BRIGHT KIDS FRIENDSJuly 2012 Newsletter: Number 1

Director and Founder: Victoria Nalongo,Board Members:

Brooke White, President; Megan Shannon, Vice-President; Pauline Greenlick, Treasurer and Secretary; Nina Rifkind, Counsel; Kristin Frye, Bright Kids (USA) Foundation Program Coordinator and Director

of Bright Kids Enterprises. Louis Picard; James Leaman and Margo Lastick

Welcome to Bright Kids first newsletter! Thanks to all of our Bright Kids friends. It is through your support that many of the children have had the opportunity to attend school with all school fees paid. In addition, many sustainable projects have been completed or started, and best of all a new health clinic is being built. It will be named after Gloria Namusoke, a beloved Bright Kids child, who passed away this past January. Her memory will live on through the clinic, ensuring that the children of Bright Kids stay healthy.

Bright Kids

1. New Health Clinic page 22. Interns from University of Pittsburgh and Florida State page 33. Volunteering page 34. Sustainability page 45. Education page 46. Donations page 5

Progress on the Health Clinic

The New Health Clinic construction is nearing completion!

We are happy to report that since the arrival of the student group Global Peace Exchange from Florida State University, construction has begun on a health clinic to service the children of BKU and the surrounding community. Global Peace Exchange worked with BKU over the course of this year to plan for the clinic’s construction and to raise funds through grant-writing and other fundraising campaigns.

So far, the money from Global Peace Exchange has supplied all of the necessary building materials, including bricks, multiple bags of cement, iron rods and wires, plaster, stones, labor for 6 days per week, and much more. We are all very excited about the potential benefit this health clinic may serve to all people in the area, but especially the Bright Kids. Please continue checking back for further updates on the clinic’s progress.

On May 12th, BKU held an immunization clinic for the children. Victoria arranged for Dr. Joyce Abalo and nurse Lydia Lunkuse, from Kitala Health Centre II, to spend the day at Bright Kids to administer government vaccinations and medicine to the kids of BKU. The children were also weighed and their medical records were updated. The children received polio, measles, and diphtheria/tetanus/hepatitis B vaccinations. They also received Vitamin A and de-worming medicine. The community was also invited to bring children for immunization. At the end of the day, 60 children benefited from the immunization clinic. Despite some tears and frightened faces, the immunization clinic was a success.

Global Links, a Pittsburgh NGO, has contributed approximately 50 pounds of medical supplies which will be delivered to the newly completed clinic this July.

The Summer INTERNS have arrived!Welcome to BKU!

Florida State University InternsMonica, Lindsay, Ruth, Oliver, and Molly.

University of Pittsburgh InternsMaria and Simone

Bright Kids has been blessed with many visitors, including several Bright Kids board members and interns from all over the USA this summer. Victoria Nalongo, Bright Kids Director and Founder, greeted two student interns from the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) and five student interns from Florida State University (FSU) at Entebbe Airport this past May. The FSU interns have been busy building the new health clinic brick by brick and supplying it with medical supplies and instruments. All interns have been busy supporting Victoria in proposal writing, updating BKU child profiles, assisting with the Clinic Projects, helping with the transport and medical care of the children, and expanding other projects.

Would you like to visit Bright Kids?Do you want to spend a few days, weeks, or even months helping a child live a healthy and

productive life? Volunteers are welcome anytime at Bright Kids. Just make sure you have packed your work clothes, energy, and smiles. Be ready to work the hardest you ever have in your life, knowing when you go to sleep at night, you will have helped a Ugandan child have a fulfilling life.

Visitors have a range of accommodations to choose from. Full service hotels in Entebbe and Kampala are located within a 10 – 40 minute drive from Bright Kids Most BKU visitors stay at Banana Village, located just a short 5 minute walk to Bright Kids. You can also stay on site at the new Bright Kids Volunteer House.

Make sure you have your yellow fever up to date and bring your malaria medication too. To volunteer, please contact Victoria Nalongo either through the BKU website or contact Victoria

directly through her email. Victoria Nalongo Namusisi;

Email: nalongo56@gmail.comPhone: +256 772 403304

http://brightkidsuganda.com/volunteer/

Sustainability is the key!Bright Kids focus is to ensure all projects are sustainable. The poultry project received the

necessary funds and grants to purchase chicks and is now a fully sustainable project. Eggs are sold to the community, enabling the chicks to be replenished. Bright Kids children benefit from the egg and chicken additions to their diet. In addition they learn valuable skills on how to collect the eggs, care for the chickens, and how to market the eggs to the community.

The new Health Clinic is also a model of sustainability. The clinic will become sustainable by hiring a full-time nurse on staff. It will serve the Bright Kids children and will also charge fees for health services for community members who visit the clinic. These fees will then be funneled back into the up-keep of the clinic and the children’s subsequent needs.

Thanks to a GSPIA intern who raised $300 to purchase two she goats and one he goat. “Kids” are expected any time now. The goats will produce milk for the children and will be a great income-generating source to sell as they continue to reproduce.

Solar lamps have been purchased for use in the dormitories, and with the abundant Ugandan sunshine, will be functional for many years.

Your initial donation for a project will contribute to the long term sustainability of that project. Please consider supporting the heifer, market or piggery project. Sustainability can only be achieved if there is a capital investment. Sustainability is the goal of Bright Kids

http://thebrightkids.org/giving/

Education News

Good News! There are 62 children currently residing at Bright Kids and of those 62, 36 children have been sponsored and had their school fees paid for the year. Bright Kids students are also achieving excellent report card results, with students receiving high grades in their Primary through High School grades.

Several of the students “graduated” from Bright Kids and are now continuing their studies and entering the work world. Two students are entering the University on Government Scholarships and one student has finished vocational training and now entering the workforce as a mechanic.

Through your support, Bright Kids children have had the opportunity to achieve their life goals and dreams.

Supporting Bright Kids

We would like to thank all of you for your kind donations you have given this past year. Through your support, the Poultry Project has been completed, goats have been purchased and the Health Clinic project is in progress with completion this summer.

Your continued support is still needed and you can contribute to the following:

Education Sponsorship of a child for a year’s education

Projects:Heifer, Market, Piggery, Fencing, Agricultural Land Purchase, Minibus, Communal Hut

and New Dormitory

To support and donate please visit us at: http://thebrightkids.org/giving/

100% of all funds will benefit the children of Bright Kids Uganda

Please visit us at:http://brightkidsuganda.com/

http://thebrightkids.org/or

on Facebook “ Bright Kids Uganda”

Bright Kids MissionBright Kids Uganda Entebbe Home is a non-profit children’s home located near Entebbe,

Uganda.  BKU strives to make the lives of the children of Uganda better by providing food, clothing, shelter, and above all education.  Bright Kids Uganda, Entebbe believes all children have a God-given right to be prosperous. We strive to help them realize this potential.