Newsletters: Volume 16 - Spring 2006
From the President
Since our last newsletter, Growth Through Learning has undergone several changes. Elsewhere in this issue you will note the unfortunate death of Sr. Immaculate Nassuuna, our Scholarship Coordinator in Uganda. We will miss her greatly! We are fortunate, however, to find a wonderful replacement in Sr. Salome Nambi who has already proven to be invaluable to us in Uganda.
We were also saddened when our Administrative Assistant, Cathy Pojani, moved with her husband to the Phoenix, Arizona area. She too will be missed, as she loved her work here at GTL headquarters.
Despite those difficulties, Growth Through Learning continues to move forward at a rapid pace. We have hired Laura Vinogradov as our new Executive Director. Laura has a long history of experience in journalism and working with non-profit organizations. We whole-heartedly welcome her to our staff.
We have also reached a new high of scholarships granted, with 202 of them so far this fiscal year. This represents a 33% increase over last year. Most of them are in secondary school, but 30 of our GTL girls are now pursuing further education at the college level. Letters of gratitude continue to come in from our students, and that greatly reinforces our resolve to carry on with our mission.
Clearly, we have had a busy year both here and in Africa. Certain transitions have had to be made, and I am pleased to report that they all have been successful. Growth Through Learning continues to grow in its effectiveness toward providing a better way of life for the girls and young women of East Africa.
Dear Supporters of GTL
Laura Vinogradov
It is truly an honor to have been chosen as your first Executive Director. I know that together with the great team that Roger Whiting has assembled over the years, we can take GTL to the next level. My goal is to get up to speed quickly, so I have dived right in and am busy both getting educated, and helping Roger transition some of his reasponsibility to me.
For my part, my goals are to expand the promotion of GTL; increase the public’s awareness of the need to support education for young women in East Africa; create a wide base of volunteers and supporters for GTL, and to increase fundraising. In working with the Board, I hope to set high, but realistic goals.
We are busy reviewing new applications daily and are encouraged by the on-going positive reports we are receiving. Our Coordinators in the field are in contact with us regularly and we continue to evaluate our work with them; our procedures in the field and our procedures in the office.
I hope to meet each and every one of you in the near future. But even before that, please feel free to call or email me with your suggestions and comments.
Death of Sr. Immaculate Nassuuna
Sr. Immaculate Nassuuna
It is with great sorrow that we announce the death of Sr. Immaculate Nassuuna on January 24, 2006, our Scholarship Coordinator in Uganda. During her tenure, she coordinated 210 scholarships for GTL girls. Sr. Immaculate was a tireless worker for Growth Through Learning from the very beginning of our organization in 1998. She will be greatly missed.
Tribute to Immy
As a Board member of GTL, I was deeply saddened by the news that Sr. Immaculate “Immy” Nassuuma was stricken by a brain tumor. It didn’t seem possible that the fun loving woman who had written me a loving and grateful letter only a few weeks before would never E-mail me again, interview more orphans and travel from school to school dispensing the fees for another year.
“Immy” was a self directed woman who knew the value of education. She was one of many children in a poor family. When she finished primary school there was no money to send her on to secondary. Although she was only thirteen years old she went to work as a house girl for an upper class family. They noticed she was a bright child so they included school fees along with her board and room as pay. The school was staffed by Catholic nuns. They noticed how willing and kind she was and encouraged her to join their order. “Immy” was also practical. Being a nun looked like a good safe life so she decided to enter their convent.
Her intelligence, boundless energy, curiosity and diligence brought her to the attention of the Bishop of Mityania, who was looking for an executive secretary. Within months she was able to encourage him to buy a computer and let her learn to drive an old car that had been given to him. Later he even paid online fees.
She was brought to GTL’s attention by a friend of a friend who had heard of her. She very happily became our Ugandan coordinator. Once the word got out that the Bishop’s secretary could get school funding from an organization in the United States, orphans and other poor girls began ringing the bell at the Bishop’s compound. “Immy” checked them out, she spoke to teachers and family members and if it were true that the girl was both bright and needy an application was soon on its way.
She was invited to visit the United States in late October of 2002. We were anxious to meet her. She arrived wearing flip-flops, a cotton dress and a thin sweater. I had purchased some boots and a heavy coat for her. She couldn’t imagine needing such a heavy garment but when an early ice storm struck she understood. She was astonished that snow really did fall out of the sky and the ice that turned our trees into glimmering statues became water when the sun came out. She did not understand why nearly every house had a pumpkin on its porch or why so few people were walking on the sidewalks.
She loved turning on my dishwasher and washing machine. She greatly enjoyed watching television and drinking beer. For tea, she dismissed the microwave and asked for a pot so that she could get the water very hot.
In her last letter to me she said she had found her calling—helping poor girls get an education. This wonderful bright young woman’s work was cut short by a disease that shows no favorites. In her memory we must continue her struggle, to put school fee money and deserving students together.
African Woman Leads Country
GTL operates in East Africa, specifically in Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, and we delight in any accomplishment the women in these countries achieve. But the news of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s recent election as President of Liberia in West Africa is also reason for joy, as her election has been called “the most dramatic development in a quiet revolution transforming Africa.” That revolution involves women who are becoming empowered and challenging the male-dominated political scenes in their countries. They are winning positions in governing and legal institutions (such as Aloysie Cyanzayire, Supreme Court President of Rwanda, and Dora Akunyili, Director of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control in Nigeria) and are inspiring other women to follow them.
It is hardly a secret that corruption and civil war have plagued African countries for years. In an April 3, 2006 Newsweek article on African women leaders, the qualities displayed by women at the family level were praised, specifically fiscal integrity and maternal nurturing. It is these qualities that may help to turn Africa onto a path of economic, civic, and moral responsibility.
Education is making inroads into African nations and more and more people are recognizing the need to extend education to women. Once they receive this education, the next steps are to attain a job and work to solve the problems that women face (such as forced marriages and lack of property rights and equal employment opportunities), issues that many male leaders in the past have ignored or paid little attention to.
The work of GTL’s supporters helps in this quiet revolution to improve conditions for women in Africa. One day a former GTL scholarship holder will make the headlines in her country for the contributions she is making to her nation and to the lives of other African women.
New Scholarship Coordinator
Sr. Salome Nambi
GTL Enthusiastically welcomes Sr. Salome Nambi as our new Scholarship Coordinator for Uganda. She is a religious nun of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Reparatrix. Very fortunately for GTL, Sr. Nassuuna and Sr. Nambi were working together at the time of Sr. Nassuuna’s death. Sr. Nambi was therefore aware of the duties and responsibilities of a GTL coordinator and eagerly and graciously agreed to assume the role Sr. Nassuuna left behind. Sr. Nambi joined the religious life in 1984. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Education in 2001, and immediately became lead teacher at St. Kizito High School – Bethany in Mubende, Uganda. As Headmistress of this all girls’ school she is very qualified to be GL’s Scholarship Coordinator in Uganda.
Asteria Sigsmundi Mboya
Asteria Sigsmundi Mboya
Asteria Sigsmundi Mboya is in her second year of studies at the Mesac-Mapambano Exclusive School of Arts and Commerce in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. The death of her parents rendered Asteria an orphan at a young age, leaving her in the care of her aunt who is unable to afford the educational expenses of Asteria’s dream.
In spite of her financial difficulties and with the help of sponsorship by Growth Through Learning, Asteria has already completed a three-year nursing program specializing in midwifery at the Muhimbili School of Nursing at the age of twenty-five. She is currently pursuing a secondary education in order to be qualified to enroll in a program that will upgrade her nursing degree to a diploma level.
As she states in her application, “I want to continue with my education because after receiving this knowledge I can help my society and all people who will need my help. I will receive enough knowledge to do all important things like prevent disease and rehabilitation of human health. And then it can assist me to live a good life because after completion of this course it will assist me to work and serve the community and my country at large.”
Asteria is diligently pursuing her studies ranking 7th out of 46 students in her first year and 6th out of 50 students in her final year of secondary school. GTL’s Scholarship Coordinator reports: “She is intelligent and hard working, and has much interest in self -development.” GTL is proud of Asteria’s work and dedication to the pursuit of education and self-empowerment.
Donations Made Easier!
Growth Through Learning is pleased to announce that donation can now be made online!
Our new PayPal account allows you to make a secure donation from the comfort of your home or office. After some discussion, the Board felt this was a convenience that some of our supporters would appreciate. Through our research we found PayPal to be the most secure and most cost-effective method for online donations.
You can make payments online using Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, bank transfers, or your PayPal account balance. All credit card information remains confidential and even GTL will not see that data. We do ask that when you make an online donation, you fill in the “shipping information” so that we can send you a receipt and thank you note as soon as possible.
This is also a great, convenient way to encourage your friends to give. You can send them the link to the GTL website or send them the “How to Give” link directly!
We will of course continue to accept checks via the mail and we’re looking into accepting gifts through credit cards for the future.
Please take a moment and visit the “How to Give” section of the GTL website.
A Land Called Africa
A land of wonder, mystery, and incredible beauty
A land where people and animals become as one-
Coexisting with the inevitable forces of nature
A land which exists as process rather than place
Kill to eat – Eat to live
How simple, yet beautiful is the process
Shame and guilt have little place in the innocence of Africa
A land too great, too grand, for such irrelevant pursuits
Dusty, acrid, musky, raw – Free
Untethered by time or space or mindless pretense
Having no need to justify its existence
A land with a heart beat of its own
Endlessly the continent seems frozen in time
Each day different than the last, yet it remains the same as before
The animals, the people, roaming the vast terrain
Looking for nothing but the life giving force of a land called Africa
Three months after I wrote this poem, I saw the following quote:
“I guess I’d have to say that the most exciting place I’ve ever been to is Africa. Because it’s another world there. It’s not just the cultures and the people. That’s great....but it’s the air.... the colors from dawn to dusk, and there’s something tangible about the whole thing. The cohabitation of man and beast, and beast and beast - who’ll survive and who won’t. There’s no judgement about it either you know. There’s no imposed morality. It’s just the way it is. It’s just beautiful really. There’s nothing like it. It’s a voyeur’s paradise.
–Clint Eastwood, The Bridges of Madison County
The similarity between my reactions to Africa, and those of Clint Eastwood, was so uncanny, it actually took my breath away!
Last modified: May 22, 2006, 13:33 EDT