Dear friends and supporters:

Can you imagine taking your baby to the children’s hospital and being told your child will die because there is no clean water, mosquito net, or just $5 to buy malaria medication? Yet, every 35 seconds, a child dies from tropical diseases such as malaria unnecessarily. Tropical diseases are poverty diseases because they are preventable, treatable, and curable. Over 85% of all children who die in Africa annually die from malaria unnecessarily.

Malaria is not a difficult disease to eradicate. Clean water, good toilets, mosquito nets, nutritious food, and anti-malaria medications are all that is needed. Yet, more than 3.4 million children die every year from water-related diseases in Africa- That’s almost the entire city of Los Angeles. Nearly all deaths, 99 percent, occur in the developing world, according to WHO, and UNICEF, 2009. 780 Million Lack access to clean water – That is almost 2 and half times the United States population. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent to a jumbo jet crashing every four hours, according to WHO and UNICEF, 2009. To those of us fortunate enough to call Canada our home, this would be inconceivable. Yet to many parents in too many places in this world, this is a reality.

I am a victim. I have been there. I have personally experienced what it means to be a victim of a needless disease like malaria. I have worn the shoe and can tell you where exactly how it pinches. One of my children changed the path of my life. Her name was Goodness (a twin sister to Mercy) and on March 20 of 2006 we lost this precious little girl to malaria at the age of 16 months. Our beautiful baby girl was taken and it didn't have to be this way.

I returned to my rural community of Ohafia in South-Eastern Nigeria, West Africa when she passed on and decided then and there that I could - and would - make a difference; to save other children and to prevent other parents from going through the trauma we went through when we lost our own Goodness. My first response was to extend my credit card well beyond its' limits by purchasing anti-malaria medications and nets. I knew then that I had to find a way to help other children and African rural villages to avoid burying another child needlessly. Similarly, ignorance and fear perpetuate the plagues of HIV and AIDS and CHAMA works to assist people by providing medical assistance and peer education on causes and prevention.

To this end, CHAMA has affected the lives of over 1 million children dying from malaria, carried out over 800 surgeries on children. CHAMA has also built a school for a community of over 100 years without a school, built a solar panel powered well, toilets and empowered single mothers with sewing skills in Africa. Currently, CHAMA has a presence in various African countries: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Liberia.

Presently, I am proud to call Canada my home where I live with my family. There is no malaria in Canada for sure and my children have clean drinking water right inside their rooms. But we cannot forget those children we left behind. Healthcare is a right, not a privilege. No child deserves to die of malaria no matter where the child comes from. These children are not dying of disease; they are dying of poverty and neglect. Please, consider donating today to give hope to these children. Thank you in advance my friend for your generous support.

“Without the gracious supports that I have received from the community, I couldn’t have been here today.  I was helpless, homeless, and hopeless after the early deaths of my parents. Without the community, I couldn’t have had my education; I couldn’t have been an ambassador of education as a human right. It is time to give back to the community”. ---Dr. Olugu Ukpai –Executive Director and Founder.

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. (Nelson Mandela).
“Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world” (Malala Yousafzai).

Our mission at CHAMA is to provide health education, scholarships, and school supplies to students from poor families and to leverage technology in creating modern libraries in African villages: One child at a time: one village at a time.
The thin line between the developed and underdeveloped world is education. We believe that education is the most powerful and effective weapon to bring change, independence, freedom, innovation and prosperity in Africa. We believe in changing lives through education. 

Having lost his parents in a tender age and growing up in poverty in Africa, the founder of CHAMA, knows the difficulties of getting an education in a tough environment. It was through various scholarships that he completed his University education from Undergraduate to PhD level.

With your help, CHAMA can assist more financially disadvantaged children with mentoring and guidance to finish their education. CHAMA believes that no child should be denied an education because of their financial situation. CHAMA stand by the philosophy that education is a powerful tool that can transform lives and end poverty. By raising funds for education CHAMA can help more students who most need it.

FACTS IN AFRICAN EDUCATION CRISIS
In 2000, only 52% of children were enrolled in primary schools, the lowest enrollment rate of any region, UNESCO, 2005.
Africa has more than 40 million children, almost half the school-age child population, receiving no schooling. Two-thirds of these are girls.
The USAID Center reports that as of 2005, 40% of school-age children in Africa do not attend primary school and there are still 46 million school-age African children who have never stepped into a classroom.

 Four out of 10 children did not complete primary school in 2002/2003. So, five years after the World Education Forum and the adoption of the Millennium Goals, progress at primary level is far from decisive. The analysis highlights that principal efforts should be directed to reducing the number of dropouts per level. It appears also that geographical disparities (rural areas/urban areas) or economic disparities (low income households/wealthy households) are more significant and take longer to even out than gender disparities. 

The education systems inherited from the colonial powers were designed for the formal sector and public administration. However, ADEA (Association for the Development of Education in Africa) has become aware of the informal sector's relevance in developing countries, and thus recognized the need for increased vocational school training as a way to help the informal sector.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDUCATION AND MALARIA IN AFRICA

There is a strong link between education and malaria. Malaria affects pre-school children mostly (75%) but the effect on education is high with the high number of school days lost because of malaria related illness. Malaria causes 1-6 million schooldays lost annually.
Without education we are creating the perfect conditions for malaria to flourish. The lack of education forms a critical barrier to preventing malaria. Throughout developing nations, primary education holds the key for children to grow into strong and healthy adults. Basic education provides the opportunity for children to become prosperous adults and leaders within their communities. These children will grow up to be role models and help their communities.
 
Many governments in the developing world are not able to provide consistent, quality education for their children. We focus our attention on two main areas within the education sector: School supplies scholarships to obtain basic education and health education by:

OUR STRATEGY:
Providing school supplies for needy children: Majority of children in African remote villages fail to go to school because of lack school of supplies. CHAMA will provide tools like books, pencils, scribble and library books and any other items that can help the children with the learning process. As an orphan himself, CHAMA’s founder, wants to give back to the place where someone once helped him.
Providing Scholarship to obtain basic education: CHAMA help disadvantaged African children with special attention to girls by identifying the smartest students who want to continue with school and help to get them back.
Empower children through skill-based health education: Health education to recognise the symptoms of malaria and seek appropriate treatment and on how to use mosquito nets.

Educate and empower teachers on using presumptive treatment measures. This helps teachers to recognize early symptoms of malaria and proper procedures to follow. Empowering teachers with this skill is importance if we must challange the scourge of malaria. This is because children spend more days at school with teachers than at home with their parents.

Gender inequality: In identifying the best projects to challenge gender disparity in education, we recognize the particular need to address the deficient educational support available for young girls. Given both the critical benefits of education for girls as well as the key role women play within their broader communities, we recommend projects that bring attention to girls’ education and seek to correct this gender inequality.

School nutrition: School children often skip school because of hunger. In other to tackle this challenge caused by economic disparities, CHAMA has introduced school nutrition programmes in which school children are given food in schools. This has rapidly increased the school attendance.

Technical education advocacy: CHAMA campaigns for the return to technical in other to create self-employment for the youths on graduation. To this end, CHAMA provides skill acquisition opportunities to youths on graduation to tackle the rising unemployment and crime rate among youths.

Contact CHAMA to make an Education Charities donation. No child should miss out on an education because of poverty. This special education charities fund will transform the lives of African children, who can lift themselves out of poverty and create better lives. Money should never be a hindrance for learning. We count on your generous donation.

Drinking water is essential to life, but unfortunately it can also be a source of contaminants and illness both in western societies and Africa. While in Africa, over 85% of children under the age of 5 die from diseases related to poor water intake, in Canada (Nova Scotia),   groundwater contain high amounts of arsenic and uranium and other natural contaminants that have been linked to some cancers (Waterlocker Inc). CHAMA builds wells in Africa and provide education on the dangers and health risks associated with unsafe water drinking in Africa and Canada.

AFRICAN WATER CRISIS
“3.4 Million people die each year from a water related disease. That is almost the entire city of Los Angeles” (Boldly written on the slide?)

FACTS:
• 345 Millions are without water access in Africa, Water.Org. 2014.
• 3.4 Million people die each year from a water related disease. That is almost the entire city of Los Angeles, Water.Org. 2014.
• 780 Million lack access to clean water – That’s more than half times the United States population, Water.Org, 2014.
• Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every four hours (UNICEF, 2009)
• 780 million people lack access to an improved water source; approximately one in nine people. WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation, (2012)
• "[The water and sanitation] crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns." United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (2006).
• An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the average person in a developing country slum uses for an entire day, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (2006).

CHILDREN AND WATER CRSIS
(Pictures of children carrying water)?
• Every minute at least one child dies from a water-related illness, water.org., 2014
• Surveys from 45 developing countries show that women and children bear the primary responsibility for water collection in the majority of households. This is time not spent working at an income-generating job, caring for family members, or attending school, UNICEF, WHO 2009
• 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related illness, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, 2006).

WOMEN, GRILS AND WATER CRISIS

Woman picture carrying water?
A girl picture carrying water?
• Just in one day, women’s 200 million work hours are consumed by women collecting water for their families.

• This hours alone is equivalent to building 28 empire state buildings each day, water.org, 2014.
• An estimated 200 million hours are spent each day globally collecting water, WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation. (2010)
• Structural inequalities aside, millions of women are prohibited from accomplishing little more than survival. Not because of a lack of ambition, or ability, but because of a lack of safe water and adequate sanitation. Millions of women and children in the developing world spend untold hours daily, collecting water from distant, often polluted sources, then return to their villages carrying their filled 40 pound jerry cans on their backs, (water.org, 2014.
• Surveys from 45 developing countries show that women and children bear the primary responsibility for water collection in the vast majority of households (76%). This is time not spent working at an income-generating job, caring for family members, or attending school. WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation. (2010).
• In just one day, it is estimated that more than 152 million hours of women and girls' time is consumed for the most basic of human needs — collecting water for domestic use, WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation. (2010).
• The lost productivity of people collecting water is greater than the combined number of hours worked in a week by employees at Wal-Mart, United Parcel Service, McDonald's, IBM, Target, and Kroger, (Gary White, co-founder of Water.org.)

Donate today to support CHAMA’s African water project.

WATERCRISI IN CANADA (NOVA SCOTIA)
Over the past year, the Ecology Action Centre made three shocking discoveries about Nova Scotia drinking water. 
• Our rocks and groundwater contain high amounts of arsenic and uranium and other natural contaminants. 
• These contaminants are linked to certain kinds of cancers. 
• Nova Scotia has a very high rate of many of these kinds of cancers. 
• In Nova Scotia, the majority of well owners do not test their well water unless there is a strong taste, odor or colour, however some contaminants like arsenic are invisible to our senses.  Natural contaminants in our drinking water must be addressed by shifting our own understanding and changing our behaviour. 

In Canada, CHAMA in partnership with local water companies has mapped out for itself with the goal of leading the way towards a more effective educational approach through workshops and seminars on the dangers and health risks associated with unsafe water drinking. Outbreaks of water borne diseases are becoming a common occurrence and have affected entire city populations, leading to serious health complications and even fatalities.

Although as a consequence many people have resorted to acquiring their own potable drinking water through commercial sources; typically in the form of bottled water. However, whether the bottled water is purchased in a personal sized container or in a five gallon jug, there are numerous drawbacks associated.
Excessive use of personal sized water bottles can become expensive, not to mention the tremendous burden on the environment and the long term impact of this waste accumulation is unknown. As well the actual quality and safety of the product itself can be doubtful.
Support CHAMA’s education and awareness campaign in Canada.

VILLAGE OF HOPE: OUR STORY

THROWN TO THE BIN, RESCUED BY CHAMA

Due to poverty and being unable to take care of her baby, a woman in Uganda chose to throw her son in a bin with a note attached. The note read "He is 1 year, and 5 months and he is malnourished". There was no name on the note. Our CHAMA volunteer member in Uganda who moves around rescuing street children spotted him and reported this to the police station. The child was taken to a local orphanage for care. CHAMA paid for his treatment and sent money for his upkeep. CHAMA named him baby HOPE since his mother didn't disclose his name on the note, she left on him.

A couple who heard the story on how CHAMA gave hope to baby HOPE was touched. They donated land to CHAMA: saying "Please use it to build an orphanage in UGANDA because there are so many baby HOPE’S out there looking for CHAMA for love and care."

According to statistics, there are over a 2.5million orphans in Uganda. Out of the 2.5, 1.5 million are orphaned by AIDS. This underscores the need for an orphanage to provide the basic needs of parental LOVE.

In 2018, through the generous partnership with Peter Peters, New Beginning Ministries (NBM), Canada, our CEO and Co-Founder, Dr. Olugu Ukpai, CHAMA relocated to Uganda for 6 weeks for the groundbreaking construction. CEO led 71 CHAMA volunteer warriors from 11 African countries to Namamera Village in Eastern Uganda for the construction to complete the Village of Hope.