Flower Mound graduates join together to help poverty-stricken region

from Star Community Newspapers

By Chris Roark, Staff Writer

A trip to South Africa for a school research project has turned into a mission for Jeff Lakusta.

The 2006 Flower Mound High School graduate had always heard about poverty in third world countries, he said, but didn’t feel the full impact until visiting the region last summer.

Lakusta, now a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame, traveled with the International Scholar Laureate Program Delegation on Medicine to the township of Soweto to conduct research on HIV/AIDS for an undergraduate study.

While there, they saw up close the conditions they had previously only seen on television.

Now, Lakusta plans to travel there a few more times, and he wants to bring some relief with him.

Lakusta has founded the Eyes on Africa Foundation, a non-profit organization designed to help underprivileged in South Africa. The foundation is composed of 25 members, and 15 of them are from Flower Mound, including Lakusta’s father, Mike.

Eyes on Africa members are spread throughout the country at various colleges, and each of them spend their time promoting the efforts on their respective campuses.

“Growing up in Flower Mound, I was always in this safe little bubble,” said Claire Boutwell, the foundation’s vice president and also a 2006 Flower Mound graduate. “But I’ve always wanted to travel and have had an interest in helping other people. So when Jeff approached me with this idea, I fell over because I was so excited about this.”

So far, 25 campuses have representatives involved in the organization, mostly from the United States. The effort has stretched into Canada as well, with Annie Unger serving as head of campus coordination while she attends the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.

The foundation’s initial target will be the Othandweni Children’s Home, which the group visited during their stay. But Lakusta said he hopes to expand the effort to others in the country.

The first step, he said, is awareness.

“I saw first-hand in the community how bad it is,” Lakusta said. “I wanted to help the Othandweni orphanage, because that’s the least funded orphanage out there. When I came back home, I didn’t want to just fall back into the swing of things.”

Othandweni houses 90 children, including 30 infants. And those are the fortunate children.

“There are so many orphans there, and the orphanages couldn’t let all of them in,” said Thomas Egbert, a 2006 Flower Mound graduate who is serving as the program’s chief financial officer. “The teenagers are having to take care of their siblings. That’s unbelievable. That was probably the most shocking thing Jeff told me.”

Lakusta’s travel group began helping while in Soweto, providing appliances such as washers and dryers, as well as school supplies and clothes. Lakusta said one of the foundation’s biggest goals is to raise enough money to improve Othandweni’s productivity.

“We don’t want to just give them money,” Lakusta said. “We want to buy them things so that we’ll make sure they get what they need.”

But then, there are the estimated thousands of children who haven’t made it to the orphanage yet.

“I saw 15-year-old kids who were having to take care of younger children,” Lakusta said. “That’s something that a 15-year-old shouldn’t have to do. I keep telling people that I can’t believe that my eyes have been closed to this.”

Lakusta saw plenty of other things that opened his eyes, too. The poor living conditions stretched out beyond the children in South Africa. Lakusta said there were instances when four families were living in two-bedroom apartments, who he considered lucky.

“Even the lucky ones are in a horrible position,” he said.

Others have to cram into a tent, sometimes four people at a time.

The group also saw the rampant problem of HIV/AIDS. According to the South African Medical Research Council, AIDS was accountable for 380,000 of the region’s deaths in 2005.

While the foundation can’t cure the disease, it aims to provide hope. In addition to helping Othandweni, Eyes on Africa also looks to send groups to the region three weeks at a time this summer to build homes for families. Lakusta said the houses would cost about $8,000 apiece. He said the foundation’s goal is to raise $1,000 from each campus, which would be enough to build three houses.

“Building houses for infected people will help eliminate the stigma that comes with having the disease,” Lakusta said. “And, it will give them hope and motivation to seek treatment.”

Lakusta wants Eyes on Africa can make that difference. The group has already made efforts in contacting national media outlets and even celebrities in hopes of them promoting the foundation. Members have sent high-profile figures packages that contain a letter stating the foundation’s mission, an Eyes on Africa T-shirt and a disposable camera for them to take a picture of themselves wearing the shirt before returning it.

For information on Eyes on Africa, go to www.eyesonafricafoundation.org or contact Lakusta at jlakusta@eyesonafricafoundation.org