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Teddy’s ticket to first grade
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More than 8,000 miles from Marquette, a 6-year-old girl named Teddy goes to school in Uganda. She’s bright and inquisitive, a natural leader who loves to sing and dance. She lost her father to AIDS, but she gained a new family of sorts when she was “adopted” by a Marquette class of physical therapy students.
It was Anna Cowan’s idea. Anna’s sister, Sarah, is a Peace Corps volunteer assigned to Children of Uganda, a nonprofit organization that cares for 700 children who have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. The organization recently lost a major corporate donor, making it harder than ever to keep its orphanage afloat. The international food crisis made the situation more dire: With the cost of food jumping more than 50 percent, some children receive just one meal a day.
Anna learned $450 would cover a child’s food, housing and schooling for one year. Her sister told her about Teddy, one of many in need of a sponsor. So last fall, Anna made the pitch to her fellow “DPT4s,” as the fourth-year doctor of physical therapy students are known.
It would take only $8 apiece if everyone chipped in. “That’s two drinks at Starbucks to give a child an education,” she told them. Most of her 60-plus classmates contributed, and they raised $50 more than needed to give Teddy her ticket to the first grade.
“It’s something relatively small for us that can make a big difference in Teddy’s life,” says classmate Lynsey Zlotnik.
When Teddy heard the news, “She was elated, so excited that she was jumping up and down and running in a circle,” Anna says. A few months later, Anna met Teddy.
It’s not easy to reach the Rakai/Sabina Home, which is located in a tiny, rural village in southern Uganda. But when Anna and her parents arrived, they found a warm welcome waiting. Excited children swarmed in the dusty courtyard in front of the long, one-story orphanage and school. “You get out of the car and the kids just come running,” Anna says. “They give you hugs.”
Teddy was at home on holiday, so the Cowans drove three hours farther, into the bush to Teddy’s grandmother’s house, located in a region between Uganda and Tanzania referred to as “no man’s land.”
Teddy, wearing her best dress, was waiting with a crowd. “I think all of her neighborhood was there,” Anna says. “It was like a huge celebration.” The children greeted the Cowans with a welcome song and traditional Ugandan dance. Teddy was initially shy with the strangers who had come so far to meet her. “But by the end,” Anna remembers, “she had grabbed my legs and latched on.”
In thanks, Teddy’s family presented Anna with two live chickens, a banana leaf mat and more than 50 bananas. Anna brought a class photo and a Marquette sweatshirt for Teddy, who didn’t want to take off the sweatshirt despite heat in the 90s.
Anna hopes she and her classmates can continue to sponsor Teddy. “She is at the top of her class and would not have been able to continue studying this year if it weren’t for the PTs,” Anna says. The physical therapy students sent birthday cards to Teddy, and Anna passes along the occasional updates from her sister.
Whenever Sarah Cowan has her phone out, Teddy asks if she can call “Aunt Anni.” Anna saved one voice mail message from Teddy, which concludes with her saying joyfully, “I love you!” — NSE
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