If you can’t go to Africa, it will come to you.
A fundraiser called African Safari is being held at the Grateful Fed on Bernard Avenue on Saturday to raise money for children living in Wakiso, Uganda.
The event is organized by Emily Pletsch from Kelowna, who volunteered in the International Volunteer Head Quarters (IVHQ) program in 2012 and lived in Wakiso for three months
She lived in a boarding school with 200 children called the Wakiso Children’s School of Hope.
Pletsch’s job consisted of taking care of the children’s daily needs, taking them to hospital, testing children for malaria, helping with homework and organizing leisure activities.
The fundraiser on Saturday, which starts at 6 p.m., includes a percussion, jazz and drum show, as well as a make-up opportunity for everyone to “become a safari animal,” said Pletsch.
The $ 30 ticket bought at the box office also includes a full main course.
Pletsch is returning to Uganda in November and the money raised on Saturday will be used to support some of the children’s basic needs.
Pletsch remembers her last visit there.
“During my second week we had a major malaria outbreak and about 20 children got malaria,” she said. “Other common illnesses were typhoid and parasites.
“Of the three months I’ve lived out there, I spend one month of my trip sleeping with sick children in various clinics and hospitals.”
