Newsletters: Volume 18 - Spring 2007
From the President
It is most gratifying to be able to relate to you some of the many events of the past six months. I’m sure that you will agree that Growth Through Learning is moving forward in several areas.
That is not to say that we have not experienced a disappointment, however. As you know, Laura Vinogradov has been our Executive Director for almost a year. Unfortunately, her husband’s work requires him to relocate, and consequently we have lost Laura as well. Fortunately we were able to quickly find a replacement in Lisa Siciliano. Elsewhere in this newsletter is an introductory article about Lisa.
We have also undergone some changes on our Board of Directors. Doug Whiting and Carla Szymanski have both resigned due to changes in their work locations and schedules. Both of these people have been dedicated and effective Board members in the past, and we shall miss them.
The good news is that we have recently acquired two new board members – Judith Nielsen and Margaret Wambega Njengo. Judith has taken over as Clerk of the Corporation from Barbara McCarthy, and Margaret can offer us considerable insight into East Africa as she is a native of Kenya. We wholeheartedly welcome them as we know that they will both be active and productive board members.
Another sign of growth is the formation of a Strategic Planning Committee, headed by Donna Lazorik. This committee has already met several times to review our Mission Statement, Vision Statement, and Core Values, and will soon be finished with defining our goals and objectives for the future.
And perhaps of the greatest significance of all, GTL Board members Jeanne Lynch, Donna Lazorik, Judith Nielsen and Mary Schwartz traveled to East Africa in May in order to visit our sponsored students and our regional coordinators.
For the first time ever, this group held a two-day conference with our three regional coordinators. The meeting was held in Kampala, Uganda and included Regional Coordinators Dr. Florence Nyamu of Kenya, Sr. Mary Salome of Uganda, and Ms. Zainab Tekway Sige of Tanzania.
The attendees discussed the mission and vision of GTL; criteria for student selection and evaluation; and the dynamics of mentoring and how to maintain contact with graduated students. The decisions that were made will be incorporated into GTL’s Strategic Plan. Look for more about their visit in the fall 2007 edition of our newsletter.
I can hardly believe that on July 1st we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary since we were first founded in 1997. What growth GTL has experienced! Our first year we raised just $8,315, and that was enough for us to fund 12
scholarships. During fiscal year 2006 (we do not yet have complete figures yet for fiscal year 2007) we sponsored 219 girls. Our total income for that year was $203,878! It never ceases to amaze me how many people are in complete accord with our mission, and our past history of rapid growth assures me that we are indeed on the right track!
From the Executive Director
Greetings, everyone! I am delighted to introduce myself to you as Growth Through Learning's new Executive Director. I would like to give you some background on the expertise and experience that I bring to GTL.
My education is in the fields of education, psychology, and music. In my work as a public health training and education specialist I have educated countless individuals from all walks of life – from adolescents, to inmates, to physicians at MIT. Much of my career in education has been devoted to helping girls and young women achieve their full potential. This was the driving force behind my desire to play an integral role in helping to carry out GTL’s mission.
I directed a project in the Metro West region of Massachusetts whose mission was to educate middle- and high school-aged youth. The program I designed focused on young people learning and practicing negotiation skills, thereby empowering them to make healthy decisions.
Throughout my career I have served as an appointed and elected leader on the local, state, and national levels: as Chair of Project ABLE (AIDS Budget Legislative Effort), Chair of the HIV Consortium of Central Massachusetts, and Coordinator of the National American Red Cross’s HIV/AIDS Advisory Council Network in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. I am proud of my contributions to the development, legislation, and implementation of public policy.
As I begin this new journey with GTL I am eager to utilize my talents and experience as resources in support of GTL’s mission. It is particularly exciting to be coming on board as GTL celebrates its tenth year anniversary. Isn’t it amazing what can be accomplished when we stop thinking about how to help and just dive in? In the words of Anne Frank, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
New Board Members
Margaret Wambega Njengo, currently a resident of Worcester, Massachusetts, was born in Kenya. She attended high school in the district of Laikipia and college in Kisii. Before immigrating to the United States in 1997, she worked with the high court in Kakamega. She was also a volunteer with several non-profit organizations including a school for disabled children in Mumias, Kenya. She is the mother of four daughters and grandmother of one. She is very interested in the education of young women and, as a native of Kenya, brings valuable insight to the scholarship award committee of which she is a member.
Judith Nielsen is a registered nurse from Sturbridge, Massachusetts. She has a M.S. in Nursing from the University of Massachusetts and a M.S. in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica, CA. She is currently participating in a research project teaching meditation to hospitalized patients. Judith has worked at the UMass-Memorial Medical Center since 1978 and has a long time commitment to quality of life issues. GTL welcomes Judith as Clerk of its Board of Directors.
PayPal
Your contributions to GTL can now be made online, using PayPal. This secure electronic money transfer can be done at your convenience and arrives almost instantaneously in the GTL account. No check or stamps necessary! For instructions on how to use PayPal for your next donation to GTL, please visit the GTL website and click on "How to Give."
Change the World – One Girl at a Time
Richard Jenson, GTL Vice President, and students at Kabare Girls Secondary School, Kenya, 2006
To change the world one girl at a time was one of the reasons Oprah Winfrey opened her Leadership Academy for girls in South Africa this year. To change a girl’s world one girl at a time, was one of the reasons Growth Through Learning was established by Roger Whiting ten years ago. Both Oprah Winfrey and Roger Whiting believe that education is the primary requisite that will save girls who come from impoverished African families.
Oprah has built her own school, hired her own teachers, and set her own curriculum. Growth Through Learning sends its students to local boarding schools in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. By attending boarding schools the young women are protected from bride buyers and other dangerous circumstances.
Electricity, often not available at home, enables them to study in the evenings and have access to computers and other electronic machines, thus preparing them for a technical world. Their basic needs of shelter and food are also met at the schools. The schools reflect the customs and mores of the communities. Growth Through Learning does not attempt to change the established educational processes. Instead, the organization enables more young women to take advantage of what is already there.
Oprah expects “her girls” to become world leaders. Growth through Learning expects its girls to become family and community leaders. During the past decade GTL students have entered the fields of education, health care, justice, journalism, conservation, and business.
Unlike Oprah, who is personally able to fund her school, funding for GTL scholarship fees comes mostly from the pockets of average hardworking, concerned donors.
Since 1997 Growth Through Learning has granted 1156 scholarships to 475 different students. In many cases school fees have been paid for a student’s entire secondary education, the period of which varies from four to six years.
GTL envisions a world where all women receive the education they need to realize their own potential and fulfill their aspirations for themselves, their families and community. Like Oprah, they are accomplishing this, one girl at a time.
GTL Strategic Plan
Acknowledging the rapid growth and many successes of GTL over the last ten years, the Strategic Planning Committee has drafted a plan to provide direction for the organization over the next three to five years. The strategic plan focuses on:
- expanding the donor base;
- strengthening the GTL scholarship programs in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania; and
- putting into place systems to ensure the sustainability and continued growth of the organization.
Final approval of the strategic plan will be voted on at the GTL annual meeting in September.
Why Do We Give?
Students at Gatugi Girls Secondary School, Kenya, 2006
Why do we give? Why do we contribute to Growth Through Learning or to any other charitable organization? Why do we care what happens to a young East African woman who we will probably never meet? Why help anyone? This is an age-old query and one that has been pondered and studied by great philosophers and thinkers throughout history.
Albert Einstein, who was both a thinker and philosopher, writes in the opening of his book, The World As I See It, “What is the meaning of human life?” He believed that we are on this planet to help each other. He said, “We exist for other people – the many unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy.”
John Donne, a seventeenth century English poet in his famous poem, For Whom The Bell Tolls, tells us, “No man is an island.” Anyone’s death diminishes all of us. “Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” In our American vernacular: We’re all in this together.
In the Gospel of Matthew, it is written that we will be judged not by how much treasure we build up on earth, but by how we treat the least of our brothers. We believe that some of the least of our “brothers” are our sisters in East Africa.
The best way to improve the quality of life, to fight poverty, is through the education of young women. We have the ability to empower these women. Education will help them to be better mothers, teachers and leaders of the future. It will assist them in becoming more productive members of society. By giving to GTL, we plant seeds that will bear fruit though we may not always see the result. We think of it as a harvest that begins today and multiplies into the future – one student at a time.
GTL Board Members Visit Africa, Hold Conference
GTL Board members who traveled to Africa in May (left to right): Jeanne Lynch, Donna Lazorik, Judith Nielsen, and Mary Schwartz
Four of our Board members (Jeanne Lynch, Mary Schwartz, Donna Lazorik, and Judith Nielsen) traveled to East Africa in May and visited our GTL Regional Coordinators in Uganda (Sr. Salome Nambi), Kenya (Dr. Florence Nyamu), and Tanzania (Ms. Zainab Tekway Sige). GTL held its first conference in Africa, where all three of GTL’s Regional Coordinators met each other for the first time. The daylong conference in Kampala, Uganda was facilitated by the four Board members. As part of the agenda the Regional Coordinators reviewed and provided input into the draft of GTL’s strategic plan.
The Board members also traveled to all of the schools in East Africa, meeting with the headmistresses and, of course, the wonderful and inspiring girls who are our scholarship recipients. Stay tuned for more in-depth information about the GTL East Africa experience in our fall newsletter.
Last modified: Jul 12, 2007, 09:55 EDT