by Brande Jackson

Toledo proved to be a small but mighty show; though at one of the smaller venues on the tour, fans came out in force to support Water = Hope! We signed up hundreds of new supporters while also collecting donations for our very popular Water = Hope tee-shirts (you can soon buy them online as well - watch for updates!). We also got nice mentions in the local press, the Toledo Blade, and we were even featured on a local country radio station as well.

The hand washing campaign has continued with 78 high school students participating.

I was given a very challenging task of educating high school students at the local Kiruhura Christian College on health topics. This proved to be a challenge because of the language barrier and lack of resources- the students had no text books and there is a very limited supply of pens, paper, and chalk. Nonetheless, the task was accomplished successfully and I was asked to teach during Biology for the Senior 3, Senior 4A, Senior 4B, and Senior 5 classes. In these classes students range in age from 15 to 38 years of age. Biology class meets for two hours per week, one hour on Tuesdays, and one on Wednesdays. I chose to teach the Germ Theory of Disease with hand washing during the first two classes. To evaluate understanding and effectiveness, they took a quiz whereby six of the eight students scored perfectly, and two answered three out of five questions correctly. I believe that the students understood the topic well and their incorrect answers were due to language barrier.

Upon my arrival to the Cygera Faith and Hope Children’s Home I discussed the problems and what could be done about them with my preceptor, Elizabeth Nzakizwanimana, who the nurse for the children’s home, Ernest Batera, the administrator of the children’s home and the local church’s pastor, and John Mary Bemeyimana, the headmaster of the school.

by Brande Jackson, Lokahi

Hope Through Healing Hands and Water = Hope were back out on the road with Brad Paisley this past weekend, making stops in Kansas City and St. Louis.

As always, we were joined by some amazing volunteers along the way. Jacqueline and Troy are a couple that live in Kansas City who are active volunteers in their community. They helped us have a great night, talking to fans about the campaign and getting many of their fellow KC residents involved! Our Kansas City set up was pretty fun; the ‘water world’ where our booth is situated each show was on a closed street outside of the Sprint Center in downtown KC, and we also had a table set up inside the arena as well. Kansas City also featured the debut of our PSA, which was exciting to see!