On the one year anniversary of the tragedy that took Wesley Cowan from his family, WSC founders Reed Cowan & Gregory Abplanalp traveled with THE WESLEY SMILES COALITION to Kenya's Masaii & Kipsigee people to open and dedicate two schools and vast community infrastructure in the name of Wesley Cowan.

April 2006 was about loss. April 2007 was about gain in Africa's Enelerai and Motoni communities. Hundreds of community members gathered to sing, dance & celebrate the opening of these community strongholds in the name of the little boy from Salt Lake City.

Donors great and small made this happen in Wesley's name. From the help of dear and anonymous friends, to fundraisers at Utah's Jewish Community Center, to saturday yard-sale funds, to a grass-roots "PENNIES FOR PENCILS" campaign in Roosevelt, Utah...our goals were accomplished and our dreams were realized for the people of Africa. A thousand African children go to school every day where Wesley's facilities are located. By some estimates, in these villiages, one in seven children is infected with AIDS or suffer from other life-threatening health issues. The children and the families in these villiages know education is literally their way out. And we gave it to them and will continue to do so.

At the opening of the Enelerai road WESLEY COWAN school, WSC FOUNDERS, Reed Cowan & Gregory Abplanalp pledged the first WESLEY COWAN SCHOLARSHIP. This scholarship will pick the top-producing student from these schools and send that child to boarding school in preparation for a college education. One child at a time, THE WESLEY SMILES COALITION will LIFT AFRICA along with our partners and friends at FREE THE CHILDREN.

1. FTC founder Craig Kielberger on THE WESLEY SMILES COALTION web link is:
http://www.metowe.org/blog/?p=40

2. DESERET NEWS COVERAGE OF THE WESLEY SMILES COALTITION MISSION TO AFRICA web link is:
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660213865,00.html