Team Engeye Is Running in the San Francisco Marathon on August 3, 2008

June 26, 2008 - PRLog -- Team Engeye is running in the San Francisco Marathon on Sunday, August 3, 2008, to raise funds for the clinic in Uganda.  Members of the team will run through the hills of San Francisco, knowing that each step they take will literally bring them one step closer towards achieving their goal of improving health and alleviating unnecessary suffering for people who are not able to advocate for themselves.  Cause to Run (C2R), a fundraising program associated with the San Francisco Marathon, has selected 18 teams this year to raise funds for charitable causes, including Team Engeye.  The 2008 Annual San Francisco Marathon is scheduled for Sunday, August 3.  Participants who register for any of the five San Francisco Marathon events (full marathon, two half marathons, 5K or progressive marathon) can join a Cause to Run team and fundraise for that specific cause. In comparison to other programs available, there is no cost to participate, and no minimum fundraising requirements, making it easy for participants to raise money and encourage participation.  

Team Engeye is #918 and the team captain is Engeye board member, Anny Su.  Board member, Misty Richards, is also signed up for the full marathon.  Currently, Team Engeye has raised $1,530 of the $10,000 goal.  Participants so far include Precious Balin, Tamara Bean, Brian Dusza, Sammy Halo, Dawna Heising, Chelsea Heredia, Sunny Kim, Fernando Lemus, Mariatheresa Mortera, Shana Ramdarshan, Misty Richards, Marissa Richards, Kenji Sasaki and Anny Su.  To sign up for Team Engeye and the San Francisco Marathon or to contribute to the Engeye cause, please visit the Engeye website at:  www.engeye.org.

San Francisco is one of the premier running destinations in the world, and the San Francisco Marathon provides 26.2 miles of beautiful scenery.  The start line is located on the Embarcadero at Mission Street. Running just feet from the San Francisco Bay, participants can smell the salt water in Aquatic Park. Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, runners can look to the right and see the city's unforgettable skyline.  For the final stretch of the race, participants take the promenade behind AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, run under the Bay Bridge and head straight for the Cupid's Arrow where they will be greeted with the finish line. The Engeye Health Clinic was built in rural Uganda during the summer of 2006. Once only the dream of co-founders John Kalule and Stephanie Van Dyke, the clinic was finally brought to life after many years of planning. The entire clinic and two volunteer houses were constructed during the summer of 2006 at an estimated cost of $50,000.  An inheritance from her grandmother was Stephanie’s gift to the project and her parents helped supply the remainder needed. Stephanie met and befriended John Kalule, the primary Ugandan partner leading the project, while volunteering in Uganda in 2000. The word Engeye means "white monkey" in Luganda, an official language of the country, and is John’s family clan name. The official Mission Statement of the Engeye Health Clinic is:  “To improve living conditions and reduce unnecessary suffering in rural Africa through education and compassionate health care. Implicit to every project that we undertake is the understanding that it will ultimately be sustainable with little or no outside assistance, and that it will be accomplished free of the imposition of any foreign social, political, or spiritual values.”   Engeye, Inc. is a 501(c) (3) tax deductible, nonprofit organization.  

Team Engeye is constantly working to improve the quality of patient care by realizing the value of  educating all healthcare workers, improving the supply of appropriate medications and fine-tuning diagnostic capabilities to uncover the pathology of disease in patients.  Each of the three medical missions to the Engeye Health Clinic in Uganda has brought supplies which were left at the clinic to address education.  Whether it is books, flashcards, or lists of disease states accompanied by up-to-date treatment modalities, education is a priority.  Construction has begun on a medical laboratory to help clinic personnel more accurately assess and diagnose tuberculosis, HIV, malaria, STDs, etc. through the use of microscopy. Though the construction of the laboratory has been put on hold due to funding limitations, 65% of it has been built!   One of the goals of Team Engeye is to finish the remaining 35% through the generous support of the public, through grants that are currently being applied for and from participation in the San Francisco Marathon.

One Team Engeye member who will be participating in the marathon is Kenji Sasaki, a graduate student at Caltech who installed solar panels at the Engeye Clinic in Uganda during the November 2007 mission.  In 2007, with the support of many per-mile pledgers, Sasaki undertook an endurance run at Caltech to raise funds for Engeye. In the space of 24 hours, he circled the Caltech track 235 times for a total of 60.6 miles, raising $5000 for Engeye, his charitable organization of choice, despite straining a hamstring.  Says Sasaki, “I look forward to running with Team Engeye in the San Francisco Marathon because, while great things can be accomplished individually, it is the combined dedication of Engeye supporters that enables our charitable activities and embodies the motivation behind them.”

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The Engeye Health Clinic in Uganda was founded by Stephanie Van Dyke and John Kalule to help eradicate AIDS and malaria.