???Paying more than $6 for lunch isn't anything out of the ordinary for the average American. But in eastern Uganda, 13,146 shillings (equivalent to $6) is the average annual income for the Bagishu people.
???New York State's minimum wage has been $7.15 per hour since January 2007. The average wages of the Bagishu people remains stagnant at $6.
???It's a difficult statistic to swallow for students paying thousands of dollars for education and more than $6 for one meal.
???"We live in a society that is blessed with simple creature comforts and consumer goods," said Sharon Green, corresponding secretary for Global African Village, a non-profit organization that works with African agencies to alleviate the effects of widespread poverty for children, the elderly and the sick in African countries. "But I think it's good for young people to understand that there are a lot of people in the world that have so much less and that it's not so difficult to make a connection and to help them in ways that are very simple."
???In 2007, Green and native Ugandan Sebastian Wanzama-Piro founded Global African Village, an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization centered out of Western New York and Ontario. Since its inception, the group's goal has been raising funds for the Bagishu people of Uganda in order to provide them with aid and basic necessities.
???According to www.globalafricanvillage.org, the primary goal of the program is to improve the simple water systems, first aid posts and daycare facilities for the Bagishu.
???"The people that we're working with have a very, very limited income," Green said. "Even the amount of money that I might spend going out to dinner could make a significant difference in somebody's life."
??? According to Green, each person who works for Global African Village is employed full-time in another profession, making the program's entire efforts 100-percent volunteer. Wanzama-Piro said he saves all of his personal vacation time throughout the year in order to travel to Uganda for a month and deliver the funds the group has raised.
???Non-profit organizations that are strictly based on volunteering are sometimes slow to get things done, but the people at Global African Village are proud of their accomplishments and remind the UB community that it's never too late to make a difference.
???"When you start a habit of volunteering at a young age, or getting involved when you're young, it becomes a lifelong habit," Green said.
???Many individuals and local organizations, such as Kiwanis Club of Buffalo and its UB affiliate Circle K, have reached out to help Global African Village with fundraising. According to Green, a membership donation that costs only $10 per year is almost nothing, considering how far that money will go to help the Bagishu.
???Global African Village sees UB's culturally diverse campus as an opportunity for students to learn from each other about how the rest of the world lives.
"You have students from so many different places in the world that it makes the world more real and perhaps smaller in a way," Green said. "When you hear about other countries, even just a dot on the map, there are probably people walking around campus that are from those places."
???Since 2007, the group has raised just over $2,000, with the majority of donations in the $10 to $20 range. Looking to the future, Green hopes to keep on the slow and steady course that Global African Village has already set for itself by finishing the projects it has started and increasing membership.
???"Within five years, I would like to see us be able to actually have a staffed health care center for the Bagishu people," Green said. "Also, we already have a very rudimentary child care center, and I would love to see paid teachers in that child care center."
???More information about Global African Village can be found on Facebook and www.globalafricanvillage.org. Students interested in membership can visit the program's Web site and make a donation of $10 or more. Information can also be found on Facebook.
???Circle K is holding a baked goods sale for Global African Village in the Student Union today from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. The on-campus group will be selling cookies, cupcakes and other homemade treats in order to raise money for the Bagishu people.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
