By Teri Carnicelli
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, local artist and philanthropist Haydn Anthony hopes that Phoenix residents will let their loving hearts shine … all the way to Kyazanga, Uganda.
Anthony, a longtime North Central resident, is the founder of the Bright Heart Human Enrichment Program, which teaches the principles of courage, compassion, truth, justice, freedom and peace to the children of this often-overlooked Third World country.
She started the program in 2007 after rescuing eight orphaned children in the Kyazanga community and building them a home with the assistance of Joseph Lukwago, founder of the Ugandan nonprofit Joy for Humanity. Lukwago and his mother, Susan, operate the Kyazanga Modern Primary private school, and donated the land for the adjacent Bright Heart Home. There is room on the property for 23 more homes housing a total of 184 more children whenever sponsors come forth.
After four years of preparation and study, these eight children from the Bright Heart Home became the first Bright Hearts to graduate from the program, which is now taught in many of the primary schools in the country.
“Records show that children who have completed the program are demonstrating higher grades and good behavior,” says Anthony, who began her work with peace projects after the Vietnam War, including designing the original flag for the POW/MIA awareness campaign.
Anthony says her Bright Heart program is ready to go to the next step, namely, creating additional educational materials for teachers to be able to administer the program on a more global level. But to do that, more funding is required.
Since its inception, Anthony has financed everything out of her own pocket. She’s not been to Kyazanga to see the results of her time and dedication, rather reserving those travel funds to help continue to support the program. But Anthony realizes that for the program to grow to the next level, she’s going to need some help.
“Fundraising is something I’m going to have to do,” she admits. “We’re not a real big organization, but we have the potential to reach so many children.”
Anthony and her partner in the program, Joseph Lukwago, have compiled a “wish list” of items they need to continue to support and expand the Bright Heart Program.
“It could be anything from supporting one child through the program, to helping fund a new technology lab,” Anthony says. “There is really a wide range of areas for support. Any contributors would have contact with me and information on how their donation is being used.”
The project they hope to complete this year is to get the training program on video to assist more teachers. To that end, they need funds to purchase two video cameras, a projector, a laptop, a digital camera, an inkjet printer, a lamination machine, and a binding machine. The also are seeking someone to help fund the printing of the Bright Heart textbooks (approximately 40 pages), and to help produce a video from still photos, including sound and graphics.
Other items needed for the students include a reliable source for children’s vitamins, recreational items like a croquet set, baseballs and bats, and entertainment items such as children’s DVDs and a music CD player.
While people may have physical items to donate, Anthony cautions that shipping to this remote community is very expensive. So they would prefer either cash donations so that items can be purchased in Uganda itself, or a “shipping angel” to help underwrite the cost of shipping actual hard goods to the school site.
“All of these years, I’ve never had much financial support,” she says. “But I think it’s time to put it out there so others can participate.”
For more information, visit www.greatheartsafire.org (click on the “Bright Hearts” link) or e-mail greathearts@cox.net. Monetary donations can be sent via Paypal at: Great Hearts Afire Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
