Julie Schneiderman and Benjamin Sternthal came up with the idea for “Kulam” while celebrating Hanukkah in a small fishing village on the shores of Lake Malawi in December 2008. Kulam is a Hebrew word that means “everybody, every person, everyone”. Benjamin is a real estate developer who has spent more than a month each year over the past decade back-packing in the developing world. He was looking for a meaningful way to give back. Julie is a communications expert working for a global pharmaceutical company. She had previously been working in the area of HIV/AIDS putting projects together off the corner of her desk- from bringing Ethiopian and Israeli doctors to Canada to taking a team of Canadian surgeons to East Africa. In Malawi the couple decided that it was time to harness their energy, unite forces (literally- they even got married not too long after!), and formalize their international development efforts into one focused and sustainable initiative.

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• John Israel Galambos – McMillan Law Firm
• Solly Kaplinski – JDC
• Larry Markowitz – McMillan Law Firm
• Avrum Rosensweig – Ve’ahavta
• Arlene Sternthal

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• Ve’ahavta
• JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee)
• One World One Well

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What We Do

We strive to create meaningful and tangible positive change by focusing on education, health care and clean drinking water. We believe in developing and executing projects globally in a timely and efficient manner. We do this by working in partnership with experienced organizations who are established on the ground in developing countries. Together we work to understand the real needs of local communities in order to develop the right strategies to implement the right projects. We seek out unmet needs, review project plans or help to develop new ones. All while raising the necessary capital to take the plans into action. We then monitor the projects every step of the way until completion and after completion to ensure long term success and overall sustainability.

We are currently working on a number of sustainable development projects in Ethiopia and Rwanda. Click below to learn more.

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Brick Schools – Upgraded Educational Environment for Village Children

The number of schools in Ethiopia is seriously inadequate for its population: approximately 72% of school-age children have no access to formal education. The country’s huge population of 79 million is largely uneducated, resulting in a literacy rate of only 49% among the male population and, at best, a 34% rate among females.

New schools in rural Ethiopia will be equipped with running water, toilets and furnishings such as desks and chairs to help create a more effective educational environment. These buildings will house schools in villages without any pre-existing facilities, giving children who previously needed to walk long distances and through difficult terrain the opportunity to attend school locally. A typical school will serve approximately 100 students in grades 1-8 annually.

Solar Power Installations at Schools

The generation of electricity presents a serious problem in Ethiopia, especially in the rural regions – yet sun is plentiful. Lack of electricity prevents new and well-built buildings from being effectively used outside of daylight hours. It also inhibits access to new technologies and resources such as computers and the internet.

We are equipping schools in Gondar region with solar panels – a technological innovation found in very few places in rural Ethiopia. This will allow the buildings to be used for community activities and, above all, lead the way to installation of computers and other technologies in the schools.

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Critical Spinal and Heart Surgeries

Given the lack of a solid public health care system in Ethiopia, individuals struck with particular chronic health conditions face massive unmet personal needs for which they generally have no recourse.

For instance, many Ethiopians have spine disease as a result of idiopathic scoliosis and kyphosis, birth anomalies, and tuberculosis of the spine. Uncared for spine disease can be physically crippling and potentially life threatening. Others have various heart disorders and chronic conditions that are just as life threatening.

Complex and often very costly surgeries are being made available to Ethiopians with critical spinal and heart conditions thanks to the vision of Dr. Rick Hodes. Dr. Hodes regularly identifies patients requiring these surgeries and has developed a network of highly skilled surgeons and surgical centres in neighbouring and nearby countries where the costs are lower.  A typical surgical mission might involve more than 10 children, sent to Ghana or India for specialized care.

Importing Life-Saving Medications

Ethiopia has long lacked the appropriate chemotherapy regimen for treating Hodgkin’s disease—a treatable form of cancer. Medications are also needed for children returning from critical surgeries in Ghana or India to ensure their full and successful recovery. Children often die from treatable and curable diseases because they lack the appropriate medical treatments and care to restore their health.

Through Dr. Rick Hodes and his clinics in Ethiopia, appropriate treatments and care is provided to ailing children suffering from cancer and other serious illnesses, as well as to those recovering from vital surgeries. Additional resources will help ensure that much-needed medications reach patients and save lives.

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Digging Wells

Chronic drought problems in central Ethiopia have created a water crisis affecting 14 million people. Access to safe drinking (potable) water in Ethiopia continues to stand at critically low levels. Waterborne diseases such as cholera, yellow fever, hepatitis, diarrhea, and typhoid claim the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians each year.

In order to secure access to potable water in rural areas, we are proposing the digging of wells in rural villages and the distribution of siphon water filtration technology where wells are geologically inappropriate.

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