"What are you doing on Thursday night, April 8th? Going out to an expensive dinner? Watching T.V.? Paying $12 to see a movie at a movie theater? How about doing something different that is FREE, fun, and for a good cause? So what is this amazing event you ask?"
These are words sent to us in an email from Dina and her family,Ken, Sam and Eve, long-time Laurelhurst residents who are hosting a wonderful fundraiser this Thursday night to support a clinic in Kenya, the Lwala Clinic, of which Eve became involved with during her pre-med days at Dartmouth.
That is Eve in the picture above with the Lwala Clinic Founders, Fred and Milton Ochieng'.
ABC News featured the founders as "'Persons of the Week."
It's a very interesting story how Eve started her involvment with the clinic when meeting two Kenyan brothers at Dartmouth and she is still very active in supporting the clnic specifically by hosting the fundraiser as well as flying in the founders from Kenya for the big evening.
The main event will be the screening of the documentary film, "Sons of Lwala" which follows the founders of the clinic, Milton and Fred Ochieng, on their journey from their home village of Lwala, Kenya to medical school in the United States, and back home to build Lwala's first health clinic.
The screening will be followed by a Question and Answer period with film co-star Fred Ochieng.
The Lwala Clinic opened in Kenya in the Spring of 2007 and saw more than 25,000 patients in its first 18 months of operation. The clinic is currently seeking to expand its maternal health services through the addition of a maternity ward to the clinic.
The event hopes to raise $5,000 for the Lwala Community Alliance to continue developing the clinic and its services.
Eve writes: "My involvement with the Lwala Clinic started Dartmouth College during my freshman year when I met two Kenyan brothers, Fred and Milton Ochieng'. From the outset I knew Fred was unique – for one thing he had never eaten Ketchup (a staple for most kids growing up in the US). His excitement and enthusiasm for it was a source of much laughter for me in the first few weeks of my Dartmouth life.
As I got to know Fred better realized that beyond his rapidly expanding palate, there were other things that made him quite different from your average Dartmouth freshman. For one thing, Fred grew up with no running water, no electricity, and far from a city. Unlike my own suburban lifestyle in Laurelhurst (I grew up there and my parents still live there), Fred had lived without the common creature comforts many of us take for granted. Despite this, he had managed to make his way to Dartmouth just as I had.
Milton and Fred grew up in Lwala a farming village in Kenya. After high school, Milton was offered a scholarship to Dartmouth but his parents were unable to afford the airfare to send him to America. So the village came together and sold their chickens and cows in order to raise the $900 for his plane ticket. Upon his departure, the village left Milton with a request: “Just don’t forget us.” A few years later, Fred followed in his brother’s footsteps and also attended Dartmouth.
While at Dartmouth, Fred and Milton’s parents both passed away. Before he died, Fred and Milton’s father, Erastus, began making plans to build Lwala’s first clinic. After his funeral, Milton and Fred made took up their father’s cause and announced to the village that they would finish what their father started. With the help of many people, organizations, and a rock band, the clinic has been completed has opened its doors to patients. As is typical in many rural villages in Kenya, their clinic is often full of common illnesses which, untreated, turn deadly. In addition, many of the patients in the clinic are HIV positive or have AIDS and require substantial medical treatment.
Here in Seattle having lead what I consider to be a very privileged life I often wonder what more I can do to make sure that the privilege I have experience gets passed along. Fred and Milton’s clinic is one way that I feel I can transfer some of my good fortune. As the clinic continues to serve Lwala, Fred and Milton need additional funding."
Dina writes us that "the nice thing about the organization is that it is grass roots: all the funds go to the clinic. There is no overhead that Eve or I can see and many of the efforts are student driven.
For example, Dartmouth students flew down at their own expense and helped build the clinic in Lwala. Clinton Global Initiative, ABC Person of the Week (Dec 2, 2009), and others have more recently honored Fred and Milton's efforts.
And the event in Seattle is also a grassroots effort. Eve paid for Fred's plane ticket, Daniel B (Viewridge kid, UW faculty parents) and his UW med school class paid $50 for food; UW donated the Foege Hall for the event."
The family is also hosting a Pre-Event Dinner with Fred at their home on Wednesday night, and this event is open to all neighbors with a suggested donation of $250. "We will have a real S&S cheesecake from NYC for Fred to honor our connection to him and do a ketchup tasting too as a surprise for him!" Dina writes.
The event and screening will be at 7:00 PM this Thursday, April 8th, 2010, at Foege Auditorium located at 1705 N.E. Pacific St.
If you can't go to the event, here is a list of ways to donate, such as supporting a nurse or sponsoring a child for a year and also how to donate.
You can get more information on the event and follow the event on Facebook.
For questions, Eve can be reached at 206 919-9275.
"This is a cause I care deeply about - hope to see you all there!" says Eve.
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