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12 stouffviue suntribune thursday oct 20 2005 children in the east african village of igoma unpack books and school supplies sent from stoufrville helping needy african children satisfies group- by joan ransberry staff writer sylvesters crooked legs have been straightened while the five- yearold undergoes thera py at a clinic in his home town in east africa he continues to pull at the heart strings of members of a stouffvillebased committee sylvesters a wonderful little guy stouffville- igoma partnership chair person peter neufeld said mis legs were damaged by rickets which is caused from a severe vitamin d deficiency after the surgery sylvester shared his mwanza hospital bed with three other children hes now at home getting regu lar visits from the clinic nurse and his future looks promising sylvester will walk when a partnership between stouffviue and the 40000person african village of igoma was struck in 2003 no one knew what would develop after all the towns humanitarian partnership with the povertyridden town was the first of its kind in canada as well as being part of sylvesters recovery weve made enormous strides for the quality of life in igoma mr neufeld said you just have to do the math to see whats been accomplished mr neufeld said for instance igomas new health clinic built by a work crew from eastridge missionary church now treats 800 patients a month more than 1000 peo ple were examined recent ly by the lions club at the clinics eyeexamination program twenty- five new chairs are now in the clinics wait ing room about 500 mosquito nets to ward off malaria arc on their way at least 60000 school supply items were sent to igoma by stouffvillcs summitview public school and three committee- funded vocational stu dents have graduated and numerous medicines a malariadetection unit and a hospital cat scanner were shipped to igoma the committee has raised more than 100000 in two years it all goes to igoma stressed committee treas urer joe nemani a retired ibm executive this past summer com mittee members joined two work crews from eastridge missionary church and spent three weeks volunteering in igoma after paying their own expenses the crew built a house for the clinics doc tor tiled the roof and installed a sandfiltration system assessed the need for a water purification system and distributed mosquito nets to families throughout the village while there the crew spent time with the clinics nurse glenna cummings of markham is marking her first volunteer year run ning igomas health clinic ms cummings delivers babies teaches hygiene and nutrition treats a mul titude of conditions and injuries after a 12hour day ms cummings often emails mr neufeld at his ballantrae home to give him the days news justin kerswill 25 of stouffviue joined the work crew in igoma it was an incredible experience mr kerswill said 1 went to see if i could make a difference the people of igoma whue very poor welcomed us i helped build a roof on the clinic installed windows and doors and went door- todoor handing out mos quito nets malaria remains the number one killer in africa claiming 3000 children a day the mosquito is the culprit mr neufeld said with a net the children have protection while they sleep while the average household income in whitchurchstouffville is about 90000 a mere 300 ayear comes into the average igoma home igomas economy is basically on the barter sys tem with people scroung ing for food committee member larry simpson said the ballantrae veg etable farmer has visited igoma three times life in igoma is start ing to change mr simpson said its one person at a time and one project at a time for more information on the stouffvilleigoma partnership committee visit wwwsipartnershiporg or telephone 905-640- 1771 york regional neivspaper group reporter joan ransberry isamemterofthestoujjville- igoma partnership committee 4