It’s International Education Week! Education is a big part of what we do at HealthEd Connect, and we are excited to focus on the many ways our health worker and teacher colleagues come together to empower bright minds and healthy bodies!

We can’t stress enough how integral education is to health. The community health workers in the Copperbelt province of Zambia found that caretakers of orphans and vulnerable children identified lack of education as the biggest threat to their children’s health, saying “our children may be hungry tomorrow, but without education, they have no future.”

That’s how HealthEd Connect was born! Connecting health and education to empower women and children. Now, 12 years later, we support three sister schools led by teachers and community health workers that empower over 1,400 students! The communities are proud, with active PCSC (equivalent to a PTA committee in the United States), beautiful campuses, and scholarships that allow students to continue through high school level. Additional programs have grown to address education gaps between girls and boys, provide nutritious lunches for all students, and support orphaned children through after-school activities, among other wrap-around programs.

We could not be more proud of the ways health and education are combined at our schools to uplift the lives of our students! Today, at the start of International Education Week, we send a big thank you to all of our supporters, teachers, and community health worker colleagues who make these empowering opportunities possible!

Excerpt from Sangeeta’s newsletter

In Biratnagar, Nepal, Svoyamsevaka community health worker Sangeeta spends a great deal of time helping others. As a professional nurse and volunteer health worker, she visits clients who are in need of care, health education, or advocacy. Below is Sangeeta’s written account of her time with client Binita Paswan:

“In my community, most of people are from lower class family. Among that most of people are uneducated so most of them careless about their health and some of them are having high blood pressure and diabetes and they do not take prescribed medicine. Not only that but the financial condition also not so good because of that they are unable to afford medicine also. Near by me, I have one family in my community members named Binita Paswan who is 76 years old. She is having one sided paralysis and speech loss. Somehow they visited hospitals and doctors prescribed some injection medicine and they requested me to apply daily so I was serving he since two weeks. At the day of end while giving injection she started to speak some words and it make me so happy. Now she is getting more better than before. Till now I am visiting and serving her.”

We are so grateful for our colleagues who put such compassion and care into their communities, and for supporters like you who help make stories like Binita’s possible!

Carol Chisenga

Evelyn Kase

We are ECSTATICALLY celebrating the accomplishments and goals of two of our Girls Achievement Program (GAP) graduates!

Carol Chisenga and Everlyn Kase were among the first GAP scholars, and in our first high school graduating class in 2020. But their educational goals didn’t end with high school! This year, they applied for our Professional Nurses scholarship and both were accepted to begin a nursing diploma program!

We feel like proud parents to witness their journey! Carol and Everlyn, both orphans raised by extended family members, were able to attend elementary school at Mapalo Young Peace Makers, supported by HealthEd Connect, for orphans and vulnerable children. They were both able to attend high school with a HealthEd Connect GAP scholarship. And now, they will become professional nurses thanks to a scholarship provided by HealthEd Connect. The impact of this continued education will be life-changing for these young women, both individually, and for their families, and community at large. 

We are able to provide these empowering opportunities, for aspiring young women like Carol and Everlyn, thanks to the dedication of supporters like YOU! We can’t thank you enough!

Did you know that girls with secondary schooling are six times less likely to marry as children (under age 18)? And, women's earnings increase by 10% with each additional year of schooling? These are just a few of the good reasons why we support scholarships for girls! www.healthedconnect.org/walden

Nikita Malla, second year nursing student in Nepal.

Nurses are integral to every society, and HealthEd Connect is proud to steward scholarships that empower women as they pursue their passion for nursing! This past week, HealthEd Connect awarded NINE Professional Nurses scholarships to women who wish to help their communities through compassionate health care. Pictured above is one of the nursing scholars, Nikita Malla, from Biratnagar, Nepal. In the second year of her program, Nikita expressed joy and gratitude to be able to continue, saying:

“I am glad to hear from you and this is a joyful and glorious moment for me…Nursing is not just a profession but it's a passion for me. As before I have given my best in 1 year program and looking forward to give my best in 2 year nursing program too…I am looking forward to serve in my community as a swoyamsebika after the completion of my study. Heartly thanking you all for your support and prayers for me!”

Thank you to all who help to make these dreams a reality! Nurses like Nikita will uplift those in their care, and go on to empower their community with knowledge and passion!

Today is a day to celebrate girls around the world! Recognized by the United Nations, International Day of the Girl brings into focus the challenges and barriers girls face on their way to empowerment. Girls face unique educational, economic, and humanitarian gaps. It is the responsibility of all people to uplift girls through education, access to health and reproductive care, and advocate for their rights!

“Adolescent girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life, not only during these critical formative years, but also as they mature into women. If effectively supported during the adolescent years, girls have the potential to change the world – both as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, mentors, household heads, and political leaders. An investment in realising the power of adolescent girls upholds their rights today and promises a more equitable and prosperous future, one in which half of humanity is an equal partner in solving the problems of climate change, political conflict, economic growth, disease prevention, and global sustainability.” - United Nations on International Day of the Girl Child

HealthEd Connect is proud to uplift girls every day - from scholarships for girls in Zambia to reproductive health education for girls in Nepal and many programs in between. We are grateful to YOU for making it possible to empower girls around the world!

We are thrilled to announce on this day, World Teacher’s Day, that all of our teachers at Mapalo Young Peacemaker School have received their COVID vaccinations! Led by the community health workers, the teachers readily chose to get the vaccine and protect themselves from the worst of the pandemic. Mapalo head teacher, Mumba, wrote this:

“It is gratifying to inform you that all the teachers received their vaccine in the name of Johnson-Johnson for Covid-19. As a matter of importance you will appreciate that in our quest to excute our duties we interface learners everyday who come from various homes and this render us vulnerable in view of this deadly pandemic.

We all received the vaccine and thanks for having encouraged to take the vaccine due to the fact there were so many myths surrounding this vaccine but with the information you extended to us have motivated all of us friends to take the vaccine with easy. The Kafwa led the way in the first place and now all the teachers have been vaccinated!”

Join us in congratulating our teachers on their vaccinations AND on being wonderful role models for the students at our schools!

Ablution block at Kasompe Community School of Peace

At Kasompe Community School of Peace, the ablution block is nearing completion! Aside from a few minor finishing touches, the block is ready for use! A water tower, borehole (well), and septic system have been installed, while the block itself houses eight toilets, two showers, and two handwashing stations.

Students and teachers will have up-to-date, safe, and sanitary facilities for their school, and have engaged in training in how to properly maintain the facilities. They are so excited! And we are all so grateful to the Rotary grant that made this possible! Special thanks to the members of Kansas City Rotary Club 13 and Kitwe North Rotary Club for their combined efforts and support for this clean water, sanitation, and hygiene project, and to our Kasompe school board for working closely to see this project come to fruition!

Backup latrines

Walls are going up at the community center in Mulundu!

In Mulundu, Zambia, a community center is taking shape! Kafwa leader, Jane, and project coordinator, Musans, have done a fantastic job making sure that things are running smoothly. Mothers who are Kafwa clients and children from the local Isubilo (orphan support) groups are coming to visit and pitch in with tangible excitement!

Building a community center is no small feat, and we want to thank YOU for helping to provide this wonderful space in Mulundu! Soon the community can gather here for health education, literacy, grief support, and recreation! It will be filled with the sounds of singing, laughter, reading, and stories of hope and healing!