RMS Pen Pals Club Spreads Compassion with BBQ Fundraiser

Updated November 27, 2013

Community Members Join Radnor Middle School Pen Pals Club to Support Ugandan Peers at "Compassion in Action BBQ"

More than 260 meals were purchased at Radnor Middle School's "Compassion in Action BBQ" hosted by the school's Pen Pals Club on Nov. 21, helping raise nearly $3,000 for the students' pen pal friends at the Bupala Primary School in Uganda. The get-together community event underscored the importance of volunteer service, and included students writing tributes to people who are a source of inspiration in their lives.

According to RMS principal Anthony Stevenson: “The RMS community is happy to support this fundraiser. From what started out as a small pen pal exchange, this project has developed into a meaningful partnership with the students and teachers and gives our school community the opportunity to cultivate a meaningful service learning project that brings attention to the basic needs of students around the globe."

Laura Sacristan-Lagunas, a RMS 6th-grade pen pal, agreed: “I think it feels nice and I always like helping people. We are learning to appreciate what we have, and the Pen Pal Club is a good opportunity to meet more people.”

The club was launched in 2009 by Jodi Sabra, a 6th-grade English teacher. Its first goal was to build a new latrine facility for the Bupala School - an endeavor that was accomplished thanks to the funds raised by RMS students. The latrine was the first new construction in the village in more than a decade. The RMS community has also provided lunch for Bupala's students since February 2013. Through these efforts, RMS students learn that their actions can make a difference in the world. Not only has the enrollment and health improved in the Ugandan village, but the government recently added two new classrooms to the school.

The Pen Pal Club also honored social entrepreneur Phil Hughes, the founder of Mavuno Harvest, a dried fruit business that is transforming life in a village in Uganda. Hughes served in the Peace Corps before starting this business, which allows the people in the village to profit year-round from their fruit. This is a model of sustainability and humanity that serves as a source of inspiration for RMS’ pen pals and their community.

See pictures....there are lots of great pictures here.  See if you can find yourself! :

http://www.rtsd.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=1&ModuleInstanceID=1442&ViewID=047E6BE3-6D87-4130-8424-D8E4E9ED6C2A&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=24323&PageID=1

THANK YOU, SO MUCH, RADNOR MIDDLE SCHOOL COMMUNITY, PEN PALS, PARENTS, NEIGHBORS, FRIENDS, ENGAGED CITIZENS, AND FOLKS WHO JUST LOVE BBQ ~ WE DID IT!    

We raised enough at the BBQ to feed our pen pals at Bupala Primary School for 26 weeks!  On behalf of the 600 pupils, fellow teachers and dear Headmaster, Edward Burkye, thank you for caring!                                 

To our first COMPASSION IN ACTION AWARD WINNER, PHIL HUGHES, from MAVUNO HARVEST (Ask for this at Whole Foods!), THANK YOU for



showing us how to create hope where little existed before. Thank you for being a role model for bringing hope, health and understanding to a small village in Uganda. We are trying to do something similar for our pen pals, because we care about them.

With love & gratitude,

~Jodi Sabra



Dear Dr. Dan Gottlieb,

     Welcome to life after Africa.  My dear and talented friend, Andrea Green, mentioned that you have recently returned from South Africa, and she thought you might be interested in learning about our pen pal project. 

    In a nutshell, this love affair started with my college roommate, Joanne Trangle.  She was called to Africa when we were eighteen.  She's been travelling the continent for, well, a long time now....around 30 years.  During that time, she gave birth to twins (one with Down's Syndrome), and years after that, she and her husband Evan adopted a son from Ethiopia.  They live in Minneapolis.  Joanne continues to bring more people over to fall deeply in love with Africa through her non-profit travel-service organization, Kuchanga Travel. Her twins will be bar-mitzvahed this December in Abayudaya, one of the Jewish communities in Uganda. 

    The story then fast-forwards to 2009 when Joanne asked if my students wanted  pen pals.  Well, yeah, sure....

I gotta tell you, the day you open an envelope addressed to you from a kid in Uganda is the best day of the school year.  It makes the school year a COOL year.   That first class will graduate high school this year. 

       The following year, I had a very special group of sixth graders, and when they learned that young women were not going to school because they might be embarrassed to use a latrine that had no doors, they decided to build them one.  So, Joanne organized this project and got a wonderful and talented engineer in Uganda, Moses Bagonza, to manage the construction of a compostable latrine designed by Engineers Without Borders in Los Angeles. 

 

 

 



We did a beautiful tile-painting fundraising project, with the support from Radnor Educational Foundation, where kids in our community painted tiles that I shipped to Uganda.  This wall stands in front of the latrine, sharing messages of love and peace from our school to theirs.

 

 

 

 

    The summer of 2012, I travelled to the Bupala Primary School (Iganga District, Bupala Village) to see this project through to its completion.  The villagers were deeply appreciative of the attention paid to their school and community.  The latrine was the first new construction in this village in over a decade.  My time spent with the students was really the greatest part of the journey. 

 

 

    While the school has a bore-hole well on the property, and now a new latrine facility, it seemed that the next problem that needed to be addressed was nutrition.  So, since last February, our school has been providing lunch for the 600 children of Bupala P/S.  We feed the school for a mere $125/week which is raised through grassroots efforts like bake sales and lemonade stands.

      Raising awareness and funds is a constant worry.   So, moving the Bupala School towards sustaining their own lunch program is my first priority these days.  Towards that end, I'm hosting a family chat event called COMPASSION IN ACTION at our school on the evening of November 21.  The purpose of the evening is to explore what small acts we can commit to as individuals, families and as a school community that might make the world a little better.  We are also honoring Phil Hughes, a local guy who was in the Peace Corps and has started a thriving business called Mavuno Harvest that is selling organically grown dried fruit from Uganda in Whole Foods and other health stores in the region.  He is transforming lives in the village where the fruit is being harvested...and I'm hoping to help the Bupala School prepare to be another source of fruit for this business in a few years. 

    I'm  also working on pulling a crew of people together to help out in the village next summer, including some medics and others who are interested in helping develop an organic garden and a textile project.   Meanwhile, I hope to keep the communication flowing between the children here and in Uganda.  Anyone who wants to join us is more than welcome; just contact me at jodi.sabra@rtsd.org  and I'll be happy to share the information. 

    Oh yeah!  One other small act we're undertaking to raise funds for our friends involves recycling used ink and toner cartridges.  We've teamed up with Laser Charge, Inc. to help with this effort.  If any businesses in the Philly region are looking for a place to unload their empty ink cartridges, we're more than happy to turn that trash into recyclable treasure that will help us feed our friends in Uganda.   That's about it for now. 

    Because you're Dan Gottlieb, I'll tell you: this fills me with fear and anxiety.  I'm a big-picture gal with very few of the detail skills that are useful when it comes to orchestrating the nuts and bolts of my big ideas.  I really need help from anyone who has expertise to share.  A little bit goes a long way in Uganda, and the same holds true here in my tie-dyed classroom.  I would love to hear from just about anyone who can help me figure out how to manifest these dreams.  Too often I find myself proclaiming: WHAT WAS I THINKING?!  

    And then I look at the pictures of those beautiful kids I met, and I know I have to just keep plugging away.  Maybe we can make a difference.  As they often say in Uganda: YOU AH WELCOME!  Thanks for your interest in my kids; they would be honored.  And may all you gained from your journey bring you closer to the things that matter the most.  With love and big wishes, Jodi

   

 

 

   

   

 

 

When Dreams Start to Come True

    Welcome to a new school year, welcome to new pen pals and returning pen pals, and welcome to everyone who has ever had a dream that they started to realize.  This past week brought thrilling news from our sister school in Uganda: the government built a brand new classroom building at the Buppala Primary School.  This two-classroom structure features windows "with glasses!"

 

 

      For those who have been following our work for a while, you know that the compostable latrine that we built last summer was the first new structure to go up in this village in over a decade. At the commissioning ceremony for the latrine, the local (regional) politician who was in attendance promised to expand development at BPS. Well, he actually delivered on this promise, and now there are two new classrooms at Buppala Primary School!    

             

                       


    Since last February, Radnor Middle School has provided lunch for the 600 students of BPS at a cost of $125/week.  That sounds unbelievable, but it's true.  A little bit goes a long way in Uganda, and as this new school year kicks off, we need to renew our efforts on behalf of our pen pals until they are able to sustain the cost of the lunch program on their own.  I am asking for our school community to chip in however you can to help with this effort.  Buppala students return to school tomorrow (September 16) for their new term, and our pen pal coffers are depleted.  We need to gear up for a new fundraising campaign to ensure that our friends can rely on a meal each day they attend school.  According to the Headmaster's report (which I am attaching to this post), enrollment has increased and the health of the students has improved since the installation of the latrine and the initiation of the lunch program.  Keeping kids in school is really the impetus behind this endeavor.



    In Uganda, public school ends after 7th grade.  Statistically, many girls are married off soon after (if their families can afford to send them to school).  I worry the most about the oldest girls.  They are so bright and beautiful, and I am confident that we can provide them with hope and opportunity that they would not have otherwise.  Fortunately, we have a plan.  This is yet another one of the dreams that is beginning to be realized for our sister school.
    I learned about a local entrepreneur and prior Peace Corps volunteer who has been transforming another village in Uganda with a dried fruit business that is growing and thriving.  Phil Hughes started Mavuno Harvest in an effort to help villagers profit year-round from the fruit that normally has to be sold off quickly at a very low price once it ripens.  Mavuno Harvest is found in Whole Foods stores and other health food stores throughout our region, and Phil Hughes is the first recipient of our COMPASSION IN ACTION AWARD which will be presented on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21 @ RMS at our first-ever FAMILY CHAT.  I hope you will be able to join us.  In any case, our goal now is to help our pen pals develop an organically certified garden where they will grow fruit that can be sold to MAVUNO HARVEST.  This is a few years down the road, but the potential for the oldest students to become entrepreneurs who take responsibility for feeding the school population and improving life for the village is incredibly hopeful and attainable.  Meanwhile,
we will be emphasizing the theme of SUSTAINABILITY and looking closely at ways we can be more conscious consumers, particularly around our own lunchtime behaviors.  We are going to look carefully at how much waste we are producing and what we can do to minimize the amount of non-recyclable trash we are generating, as well as examining the nutritional value of the foods we are consuming.  Our gardening efforts will expand in partnership with the WATHERSHED classroom, and we will exchange letters about this shared experience over the years with our pen pals in Uganda.
    I will be participating in a service-adventure trip to Uganda next summer, and I invite anyone who is interested to consider joining us.  We will be living and working in the village and exploring the natural beauty of the Pearl of Africa.  Thank you for your interest and your support for this on-going effort.  Our small acts are indeed having a huge impact, and every little contribution is significant to the success of this initiative.  It's going to be an incredible year.  May all our dreams continue to evolve.  Thanks.

To read the full text of the report from Buppala School go to:  Report
To learn more about Phil Hughes & Mavuno Harvest, read this Inquirer article: Article
For Service-Travel Summer 2014 Information contact: jodi.sabra@rtsd.org
 
  

Lunch is Served!

    Well, what do you know??  The love and compassion continue to grow in our lovely village.  The students of Bupala Primary School have been receiving lunch, courtesy of the generous students and families connected to Radnor Middle School.  The lunch program began the first week of February, and will hopefully continue indefinitely.  Every child deserves a healthy meal at least once a day, and we're making sure our friends are nourished. 
    Our wonderful and reliable engineer from the latrine project, Moses Bagonza, is overseeing the delivery of this program, ensuring that the funds we raise are carefully delivered directly to the students of the Bupala School.  Moses and I communicate regularly about the purchase and delivery of nutritious foods for our pen pals.  As you can see from the photos, the Bupala School is grateful for everything our kids are doing to make a difference in the lives of their community.  Every purchase made at a bake sale, popcorn sale, pie-in-the-face raffle drive has added up to a hill of rice and beans for our friends in Uganda.  Keep up the incredible effort, RMS!
    Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this program.  A little bit goes a long way in Uganda.  For only $125, we are feeding the entire school of 500 students for a week.  If you would like to make a tax deductable donation, kindly send checks payable to RADNOR EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION c/o Jodi Sabra, Radnor Middle School, 150 Louella Ave., Wayne, PA 19087.