Think Humanity Morning Star Well

WATER IS LIFE

Another Think Humanity well is under construction. This well is near the Morning Star Secondary School in Hoima. This is the first well that Think Humanity has constructed outside of a refugee settlement camp.

The importance of this well is due to all the children coming to our clinic with typhoid. The water situation was unfavorable in this location; the results was illnesses and disease.

The well is not too far from the Think Humanity Health Centre. When we were treating our sponsored students for typhoid, the decision was made to have this well constructed to prevent more cases. Thank you to the donors who helped provide this well.

Bob and Pat Troeltzsch

Namaqua Universalist Unitarian Congregation

Kent and Patty Mills

and Albertha Moorlag

Shown with the beginning steps of the well is Amani Nkoma Jean-Paul, Think Humanity Program Director. JP said that the only challenge in construction has been too much water due to their rainy season.



The well was dug without hitting rock. This well should produce plenty of water for the students and surrounding community. Ideally we would like 4,000 liters per day, would provide enough drinking water for 2,000 people per day.

If you are interested in helping Think Humanity to construct another well, you can do so by visiting this link:

Water is Life

or visit our website at www.ThinkHumanity.org

Thank you to AFP for the event "It's a Small World" held in Diablo, CA in October. We are so grateful for your donation.

Women's Health Day

“I see their humanity”

WOMEN'S HEALTH DAY

-Charity Watson, Think Humanity

On Thursday October 27, 2011, Think Humanity its first Women’s Health Day. We brought 21 women from Kyangwali Refugee Settlement to be treated at our clinic. Well, we thought 21 were coming, but of course nothing is ever as planned in Africa – or in life… with 2 extra plus 4 children, our total was 27, with 3 men in the mix. We had worked with a local pastor in the refugee settlement to bring those who really needed treatment – and all those who came, women and men, were badly off.

You see, yes, the refugee settlement has a clinic, but they can receive upwards of 200 patients a day. They are not adequately staffed and equipped for those numbers. And they don’t give people the treatment they need. They don’t LISTEN to what is wrong. The clinical officers start writing before the patient can even explain – fever, chills, aches – Next. So, the patients get malaria meds and panadol (painkillers) and are sent home. No one ever investigates what is actually going on. So they go home and let the diseases and problems fester a little longer. Get a little more complicated. Maybe get a few more to add to the mix. And the patients all too often cannot do anything. They have children, homes – they dig in the garden every day so they can at least make some money – But not enough money to pay the transport to the nearest town, much less pay for treatment at a clinic there.

So that’s what we’re trying to do. Find out what is ACTUALLY wrong and then treat it – to listen to the patients- To get the lab tests that need to be done. But, it takes time. It takes time to translate back and forth and forth and back. I cannot translate. I cannot treat. I help where I can. I talk to people about preventative health – you can treat someone for a disease, but they must be EDUCATED, otherwise they return home and get it again. But how can I educate when people are in pain? When first, they just need treatment.

Typhoid. Brucellosis. Syphilis. Malaria. STIs. UTIs. Infected Wounds. Swelling. Cysts. Possible cancer….

Most with a combination of 3 or 4. Literally people’s bodies breeding grounds for disease. I can’t help but want to wash my hands every 5 minutes. To bathe in hand sanitizer.

But when I look into someone’s eyes – ah the eyes truly are the windows to the soul. I see their pain. I see their humanity. I see that they are no different than I. That we are on this earth together. So I do what I can. I use the Kinyabwisha/Kinyarwanda that I know – because at least they can laugh at me butchering the language. I carry a baby on my back. I get water – food – for otherwise they’ll just go the whole day without eating and drinking. I drive patients to get ultrasound and x-ray (Not sure I will EVER drive here again).

But for the true work done I am so grateful…the doctors – the nurses - everyone who helped to translate – they worked so hard to make sure these people got actual treatment. And they are still working hard, as treatment continues for many of the patients. But, there is always hope. People are getting better, gahoro gahoro.

There will always be hope as long as we see each other. We don’t all have to love everyone, we don’t have to go to far away countries – we just need to see one another. To see someone’s eyes. To see the humanity in them.



Women's Health Day



Think Humanity USA

2880 Spring Mountain Dr.

Loveland, CO 80537 USA (970) 667-9335/214-1299

or

THINK HUMANITY UGANDA

Isaka Kijungu –Military Rd.

P.O. Box 219

Hoima, Uganda 0782170643 or 0790910221

Think Humanity is a registered 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our federal tax identification number is 26-1635429

Water is Essential to Life



This is where the people were getting water previous to the new well being built in SweSwe Village, Kyaka II Refugee Camp in western Uganda.



As we started down the hill towards the new well we were greeted by many women and children going up the hill carrying full gerry cans on their heads.

Think Humanity donations made it possible to build this well in SweSwe, a village in Kyaka II refugee camp that was so desperate for water. Smiles!!


THANK YOU DONORS TO THINK HUMANITY FOR MAKING THIS WELL POSSIBLE.

Nothing is Richer than Hope

Think Humanity “a positive change to refugees and communities in Africa.”


A special thanks to all that donated towards bed nets for the villages of Katikara and Nalweyo in Uganda.


The event was the most organized and successful one we have ever had and this is our eleventh one!

The leader in Nalweyo said that malaria is the most sensitive issue that concerns life and asked us to give more nets to people that were not registered on our distribution list. He also asked that we give nets to those in the village with HIV/AIDS so 60 nets were set aside for those people. The people all clapped in gratitude. He thanked us on behalf of the government because it helps to reduce the problem of malaria. They said they will let the communities know what Think Humanity is and that they are all now agents of TH.  He said, “This is not the government but a helping NGO. Thank you donors who did not let us down. Our community is very cooperative”

He ended by saying, “Nothing is richer than hope."
 

Special thanks to the donors of MaNdate 11.


Joe and Deb Bergholz
Will and Cathy Reents
Dunn Elementary, Fort Collins, CO
Katie and Grayson Smith
Rotary Club of Roseville, CA
Eric and Kim Paulsen
Westside Christian School
Bill Temple
Jim Heckel
Karen Sawdy
Linda Kirscht
…and others

Please continue saving lives!

 Thank you volunteers for MaNdate 11

Emmanuel, Jean-Paul, Jonas, Bagisha
Jimmy, Joe, Jim, Beth, Doreen
Robinah, Moses, Asolomon
Benjamin, Godwin, Job, Baraka
Joseph, Stuart, Danus and Oliver.

 www.thinkhumanity.org


Every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria in Africa

 Think Humanity USA
2880 Spring Mountain Dr.
Loveland, CO 80537 USA   (970) 667-9335/214-1299

10% off Etsy Store, now until July 2 with Coupon Code "Summer"

Visit our Etsy Store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/ThinkHumanity between now and July 2 to get your 10% off and also take advantage of our great sales!

A New(er) Mission Statement - updated after more than 3 years

"To help save lives and provide hope for refugees and underdeveloped communities in Africa by improving provisions for healthcare, clean water, education and socio-economic developement."

Uganda Recycled Paper Bead Bracelet Africa Fair Trade

http://previewitem.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?PreviewItemV4&SessionId=120887801203&SeqId=5817740&md=1&noPreviewHeader=1


Check out ebay for jewelry sales. Hope to sell all ten of these before we leave for Uganda. It's difficult when we are away because we lose money that we could be earning to pay for medication, doctors, nurses and lab technicians.





Picture credits to Sam Rogers and Iman Woods.
Each multi-colored band bracelet is uniquely made and no two beads are the same. The bracelets pictured may be slightly different than what you receive.The size varies, so please specify whether your wrist is small, medium or large. The band bracelet is made from recycled paper beads with blue, red or black glass beads between the paper beads. Visit the website for more information at www.Thinkhumanity.org.
Note: It is best to keep your beaded jewelry from getting wet. They are water resistant, but not water-proof, which means that splashing when washing will not hurt them, but dipping into water over a period of time can cause them to become sticky. If your items breaks, please let us know and we will make it right. We cannot fix your jewelry because they are made in Uganda, but we will do our best to replace it with something similar.
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Think Humanity has partnered with a group of women from Uganda that live in the Acholi Quarter Camp for Internally Displaced Persons. We personally know these women. We are not simply purchasing jewelry in local shops or at the airport like many do. These women are making beads to help earn family income and sustain a community financed food-aid program for their children. We purchase the jewelry from them and they benefit, but then we sell in the USA at a reasonable profit. 100% of the money then goes back to help with Think Humanity projects. It will then benefit those refugees displaced from war-affected countries living in Uganda in refugee settlement camps.

We are helping to build a small economy in Uganda, but at the same time helping our own self-sustainable projects in refugee camps.

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The jewelry is made out of tightly rolled colored recycled paper. For example, the women receive donated outdated corporate calendars to use for their paper beads.

http://www.thinkhumanity.org/
By purchasing Acholi products you are helping refugees in IDP and UNHCR camps.

How Think Humanity identifies Fair Trade:

1) Fighting poverty;
2) Building sustainable businesses;
3) Empowering women;
4)Supporting education; and
5) Helping the environment by recycling.

or visit the Etsy Store at www.etsy.com/shop/ThinkHumanity
 

How it all came to be - Think Humanity Health Center

visit Think Humanity

Health and Healing in Africa

Summary:

According to the stituation of the climate change that has brought the problem of global warming, it has brought in very many diseases to breakout where by very many diseases have taken lives of many Africans and in the world at large.

As for as solving the root cause and finding the possible solution to above mentioned problems; by creating a Think Humanity Nursing School (nurse education)  in a region can simply solve both physical, ecconomical and spiritually, plus mental problems that are currently in local societies. This project will  empower and train young generations to be part of the solution through gaining knowledge and skills to solve to save and to serve the community.

Please cast a vote for Jonas' project by going to the ChangeMakers link and clicking the "like" button. Thank you, Beth Heckel.
http://www.changemakers.com/node/103845 



Nteziyaremye Jonas