The process of procuring a dairy cow for the orphans living in the Children’s Home (also the Library) in the Lwengo District of Uganda, within the Kyamaganda Community Development Organization (KCDO), has been a long one. we first envisioned a cow for the children after helping them establish a small farm where they could plant and harvest their own vegetables.
A cow seemed like the logical next step. While we struggled with raising the funds for a cow, the children of KCDO had so much confidence in their cow that they began planting a field with grass, so that their cow could graze.
This represents a true act of faith, and a genuine belief that dreams can come true. The field was planted, but we only had a few hundred dollars towards the cow, not nearly enough.
Willy wrote to us, and sent us photos. The field was planted. The grass had grown. Where was the cow?
They began building the “Kral” the cow enclosure. How soon would we be able to provide a cow?
Clean water areas are provided for the cow; many children do not have regular access to clean water.
Finally, like a gift from heaven, our prayers were answered and a donor gracefully provided the remaining needed funds to purchase the cow!
Holy Cow! She may not be the most beautiful cow, but she will provide milk and dairy products for the children of KCDO. We are eternally grateful to have been able to assist in completing this dream.
How do you graduate from high school or trade school?
First, you have to have the opportunity to attend Primary and Secondary school.
This January we were privileged to receive several donations with which we have been able to support our friends in the Kyamaganda Community Development Organization (KCDO). Our first priority was to support students who needed to pay school fees so as to be able to attend the spring 2022 session of school. Each student requires $250 to attend school for one year. This fee pays for tuition and food. Additionally, students must pay for books and uniforms. Typically they walk long distances to school, often without shoes. Willy Bukenya, Director of KCDO, is so proud of his students that he requested we post some pictures.
We feel blessed to be able to help these children, and others, providing them and their families with the opportunity to improve their lives. If you want to help these Ugandan children continue their education, please connect with us. We will gladly assist you in helping fund the education of these intellectually curious young people.
We write this blog post to allow our readers to see that helping communities in need can be easy and fun. If you have an idea, or just the desire to help, please reach out to us, and together we can spread smiles.
We have worked extensively with our Ugandan friends in the Kyamaganda Community Development Organization in an effort to support their search for clean water. Clean water is an essential component for health and sustainability. It is also a very scarce resource in the Lwengo district of Uganda. In conjunction with Willy, KCDO Director, we have been working with various college interns. Sydney asked us for advice on how to hold a fund raiser to provide KCDO with access to clean water. Based upon our previous experience, we know that a related “theme” helps guests to understand the purpose of the fundraising event. We suggested that she make “water” a key theme in her event.
She reports, “”I hosted a party in the backyard of my apartment in order to raise the money. I requested a $5.00 entrance fee for the donation. Many people donated more than this though. In order to encourage people to come and donate, the party had refreshments, music, water balloons and squirt guns. I made a flyer that I sent to all my friends and asked them to share as well. Over 200 people came and I was able to raise $1,000 after reimbursing myself for the refreshments.”
Sydney discussed how to best spend the $1,000. Willy said, “We agreed that we can buy water tanks, Water is a scarce resource in our community.”
Willy reported, “Christian greetings! Am happy to inform you today we are making market survey for water tanks and water drums from hardware shops in the city. This will enable us to get the quotations and compare prices such that by the time we have funds we procure and pay off. It’s so rainy currently and is a good time for water harvesting.” (Rainy season)
“We have been able to identify the water harvesting facilities supplier. We have selected also the households to be supported but those with old caretakers who have 70+years and with more than 3 children in the household.”
“The water harvesting procured for 20 households. Each can store 450 litres of water.”
Sydney’s backyard party was an afternoon filled with fun and games. The result that she was able to accomplish: the donation of water barrels providing 150-200 people with life-saving clean water. Thank you, Sydney!!
The importance of this accomplishment can be seen in the attending officials who presided at the distribution of the water barrels.
Willy stated, “Children and caretakers receiving water harvesting facilities and the function was officiated by Assistant Health Officer, District Water Officer and Assistant District Governor”
Want to join the fun? Let us know how we can help you design an easy fun-filled event that provides life-sustaining results for communities.
This summer, despite Covid quarantines and many closed borders, we still found opportunities to share books and supplies with our neighbors, both near and far. All our activities are ongoing, however current initiatives are in bold.
We were very grateful when author Reshma Sapre reached out to us and donated 82 cases of brand-new beautiful books based upon Indian myths and tales.
Here are two: In the Indian Night Sky and The Traveler, the Tiger and the Jackal. The illustrations are exquisite and the tales have universal appeal. New books are helpful as some of our recipients will only accept new books as part of their donation initiative.
After being named as official Kindess Crusaders, We received several cases of Kindness in the Neighborhood by Wendy Littlefield.
We brought cases of Reshma’s books to the Pequot Library Teacher’s Tent. This tent is open to teachers of the Bridgeport Public school system and provides teachers with the opportunity, each summer, to choose new books for their classroom.
We then traveled throughout Southern Vermont, bringing cases of both Reshma’s and Wendy’s books to medical centers that partner with Reach Out and Read. Reach Out and Read is a literacy initiative which partners with doctors to provide free books to children who lack access to books. As part of the medical visit, doctors will help parents understand the importance of reading to their child. Children and their parents can then choose a book from the Reach Out and Read supply. We will continue to provide Reach Out and Read with new books, when requested.
We built more BridgePi digital libraries, this time our BridgePi libraries can be powered either with electricity, or be solar powered. As you can see below, each BridgePi is connected to a battery pack that is wired to a solar panel, providing 6-8 hours of constant usage. WiFi enabled devices can download materials from up to 50 feet away. These devices have been essential during Covid as the schools in Uganda remain closed. Due to school closure, the Ugandan Ministry of Education provided digital editions of all school materials from Kindergarten through Grade 12.
We were able to add the Ugandan educational materials to the BridgePi chip, greatly enhancing the usefulness of the digital library. We sent 3 solar powered BridgePi digital libraries, each containing over 1,000 books, to Kyamaganda Development Organization (KCDO), Lwengo District, Uganda.
We received a grant of $1,000 that paid for shipping our devices, and allowed us to fund a high-quality projector, screen and blackout curtains for the KCDO library in Lwengo District, Uganda. We are now working to source and add O-level and A-level practice exams to the chip.
KCDO was able to attract several summer interns, some in the US and some in Europe. We were able to work with them via WhatsApp, sharing some fundraising and donation ideas. KCDO received monetary donations from some interns. Sydney, from California, received hundreds of donated cloth masks which she shipped to us. We wrapped our BridgePi devices in these masks and shipped them to KCDO.
Throughout the summer, we continued to organize our garage, pack and label books, and clothing. We also traveled to various schools to pick up additional books and science lab supplies. As soon as the borders open, we are ready to once again ship to Zimbabwe, Zambia and Uganda!
With help from CT lawyer, Kelsie, we were able to assist KCDO with a legal agreement that transferred a 2-acre parcel of land from the Ugandan government to KCDO, for the purpose of building a medical center, library and playground complex. Additional funds contributed by JF and Zoë will allow KCDO to grade and fence the property, preparing it for construction (more funds still needed for the next phase!)
Together, we and KCDO, are working with Operational International and Project C.U.R.E to acquire needed medical supplies.
We are most grateful to Bob for funding food and school fees of the 35 KCDO orphans whom we have been supporting for the past few years. The funding provides education from September 2021-December 2022. We are working with Willy on a “learning partner” system that will pair each KCDO child with a US student, to encourage friendship and success.
John, from Von Steuben high school in Chicago, sent us 100 beautifully written and illustrated books from his French 2 students, representing their final projects. We are looking for French-speaking children who will enjoy these books.
We are excited to learn that Mark and Sheku Mansaray will be meeting with MIT students to discuss 3D printing of protheses for amputees residing in Sierra Leone. This is part of the learning center project Mark and Sheku initiated last year, and to which we were able to contribute. Being able to create protheses on location in Sierra Leone would be invaluable to the many victims of the Civil War. We hope to be able to help with this initiative.
And our last summer endeavor that we continue to work on: funding a cow for the KCDO orphans, so they can have milk. We’re almost there! Maybe we can send a cow by Christmas!
Contact us if you are interesting in assisting us as we move into fall. We hope to hear from you!
When I joined the Wonderland BookSavers team in 2017, I was the only member who didn’t live in Connecticut, and we immediately knew that one of the best ways I could support our efforts would be to expand our reach for acquiring books. One of the first schools in Brooklyn that I called was Berkeley Carroll, and from the very beginning the librarians there have been eager to help our cause! Berkeley Carroll is a K-12 school with a big heart and a lot of libraries (!) and Ms. Kris Hartley-Maneri, Ms. Kendra Barbary, Ms. Briar Sauro, Ms. Mimi Stauber, and Ms. Anna Murphy are the most wonderful librarian-heroes that Wonderland BookSavers could ever ask for!
The wonderful Berkeley Carroll librarians!
Every year, these amazing librarians cull through their incredible collections and designate any surplus or remaindered books for Wonderland BookSavers and then carefully pack them into heavy-duty book boxes. Because there are four libraries in the three different buildings, this usually means my sister and I do about 4 huge pick-ups every year!
The amazing first grade teacher Ms. Cuba!
Since it’s Brooklyn and there are a lot of stairs and usually only one small service elevator in each building, the equally wonderful Mr. Hicham and his maintenance staff, help bring the books out to the street and then we load as many into our car at a time as we can! This takes a lot of coordinating and a lot of time and we are so grateful to everyone at Berkeley Carroll for making this happen!
The incredible Mr. Hicham, Mr. José and Mr. Salvador!
So far, books from Berkeley Carroll have gone to schools and community centers in need right here in NYC and Connecticut, as well as the Pine Ridge, Rosebud and Cheyenne River Reservations in South Dakota, and, with the help of the US-Africa Children’s Fellowship, all the way to Uganda, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Somalia. Wonderland BookSavers is a community that can only operate with a lot of helping hands along the way, and we are so lucky to have the amazing and generous staff of the Berkeley Carroll School on our team.
Lower school pick up
My grandmother has a sign in her kitchen with a quote that’s attributed to Gandhi that says, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” I recently read that this famous quote is actually a paraphrase and what Gandhi actually said was, “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him… We need not wait to see what others do.”
My grandmother’s sign
What I like about this original quote is the greater emphasis on how each individual change can in fact effect a world of individual changes and that is exactly what is so amazing about Wonderland BookSavers. We’re all just doing one small part but together we can be a world of change.
Even though kids weren’t at school, the librarians still packed up books during Covid!
Thank you Ms. Kris, Ms. Kendra, Ms. Briar, Ms. Mimi, Ms. Anna and all the Berkeley Carroll staff for working so hard to be a world of change with us!
We wish to thank all our many supporters. With your help, we have been able to assist our friends of the Kyamaganda Community Development Organization, KCDO, to purchase land and plant a sustainable garden that will both feed orphaned HIV-positive children, as well as provide funds for their ongoing medical needs.
The children are planting the garden themselves, with help from KCDO Director, Willy Bukenya.
Willy provided us with this update:
“In February 2021, KCDO appealed to WBS about the need to procure a plot of land which was adjacent to the piggery project that was on sale. KCDO currently has 35 children on ART (ARVs) under our care at the centre. The main challenge was lack of food and malnutrition challenge that can cause non suppression and timely sickness. Through A miracle, we sold some pigs to raise local contribution and Wonderland BookSavers contributed a bigger percentage to raise the 70% first installment that was needed.
We paid off and we immediately set nursery bed for cabbage, maize, soya peas with active involvement of children themselves, Director and the mother who cares for the children. Water was a challenge and we had strong rosary in which we eventually received rainfall.
We transferred the seedling from nursery bed to garden as photos indicate. We used the pigs’ dung to fertilize the garden and we expect the following.
Expectations:
If all goes well, the garden will yield:-
6bags of maize each with 100kgs valued at $85.
2000 cabbages from the harvest costed at $285.
10 baskets of carrots with a value of $57.
10 bags of Green paper with value of $171
300kgs of soya peas $153.
Once the harvest period is ready in July, the following challenges will be overcome.
The cost of buying food will be reduced by 85%.
The nutrition of vulnerable children will be boasted and their health immunity improved.
The children and KCDO beneficiaries will acquire modern skills of farming which can be passed over to other households.
The garden serves as a demonstration site for the community and this can be replicated to other surrounding villages.
Challenges:
The need to have KCDO spray pump and enough fertilizers through adding on number of pigs and a cow project for cow dung supply and milk supply too.”
UPDATE
Through your generosity, we have now been able to purchase the land and KCDO has complete title to the land. This land is adjacent to the KCDO Library, which we previously funded and which currently houses orphans who cannot reside in schools due to Covid closures. This land is also adjacent to the piggery which we funded a few years ago. The piggery has expanded, providing multiple households with their own small piggeries. Pig dung is being used to fertilize this garden; pig sales provided the initial downpayment on this land.
One more contribution: We were able to purchase this motorcycle so that KCDO staff can continue to assist children living in distant rural regions.
We send our thanks to the many who have helped us bring some security to these vulnerable children!
This year, upon returning to New Beginnings Family Academy with 3,000 books to contribute to their summer reading program, I had the opportunity to reflect on the amazing journey I have traveled as co-founder, and now President of the Wonderland BookSavers Inc.
As a young and creative child, reading provided a window into thousands of fantastical worlds unbound by logic, physics, or everyday problems. This love of reading inspired my friends and I to take the modest first step of what would later become one of the important decisions of our lives: We started a book club.
I was only 8 at the time, and although reading exciting and compelling books such as Linda Sue Park’s, “A Single Shard,” with my three closest friends was wonderful, we felt like it wasn’t enough. With the passion we possessed for reading, we knew we had to do more, we wanted to live some of the values these stories engendered. As it turned out, “A Single Shard,” would contain a quote that came to define our journey, “One hill, one valley, one day at a time. In that way, your spirit will not grow weary before you have even begun to walk.” If we had imagined then that within the following decade our book club would become a fully registered 501c3 international charity, donating over 825,000 books and thousands of other supplies to impoverished children and adults throughout the world, I’m certain we never would have embarked upon such an impossible-sounding journey. Starting with, as Linda Sue Park writes, “One hill,” we began slowly, gradually picking up speed.
Walking into our local library, at age 8, I never could have imagined how the boxes of books that lay at my feet would change my life entirely, “What are they doing on the floor?” I asked. The librarian responded, “These books are out of circulation, as nobody has checked them out in a long time. They are going to be shredded into pulp and sent to a newspaper.” I was horrified. How could these books, or any books, deserve to be shredded? I begged to take them home with me, where I could find them a new home.
I soon found a charter school, New Beginnings Family Academy, that was requesting books. Together, my team and I wheeled in a large donation, 685 beautiful children’s books. We brought our books to the school library, where we saw one empty shelf after another. We knew our books would be well appreciated. We were given a tour of the school; the school children, our age, swarmed around us. They were as excited to meet us as were to meet them! This was the first of many moments to come where I truly recognized how my love of books could literally introduce me to new worlds around me.
That day, Wonderland BookSavers: Inspired by Literature was born. We set a goal of donating 1,500 books. With 685 books already donated, and our tagline, “Inspired by Literature,” we felt invincible. Over the coming months we would reach our goal multiple times. We hosted book drives at schools, churches, and libraries, giving speeches to hundreds of people at a time. Although the crowd before me and the sound of my own voice booming through the auditoriums often filled me with trepidation, I knew that if I could simply inspire my audience, I could make a real change in someone’s life.
The results were astounding, and with each barrier passed we found that we became more confident in ourselves, understood our mission more clearly and as the Wonderland BookSavers grew and matured, and began connecting with children and communities around the world, so too, we were maturing, becoming more confident and more knowledgeable both about the power of literacy and the power of friendship.
Today, as truly as we are touching and impacting the lives of others, equally, others from across the globe are impacting our lives. The Wonderland BookSavers and our team are growing up together.
We remain so grateful to all who have joined us along the way. Thank you!
Mark called to let us know that the container is being loaded mid-April, heading for a new country: Somaliland. Our garage was literally overflowing with boxes and bags in every corner. We could not have fit another book if we tried. We were ready to pack up the truck and send our books, toys, school supplies and clothing on to new homes, children and families!
We called our friends, Paul, Charles and brother Reid, and we began loading the truck.
Mark and Mom kept sorting and boxing while we loaded the truck.
Finally, we were done: 17,500 books and so many toys, stuffed animals, clothes and supplies!
We look forward to sharing the pictures of our items when the shipping container arrives in Somaliland, many months from now!
“There is no God but ALLAH and MOHAMMED is his messenger”
We are happy to report that the books we packed (above) with Mark have made it all the way from Brooklyn, NY to Sierra Leone. Mark received this beautiful letter from Sheku, the founder of Hands on Leone. We are grateful to have been able to contribute to this meaningful project.
Dear Mark,
Thank you for making this wonderful project happen in my home country Sierra Leone. As a kid, I dreamed of building a educational center for my fellow disables people. When you are disable in Sierra Leone, you are considered useless and you are not important in the society. I felt this pain when I lost both my hands in the civil war.
After losing my hands at the age of 12, I did not have anyone to pay for my school fee. One day I was setting with my young brother Saio at the Aberdeen refugee camp for amputees, an American Peace Corp came to help amputees kids to go to school and I was one of the kids. I was registered to start school on September 2000 right after the war. After registration, I started school September 6, 2000. Upon my arrival at the Aberdeen school, I was told by the teachers and principal of the school to go home because the is not meant for people like me. I returned at the camp crying and I thought my world had ended. I did not have no mother or father to take care of me. The rebels killed both my parents in the war. I am the older one among my siblings.
Mr. Gary the American Peace Corp who paid for my school fee, came to see if all the kids he paid school fee for attending school. He came and found me at the same spot where I was setting when he was visiting the camp. I told him my story. After that, he found someone at the camp to tutor me. I attended tutoring class every day until I got the chance to come America. When I arrived here, I found that people with disabilities were well respected. From that moment on, I told myself after I finished school and get a good job and I will start a organization to help build a educational center for my fellow amputees. Also, in the center we will have medical center to help them with their prosthesis legs and hands.
I want to say thank you to you and your team for making my dreams come true. I look forward to work with you and your team to make this dream true. Thank you,
Our team gathered to box the numerous books and supplies that we have been collecting over the past several months.
It was a fun, chilly few hours in the garage.
We have more than 250 boxes packed, labeled and ready for shipment.
We still have dozens of boxes of books left to prepare for shipping, and are anticipating another few hundred more that are scheduled to arrive at our garage soon.
We will continue collecting and boxing throughout the winter.
We hope to be able to deliver books to our shipping partners this spring.
Our next target destinations are Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda and Somaliland.
Greetings from our garage! We can’t wait for children to receive our books!
Wonderland BookSavers 