Dear Friends,<\/p>\n
2009 has been a year to remember as Kulanu completed its sixteenth year of outreach to isolated and emerging Jewish communities around the world. It continues to be a joy for me to serve as President of Kulanu, working with you and \u201call of us.\u201d This year we continued to sustain long-time relationships and develop new ones. As I look back on 2009, here are some highlights of Kulanu\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
Overseas<\/p>\n
In Uganda:
\n\u00c2\u00b7 Kulanu continued to support the Abayudaya primary and high schools, which together educate 700 Jewish, Christian, and Muslim children, and their nutrition programs that feed hungry students.
\n\u00c2\u00b7 Kulanu volunteers initiated and supported a variety of projects in the Abayudaya community. Lorne Mallin, a Canadian journalist, spent six months living and teaching in the community. He helped with a grant application to the US Embassy that raised $10,000 for a chicken coop that will provide an important source of nutrition and income. Dr. Liz Feldman, a Family Practice Doctor from Chicago, and Hedy Cohen, an activist who makes yearly visits, worked on health education and public health programs including HIV screening and counseling, cervical cancer screening, and water purification. In addition, Dr. Feldman raised significant amounts of money for the Kavule Parents School For The Deaf. Yale University student Raffi Magarik taught for a month during the summer. David Wise expanded the math skills of the teachers at Hadassah Primary School and helped the students at Semei Kakungulu High School prepare for national exams.
\n\u00c2\u00b7 Kulanu helped the Mirembe Kawomera\/\u201dDelicious Peace\u201d interfaith, fair-trade coffee cooperative, created by master farmer JJ Keki and Kulanu Coordinator Laura Wetzler, win a $250,000 facilities and farmer development grant\/loan package from USAID. Thanks to our partners at Thanksgiving Coffee for their extraordinary support of this project.<\/p>\n
In Ethiopia:
\n\u00c2\u00b7 Dana Eitches spent a month in Kechene, visiting the Beit Avraham, a community of previously secret Jews. She contributed to our knowledge of the group by photographing their work.
\n\u00c2\u00b7 In January 2010, a group of Kulanu board members and friends will visit the Beit Avraham in the Kechene area to assess their needs and explore Kulanu\u2019s future relationship with them.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere:
\n\u00c2\u00b7 Rabbi Larry Goldstein, Kulanu\u2019s coordinator for Puerto Rico, teaches classes in Judaism to potential converts. He participated in the first Orthodox beit din in Puerto Rico in November. Rabbi Goldstein also works with three communities in El Salvador that want to convert.
\n\u00c2\u00b7 Board member Jacob Steinberg has been working with Jews in Suriname to support a new mikveh, and to bring more visitors, volunteers, and other resources to this community.
\n\u00c2\u00b7 Kulanu provided international publicity for the Fraternit\u00c3\u00a9 Jud\u00c3\u00a9o-Noire, an organization of Black French Jews, and introduced Kulanu\u2019s readers to this new group.<\/p>\n