Our Lady of the Wayside students help families in Uganda

Kids with big hearts have rallied support for mothers and babies in faraway Uganda, East Africa, raising $500 via the Our Lady of the Wayside School, Arlington Heights, Dollars for Donations Charity.

Student council has heard how their monies have almost sponsored a cow to be loaned to a farmer in Nakifuma Village in Uganda. Their adopted cow is loaned to an eligible villager and a portion of the milk is donated each day to purchase medicine for the local village clinic.

Former principal of Our Lady of the Wayside School Peter Tantillo invited the participation of the children in late 2017. Tantillo serves as a volunteer partner with St. Louis-based Microfinance Partners Africa.

Tantillo, along with Our Lady of the Wayside deacon, Don Grossnickle, are working to form an area-wide initiative to take on supporting three well-supplied clinics in three villages.

Deacon Don plans to travel to Uganda April 7-15 on behalf of Microfinance Partners Africa on a medical mission. He plans to meet with officials of the region to make arrangements for 12 to 18 cows to be placed in each clinic, which insures a sustainable supply of medicine through this cooperative.

Deacon Don will carry a sonogram machine donated by a local benefactor. This machine can help insure safe delivery of babies and care for mothers before and after they give birth. Participating groups will be matched with the individual family/person who receives the loaned cow and photos are shared back and forth, establishing a relationship.

The farm family "pays back" the loan by sharing the first born female calf so that the program can grow and expand and, thus, share more milk that not only benefits the family, but contributes to the entire village.

Local farmers can form a co-op that establishes village leadership working on education, disease prevention efforts and other issues facing the community.

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