Transforming the Lives of African Children and Their families
by Raga S. Elim, Ph.D., Chairman, Capital District Committee on International Understanding
Relim@cox.net
We have exceeded $15,000 in donations to the Initiative for Africa! Thank you to all club presidents, members of boards of directors and individual Kiwanians for your contributions and for making it possible for us to come this far.
If you have not yet made a donation to support the Initiative for Africa, please help us reach our goal of $30,000 this year.
Help us save children’s lives! Remember: UNICEF estimates 26,000 children die every day in developing countries, many of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Only 4 percent of arable land in Africa is irrigated. Drought and famine are common.
Our District Committee on International Understanding will exhibit this project at the Kiwanis International Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 25-28, 2009. There, we will report the total donations by our district. We also have invited our partner, KickStart International, to the convention to demonstrate the sturdy, efficient irrigation pumps invented by its founder and CEO Dr. Martin Fisher.
With these pumps, small-scale farmers can grow crops and start farm-based businesses. As a result, they can raise their families out of poverty—permanently. Their children have access to food, medicine and education. They have a chance at a productive life.
Farmers invest in their own success. They buy their own pumps for $35-100, depending on the model. But this price does not fully cover the pump’s production and marketing costs. It takes another $300 from KickStart donors to pull the average family, including 2-3 children, out of poverty.
KickStart has agreed to match the funds we send with contributions from other donors. So every $150 we send will move another family out of poverty. If we raise $30,000, we help 200 families transform their lives. That’s 400 to 600 children who might otherwise die—or face lives stunted by malnutrition, disease and little or no education.
We welcome your comments and invite your donations. Please make your checks payable to Capital District Kiwanis Foundation. On the memo line, write “Initiative for Africa” and send your contribution to Capital District Kiwanis Foundation, 1601 Charrington Drive, Midlothian, VA 23113.
