In 1995, a scholarship program founded by Bhante Wimala successfully assisted fifty boys and girls in furthering their education. In a recent phone conversation, Bhante revealed what compelled him to start a scholarship project specifically for girls. “I quite often come across girls working as servants or gardeners, many times working for nothing or perhaps…

On my November 2003 trip to Africa, one of the employees of the Sri Lankan Embassy approached me with a concern. She told me that she had visited an orphanage on the outskirts of Nairobi, which housed about 100 orphans. These children come from urban slum areas in and around Nairobi. This kindhearted lady explained…

According to the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS, by the beginning of 2003 there will be 42 million people in the world living with HIV or AIDS. Within approximately 10 years we can expect another 45 million people to get infected. In Africa alone, about 55 million people could die over the next two…

Of the many projects completed in 2002, one of the most satisfying was the Cataract Eye Operations Project in East Africa. While in Nairobi over a year ago, I spoke with several physicians and learned of the seriousness of the eye problems in Africa. In fact, blindness in Africa increases at the rate of two…

As part of our ongoing contributions to the eye care specialists at the Lions Sightfirst Hospital in Nairobi, we were able to donate a fundus camera this Fall. Prior to our donation, there were only three of these specialized machines in all of Kenya.A fundus camera is used in the diagnosis and treatment of eye…

Malaria is a life-threatening illness transmitted from one person to another through the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito. It is one of the greatest public health challenges preventing economic development in the poorest countries of the world. Although more than one million malaria-related deaths occur worldwide each year, 90% of these are in Africa.…