Want to Help? Here's How!

Everyone can't just fly nine thousand miles across the world and go to Africa to help people that are less fortunate than you are, but there are still ways that you can help.  Donating money is one of those ways.  No amount is to small or to big.  Any money you donate will go directly to HELP International and will be used on various projects that I am going to be working on this summer. 

Here are the steps to donating:

1. Donate online through PayPal

•  log on to help-international.org and click on the donate button on the left side or click here 
•  Make sure to include my name (Alissa Boyer) in the "Designation" box

2. Send a check to HELP International

Here's the address:              HELP International
                                            455 N. University Ave. Suite 212
                                            Provo, Utah 84601

• Make the check payable to HELP International
• Make sure to include my name (Alissa Boyer) on the memo line 

BONUS:  As an extra incentive anyone who donates will receive a small trinket from Uganda upon my return.  

  
It is very important that you include my name with your donation as this is how HELP International will know what/who the donation is for.  That is also how I will know of the donation so that i can be sure to bring you something from Uganda.

Please share this information with anyone/everyone who might be interested.   Help me get to Uganda and spread the word to others.  Thanks for your support!

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.

                             -Edmund Burke

Please do what you can, every bit helps-no matter the amount.

Training

The training for all the HELP International volunteers was this weekend at Brigham Young University.  We received our country handbooks which contain information about the Ugandan program, packing lists and various other things, about one hundred pages worth.  I better start reading!

I attended workshops about education and literacy, orphans and at risk populations and learned the basics of making an adobe stove.

Education is extremely important, especially for girls.  Check out the video below to see why.  I personally believe education is the way to change the world.  Education equals knowledge and knowledge equals power.  Imagine if everyone in the world knew that washing your hands could keep you from getting sick or that brushing your teeth could prevent gum disease?  These are just simple things that many of us take for granted, what if we could teach the world something more, something bigger?  

I also learned a lot about how to respect and be aware of other cultures and some specific things about Ugandan culture.  Apparently in Uganda it is illegal to take a picture on a bridge or to take a picture of the president.  So these are two things that I will not be coming home with.  I am very excited to be able to have the opportunity to immerse myself into another culture.

As the soil, however rich it may be, cannot be productive without cultivation, so the mind without culture will never produce good fruit.

                             -Seneca

Diseases, Parasites and Safety

A few people have asked me about the parasites in Uganda and if I am going to come home with some kind of weird disease.  Yes, it is true that there are several different kinds of parasites and diseases in Africa that my body is not used to because they aren't prevalent in the United States.   But does this mean I am going to contract some weird illness that no one has ever heard of?  

Absolutely not!  That is why I got a bunch of shots and will be taking anti malaria medication.  I won't get bitten by any wild animals, I have managed to avoid getting bit by an animal my whole life and don't know why being in Africa would make that any different :)

HELP International has been doing this for a long time and they know how to keep us safe.  There are two country directors that are basically in charge while we are in Uganda, they will arrive in Uganda a week before anyone else does.  They will find and rent a house for us to live in, hire a guard and hire a cook.  The house will be in a safe part of town and must have certain safety features such as working locks.  We have to be inside by dark and the guard will be outside from seven at night to seven in the morning.  I will always be with someone else and will never go anywhere by myself.  I will still have my common sense and be able to use my own good judgment if I am ever in a situation that I don't want to be in.

The bottom line is that I will be safe and I am not going to get some crazy sickness.

ISIC Card

I just bought an International Student ID Card.  It is basically just what it sounds like and will identify me as a student all over the world.  It will also provide me with some discounts, both at home and abroad. 

We can do no great things, only small things with great love.

                                -Mother Teresa

Plans

I have been trying to decide when I will leave for Uganda and when I will come home.  I think I have finally decided on a departure date--June 8.  I am still deciding when I want to come home.  I will stay at least for 6 weeks but do I want to stay for 8 weeks or even 12 weeks instead?  Twelve weeks seems like such a long time to be so far away but is 6 weeks long enough?  I hope to have this all figured out by the end of the week so that I can request a plane ticket.

As soon as I finalize the dates I will look into and purchase some travel health insurance online.  I hear that it is a bit pricey but I hope to be able to find a good deal.

I am only one, but I am one.  I cannot do everything, but I can do something.  And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.

                                    -Edward Everett Hale

Invisible Children

Some people came to Utah Valley University today from the Invisible Children organization and showed a documentary, I found it to be both interesting and sad so I thought I would share.  

In 2003, three college aged filmmakers went to Northern Uganda to look for a story.  What they found was a war zone.  A war between the government of Uganda and a rebel group led by Joseph Kony called the Lord's Resistance Army or LRA.  Children became weapons in this war, being abducted from their homes during the night, turned into soldiers and forced to fight.

Child Soldier

Child Soldiers

Children in Northern Uganda often felt unsafe in their own homes and would travel to the center of town to sleep in bus stations or on the streets with thousands of other children.  These children are called night commuters.

Night Commuters--this is often the only place that children feel safe during the night.

This is where Invisible Children comes in.  They are a non profit organization that works towards long term development in war affected regions.  They work directly with the communities that are affected, sending children to school, along with other various programs mostly aimed at helping Ugandans to be self reliant and earn an income.  

The LRA has now moved into the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Northern Uganda has enjoyed peace for three years.  Invisible Children is still working with Ugandan people while also setting up programs in the Congo and hopes to one day see Joseph Kony arrested and all the child soldiers returned to their homes.