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-
- Vim is Charityware. There are no restrictions on using or copying Vim, but I
- encourage you to make a donation to charity, see below. If you include Vim on
- a CD-ROM you should send me a copy.
-
- If you are happy with Vim, please express that by reading the rest of this
- file.
-
-
- Summer 1993 I spent my holidays in Uganda, working for Kibaale Children's
- Centre (KCC) with a Dutch team. I was very impressed with what I experienced
- there. Of course I knew Africa from books and television, but actually being
- there and talking and working with the people is very different. January 1994
- I spent another month there, which made me realize that I could be of help to
- these people. Summer 1994 to summer 1995 I spent a whole year at the centre,
- working as a volunteer. I have helped to expand the centre and worked in the
- area of water and sanitation.
-
- KCC is located in Kibaale, a small town in the south of Uganda, near Tanzania.
- The area is known as Rakai District. The population is mostly farmers.
- Although people are poor, there is enough food. But this district is
- suffering from AIDS more than any other part of the world. Some say that it
- started there. Estimations are that 10 to 30% of the Ugandans are infected
- with HIV. Because parents die, there are many orphans. In this district
- about 60.000 children have lost one or both parents, out of a population of
- 350.000. And this is still continuing.
-
- The children need a lot of help. The Kibaale Children Centre is working hard
- to provide the needy with food, medical care and education. Food and medical
- care to keep them healthy now, and education so that they can take care of
- themselves in the future. KCC works on a Christian base, but help is given to
- children of any religion.
-
- The key to solving the problems in this area is education. This has been
- neglected in the past years with president Idi Amin and the following civil
- wars. Now that the government is stable again the children and parents have
- to learn how to take care of themselves and how to avoid infections. There is
- also help for people who are ill and hungry, but the primary goal is to
- prevent people from getting ill and to learn how to grow healthy food.
-
- Most of the orphans are living in an extended family. An uncle or older
- sister is taking care of them. Because these families are big and the income
- (if any) is low, a child is lucky if it gets healthy food. Clothes, medical
- care and schooling is beyond its reach. To help these needy children a
- sponsorship program was put into place. A child can be financially adopted.
- For a few dollars a month KCC sees to it that the child gets indispensable
- items, is healthy, goes to school and KCC takes care of anything else that
- needs to be done for the child and the family that supports him.
-
- Besides helping the child directly, the environment where the child grows up
- needs to be improved. KCC helps schools to improve their teaching methods.
- There is a demonstration school at the centre and teacher trainings are given.
- Health workers are being trained, hygiene education is carried out and
- households are stimulated to build a proper latrine. I helped setting up a
- production site for cement slabs. These are used to built a good latrine.
- They are sold at a very low price.
-
- A few times a week a health team goes out into small villages to do
- immunization, treatment and education. KCC is the only organization in the
- area that can provide the transport for this. Patients would otherwise have
- to travel hours by bicycle, if they have one. There is no ambulance in the
- area and they don't have money to hire a taxi (if there is one). For most
- people KCC is the only help they can get.
-
- Now that I'm back in Holland, I would like to continue supporting KCC. To do
- this I'm raising funds and organizing the sponsorship program. Please
- consider one of these options:
-
- 1. Sponsor a child: $15 a month. (Holland: fl 25)
- 2. Sponsor a child and the improvement of its environment: $25 a month
- (Holland: fl 40)
- 3. Sponsor the health team: Any amount a month or per quarter
- 4. A one-time donation
-
- Compared with other organizations that do child sponsorship the amounts are
- very low. This is because the money goes directly to the centre. Less than
- 5% is used for administration. This is possible because this is a small
- organization that works with volunteers. If you would like to sponsor a
- child, you should have the intention to do this for at least a year.
-
- How do you know that the money will be spent right? First of all you have my
- personal guarantee as the author of Vim. Further the centre is co-sponsored
- and inspected by World Vision, Save the Children Fund and International Child
- Care Fund. I have worked with the centre as a volunteer from September 1994
- to August 1995. I trust the people that are working there.
-
- If you have any further questions, send me e-mail: mool@oce.nl.
-
- The director of the centre is:
- Sekaran Vellasamy
- p.o. box 1658
- Masaka, Uganda, East Africa
-
- Sending money:
-
- USA and Canada: Contact ICCF in Vancouver. You can send them a one time
- donation directly. Ask for information about sponsorship.
- International Child Care Fund
- 3456 Fraser street
- Vancouver, B.C. V5V 4C4
- Canada
- Fax: 604-8761448
-
- Holland: Use one of my accounts:
- Rabobank Venlo, nr. 3765.05.117
- Postbank, nr. 1644503
-
- Europe: To avoid banking costs the best thing is to send me a
- Eurocheque, written out to "Bram Moolenaar" in Dutch Guilders
- (fl). But any other method should work. Ask for information
- about sponsorship.
- stichting ICCF Holland
- Bram Moolenaar
- Clematisstraat 30
- 5925 BE Venlo
- The Netherlands.
-
- Others: Transfer the money to one of my accounts if possible.
- Otherwise, send a cheque in US dollars to the above address.
- Minimal amount: $70 (my bank does not accept smaller amounts
- for foreign cheques)
-
- Bram Moolenaar
-