Category Archives: UNITE Project

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Help Keep the Learning Going

People Involved

I met Sam in 2003 when I was lucky enough to work in Uganda as part of the UNITE Project sponsored by the NC Zoo. It profoundly changed my life and how I see the world. When I was active in the UNITE Project we raised money to build schools by selling lunches and bracelets at school. Some parents even held garage sales. At one point I tried to start a Do Without It campaign. The idea was to resist purchasing the “wants” but instead donate those funds to the UNITE Project so we could provide the “needs” of our friends in Uganda.

After 20 years, Sam now has a family that needs help to stay in school. You can read more at the GoFund me page I set up to raise the funds to keep these children in school through Senior school. I calculate it will be about $17,300.00 which seems like a lot until you think about how many lives this can change.

Please take a moment and read about the campaign and if you are so inclined, share it wide and far to make their dreams come true. https://gofund.me/978040bb

Listen to the story in this YouTube video which is also included in the campaign.

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Global Connections At DA

As Durham Academy works on developing an enhanced global program as part of our strategic plan, it is great to know we have folks who are already investigating resources. I have been involved with The UNITE Project since 2003. I hope to take students to Uganda in 2009 so the can meet the students and tour the schools that our efforts have built. They will also be able to go on a safari at Queen Elizabeth National Park.

While at the Laptop Institute in Memphis, I learned about a Global Social Networking site organized and run by students. TakingITGlobal. This site will allow students, teachers and schools connect to projects around the world.

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Upper School Teacher, Tina Bessias traveled to Egypt this summer to attend the iEARN annual conference. Following is her post to the faculty.

There’s an organization called iEARN, the International Education and Resource Network, that held its annual conference in Cairo this summer. I attended it and would like to share information about it with any division or group of teachers who is interested. Our school will be joining in in the next few weeks, and I’ll send out login information when it’s available. There’s much you can see now, though, if you go to the web site: http://www.iearn.org/ The organization facilitates collaborative projects between classes of students at all grade levels, including a teddy bear exchange, discussions of heroes and war experiences, comparing chemical analyses of river water, and lots of other topics.

My message about my summer grant experience also mentioned Just Vision: http://justvision.org and the documentary, Encounter Point, about Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers: http://encounterpoint.com

And just for good measure, here are a few more links:
Yad Vashem, the Jerusalem holocaust museum: http://www.yadvashem.org
the News Hour profile of poet Agi Mishol: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/entertainment/poetry/profiles/poet_mishol.html
the Bible Lands Museum: http://www.blmj.org/

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UNITE Support Flows

I deposited $561.00 into the DA UNITE Club account after Grant S. had his very successful Basketball Free Throw Contest. Each year the Preschool has a Penny Campaign and this year again they have raised funds for UNITE which total $740.00. I will go there tomorrow to accept the “check”.

Through the sale of bracelets, coffee, lunches and recycling here at DA and at Triangle Day School we have raised a total of $2114.25 so far this year. I hope we can add shelving to the library we built at Nyabubale although we are also working on a project to bring computers and Internet to the Kibale Region with a company called Inveneo that has done other projects in Uganda.

Thanks for all you do to help our sister schools in Uganda as we are changing their lives.