Gifts for Gulu: Water for Life
The third annual Gifts for Gulu Sports Festival will be March 14 at Lynchburg College, featuring races, soccer clinics, and a women's lacrosse game, with an effort to raise funds for a well in northern Uganda dubbed, "Water for Life."
The annual event on Shellenberger Field is sponsored by Lynchburg College, Sports Outreach Institute, the Orthopaedic Center of Central Virginia, Lynchburg United Soccer, and Riverside Runners.
The day begins with a 9 a.m. 5K Water for Life Race, followed by a 10 a.m. Children's Fun Run. Registration for the 5K run is $15 by March 13 and $20 on the day of the race. The children's run is $5 by March and $7 the day of the race. All participants receive a t-shirt. Online registration is available at www.sportsoutreach.net.
At 10:30 a.m., Lynchburg United Soccer and the Charlotte Eagles will put on a free soccer clinic.
At 2 p.m, the Lynchburg College women's lacrosse team takes on Frostburg State University.
At 4 p.m, the Soccer Extravaganza will feature local soccer teams from area high schools.
At 7 p.m., an exhibition game of community soccer stars will take the field along with members of the Charlotte Eagles.
Admission to all events is free, but participants and spectators are asked to bring used or new sports equipment, shoes, clothing, or a financial contribution for the drilling of a well for the Gulu community in northern Uganda.
For more information, contact Sports Outreach at 528-2516.
Water for Life:
Dr. Todd Olsen, associate professor of health and physical education and the women's soccer coach, has seen firsthand what a well can do for a village in northern Uganda. Lugutu, a small village in northern Uganda, was struggling to survive when Sports Outreach first encountered them in January 2008, according to executive director Rodney Suddith. With a bit of help from Sports Outreach, the village started to slowly make a comeback. Olsen visited in June 2008 and still questioned their long-term prognosis.
A gift from a Lynchburg woman's family, however, turned things around. Laurie McCauley, a member of Rivermont Presbyterian Church, had been a supporter of Sports Outreach and upon her death, her family decided to donate $5,000 for a well for Lugutu. When Olsen visited in January 2009, he couldn't believe the difference the well had made. "It was a rebirth of the village," he said. "It's a thriving community now."
Nearly 200 people now live in the village that once struggled to support 70. They have built their own school and are growing their own food. Suddith said the average age of the village is 15. Most have lost parents to war of AIDS or had themselves lost limbs from the war.
Suddith said Olsen's dedication to Uganda has been priceless. "There are kids and adults alive today because Todd Olsen came on the scene," he said.
Olsen, who is on sabbatical this semester, recently returned from Uganda, where he was working as an epidemiologist with Sports Outreach. He has developed health training tutorials for the Sports Outreach African staff which he will implement when he returns to Africa in May.
His most recent trip was devoted to a project called "Ask Carol." Ask Carol is directed at women and children living with HIV/AIDS in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, Kampala Uganda and Gulu, Uganda. In January, they launched the Ask Carol website. This website is designed to provide expert medical and health answers for women and children suffering from HIV/AIDS.
The website is named after Carol, a Kenyan on the Sports Outreach African staff who coordinates support groups for women living with AIDS. She will collect health and medical questions from the women she helps in her AIDS support groups. Olsen will present the questions to a panel of medical doctors that have agreed to provide answers.
"I think it will be an excellent way to get the women quick and accurate medical information, especially as they try to live with AIDS," said Olsen, who hopes to train 100 people when he returns in May.
