Dear Friends,
Today is November 29th, 2016 and it’s the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. It’s also #GivingTuesday, which kicks off the charitable season, a time when focus shifts onto the holiday season and end-of-the-year giving. #GivingTuesday is a global movement in its fifth year. It’s fueled by social media, collaboration, and a sense of collective consciousness.
#GivingTuesday is an opportunity to actively seek to promote animal, human or environmental welfare or another issue or cause that really matters to you.
Our charity is called Bush-To-Base (B2B). This is the very first time we are reaching out to the global community with an eye on the greater good and hoping for contributions. One of the core values of B2B is that, for those of us who have been given so much, much is expected. To us, it means we have been given much, if we eat well and drink clean water, and are within reach of a healthcare facility or “911” should we become dreadfully sick.
B2B works with unreachable communities. People so far from a hospital, that often they do not even attempt the journey and often cannot attempt the journey even if they thought they would make it there alive. Specifically, we work in Mahale, in western Tanzania, a stunning landscape along the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the heart of Africa, and a remote resource-limited setting. The people are brave and resilient. They smile often, their laughter can light up an entire shoreline, and they can feel love. Many do not even make a dollar a day; they have no income at all. They live off the land. They pretty much, be, to be. To go there is a life changer, to live there is a game changer. This is the Mahale I know, one of the poorest and most remote areas of Tanzania.
Two of the most dreadful disease-causing organisms thrive there: rabies virus and Clostridium tetani. Both lead to severe neurological disease and death. Both are preventable. Today, B2B launches our very first fundraiser with the aim of raising enough funds to go to 11 communities along lakeshore to vaccinate dogs and cats with the goal of ending animal and human suffering the rabies virus. Funds will also be used to administer tetanus toxoid vaccine to children and women of childbearing age, as tetanus is another horrifying disease that occurs there far too often.
So, please, consider #GivingTuesday as another important thing to get to today. Put it down on your list of things to do if you like, and even if you don’t get to it for one reason or another, do it tomorrow, but please just do it!! And, smile and feel good, because you are really helping someone who desperately needs it and will appreciate it. If it’s B2B you want to contribute to, please find us on Crowdrise at https://www.crowdrise.com/ anti-rabies-campaign-in-the- heart-of-africa. And, thanks for reading this to the end of the message!
Best wishes for wonderful holiday season and
a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year,
Dr. Teresa J. Sylvina
Founder, President & CEO
Bush-To-Base Solutions