Sep 21
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Master’s student building libraries, bringing resources to Uganda
An MBA candidate created an organization to increase literacy in Uganda.
by Kimberly Burton, 20 September 2016
During a service trip Jeff Fonda took to Uganda, he worked in a school with no textbooks. Instead, every student was given a hand-written version of a textbook for their classes. “It’s a crazy process, they actually hand copied each book over and over again,” Fonda said. “It was great they had the text, but they had no formalized pictures or graphs.”
Fonda, a first-year master’s of business administration student, was inspired by his experiences in Uganda to found the nonprofit called The Literate Earth Project, an organization that helps Ugandan children get access to books and increase literacy. Other than the hand-copied textbooks, students had no books to read for pleasure. Fonda soon discovered the school’s headmaster had approximately 15 books in his office and decided to show them to the students. “With these books and atlas, they were seeing pictures of new people, trees, buildings, things they had never seen before,” Fonda said.
Information about sports in particular were of interest to them, Fonda added. “They were asking things like, ‘What is this sport?’ They had never seen tennis before. ‘What is this racket for?’” he said. This is when his revelation occurred, he said. “You could see the wheels were going in their heads,” Fonda said. “That experience of seeing the real need for knowledge and how it spurred these other thoughts and conversations was amazing.”
The Literate Earth Project was officially formed in 2011. In 2013, Fonda and his organization opened their first library in Uganda. In that same year, they also received a LEAP grant from BetterWorldBooks. LEAP grants are given to organizations with “game-changing” ideas to “help advance a compelling literacy project,” according to its website. “We watched [the first library] for a year and half to see it’s successes and failures,” he said.
After Fonda and other individuals from the organization saw the library was working, they began to open more libraries throughout the country in 2014. In the past two and a half years, The Literate Earth Project has opened nine libraries in areas like the Rakai, Masaka and Wakiso districts of Uganda. The organization will also open two more this year. “As long as we are able to keep up funding, we’re actually on pace to open four to six libraries per year and we would like to continue at that pace,” said Alex Moore, project’s chief operating officer.
The need for books in Uganda is evident through the requests for the organization’s libraries. The Literate Earth Project has a list of about 50 schools that have been okayed to receive libraries, but hundreds have made requests. To ensure success, the organization has a vetting process where staff visit the school to assess its needs. They make sure the teachers and community are going to get involved, and that the books will actually be used by the students.
In the past, to raise awareness for the program, Fonda has met with Uganda’s Vice President, H. E. Edward Ssekandi. Ssekandi has implemented policy to aid in increasing literacy in Uganda. Fonda said he hopes to expand the program to the many schools on their waitlist, but the organization doesn’t have money for the books themselves. By applying for grants, starting college clubs and hosting events like the Let’s Get Literate 5K Run, they have started to raise more money for their efforts. “We’re constantly looking for new partnerships so that we can kind of work together with other organizations that might provide solar energy or computers to schools,” Moore said.
Fonda, who is interested in eventually starting a club on Main Campus connected to his nonprofit, hopes to continue focusing on Uganda due to the serious demand for libraries. “I’d like to say we can change the whole world, but right now our goal is to change Uganda,” Fonda said. “The demand is insatiable [there].”
Kimberly Burton can be reached at kimberly.burton@temple.edu.
Also see: Literate Earth Project, Books for Africa
Nov 23
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Three from Harvard receive American Rhodes Scholarships
The Harvard University Gazette, November 23, 2008
Two Harvard College students and a Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) doctoral student have received Rhodes Scholarships. Thirty-two Americans were chosen from among 800 applicants for the scholarships to the University of Oxford in England.
Kyle Q. Haddad-Fonda, Issaquah, Wash., is a senior at Harvard College where he majors in history and near-Eastern languages and civilizations. Well-versed in Mandarin and Arabic, the Pforzheimer House resident conducted research in China and Egypt for his senior thesis on Sino-Arab relations. Haddad-Fonda was captain of the Harvard 2008 National College Bowl Championship team and plays the harp in the Mozart Society Orchestra. He plans to do a doctorate in Oriental studies at Oxford.
“I’m absolutely thrilled at the prospect of studying at Oxford next year,” he said, “and humbled by the caliber of the other students who went through the process as well.”
Haddad-Fonda said an early interest in geography and “the world and understanding other places” led him to his concentration. Current events, like the recent deal between Iraq and China in excess of $3 billion that will allow China to develop an oil field southeast of Baghdad, he noted, point to the increasing importance of Sino-Arab connections.
While at Oxford, he plans to continue his research and explore how this and other connections have developed in recent times.
“It’s a topic that is very current and very important. And it’s something that I want to understand and to understand in a historic perspective as well.” (…)
Elliot F. Gerson, American secretary of the Rhodes Trust, in a press release called the Rhodes Scholarships “the oldest and best-known award for international study, and arguably the most famous academic award available to American college graduates.” The scholarships were created in 1902 by the will of Cecil Rhodes, British philanthropist and African colonial pioneer. The first class of American Rhodes Scholars entered Oxford in 1904; those chosen this weekend will enter Oxford in October 2009.
Gerson said 3,164 Americans have won Rhodes Scholarships, representing 309 colleges and universities. The number of Harvard College students who have won American Rhodes Scholarships is now 323, more than from any other college. That number does not include Rhodes Scholars who were Harvard students who were citizens of other countries, and also does not include scholars who were selected while attending Harvard’s graduate schools.
In addition to the 32 Americans, Rhodes Scholars will also be selected from Australia, Bermuda, Canada, the nations of the Commonwealth Caribbean, Germany, India, Jamaica, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Southern Africa (South Africa, plus Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, and Swaziland), Zambia, and Zimbabwe. About 80 Rhodes Scholars are selected worldwide each year. Some countries have not yet announced their Rhodes Scholars.
The value of the Rhodes Scholarships varies depending on the academic field and the degree (B.A., master’s, doctoral) chosen. The Rhodes Trust pays all college and university fees, provides a stipend to cover necessary expenses while in residence in Oxford as well as during vacations, and transportation to and from England. Gerson estimates that the total value of the scholarship averages approximately $50,000 per year.
2 from region named Rhodes scholars
The Associated Press, by Dan Robrish, Monday, November 24, 2008
An Issaquah man who is studying history and Chinese and Arabic languages at Harvard University is among this year’s winners of the Rhodes Scholarship.
Kyle Q. Haddad-Fonda joins Mallory A. Dwinal, of Gig Harbor, and 30 other men and women from across the United States in winning the prestigious scholarships for study at England’s Oxford University.
The winners – announced publicly on Sunday – were picked from 769 applicants endorsed by 207 colleges and universities nationwide. The scholarships are the oldest of the international-study awards available to American students. They provide two or three years of study at Oxford University in England, commencing in October.
Haddad-Fonda, 22, grew up in Bellevue and graduated from Lakeside School in Seattle, where he studied Chinese and learned to play the harp. He plays in Harvard’s student orchestra and served as captain of the school’s College Bowl team, for the academic-oriented quiz competition along the lines of “Jeopardy!”
His senior thesis at Harvard focused on China-Arab relations in the 1950s. He plans to pursue the British equivalent of a doctorate in Asian studies. (…)
Sep 15
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The Power of the Eyes, Hands, Help, Care, People, Slovenia, Love, Passion, Network Everywhere and Anywhere
MarquesBlackStar – September 15, 2008
Dear global friend,
Network anywhere and everywhere…because modern life is all about the care that we have for other people. We need to respect everyone from different walks of life, because we never know what they know… imagine a Doctor Biologist taking care about your healthy fish…
Dr. IRENA FONDA IS a GREAT BRAND in SLOVENIA…
For me a networker has great passion for people. I want to tell you my point of view about that, because I’m in the city of the light… Paris, three days ago I landed in a paradise called SLOVENIA…
Networking is a way of living, making new friends for life. We just carry on traveling like the navigators without destination…We have something in our days…the power of the people that IS help others to achieve dreams… we will carry on our trip in a much safer way. NETWORK WITH YOUR HAPPY HEART AND EVEN MUSIC CAN HELP A LOT…
Can you imagine that we are on the boat…with Andreja, Tina, me, Hanka and Miss FONDA.
Every human being has got the mission of being great in all senses. CAN YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES FOR 30 SECONDS AND THINK ABOUT A SMALL BALL…
A small boy loves to throw a small ball away… now think about one bird distant at the sky…
Now imagine a ball with YOU, or a single bird look at you from the sky, don’t you think that is better to have a bird on the grass singing for him and for you AND WHY NOT THE ONES THAT LOVE YOU AND HELP YOU…
1000 kilos ball …how many hands you need to throw the big but fantastic ball way.. do you think that you can do that alone only using your own hands…!
I’m very happy to let you know that passion, care and action help you so much that you cant imagine…You need then the great and positive power and the instant confidence for looking for what you dream about…but not eating alone or doing everything alone without the wise advise of long life learners… NETWORKING IS LIKE EVERYTHING IN LIFE… you become what you practice with vision, inspiration! You need people and mother nature…!
So, as a networker farmer …I’m very happy to advise you to plant goods seeds whenever you are or you go… feed every seed …don’t forget the small detail that make a great difference in others people life…
We learn from the most simple things in life… I KNOW THAT EVERYONE KNOWS THE PRECIOUS RULES OF A GOOD NETWORKER… BUT as a heart friend I only want to say that you should give…
and help from the heart… because the universe is great and everyone should be happy for the wind, the sun or the rain…
Thanks to BNI, ECADEMY AND ALL MY DEAREST NETWORKING FRIENDS THAT I HAVE THE SAME DESIRE OF LOVING EVERYONE AS I LOVE MYSELF.
Happy day from the city of the light.. PARIS.
Warmest regards.
Victor Marques
VitoriaKoi, Bringing Portugal to You…
Portugal @ Your Doorstep!
Mar 18
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Calls for mining to be exempt from environment laws
ABC News – Mar 18, 2008
A group of landowners from Adelaide River south of Darwin are calling for changes to legislation regulating exploration and mining. Dr Michael Fonda says rural residents are concerned about the potential impact of increased exploration for uranium. He says rural communities should have the same protection from resource development as urban areas.
Dr Fonda says the group is lobbying for exploration to be prevented on larger blocks, as part of the review of the Northern Territory Mining Act, and is calling for the Environmental Protection Board to consider introducing Environmental Impact Statements for exploration licences. “The EPA is at the moment having its legislation revised and we think it would be a good idea to have environmental impact statements compulsory in the process of new mining applications, which they aren’t at the moment.”
But the former chief executive of the Northern Territory Minerals Council Kezia Purick says the suggested changes would prevent access to outback Australia would unfairly compromise the resource industry. “No company would ever actually get on the ground if they had to go through a full EIS, bearing in mind that and Environmental Impact Statement can take upwards of 12 to 18 months to complete and it can cost upwards of nearly $1 million. “Exploration can be a high risk activity and it’s high risk high reward, but it can also be high risk high loss.”
Jan 01
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This is a duplicate of the listing on the fonda.org website.
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