World Aids Day (UK)

Time flies and it is hard to believe that I haven’t written since May.

June 16th was the Day of the African Child and we had a wonderful night of comedy at the Ottawa Little Theatre featuring three comics with Arthur Simeon a very funny comedian from Kampala, Uganda,  as our headliner.  The evening included a silent auction, a beautiful glass art display, tea tasting and a live auction with the incomparable Dave Smith as auctioneer.  It was our first major event and even with the inevitable growing pains, the evening was a great success.

Wonderful things are happening for Pearl Children in Uganda.  Our huge shipment of ARVs was distributed by our local agent Bernard Kibirige of SAPH Uganda.  We had live coverage by NTV Uganda just days after they covered a protest of HIV/AIDs patients not getting the medication that they need. You can view both NTV videos on our Facebook page and they will soon be available on the website.

I’ve seen many ads on tv, etc. asking people to give money to the sufferers of famine in the horn of Africa. This is a wonderful act of charity yet… it is only a temporary solution. CFPC gives the gift of hope, not desperation. We encourage our donors to support sustainability not dependence. All of our projects support this goal- keeping the children healthy with necessary medication. Our HIV children can live healthy productive lives with regular doses of ARVs, mosquito nets protect against deadly malaria, and clean water keeps away parasites that cause disease.  These initiatives and others, like the Afripads for girls afford the ability for our Pearl Children to stay in school and get an education. We are asking for donations for Afripads again as the new term will start next month and the girls will need them so as not to miss classes. They are $6 per kit and last for a year.  As long as they can stay in school they have the chance of a brighter future and will eventually have the resources to come back and help the Centre that took care of them grow even more.

Other initiatives include our farming projects. The cow, Daisy, generously donated by Par-Med Inc. recently gave birth to a healthy bull. The caretakers are very excited and expect to breed her again in the near future. Canada, the cow donated by JeuneEve Esthetics, is also pregnant and expected to give birth shortly. We hope that this is the start of a successful farming project. See our website to donate goats, cows, or chicks.

Our Par-Med poultry farm is also becoming a big success as the phase two chicks continue to grow. The first phase is already providing fresh healthy eggs that are both nourishing for the children and providing another commodity to sell at market.

Uganda is being affected by the food shortage as the shilling drops and food prices rise. The children have planted some of their staple foods on the school grounds in addition to what Bossa has planted on the land we purchased two years ago for this purpose.  Until harvest, we will need to help them with food, but they are definitely on the way to sustaining themselves. Although this project will take some time, we are seeing successful results already.  At harvest, they will have pineapples to sell at market. Pineapple grows well in the soil in Jinja and there aren’t many pineapple farmers. They also have maize growing which is a main source of food for the children.  Our website is currently undergoing changes, however, on our donations page we have a section for donors to contribute to the food program. Please take a look when you have a chance. Our money goes a long way in Uganda. Even small donations will ensure that a number of children are fed.

We are looking for three or four corporate sponsors to purchase land for the children in order that we can eventually build them a permanent home. We are getting the land at an incredible price since we will be building a dispensary (clinic) for the village. The land will cost us $15,000 CAD. Once the land is purchased, they will immediately start building with local material until such a time that we can raise money for permanent sustainable structures.

I’d like to welcome all our new volunteers on board. Your presence is helping to create positive changes in the charity and in the children’s lives. I encourage anyone who would like to make a difference to join our team.

We will soon have beautiful donation cans available for your stores or offices. Please let me know how many you would like and we would be happy to drop them off. Remember every penny counts!

We are starting an innovative new project with another Canadian charity. RunForLife is a charity that connects schools in Canada with schools in Africa, through the use of Blackberrys.  Blackberrys will be sent next week to both our Pearl Children Primary school and Hadassah primary school enabling them each to link to a school in Ottawa. Through this project, children in Ottawa will receive pictures and blogs and learn about the lives of the children in school in Uganda. In return, the children in Uganda will learn about the school children’s lives in Canada. We hope this program will lead to support from these Ottawa schools, creating a successful partnership and encouraging the children in Uganda to endure in difficult times, stay in school and have a chance for brighter future.

If you are on Facebook, please join our Facebook page- Canadian Friends of Pearl Children. You can also find us on Twitter, You-tube and LinkedIn. Please see our website for more information.

Warm Regards,

Dvora
Dvora Rotenberg
Executive Director
Canadian Friends of Pearl Children

Thank you so much for the ARVs! Our patients like them because they are three in one. They say that they are now relieved of the inconvenience of swallowing three different pills every day.The availability of these drugs has created new hope for many patients who are now assured of at least sixty days supply. The procedure for distribution is such that one registers with Tobin Health center and our Doctor determines what every patient gets after analyzing their medical history. The distribution goes hand in hand with counselling sessions especially for new patients and it is free of any kind of discrimination. This has also improved the image of of our Health center. Thank you so much for extending God’s healing hand and for reflecting His light, may you continue to be a blessing!

Gershom Sizomu

Uganda, a landlocked country in East Africa, just like Kenya and Somalia, other African countries that are currently facing a food crisis is too facing the heat of food shortages in the region. The prices of food commodities have gone far beyond the financial ability of most families who live on barely 1 USD a day!

Saph Integrated Training Centre (SITC-Uganda) a local charity working with over 500 AIDS Orphans and Vulnerable Children in the districts of Wakiso and Kampala, provides meals to these children who are in dire need of the same and without which, they are at a brink of death!

In response to the crisis, Canadian Friends of Pearl Children (CFPC-Canada) is partnering up with SITC-Uganda to raise funds that are urgently needed to provide food to Uganda’s orphans and vulnerable children.

Through your donation to CFPC today, you will give an opportunity to a needy child in Uganda to live for another day!

We appreciate so much your contribution.

Dvora Rotenberg

Executive Director

CFPC-Canada.

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Bernard Kibirige

Executive Director

SITC-UGANDA.

www.sitcuganda.org

Many of you have been supporting my charity ever since my first trip to Uganda where I saw the overwhelming need to help. I am so blessed to have you in my life and always excited to share all the wonderful things we are doing to support our children in Uganda. You have been with me through all our wonderful adventures so it only makes sense to share with you the next chapter! We’ve grown so much since 2008, now helping a little over 300 children each and every month and it’s all thanks to your wonderful support, even if it’s been a kind phone call or email offering your advice and support!

It’s time to showcase Canadian Friends of Pearl Children and we’ve been working hard to put an incredible evening of fun, laughter and entertainment together for you through raffles, silent auction; EVEN A 5 DAY CARIBBEAN CRUISE which has been graciously donated by Cruise Centre Direct. Our brand new Pearl Children video will be premiered at our June 16th event and then it’s your turn to sit back and enjoy the 90 minute comedy show brought to us by Yuk Yuk’s on Tour, featuring Ugandan comedian Arthur Simeon.

This event is being held to purchase a 3-acre plot of land so that our Pearl Children will have a permanent and safe home along with onsite clinic so all medical needs of our children and area children will be taken care of! Currently, our children are in temporary dormitories after we lost our orphanage so it’s vital to raise $15,000 to purchase this plot of land.

Please let me know how many tickets you’d like to purchase and I urge you to bring a couple with you. I want this inaugural event to be a success and excited to share this moment with you! You’ve been with me every step of the way and supported the kids in Uganda alongside me and now it’s time to come together and celebrate, while raising money for our amazing children!

If you are unable to attend, please still consider purchasing a ticket. All donated tickets will be gifted to a local community support organization that has believed and supported CFPC since the beginning, and whose support and guidance has been invaluable to me.

I will be in touch soon and look forward to seeing you on June 16th.

Yours in Gratitude,

Dvora Rotenberg
Executive Director, Canadian Friends of Pearl Children

Canadian Friends of Pearl Children and Yuk Yuk’s On Tour presents “An Evening of Comedy” and Silent Auction at the Ottawa Little Theatre

Thank you to all who have purchased tickets for our upcoming event.

For those who haven’t yet purchased your tickets – there is still time!
Follow the directions below to RSVP

On June 16^th , The Day of the African Child, join us for a fun-filled evening of comedy, silent auction and live entertainment. Canadian Friends of Pearl Children will host this incredible fundraiser at the stunning Ottawa Little Theatre in the heart of downtown Ottawa. In the company of some of our city’s finest and brightest community talent, Canadian Friends of Pearl Children will be raising money to purchase a 3 acre plot of land for our children, where they will have a permanent, safe and loving home. Join us for this unforgettable evening.

Thursday, June 16th
The Ottawa Little Theatre – 200 King Edward Avenue
Welcome with Silent/Live Auction & Live Entertainment: 7:30 p.m.
Yuk Yuks on Tour: 9-10:30 p.m.
Tickets: $50 per person

Additional Ticket Options

Silver* $250 (includes 2 tickets)

Bronze* $500 (includes 2 tickets, Pearl Children DVD)

Gold* $1000 (includes 4 tickets, honorary mention on website and commemorative certificate of donation along with Pearl Children DVD)

*Silver, Gold and Bronze sponsorship will experience reserved front row seating so you get the full power and energy from the stage along with honorary mention on the CFPC website and a personalized commemorative certificate of donation
Click here to purchase your tickets or purchase a corporate package to the June 16^th Evening of Comedy in support of Canadian Friends of Pearl Children.

If you cannot attend please consider purchasing a ticket for someone else, and for all other special requests, please call (613) 366-1770/ (613) 894-4151 or e-mail pearlchildren@gmail.com. To learn more about sponsoring this event or to purchase a corporate package, please contact Tasha Maillet at 613-894-4151 or pearlchildren@gmail.com.

We are finally back in Uganda. It’s been wonderful, interesting and exhausting since we arrived Tuesday night. We had many people offer to pick us up at the airport, and considering that we had many bags, well, it was good that three people showed up with two cars. It was so good to see Simon, who is graduating university in May and going on to law school- the last time we were here he had never stepped into a hotel and meeting us and having  something to eat in our hotel was the most memorable night of his life. He brought along his soon to be brother-in-law who is a delightful young man, warm and intelligent. Then of course there was Abby- our dear friend- who first brought us to Jinja and started the ball rolling for Pearl Children ( he didn’t even realize the part he played in that until last night). There was much hugging and excitement and then we managed to load our five 50 pound bags, plus two carry on suitcases into the cars for our drive to Kampala. The first time we were here, we were with another Canadian and when we got off the plane, the first thing he said was “ah, the smell of Africa”. We thought him a bit crazy at first, but every trip after that we understood. Driving with the windows down, the smell of Africa in the air, it was something like coming home.

We arrived at our hotel and as usual, the staff was very gracious and put our duffel bags in storage until we could travel to Jinja.   It was nice to settle down- having left Ottawa for Montreal by bus at 3:00pm on Monday- flying out of Montreal at 8pm for a 6 hour flight, then a three hour layover in Amsterdam followed by an 8 hour flight to Entebbe.

Wednesday morning we were up bright and early to meet the Minister of Health and his permanent secretary where we were assured that the donations of ARVs would be handled properly. Then my agent Bernard and I were off to the freight company to see the huge shipping container of donations. Thank you everyone who donated so generously. These medications are so vital in this country. Afterward we visited the children of his organization and headed back to Kampala City.   Some of our boys from the Jewish village of Putti came to meet us at the hotel shortly after our return. It was a fun and interesting experience. They’d never been in a hotel before and were excited and amazed. The hotel sent up a complimentary fruit basket and they polished it off. Then I took them down to the mall. They’d never been to a shopping mall before. They stood and stared at the escalator in utter awe. They turned to me and one said “ we are watching people drive themselves up and down”. I told them that we should go and try it and see the stores upstairs. We went up and they were wild with joy and then wanted to go right down. Then Moshe wanted to go again. I took a video of him- can any of us in Canada or the United States imagine never having seen an escalator? After the excitement I took them for ice cream- soft ice cream- a first for them too- and of course we had to get a picture of that too.

The boys found somewhere to stay in town and this morning after buying candy for the children, we all left for Jinja. We arrived at the hotel which is very beautiful, very African and nothing like the city that we are used to. Bossa ( Pearl Children director)met us here and we had a great talk and gave him the computers, toothbrushes, medicine and other things that people so generously donated. He and the primary school headmaster will pick me up in the morning to visit the children.  I came back to the room, where just was already resting and began to write this email. There is no air conditioning and although we are facing the Nile river, it is very warm.  I left the door ajar to get some air and while I was typing a baby monkey came up close to the door. I jumped up with the camera and tried to get a picture. Of course I scared it away, but when I went outside there were monkeys everywhere. I took as many pictures as I could and a bit of video.  We are inn a little cabin facing the Nile- and I was even able to capture the sunset.  I left the door open and a baby frog came in to visit- but then I had to gently push him out with the door, since as it gets dark, the mosquitos come out.

Well, we’re off for a quick bite and an early night – tomorrow promises to be another busy day.

Warm Regards,

Dvora