Dateline Kampala.......

The Homeless World Cup has confirmed the Global Youth Partnership for Africa's "Team Gomo Tong" participation in the 2008 Homeless World Cup in Melbourne, Australia. Team Gomo Tong will participate in the first ever: "Female Homeless World Cup."

Team Gomo Tong will organize a team of seven young women with the objective to both bring the cup to Uganda, but also to develop new relationships and friendships with players from around the world.

The 1st Female Homeless World Cup will feature teams from:
Cameroon, Colombia, Kyrgz Republic, Ivory Coast, Philipines, Paraguay and Zambia.

As part of our Girls Kick It! program, GYPA will commence recruitment, education, training and futbol practice by this Summer 2008.

For more information about the Homeless World Cup visit: www.homelessworldcup.org

If you are interested to donate or support Team Gomo Tong, please contact us at: info@gypafrica.org

Dear Applicants,

We are pleased to provide you with the More Than A Game! Sports for Social Change Immersion Application.

Please download the application here More%20Than%20A%20Game%21%20Final%20Draft.doc

Application Fees and Program Payments can be made at the following link on the GYPA website: http://gypafrica.org/donate.php

Other important details

More Than A Game! Sports for Social Change Immersion
June 14– 29, 2008
Kampala, Uganda

The More Than A Game! Immersion will bring 15 American and 15 Ugandan university students together in Kampala, Uganda to examine the emerging role of sports in development and social change, and establish a network of young leaders who promote peace, education and healthy living through sports. We anticipate that the friendships established between the young leaders will lead to partnerships and projects that support war-affected communities in Uganda.

This program is more than just an exchange: More Than A Game! serves as a platform for dialogue and open-exchange for youth with leaders in government, civil society, health and international development. The Immersion will also reach out to Uganda’s national sports associations to learn more about their efforts and future plans and direction. The More Than A Game Immersion will provide a first-hand look at Uganda through dialogue, cultural exchange, and direct service.

Students will gain a unique perspective on issues such as economic development, democracy-building, and transitional justice. The program will include opportunities to meet directly with community-based organizations, international non-governmental organizations, and other young leaders in Kampala and northern Uganda.

The Immersion is open to all university students. African Studies, International Affairs, International Development, and College Athletes are encouraged to apply.

Contact Anna Phillips for more information at: anna@gypafrica.org Phone: 858.254.8810

Dear Applicants,

We are pleased to provide you with the International Art School Immersion Application.

Please download the application here Art_Immersion_Application_final_version.doc

Application Fees and Program Payments can be made at the following link on the GYPA website: http://gypafrica.org/donate.php

Other important details

International Art Academy Immersion
June 2– 20, 2008
Entebbe, Uganda

This June, fifteen American artists and students between the ages of 18-26 will be selected to participate in GYPA’s International Art School Immersion. This is a unique opportunity to learn from Uganda’s best and brightest artists and instructors from the Makerere University School of Industrial and Fine Arts. The Art School will take place on the shores of Lake Victoria at the Nagenda International Academy of Art and Design (NIAAD).

Since the founding of the School of Fine Arts in 1937, Uganda’s Makerere University has been East Africa’s leader in innovative fine arts education, production and scholarship. Located in Kampala the capital of Uganda, Makerere was initially founded as a colonial university that provided resource, guidance and inspiration to many local fine artists. (Today, Makerere continues to do so as a national university.) The enablement of creative artistic freedom allowed for the emergence of the “Ugandan School” of art in the 1960’s, bringing into art African scenery and figurative themes such as traditional and modern influences. This movement expanded in the 1970’s into Kenya and helped to define East Africa’s emerging modern art movement as the Ugandan School gained international recognition.

The originality and high level of work produced at Makerere University was a historical and cultural landmark for Uganda and the art world. Today, the Makerere Industrial and Fine Arts department teaches a blend of European and African technique and materials.

Art School participants will experience a 2.5 week art-intensive program focusing on a variety topics including: African fine art techniques in disciplines such as painting, drawing and sculpture; African art history; African culture and its encouragement of industriousness and artistic expression; and more. These courses will take place in a variety of class settings that will include the incorporation of Uganda’s lush and beautiful landscapes.

Contact International Art School Immersion Coordinator, Sharon Wolf for more information: info@gypafrica.org and sharon@gypafrica.org, Phone: 847.769.1338

Hanna Schwing, daughter of Spring residents Sandra and Paul Schwing, has been selected to travel to Sierra Leone as a Youth Ambassador for Peace and Development

January 8, 2008
The Villager
Houston Community Newspaper
http://www.hcnonline.com/site/news.cfm?
newsid=19181632&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=532542&rfi=6

Schwing, a student at the University of North Texas, is attending the Global Youth Partnership for Africa's upcoming youth summit called "The Role of Youth in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone" until Jan. 16.

She is one of only 15 university students from across the nation that have been picked for the unique opportunity to travel to Sierra Leone and explore firsthand the post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation processes at work in a country whose decade-long civil war ended only five years ago.

The website for the Global Youth Partnership for Africa identifies itself as a nonprofit organization "dedicated to fostering understanding, appreciation and respect between young American and African leaders."

Schwing is majoring in international studies with a concentration in regional studies in Africa and international development and carrying a double minor in peace studies and French, so it was only natural that she would want to attend this summit.

"I decided to apply for the summit at the suggestion of a fellow advocate, Ryan Schuette, who had attended a previous summit in Uganda with GYPA," she explained. "I have been involved in lobbying, raising awareness and fundraising for several African issues and organizations, and I ultimately want to work in Africa. I felt that I needed to experience Africa for myself, and the summit focuses on many of the issues I am interested in, including human rights, post-conflict reconstruction, transitive justice, development, HIV/AIDS and gender discrimination. It seems like the perfect opportunity for me."

During the trip, Schwing and the other students will meet with political, academic and cultural experts in fields such as development, conflict resolution and post-conflict rehabilitation.

Participants will explore the many issues surrounding Sierra Leone's development by engaging with local communities in dialogue, cultural exchange and direct service.
Participants will attend four days of meetings in Freetown with Sierra Leone students focusing on the role of youth in conflict resolution and post-conflict development. They will also spend time visiting and meeting the nation's leaders in government and civil societies as well as representatives from international non-governmental organizations who are experts in African development.

Schwing's personal expectations seem to fall in line with the program goals.
"Almost everyone who I have spoken to about traveling to Africa has talked about how it changed their perspective on life. I expect to be changed in some way and to some degree," she said. "I expect this experience to be crucial to my future. I also hope to represent U.S. youth in a positive way while I am there and do my part to build ties between the U.S. and Sierra Leone."

Schwing has also exhibited her great interest in Africa on the UNT campus. She, along with Lindsey Bengfort, another student chosen to go to Sierra Leone, started a UNT student organization, Africanists United.

The organization brings speakers to campus to discuss issues facing African nations. They also helped to organize the first Gulu Walk in Dallas, which raised money to support children in northern Uganda.

©Houston Community Newspapers Online 2008

Students Awarded Grants From Steven Daniel Smallen Memorial Fund, Class of '79

http://www.hamilton.edu/news/more_news/display.cfm?ID=13204

Eight Hamilton students have received grants from the Academic Council to pursue research in upcoming projects. The recipients of grants from the Steven Daniel Smallen Memorial Fund are Mark Ducommun '10, Charlie Kaplan '11, Rachel Richardson '09, Katie Naughton '08, Casey Bloomquist '10, James Head '08 and Sandra Chiu '08. The Fund aims to encourage student creativity among Hamilton students by providing funds for projects displaying originality, expressiveness and imagination. David and Ann Smallen established the fund in 1993 in memory of their son, Steven. Smallen studied at Hamilton for a year while receiving treatment for leukemia, before losing his battle with cancer in 1992.

Sarah Moore '09, Katie Naughton and Rachel Richardson and have also been selected as recipients of the Class of 1979 Student Travel Award. The award, established by the alumni of Hamilton's Class of 1979, allows Hamilton students to pursue academic endeavors that would not be possible without additional financial assistance.

The topics of the students' projects are:

Sarah Moore, also a recipient of the Student Travel Award, will use her award to travel to Sierra Leone to attend the 2008 Youth Summit hosted by the Global Youth Partnership for Africa (GYPA). GYPA provides a platform for youth within North American and Africa to gain cross-cultural insight, hone leadership, advocacy and diplomacy skills.

• Mark Ducommun and Charlie Kaplan will use the award to assist in their explorations in a professional recording project.
• Rachel Richardson and Katie Naughton will collaborate on Literary Landscapes, Unison and State: A Multi-Genre Interstate Narrative, in which the two will travel across the country writing their own travelogue.
• Casey Bloomquist will work on Exploring the Reality of the Border Conflict Through the Visual Image, a project that he will research by spending one month traveling along the Mexican-American border creating a photographic representation of the border struggle.
• James Head and his band, Headband, will use the award to assist in the production of a professional demo CD.
• Sandra Chiu will bring a student-collaborated mural to campus in her project, Community Mural Project: Bringing Art from Dark to Light.

Student Travel Fund
Contact: Holly Foster
Phone: (315) 859-4068
December 5, 2007

Students to spend part of winter break on Youth Ambassador trip in Sierra Leone
November 20, 2007
http://web3.unt.edu/news/story.cfm?story=10767

DENTON (UNT), Texas -- Two University of North Texas international studies students will spend part of their winter break visiting Sierra Leone in a Youth Ambassador trip sponsored by Global Youth Partnership for Africa.

The Global Youth Partnership for Africa, or GYPA, is a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., that has a goal of fundamentally changing the way Americans understand and engage with Africa. GYPA accomplishes this by fostering relationships between accomplished and emerging youth leaders in Africa and the United States, taking American students to African nations in the summer and in January as Youth Ambassadors for Peace and Development.

During the trips, the students explore the political, economic and social successes as well as the challenges facing the nation they are visiting, meeting the nation's leaders in government and civil society as well as representatives from international non-governmental organizations who are experts in African development. Students must apply to be accepted in the Youth Ambassador program, with 15 students in the nation chosen for each trip. Each student must pay $3,000 to participate in the trip.

Lindsey Bengfort, a junior international studies major from Sanger, and Hanna Schwing, a junior international studies major from Spring, will travel to Sierra Leone on Africa's west coast Jan. 1-16 to examine the role of youth in post-conflict reconstruction. One of the world's poorest nations, Sierra Leone is recovering from a nine-year civil war that resulted in increased poverty, bad governance, corruption, massive unemployment and disillusioned youth.

During the trip, Bengfort, Schwing and the other 13 Youth Ambassadors will speak with specialists on post-conflict reconstruction, visit one of Sierra Leone's diamond mines, tour an HIV/AIDS clinic, participate in panel discussions with Sierra Leone natives at the nation's University of Freetown, and tour the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone, which is trying former Liberian President Charles Taylor for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone.

Bengfort said she wanted to apply for the Youth Ambassador program to "experience the culture and spirit" of Sierra Leone's citizens.

"They've experienced so much destruction and pain, but they also have a unique ability to have hope for a better future," she said.

This semester, Bengfort and Schwing started a UNT student organization, Africanist United. The organization brings speakers to campus to discuss issues facing African nations. The group's next speaker is Sala N. Sankayi of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Justice and Tribal Affairs, who will give a presentation Nov. 27 on the history of DDT and its prospects for future use in Africa.

"In Africanist United, we want to show that Africa is not a big scary place. The preconceived notion for many is that it is terrible, but in reality, most of its people are wonderful," Bengfort said.

Schwing said the organization, which has about 20 active members, "gets youth involved with what's going on in Africa."

In October, Bengfort and Schwing helped to organize the first GuluWalk in Dallas, which raises money to support children in northern Uganda. As many as 40,000 children walk from their rural villages into the town of Gulu and other urban centers each night to sleep in relative safety and avoiding abduction by the Lord's Resistance Army for use in the country's 20-year civil war. Gulu Walks now take place in 82 cities across the globe on a designated day.

Schwing, who is earning a minor in peace studies, said she's looking forward to not only learning about post-conflict resolution in Sierra Leone, but also "meeting other students and youth with similar goals and interests in Africa."

"I'm really interested in seeing a presentation on discrimination against women and the panel discussion on microfinance. I think many of Sierra Leone's economic problems can be traced to the fact that women have very little economic power," she said.

Bengfort is also a member of UNT's Model International Organization, which is dedicated to adding to students' knowledge about international relations, comparative politics, foreign affairs, diplomacy, global disputes, political economy and international organizations. The organization sponsors guest lecturers and cultural events, and members attend simulated international conferences.

After graduating from UNT in May 2009, Bengfort plans to work in Africa before moving to a U.S. governmental or United Nations job focusing on African development.

Schwing will graduate from UNT in December 2008. She plans to work for a nonprofit organization in the area of women's rights, HIV/AIDS or refugees, preferably in Africa.


UNT News Service Phone Number: (940) 565-2108
Contact: Nancy Kolsti (940) 565-3509
Email: nkolsti@unt.edu

We are thriled to report that yesterday, January 4th, 200 bikes were delivered to Patongo! Please see a part of the dispatch from Dan, Jared and Nick of the 88Bikes Team. GYPA Uganda´s Joseph Kaliisa and GYPA friend and colleague, Jimmy Otim, successfully assisted 88Bikes with the planning, purchasing and logistical matters.

GYPA is happy to assist 88Bikes in this effort and also greatful for their donation to our staff and youth in Uganda. We know that the bikes they have donated to us will aid in our efforts to further empower the youth of Uganda. We look forward to continuing our work with them.

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Dear Friends,

I am so, so pleased to write this email to you all right now. Today, Jared and I returned from a nearly week-long excursion to Patongo in remote, Northern Uganda. We distributed 200 bikes to some of the most heroic kids I've ever seen. And you can rest assured that your donations have significantly altered many lives. These children... what can I say about these children? Looking at them, you may never guess what they've been through. Many have lost one parent; some have lost both. Some are former child soldiers; others have been orphaned by disease. But every single one of these kids continues to work hard to live, to thrive and to find joy amid challenging circumstances. And though many of them were too shy or too stunned or too gentle to give us the bursting smiles you may expect, you'd look into their eyes and you knew what a bike meant to them.

We shipped the bikes to Patango from Kampala, after a morning-long session loading the truck at a large Kampala bike shop. Getting to Patango is no easy task: a 5-hour drive north along a tarmac-crumbling highway to Gulu, then another 5 hours out through the rural north country along a rambling dirt road to the camp. Along the way, you pass literally dozens of refugee camps, all peopled with folks forced from their daily lives and their home villages by the conflict. You'll pass markers to the slain and the husks of vehicles burned only a couple of years ago by the LRA. Thankfully, Northern Uganda is peaceful now–the rebels driven away and many of the refugees finally returning to their homes. It is a good time to give, in this region which has seen so much pain. And a bicycle is the sort of gift that helps a person lift himself from years of struggle.

The bikes were shipped in boxes, unassambled, to keep from breaking during the arduous journey (which was nearly twice as long--maybe 20 hours--for our gigantic cargo truck). Once in Patongo our team of bike mechanics from Gulu got to work, working tirelessly for two straight days to assemble the bikes. It was quite the scene at the school--200 crank shafts, 200 frames, 400 wheels, 400 tires and thousands of spokes littering the campus. On the evening of the 2nd, the first bikes were given away. We gave away the first 100 before darkness fell, and then started up again early the next morning.

As we gave away each bike, we asked the child what he or she wanted to be when they grew up. We got a host of answers, from "President of the Country" to "Pilot" to "Doctor." But the most touching response of all came from the fellow who received the very last bike we gave away. This bike was given to a young man of about 16 years. He had lost his parents to the war and was now heading his household, caring for his younger siblings and still going to school. We asked him what he wanted to be, and he said: Farmer.

This fellow had no illusions about his future–he just wanted to take care of his family. And when we gave him his bike... well, that moment, and the look on his face, and the way he put his hand on the handlebars... you just knew. You knew that this meant more to him that he could express--or we could possibly comprehend.

Every single child who received a bike this year was present at the MOMENT of HAPPY. So you all will receive a picture of your child. Don't be surprised if your sponsored child is not smiling; these kids have been through a lot. But look into their eyes and I think you'll see something that transcends a smile--you'll see inexpressible gratitude for a vital gift.

Thank you all so much again for making this happen. It has been an unforgettable experience this year for Jared and me. Please know that you have changed a few lives with your donations. As remote as these camps are, the children there are often overlooked and under-served. They are especially vulnerable--and especially appreciative of such a gift. We will be posting pictures from Patongo soon, so please check the 88bikes blog, linked on the website.

We wish you all a New Year full of joy, courage and heroism.