Monday, January 16, 2012

Abayudaya orphan: Help send Zilpah to a better school



I'm looking for an angel or a group of angels to help Zilpah Mudondo, a very bright Jewish orphan in the Abayudaya community in Eastern Uganda where I lived. She's been going to the Abayudaya-administered high school but wants to become a doctor and the school doesn't have the science facilities she would need to get into pre-med.

Zilpah would like to go to Hamdan Girls High School, a boarding school in Mbale, the district capital, which has the resources and level of academic competition she needs. Tuition, boarding and expenses are about $230 per term in a three-term school year. The Ugandan school year begins in January. For her first term, which begins Jan. 17, as a new student she would need an extra $100 for the materials each student must supply: for example, uniforms, school supplies, mattress, bedding, soap, even toilet tissue. So that would be $790 for this year, and about $690, barring any fee increases, for each of two more years until she finishes her A levels (the equivalent of Grade 13).

Please contact me by email or phone (604-222-3379) if you would like to participate in helping Zilpah. Canadian tax receipts can be supplied by a Jewish-run registered charity in Ottawa. If a tax receipt is not an issue, please help by clicking on this donation link:
Click to donate for Zilpah through PayPal or credit card

Zilpah is 17 years old and about to enter Senior 4, the equivalent of Grade 11. Her parents died in 1996 and the four children were raised by an aunt. FYI: In the photo above she is holding AFRIpad kits, which are washable, reusable sanitary pads that I'm fortunate to supply to all the menstruating girls in the Abayudaya schools thanks to many generous donors. Most Ugandan girls can't afford commercial products and often miss school.