As many of your already know my story - about five years, I was inspired to reach out to the orphan children in my village in Uganda. It was a small dream at the start.... my funds were limited. I started with sending money to a church minister to help him feed the orphan children on Sundays. As word traveled, the handful of orphans became 18 children truly needing food every day. Then the 18 became 25 and they needed shelter. I could not support them on my own so I reached out to family and friends for help. They embraced my dream and it grew.

Three years ago, my dream was shared with a student at Connecticut College who shared it with others at the college. They wanted to do more than just donate - they wanted to join me as I traveled to Uganda - to give from their hearts - sharing their talents.

One of those students was Liz Durante. Her dream was to become a doctor and help those who were in need. Liz and her best friend, Stefani Hinman joined the other students and traveled with us to my village - Kaberamaido, Uganda. During their time in Kaberamaido, they jumped right in to support the local doctor and meet the needs of not only our children (then reaching approx 150 orphan children) but also the local villagers. Liz fell in love with the children and surrounding community. This inspired her - even more - to stay the course of her dream of becoming a doctor.

Last year, Liz and Stefani carried "our" dream of serving these children to others at their college and again, gathered medical donations and volunteers to join us in our good-will mission of meeting the needs of the our children (now approximately 180 orphan children). On the morning of our trip, an accident tragically altered the dream of helping the children for Liz, Stefani and their group of volunteers. We lost Liz in a car accident.

With four of us already at the airport and not knowing what happened, we boarded the plane hoping the other students had only been delayed. It wasn't until the doors closed for take off - did we find out what happened. For the 8 hour flight - we quietly cried. Once we landed in London, we quickly gathered together to make plans to immediately return to the states to see what we could do to help. One of the other volunteers asked us a very thought-provoking question "What would Liz want us to do?". It stopped us all in our tracks….then one by one - the response was the same - "she would want us to go on and fulfill her dream of serving the children". With very heavy hearts, we boarded the next flight to Uganda.

Then the miracles started to happen. Liz, Stefani and the other students had gathered close to 20 suitcases worth of medical or school donations. All their efforts to bring these needed supplies to the children and villagers seemed lost. If they tried to ship them over - most of the items would be stolen before ever reaching the children. But - one of the students, Brigid O'Gorman was traveling later than the others due to a personal commitment. She was inspired (possibly by a guardian angel named Liz) to see if she could take all the suitcases. Quickly, one of Asayo's Wish board members who was not able to travel with us, Gwen Louw, started making phone calls to the airlines, to Brigid, to the school, etc. The end result - the airline approved Brigid to bring 12 suitcases (policy is only 8) - a miracle. Quickly the 20 suitcases of donations were repacked into 12 (thank you Brigid). One of Liz's dreams was fulfilled - getting the medical donations to the children.

During this time, Liz's family was dealing with the tragic loss of their daughter but saw through their pain to make this loss result in good. A fund to build a medical clinic for the orphan children was quickly set up. Many of Liz's family, friends, fellow students and even strangers donated to this fund - another miracle.

The medical clinic location had already been in the plans but the funds made it a reality. We had the honor of humbly gathering on the sacred location. A minister blessed the ground for the good it would bring to not only the children but local villagers who did not have the means to go into town for medical help. With the help of Brigid's family donation - along with the donations made in memory of Liz, the medical clinic stands completed - another miracle.



We are blessed to be able to call Liz our friend. She touched not only the physical needs of the children but also their hearts. They remember her and asked for her by name. We explained to the children that she was not able to come but she is with them in their hearts. And it is the same for us. Liz will always remain in our hearts - to inspire us.

As we start to pack for this year's trip to the Asayo's Wish Children's Village in Kaberamaido Uganda - our hearts carry the love Liz had for the children. Stefani, along with Abby, another one of Liz's friends have collected medical donations. This time to fill the shelves in the Elizabeth Durant Medical Clinic. It will be our privilege to fulfill Liz's dream by dedicating the Elizabeth Durante's Medical Clinic in her honor. Liz's dream is alive and continues to grow. The life saving services the clinic will provide will result in people saying - "I am alive because of the clinic". And we know, they are alive because of Liz. Her name will be carried on for the good she believed in. She blessed my life, she blessed the children's lives, she blessed the villagers lives - by sharing her passion. And now the clinic stands as a testimony to her dream.

And truthfully, I believe that Liz is close by - watching over the children she loved.

With love from all of us here at Asayo's Foundation