The Power of TRF 

 
Many of you will remember Lonnie Hackett, who came to speak to our club in 2015 about his fledgling child health care program in Zambia called Healthy Kids/Brighter Future.  In the spring of 2016, our club (along with several other clubs) pitched in $500.00 to support a RI global grant application. (see below)  The result - an approved global grant of nearly $125,000 for the HK/BF program and 15,000 children in Zambia now receiving much needed basic health care.  This incredible morphing only happens through the Rotary Foundation. We all can take pride in our participation and support of this deserving project.  
Subject: Healthy Kids/Brighter Future Global Grant Approved and Underway
Fellow Rotarians:
Our thanks and appreciation to the 35 Rotary Clubs, 3 Rotary Districts, and  4 individual Rotarians who donated and supported the Global Grant for Healthy Kids/Brighter Future in Lusaka, Zambia. The Grant was approved by Rotary International, and payment of the first installment was made earlier this month.  The final grant amount was approximately $123,500. Attached is a recent HK/BF Newsletter showing the results of our significant support.  You should feel proud knowing that your donations to the Global Grant are contributing to the improvement of the lives of thousands of young people in Lusaka. 
 
Training A New Cohort of School Health Workers

The highlight of the summer came in August, when HK/BF trained teacher School Health Workers from the Ng’ombe Basic and New Ng’ombe schools; marking the first time that HK/BF has introduced the program within government schools. The training was a resounding success, and the teachers and administrators are now eager to use their newly taught skills to improve the health of their students.  
 
 
 
Program Evaluation with Harvard School of Public Health
In July we successfully completed the end-line data collection for a year-long evaluation of our programs partnership with the Harvard School of Public Health. We expect to have preliminary results within the coming months.
 
 
A Trained School Health Worker can Make all the Difference

For the past several years Natasha has been living with an infection that left her blind in one eye and suffering from headaches so severe that she was forced to stop attending school. With limited support, she had lost all hope that her situation would ever improve. This was until one of her teachers, Prince, was trained as a school health worker.
 
“If we were trained several years ago then this whole situation could have been prevented. I thank god that the program came when it did so that we could help Natasha and make sure that no child has to go through this again.”  - Prince

After completing training, Prince was determined to see that Natasha received the care she required. The journey to getting Natasha treated was not easy, but after several home visits and trips to the local hospital, Prince was eventually able to get Natasha admitted to the University Teacher Hospital where she was diagnosed and put on a treatment regiment.

Now six months later, Natasha’s headaches have left and she is back enrolled in school. Prince smiles widely when he talks about his work as a School Health Worker, for he knows the impact he is having throughout his school and community.