Nonprofits Malawi Africa - Under The Baobab Tree, Inc.: Summer Volunteer Trip 2009

Nonprofits Malawi Africa - Under The Baobab Tree, Inc.: Summer Volunteer Trip 2009

Summer Volunteer Trip 2009

The Summer Volunteer Trip was a huge success. The villagers and the volunteers meshed perfectly. Our first initiative involved an Oral Hygiene Program in which Lauren Fitzgerald and Jenna O’Neil, two high school volunteers from Massachusetts. The program involved full tutorial oral hygiene lessons for Standards 1 through 8 and a donation of toothbrushes from the states. Since the usual tooth brushing method involves using sand from the lake and rubbing it against the teeth, toothbrushes were definitely something new! The students laughed at the funny-looking toothbrushes, but were also very excited about learning something new that was good for their health. Lauren, Jenna, and all of the other volunteers did a superb job conquering the language barrier, using parts of Chichewa and lots of gestures in order to be certain that there was no confusion. Our volunteers from England through The Responsible Safari Company were an amazing addition to the team. We learned quickly that our group was going to get along very well.

In addition to the Oral Hygiene Program, the entire community center has been painted, restored, and beautified. There is now a beautiful mural, including children’s handprints from the village, which stands as a symbol of unity for the village. Plays and theater programs have and will continue to be held there, teaching the entire village about the importance of HIV/AIDS protection and other serious issues that permeate the village. Our first play was casted, rehearsed, and performed right in the newly renovated Namaso Bay Community Center as a fun, but also educational, break from the normal routine.

The adult English and basic computer classes also made a huge impact on the adult population of the village. This initiative, along with the Secondary School Scholarship program, which enabled the top 20 students to attend Secondary School and move on in their educational endeavors, has opened new opportunities for those outside of the Namaso Bay Primary School.
Many of the volunteer teachers used specialized teaching techniques from the states in order to show the students and teachers at Namaso Bay School a new and unique way to learn, including group activities, service learning, and partner work. As a whole, a great deal of progress has been made. The village and the volunteers act as one, working together in order to bring sustainable solutions to Namaso Bay. We have all formed close friendships that will continue to grow and develop. I can’t wait to get back to Namaso Bay myself. Please check in regarding future volunteer and research opportunities. There are many initiatives currently underway, including the greening of our school and water purification projects.

Needs Assessment of Namaso Bay School and Village- February/March 2009

Well, we have returned from Malawi. It was an amazing journey, and I think my eyes are opened a little wider. It's unreal that you can hop on a plane and transport yourself into another world. One of the most challenging elements of my trip was to grasp the fact that despite the untouched natural beauty that surrounded me, I could not escape the raw and difficult reality of the Malawian people's situation.

I want to introduce everyone to Valerie Taormina, key UTBT team employee, advisor, mentor, and my good friend. You will be hearing a lot more about Valerie in the coming months as she has been an extremely integral part in UTBT advancements. Valerie and I worked together to complete a full Needs Assessment of the Namaso Bay School and Village.

Valerie and I found out very quickly that the Namaso Bay School itself is more like a community center for the entire village. Out of the 452 students, there are over 300 orphans (either one or both of the child's parents have passed away, mainly due to HIV/AIDS). We completed a full biographical background on all of the students and took each of their photographs. The majority of the students are very inspired and would like to become teachers, doctors, lawyers, and nurses. It is the issue of paying the costs (an entire year of secondary school only costs around $60 USD) to Secondary School that prevents them from reaching these dreams. In last year's Standard 8 class, 33 of the 36 students passed their Malawi National Board Examinations. However, only two (one of which we sponsored) students were able to actually attend Secondary School.

One of the major issues is that the Namaso Bay Village is extremely isolated, barricaded from surrounding villages and cities by mountains. There is no means of transportation to the nearest hospital and the vast majority of the people of the village have never seen a doctor and do not know what a medical record is.

We were lucky enough to have Stanford Pediatric physician, Dr. Daniel Imler, set up clinic in the village. Dr. Dan has done copious work overseas in the field of community and International Medicine. He and Sally Greenwald, my long-time friend and prospective medical student, completed a physical check-up of each student, compiling the beginnings of a general health record index for the Namaso Bay School. The team also treated some of the sickest members of the village. During this two-week long Medical Needs Assessment, though everyone that we were physically capable of treating was treated, it seemed that each new problem we thought we were beginning to conquer opened a whole new batch of issues.

The people of the Namaso Bay community are suffering from a wide range of diseases, including the most advanced Stage 4 HIV/AIDS, Malaria, abdominal distention due to worms, TB, Typhoid Fever, Cholera, Scabies, Schistosomiasis, infected abscesses, and everything in between. The solutions to most of these problems are not complicated, but only need the proper treatments and resources. When there is no means of transportation or funds to see a doctor, it is impossible to seek help. Our goal is to install a system to help the people of Namaso Bay help themselves.

We decided in the first days of our trip that we would like to offer the village the opportunity to get tested and learn their HIV/AIDS status. After working with Edgar Namtapa, the primary teacher at the school who was able to translate from English to Chichewa (the native tribal dialect of Namaso Bay) for us, we discovered that the villagers were all eager and excited to be tested and have their children tested. This was refreshing to hear and actually quite surprising since it is often the case in African countries that people do not even want to know their status as stigmatization is an issue and people assume that if they have HIV, they are going to die.

We held numerous meetings with the Mangochi District Health Officials and then finally the Malawian Minister of Health in order to get the government to agree to the testing campaign. The HIV/AIDS Directors and Coordinators along with education and health officials were shocked when we brought to their attention the fact that the village is so secluded and isolated from any sort of health dispensary or resources.

Even if an individual wanted to get tested or collect his or her ARV (Anti-Retro Viral) medications, he or she would have to travel a long distance (approximately 11 miles) in the blistering sun without even being certain that the local hospital was stocked with his or her appropriate treatments. We hope to set up a program that will allow one person in the village to collect everyone's consented medications using a bicycle taxi/emergency transportation system.

The testing campaign was a success. We used HIV rapid test kits and retested those whose blood was reactive. Children and their parents came out to get tested and receive pre and post counseling on their status. Some people were very concerned, but also thankful that they now had the awareness of his or her status and access to the government-funded ARV (Anti-Retro Viral) treatments available when an individual's AIDS reaches Stage 3 or Stage 4. For patients at Stage 2 and Stage 1, laboratory tests are carried out to ascertain their CD4 count. If the count is lower than 200, the patient is put on treatment.
The entire village was smiling after a 25-year old mother who had not left her dirt floor for months due to AIDS was up and about cooking and cleaning after finally gaining access to her much-needed ARV's.

We will be working hard in the next few months planning fundraisers, setting up the sponsorship program ($250 sponsors everything a child needs to attend school and survive for an entire year- donations can be made at http://www.utbt.org/donate.html), and a volunteer program. More details to come! I will keep you posted as the website transforms to incorporate our new projects and initiatives.

Namaso Bay School: Thanksgiving Trip to Malawi

Our first crew visited the school in Malawi and completed a first-round needs-assessment. Please see the photos that were taken. The team threw a big party for the students with music, food, and lots of fun. We have a lot of work to do and will be sending down a second needs-assessment and resource development crew down in February. We are excited to be working with various schools in the Bay area and keeps the fundraising bar up high! More posts to come as we march on. 

UTBT Fundraiser: Under The Baobab Tree Goes Under The Stars

November 19th was a special night for Under The Baobab Tree as we joined together at the Starlight Room in San Francisco for our first major fundraiser event. The evening was a huge success as friends, family, and interested volunteers came from all over the Bay area to learn more about UTBT's mission while celebrating our soon-to-be-completed first school project in Malawi. All funds raised will go straight to the children at Namaso Bay School. Please check out some of the photographs from the event! 

We are excited to be sending down the first troop of UTBT board members to Namaso Bay this week. This trip will be bringing desks, chairs, and school supplies. Once they return, we will be doing an additional round of needs-assessment in January in order to calculate if any necessary changes need to be made on the current curriculum. We will be sure to keep updated as we get feedback from our sponsors and board members upon their return to the United States. 

Chapter 4

Under The Baobab Tree is making strides. UTBT has been busy these past weeks discussing development strategies with Free Cause, a globally recognized organization that works to provide engagement solutions that capitalize on the value of relationships, working towards the benefit of nonprofit organization and other affinity based groups. Free Cause has developed a toolbar for the Yahoo browser that allows users to donate two or three cents to the committee each time they do an Internet search. The Susan G. Komen Foundation for the cure for breast cancer along with many other organizations have benefited from the work of Free Cause. UTBT is excited to have recently been introduced to its very own UTBT browser toolbar. In addition, Free Cause's use of SnapCMS, an easy and cost effective way to create customized social network applications, will allow UTBT to have its own network through social connections like Facebook. We hope that this will help spread the word and educate people about our mission.

In addition, we have also had Crocs donate enough footwear for all of the children in Malawi. Crocs are perfect (in case you have never tried them out) because they are waterproof and super comfortable and durable. We want to thank Crocs for their generous donation. We plan on bringing the Crocs down in our upcoming trip. Speaking of our upcoming trip, we are also working with the I.A. O'Shaughnessy Foundation in order to receive a grant and send our first troop over to Malawi to get the ball rolling. We are extremely excited to hear back regarding the grant and will be sure to keep everyone updated on new steps in our nonprofit's growth.

Malawi Non Profits - Under the Baobab Tree

Malawi Non Profits Chapter 3

And, I’m back. After a brief hiatus filled with studying for the LSAT, my pen is in hand, and I am excited to get into the Malawi nonprofit blog scene. There is a lot to tell. Www.underthebaobabtree.com is quickly becoming what it has always wanted to be: a stable website that is at peace with its server. The team has finally mastered the technological mysteries of our website’s server. All systems are a go. Yo has continued his lack-of-sleep pattern, but luckily, has also continued to make giant strides with Under The Baobab’s progress. As you can see, we have added some photos of Malawi and Rwanda along the sidebars of the blog. These pictures offer a small glance into the everyday life of the children of Malawi and Dr. Paul’s Rwanda experience.

If you have not noticed, we also have a new logo. Alli Arnold, a well-known illustrator based in New York City has been working hard on developing a logo that fits Under The Baobab Tree’s mission. Our new logo has several different versions in both color and black and white. Alli Arnold’s illustrations are mystical, playful, and simply irresistible. They leave lots to the imagination, and can be enjoyed by all. Alli Arnold’s clients include The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Barneys New York, kate spade, Travel & Leisure, New York Magazine, and Target. Her unique style can be spotted throughout the bustling streets of Manhattan as you can see in the photo shown on the sidebar. She has definitely made her mark, and we are so grateful to have such a talented artist on board. Please check out her website at www.alliarnold.com. Furthermore, Alli Arnold’s vision of our nonprofit has been transmitted onto t-shirts. Yo is working on developing our logo t-shirt line as an integrated piece of the website. The t-shirt line will act as a function on the website. Instead of making a straight donation, you will be able to help raise funds through purchasing shirts directly on the website while spreading the word by making others aware by wearing our t-shirts. We hope that they will be a big hit.

To bring you all further up to speed, a big thank you goes to Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple Computer (now Apple, Inc.), and Jim Valentine from www.Woz.org for arranging David Elliott, their business associate, from Solutions Benefiting Life (www.solutionsbenefitinglife.com) and Yo to meet so that Yo could accept SBL’s gift of a unique water purification system. David was kind enough to donate a one-of-a-kind water purification filter system to our nonprofit organization, Under The Baobab Tree, in order to help the village people of Malawi construct their own cottage industries so that they too may spread the knowledge of clean water usage to other surrounding villages. This exclusive system provides a template along with the physical mold that will allow us to teach the Malawi villagers how to use the purification system. A big thank you to Steve Wozniak, Jim Valentine, David Elliott, and Prizm Technologies for allowing this to happen so that we may get one step closer to a sustainable environment in Malawi.

Now, I would also like to discuss a bit about Kevin Taylor. Kevin Taylor has jumped on board as Under The Baobab Tree’s attorney, helping us out with all of the government legalities while reviewing the legal documents that go into a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization. Taylor and Mrisch, LLP, which can be found at www.globaltechlaw.com, is a New York-based law firm focused on corporate, information technology, and intellectual property law. Kevin is a popular speaker and writer on issues concerning information technology security, e-commerce, cyberspace law, and outsourcing. He has also been published in Secure IT and E-Commerce Law and Strategy. His law degree from New York Law School, Masters Degree in Economics from Catholic University, and Bachelor's Degree in Economics from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida allow him to draw from numerous sources of knowledge. He is also a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. We are pleased to have Mr. Taylor on board. Raj and Lisa have been actively working with Kevin on assembling all of the legal paperwork. The mounds of paper are slowly, but gradually, lessening and we are starting to see a light at the end of the long tunnel of red legal tape. Moreover, we have also begun the hunt for our first Volunteer Project Manager for our small nonprofit in Malawi. If anyone has any recommendations, please let us know! Additionally, we are also in the midst of beginning the announcements and finding partners for our launch party.

Furthermore, our Junior Ambassador Program has informally begun. We are setting up initiatives now. Our first members of the Junior Ambassador Program have already set up a lemonade stand to begin raising funds. As you can see from the photo on the sidebar, we have a great deal of enthusiasm coming from all age groups even before the program has established a firm foundation. As the Director of the Junior Ambassador Program, I, personally, look forward to working with several different groups from various schools and areas in order to create a fantastic program that will continue to grow throughout the school year. I hope to meet with the first crew in the upcoming week to work out a sketch of our approach for the upcoming school year.

Next week there will be more regarding the Junior Ambassador Program in addition to Yo’s trip to New York. It looks as though he may be heading back again to straighten out some more Under The Baobab Tree business. Though the summer has slowed down a little bit, the tree of life is still holding strong, and undoubtedly continuing to reach great heights. We are anxiously waiting to hear back from Illumine regarding a layout for the next steps to raise awareness for our nonprofit.