HOLMDEL, NJ… When registered nurse JoDee Anderson traveled to Uganda, Africa, this year with charity organization Sylvia’s Children, she knew she would be helping to change the lives of countless children, many left orphaned by the AIDS pandemic. However, she never realized that she would also be changing the lives of those who work around her at home.
Recently, after returning from her philanthropic mission, she was awarded the prestigious title of “2010 Nurse of the Year” by her peers at The Willows in Holmdel, an assisted living community connected with Bayshore Community Health Services.
Since Holmdel-based Sylvia’s Children was founded in 2003, many nurses and doctors have jumped on board to make a difference by providing their necessary, skilled medical services to the 1,001 children at the Mbiriizi Advanced Primary and Day Care School in Mbiriizi, Uganda, Africa.
On the first medical trip in 2009, Long Branch nurse AnnMarie Gray brought with her a dose of Penicillin and bandages, which she used to cure a 5-year old girl with Syphilis and five children living with umbilical hernias.
On the organization’s most recent medical trip this past March, three nurses, including Anderson, Betsy Ann Gilbert of Crestwood, KY., and Dora Burke of Cranford, N. J., as well as Dr. Tricia Gilbert, a Pulmonary and Intensive Care Specialist at New Jersey’s Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, all visited the school and provided a rigorous clinical examination of each child to produce individual medical histories as a baseline for future medical service.
They also administered treatment for many of the ailments they encountered, most of which included anything from diseases of poverty to consequences of malnutrition and complications of HIV/AIDS; and even arranged for much-needed and sometimes life-saving operations for some of the children.
But this certainly won’t be the last medical trip; there is already another one scheduled for March 2011, and Sylvia’s Children founder Sylvia Allen firmly emphasizes the need for more nurse practitioners, nurses and doctors to come on the journey.
“The most important thing anyone can do is to save a child’s life,” states Allen. “From the start, a child is given the blueprint to change the world, if enabled with the compassion of others. In sub-Saharan Africa, these children feel as if they have fewer opportunities, but that is not the case. Just by feeling the warm touch of a nurse’s hand or by relieving these children from their unfortunate ailments, we can help to change the world one child at a time.”
This school is the first of many models of African entrepreneurship being created by Sylvia’s Children, an organization which raises funds and awareness for orphaned African youth. The non-profit seeks to help the school create a self-sustainable economy for itself, which will then be shared with schools in surrounding sub-Saharan African villages.
Since its launch, the organization has succeeded in ensuring an annual sponsorship for 98 of the 235-orphaned children and has raised $330,000, all of which has gone directly to the school. It has built a fresh well and a fully stocked library; purchased seven acres of land; donated an Internet-equipped computer; constructed a dormitory with triple-decker bunk beds; built a playground; provided sporting and musical equipment; and built three additional double classroom blocks as well as providing a full-time nurse and new stoves for increased cooking efficiency. In addition the orphans that go on to secondary school continue to receive sponsorship until they graduate.
For more information, to sign up for a trip or to become a volunteer, visit www.sylviaschildren.org, call (732) 946-2711 or e-mail Allen at Sylvia@sylviaschildren.org.
Since Holmdel-based Sylvia’s Children was founded in 2003, many nurses and doctors have jumped on board to make a difference by providing their necessary, skilled medical services to the 1,001 children at the Mbiriizi Advanced Primary and Day Care School in Mbiriizi, Uganda, Africa.
On the first medical trip in 2009, Long Branch nurse AnnMarie Gray brought with her a dose of Penicillin and bandages, which she used to cure a 5-year old girl with Syphilis and five children living with umbilical hernias.
On the organization’s most recent medical trip this past March, three nurses, including Anderson, Betsy Ann Gilbert of Crestwood, KY., and Dora Burke of Cranford, N. J., as well as Dr. Tricia Gilbert, a Pulmonary and Intensive Care Specialist at New Jersey’s Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, all visited the school and provided a rigorous clinical examination of each child to produce individual medical histories as a baseline for future medical service.
They also administered treatment for many of the ailments they encountered, most of which included anything from diseases of poverty to consequences of malnutrition and complications of HIV/AIDS; and even arranged for much-needed and sometimes life-saving operations for some of the children.
But this certainly won’t be the last medical trip; there is already another one scheduled for March 2011, and Sylvia’s Children founder Sylvia Allen firmly emphasizes the need for more nurse practitioners, nurses and doctors to come on the journey.
“The most important thing anyone can do is to save a child’s life,” states Allen. “From the start, a child is given the blueprint to change the world, if enabled with the compassion of others. In sub-Saharan Africa, these children feel as if they have fewer opportunities, but that is not the case. Just by feeling the warm touch of a nurse’s hand or by relieving these children from their unfortunate ailments, we can help to change the world one child at a time.”
This school is the first of many models of African entrepreneurship being created by Sylvia’s Children, an organization which raises funds and awareness for orphaned African youth. The non-profit seeks to help the school create a self-sustainable economy for itself, which will then be shared with schools in surrounding sub-Saharan African villages.
Since its launch, the organization has succeeded in ensuring an annual sponsorship for 98 of the 235-orphaned children and has raised $330,000, all of which has gone directly to the school. It has built a fresh well and a fully stocked library; purchased seven acres of land; donated an Internet-equipped computer; constructed a dormitory with triple-decker bunk beds; built a playground; provided sporting and musical equipment; and built three additional double classroom blocks as well as providing a full-time nurse and new stoves for increased cooking efficiency. In addition the orphans that go on to secondary school continue to receive sponsorship until they graduate.
For more information, to sign up for a trip or to become a volunteer, visit www.sylviaschildren.org, call (732) 946-2711 or e-mail Allen at Sylvia@sylviaschildren.org.
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