Though I couldn’t give enough money to finish her education, I did have enough for her to get x-rays.

Her leg was fractured and had been for three months. I gave her money to reset her leg, and get a cast, crutches, pain medication and a bus ticket back to her village.

I am not rich. I knew I would struggle a bit when I returned home if I gave her this money, but I also know the sacrifices I’ll make are so small compared to the benefits she’ll reap.

I learned upon my return home that, if I had not given her this money and she had waited, it would have been necessary to amputate her leg.

Alice’s leg will be better by next quarter and she wants more than anything to go back to University.

Please help me give the gift of education to Alice. She has three terms left before getting her degree in Development Studies. She wants to help people in her situation to move past poverty. I believe she will, especially knowing people in the United States are rooting for her.

$2300 will pay for the rest of her education, including tuition, books, food and living on campus. Anything, ANYTHING you can donate will help me move towards this goal. If, by some magical miracle, we raise more than $2300, I have another AIDS-orphaned friend who will benefit, and a list of others…

Someday I will create a scholarship fund for students like Alice. These are the humble, learning-beginnings.

You can donate directly to a paypal account (below) I’ve set up for this purpose. Once I have enough to pay for her school, I will deposit it directly into an account in her name at Nkumba University and announce it in an e-mail to you.

For more Uganda pictures, click on one of the pictures on the right side of this page to go to my Flickr account.

A Warm Thank you,

Spring