The Dream Team - An Underdog Story in Africa
Meet the Dream Team, a group of African students who are changing lives. Their team consists of six young ladies and two young men from Sierra Leone. They were supposed to come to the U.S.A. on a scholarship as exchange students for the 2020-21 school year. At this time, I worked with this U.S. State Department program and a girl named Muriel was to be my neighbor, living with a family in a rural school district. Due to the pandemic, the program that year was cancelled so Muriel and the others didn't get their dream of living with a host family and studying in an American school.
These amazing kiddos are still considered YES alumni and are supposed to make a difference in their country after their program. I asked Muriel if she would be willing to work with me and my colleagues to make a greater impact. She brought this team together. That's how this group of underdogs gathered in a powerful way to make a difference in education and empowering women in their country. Muriel is their leader and they are off to a great start touching lives of students and women in SIerra Leone. With your help, we can do even more.
Empowering Students:
There is a book famine in many African countries. Books are so scarce most schools in Sierra Leone do not have a single one for their children to read. The consequences of the famine are far reaching since it affects academic performance and limits opportunities. Sending books and starting school libraries is a mission we've taken on for many years now with various partners. I became involved in this when my neighbor daughter's died in 2012. Christen was a teacher with a huge heart for at risk kids. Today with the help of the Dream Team going into schools and explaining the concept of lending libraries, we can grow this program in the days ahead.
I've learned schools don't have PE equipment either. Their soccer balls are typically made out of old socks or rags and bound together with rubber bands. We send new soccer balls with pumps and jump ropes so the kids can have fun and get exercise on their breaks. A typical distribution is 200 books, 5-10 soccer balls and 20-30 jumping ropes. A man originally from Sierra Leone arranges shipments out of Chicago at a more reasonable rate. Once they arrive, they are delivered to schools by the Dream Team who make sure kids learn about the importance of exercise and how to take care of the books and the equipment so they last as long as possible.
We want to continue to do this important work promoting literacy and building libraries and need your help. Your gift of any size will help children in Sierra Leone.
Empowering Women:
Meet my friend Suzanne Pitz, co-founder of a nonprofit called White Field Partners. Years ago she introduced me to a problem for women in developing countries. I learned as many as 500 million women around the globe lack access to basic menstrual products and bathroom facilities during their menstrual cycles. We became determined to help women and girls in Sierra Leone.
The Dream Team has been trained by professionals and today they work with a local chapter of Days for Girls (DfG) International. DfG is an award-winning NGO who works to shatter stigma and limitations associated with menstruation for improved health, education, and livelihoods. You can help solve one girl's feminine hygiene problem for the low price of $15.