Dixon and his team recently received a silver award from the World Association of Newspapers (WAN-IFRA) for developing a feature series that teachers primary students important lessons about clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Dixon’s Newspapers in Education program has reached 400 schools nationwide and helped  train 834 teachers  to use the feature series in their teaching! Partner organizations that leant their support to the project include WaterAid Uganda, Save the Children, Bwindi Community Hospital, the National Drug Authority and United Bank for Africa supported the program.

This year, New Vision was the only newspaper in Africa to receive the World Young Readers Award from the World Association of Newspapers, and this is the first time that the media house has received an award from the international newspaper organization since 1986.

With help from The Albert Baker Fund, Dixon earned his Master’s Degree in Education Planning and Management from Ndejje University in 2012, and his Bachelor’s Degree in Library and Information Science from Makrere University in 2010.

He recently wrote to us, “I am really entirely thankful for the whole ABF team in Africa and the team in USA for the opportunity that has enabled me to give back to communities through innovative projects  that have a heart …a principle I learned from Christian Science and ABF.”

Thank you to our Africa Programs Manager, Lamech Katamba, for sharing Dixon’s good news with us!

Marilyn gathers with members and ABF friends after Sunday service at First Church of Christ, Scientist, Nairobi, Kenya.

When ABF’s Director of Programs, Marilyn Jones, set off on a six-country trip to the UK and Africa in April, she says she knew it would be an adventure—but she came home with so much more than pictures and memories. She returned to Sacramento inspired and re-energized. And what inspired her so much? “Our fellow Christian Scientists,” she says. “

Marilyn met with dozens of ABF’s recipients—students, volunteers, and former recipients now starting their careers. She says everyone made her feel not only welcomed to their countries and their churches, but as part of the family, whether in groups or individuals one-on-one, sharing lunches, dinners, afternoons and evenings. Often as the only American in these groups, she says  she learned from meetings with the students and members how to bridge misperceptions about ABF.  Together, they worked through questions about the application process, which in turn gave her new and creative ideas to bring back to California.

We can’t wait to hear what she and our Administration Manager, Jen Day, report on their May trip to the Philippines to visit our Christian Science brothers and sisters in Manila and Baguio City.  So stay tuned…

• Maureen Baraza is a nursery school teacher in Uganda
• Wilberforce Damba is an auto mechanic in Uganda
• Komako James is a real time analyst for Mobile Telephone Network, the largest telephone company in Uganda
• James Kasozi is the IT (information technology) manager for Post Bank Uganda, Ltd.
• Adedeh Malachi works as an architectural engineer while enrolled in a master’s program in Nairobi, Kenya
• Jacqueline Namusalisi is the quality control manager for Brittania Foods Ltd. in Uganda, while taking graduate school courses in Kampala
• Edmond Nanoukon is an independent IT consultant in Benin whose clients include major government agencies and corporations. Edmond is also a fellow of LEAD (Leadership for Environment and Development), a leadership network based in the UK
• Enoch Rutsigazi is a customer service support administrator at Mobile Telephone Network in Uganda
• Margaret Namubiru is a researcher at Premier Consulting Associates, Ltd. in Kampala, Uganda
• Lloyd Sakala is a mechanical engineer for an auto garage in Lusaka, Zambia
• Moses Ssali has started an event planning company in Uganda
• Olivia Talemwa is a consultant for a Ugandan governmental agency
• Esau Tumwine is a librarian at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, where he graduated