Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Sharing What We're Learning: The Peace Flag Collaboration

        This is pure joy.  Radnor Middle School students are capturing something meaningful they've learned and putting this on fabric flags that will hang in classrooms at Buyanga Primary School. 

    The teachers at Buyanga are incredible, but they have almost no resources beyond a very tired chalkboard for teaching their students.  However, the Peace Flags are durable and educational.  

    Radnor Pen Pals created flags with the 5 Themes of Geography; diagrams of volcanoes, flowers, the water cycle; math equations and multiplication and addition tables; scientific terminology and favorite words of wisdom.  They are made by hand and with love, and it's a beautiful way to capture some of what they're learning and sharing it with others.



                   




                       



We're also writing letters to the students at Buyanga.  It takes a lot of patience to get a letter back from a child who lives in the bush in southeastern Uganda, but it's well worth the wait.                                                      


          

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Thanks for Giving

Buyanga Primary School students in the farm we helped create

     This is the season for gratitude and for giving.  While you and your family are planning meaningful gifts, kindly consider a contribution to the Buyanga School farm.  The Pen Pal & Popcorn Club specializes in sustaining relationships and sharing the best of our selves with our friends far away.  When you contribute to this project, you are able to follow the progress of this farm for years to come through this blog.  When you make a contribution through Global Village Connect, you will receive a gift card acknowledging the donation.  Really, what could be more meaningful than nourishing our pen pals for years to come?  As always, thank YOU for giving!   Here's the link to donate: Buyanga Farm Donation


Sunday, November 26, 2017

This is Why we Do It!


Keep in mind, pen pals, THIS IS WHY WE DO IT!  

The students of Buyanga Primary School are grateful for all you are doing to ensure that their farm thrives.  Our efforts on their behalf is changing lives.  We can document the effect of our work:  School enrollment and completion rates have increased dramatically because the pupils receive lunch each day they attend school.  Not too many middle schoolers can claim to have made this kind of impact on the world.  You are powerful and amazing!  

This holiday season, consider a gift that you can watch grow: help keep the farm at Buyanga Primary School thriving.  Visit Global Village Connect and follow the TAKE ACTION>GIVE A GIFT links to make a contribution that we will foster together!  Thank you for caring.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

These Ghouls Give


It's hard to imagine that one haunted house full of 100 zombies could could cultivate a farm that feeds hundreds of students in one school far away, but these are no ordinary zombies...they are also pen pals with hearts that never die.  Here are some highlights from our Halloween fundraiser.  Next time we'll share pictures of our sister school in Uganda and show you how our efforts are impacting the world.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving in our community, I want to thank everyone who participated in our haunted house, whether you played a role on stage, backstage, or you visited our haunted house and enjoyed some of Abuelita's incredible empanadas, you were a critical part of this event.  Thank you to everyone in this community who understands how gratifying it can be to give to others all around the globe.



Get your freak on!
 



 RMS PEN PALS ARE CHANGING THE WORLD












Sunday, October 29, 2017

WE WILL, WE WILL HAUNT YOU!!!





TOMORROW NIGHT...THE ZOMBIES WILL PROVIDE THE FRIGHT - ABUELITA'S WILL PROVIDE THE EMPANADAS.  AFRICAN JEWELRY & DELICIOUS BAKE SALE IN THE CAF.  COME OUT AND SUPPORT THE BUYANGA SCHOOL FARM

        SEE YOU THERE...IF YOU DARE!!!!!

Sunday, October 22, 2017

ZOMBIE INVASION OCTOBER 30th!

Get ready...because 100 zombies are on their way to Radnor Middle School next Monday, Oct. 30th! This is all in support of the school farm at Buyanga Primary School in Uganda where RMS students are taking the Global Education goal of  Taking Action to a whole new level.  Please come out and support their efforts.  Abuelita's Empanada truck will be in the bus loop, but please mind the zombies as you enter.  Can't wait to see you there!
                       





Sunday, October 15, 2017

100 Kids Sign Up to Become Pen Pals!

RMS has proven, once again, that we're THE SCHOOL WITH HEART IN THE HEART OF WAYNE! This is epic! 100 kids have volunteered to help better the lives of others, and to make a global connection.

Waiting to register for Pen Pals & Popcorn 2017

The new crew is hard at work planning the HAUNTED HOUSE FUNDRAISER: 
MONDAY, OCT. 30th.  
Pen Pals planning the Haunted House


Collaborating on scenes for the Haunted House.
Ideas are popping!


Vampires disguised as students.







This is going to be MEGA!  Don't miss it.

Saturday, February 25, 2017

We Are Battling Food Scarcity in Uganda: Buyanga School Farm Update



Headmaster Edward Bukye weeds one of the apple banana trees planted earlier this year
Radnor Pen Pal & Popcorn Club has had a little hiatus, but while we were focusing our energy on school and our own well-being, the new farm we initiated this year has been carefully tended by the students and faculty of the Buyanga Primary School under the supervision of organic farming expert Yusuf Wesonga.  Our haunted house fundraiser at Halloween enabled Buyanga Primary to plant 550 apple-banana trees, and the ground has been prepared for 4 acres of maize and other vegetables that will provide the school with the food they need to initiate a lunch program.



While the eastern region of Africa has been stricken with drought conditions that have led to food scarcity issues, Global Village Connect volunteer Michael Glotter worked alongside Yusuf Wesonga to teach the students how to create an irrigation system using plastic drink bottles. This has been a successful method and almost all of the banana crop has survived the initial months since planting.





Preparing the farm for maize and and crops to initiate a lunch program at Buyanga Primary School

      Now the school is preparing to develop the remaining 4 acres after some highly anticipated rains during the first week of March.  Our haunted house funds will cover the initial planting, but we will need to redouble our efforts to ensure that the school farm thrives and can generate a profit.  Making Buyanga Primary School self-sufficient is our goal, and we anticipate that as the lunch program evolves, school enrollment and retention rates will rise, much as they did for our first pen pals at the nearby Buppala Primary School.  Keeping kids well nourished and in school are the primary goals of our work in Uganda.  This is only possible because Radnor pen pals and our families and friends have recognized that a little bit of love and compassion goes a long way.  Kindly consider helping us help others by making a small donation through our partners at Global Village Connect.