2 minute read
Global Friends and Unlikely Heroes
The most unlikely heroes can change the world. Catherine Mulvale met her first hero in Kampala, Uganda. He was a 12-year-old boy wearing a blue shirt, who bravely asked, “Will you save my life?” His question woke her from her privileged slumber and led her to establish the Global Friends Foundation.
Since 2006, the Canadian charity has grown from supporting 36 children to over 10,000 vulnerable youth. Run entirely by volunteers, Global Friends builds schools, offers scholarships, provides vocational training and supports community initiatives. Every initiative is designed with one goal in mind: self-sustainability.
In April of 2020, Michael Olomi, a Global Friends Ambassador and another of Catherine’s young heroes, was concerned that youth in Tanzania were at risk of contracting COVID-19. Feeling compelled to do something to protect them, he arranged for the donation of four sewing machines so he and his friends could make and donate masks. This was the start of Global Friends’ Stop the Spread program.
Michael’s team made 800 masks while other Global Friends heroes have now added over 14,000 masks to help battle the pandemic. Stop the Spread is so respected that it is now part of Uganda’s National Strategy to Protect Citizens against COVID-19.
Catherine says Global Friends begins and ends each day recognizing that we have the opportunity, ability and responsibility to create positive and lasting transformation. This is done through local and global heroes like Michael and the boy in the blue shirt, who have changed and enriched the world with their courage and compassion—forever.
You can be a Global Hero…and look great doing so!
Stop the Spread now offers beautiful and comfortable masks that feature Canadian First Nations art. Each $15 mask sale provides a royalty to the artist and funds the making and free distribution of 10 more masks in Africa. Using 100% of the proceeds from Canadian mask sales, Global Friends employs graduates of their vocational training programs in Africa to make the masks that are given away to vulnerable youth. The foundation hopes to fund 50,000 masks by the end of the year.
View and order your masks at CauseYouCare.myshopify.com
www.GlobalFriends.ca
