Did you know that research estimates more than one-third of the world’s population to be infected with some type of worm? At least 50% of these are school age children living in third world countries. Worm infection contributes to malnutrition, anemia, retarded growth, lethargy, renders the child vulnerable to other diseases, and in the worst case scenario death! In Uganda, worm infestation is the number three killer of children, following closely behind notorious and well known diseases AIDS and malaria.
We are now committed to a new venture — the elimination of worm infection and the administration of vitamin supplements to prevent further disease. Our immediate plan is to conduct a short-term medical clinic in Uganda this January 2007. (NO - I haven’t been to medical school since I last wrote, but God is bringing medical professionals to us.) We have also found MAP International, a Christian non-profit organization which receives all types of medicines from pharmaceutical companies, and for a small fee, will sell us the supplies needed for the clinic. On each trip to Uganda, we hope to take as much medicine as we can possibly purchase, helping those in need of the yearly tablet for de-worming, vitamin supplements to prevent blindness, and when medical personnel are with us, administering antibiotics and treating skin infections. Our goal is to treat 5,000 children and families on each visit.
For less than one US dollar, an entire family can not only be protected from worm disease, but also receive the vitamins necessary to prevent blindness and other diseases on a yearly basis. Won’t you consider partnering with us in our new venture of knocking out worms and fighting blindness in children? Please make your swim-a-thon pledge NOW for our January, 2007 clinic in Uganda.