Svoyamsevaka explaining how a mask should be worn to be most effective

COVID-19 waves have hit one after another and our friends in Nepal are making sure that community members are prepared and protected! Nepal team leader, Pinkey, and local community health workers are distributing reusable masks for people in the villages where they volunteer. Well-known and well-trusted, the Svoyamsevaka (Nepali community health worker volunteers) make sure that each person who receives a mask also has clear knowledge of how to use it effectively. They also use the opportunity to teach other healthy practices for virus prevention, including hand washing. Below is the message Pinkey shared:

Thank you HealthEd Connect for your kindness, giving re usable mask to community people. It’s small help but very important thing in current situation. Trying to cover more areas and villages where our volunteers are working. More work to do!  -Pinkey Malla Adikhari, Nepal team lead

COVID-19 is not in the past yet, and we are grateful to our supporters, local leaders, and community health workers for their vigilance in keeping communities healthy!

Pinkey speaking with community members while distributing reusable masks

Mavis Mubanga, teacher at Mapalo, shared “I couldn’t hold my joy!”

As our schools in Zambia begin to prepare for the new academic year in January, we were excited to announce pay increases for teachers at all 3 sister schools! These were happy surprises, and our friends put together small celebrations for the occasion. Afterwards, we received these uplifting messages:

“I am so pleased to write you this mail on behalf of all the teachers and School board. There was excitement during our party as letters were presented to teachers and read them.
Teachers appreciated the increment which has come at a time when life is seemingly becoming so difficult due to covid-19 pandemic. The gesture is a motivation which is an indication to us that our partners care so much about our economic well being as the case may be we entirely rely on this appreciation for our survival. This is very sustaining and you have done it in the most transparent manner! Thank you!

In undertaking the party, all the 8 teachers were around and one representative from the school board ( vice treasurer) Joyce Ngosa who encouraged the teachers to put in their level best in the education of the orphan and vulnerable child under our guard. Teaching transforms life completely and so what we do is important and the more reason why all these efforts from friends to help us transform the lives and future leadership of Zambia and the world as a whole.” - Emmanuel Mumba (Mapalo head teacher) and Joyce Ngosa (Kafwa leader and Mapalo School Board Vice Treasurer)

“We are all excited about this wonderful development and it is a huge motivation for the teachers. Thank you very much and please pass this message to entire Health Ed Connect team.” -Jackson Manjai (Zamtan School Board Treasurer)

We are so grateful to YOU, our supporters, for making this possible!

Happy teachers at Zamtan Community School of Peace

You not only met our $30,000 goal, you more than DOUBLED it, EXCEEDING our goal by  $38,540! That’s why today is “WOW Wednesday” - because you amaze us!

It becomes increasingly clear that one generous act surely sparks another. You have shown us that! Together, as a community, you raised $68,540! Add that to a generous commitment of $30,000 in matching funds, and that's...drum roll please...

$98,540 total investment

for empowering women and children through the loving arms of our Advocates, Builders, Community Health Workers!

 Watch our thank you video! - https://youtu.be/JEj0BzJx-Wo

Your support makes all the difference in ensuring that our community health workers have the tools they need to uplift their communities. Health education, first aid materials, birthing kits, weigh scales, and COVID-19 prevention supplies are part of their tool kits. Through their efforts, orphans and vulnerable children have access to quality education and a hot meal each day. You are granting scholarships for girls to attend high school, training professional nurses, and development for the health workers. The impact of your generosity creates cycles of positive change for generations!

There is so much more we could say, but the most important thing we want to share is THANK YOU!

Our mission to empower women and children through evidence-based health, education, and advocacy is made possible by YOU!

Polycarpo Ng’anga of Mapalo, Zambia

We’ve received happy news from Mapalo, Zambia! The chairman for the PCSC (similar to the PTA in the United States) at Mapalo Young Peace Makers Community School has received his COVID-19 vaccine and is excited to share! Head teacher, Emmanuel Mumba, sent this message:

I am delighted to send you this mail on behalf of Polycarpo, Parent Community School Chairman for Mapalo Young Peace Makers Community School, with his leading role to encourage the women and men who are guardians for the pupils to vaccinate against Covid 19 which has affected our living conditions.

In the Picture is Polycarpo holding his certificate after undertaking the noble choice of  vaccinating! He is now a shining example for many others who shun to take the vaccine based on mere speculations.

He is thankful to healthedconnect for the continued support to the school which has created an opportunity for many vulnerable children in my community.

A shining example, indeed! We are grateful for steps being taken, individually and collectively, in creating healthy communities!

Pssst! We’re nearly a week away from Giving Tuesday! Your donation to HealthEd Connect between Nov. 23-30 will be matched! Please join us and double your impact!

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!