Dear Friends of the SCF,

As we mark the second half 2025, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude for your continued support of the Sandy Christman Foundation. It has been a remarkable six months—filled with challenges, powerful memories, and meaningful progress.

Jennifer Cohen and I were in Tanzania on February 1,2025 when all financial funding was suddenly cut for PEPFAR and USAID. Within just two days of our arrival in Mwanza, the local USAID office—active in the region for years—was abruptly shut down by a stop-work order from Washington, D.C. By the second day, the USAID signage was removed, their website taken down, and no further information was available—except what little we could gather from the news.

I don’t need to explain to you the importance of PEPFAR, which is credited with saving more than 20 million lives globally since 2003. It has also been critical to the volunteer medical work I did at Biharamulo Hospital in the past.

While we were at Biharamulo Hospital in February, it became ground zero for a Marburg Virus outbreak. The local and national response to limit the spread of this deadly hemorrhagic fever was only possible because of the training and infrastructure funded by PEPFAR over the last 22 years. Fortunately, the outbreak was limited to 10 cases—all fatal (100% mortality)—before it was contained.

The next deadly viral outbreak may not be so limited. PEPFAR and USAID are now officially terminated, and the WHO is underfunded. You can read the full story about the Marburg outbreak in Biharamulo. Google:  Biharamulo marburg virus

Over the next month, we traveled throughout rural western Tanzania, visiting small clinics that often serve as the only source of medical care for miles. Our mission this year was focused: to identify one or two rural clinics that would benefit most from the installation of solar-powered electricity.

These rural clinics are the backbone of primary and public healthcare in Tanzania. Typically staffed by nurses and clinical officers—rarely with MDs—they provide essential services: perinatal care, childbirth, vaccinations, and treatment for malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV. Most are accessible only by foot or bicycle on unpaved trails. They have no paved roads, no parking lots, and no reliable power.

Primary care in the Kagera Region is a slower, low-tech system—but with enormous potential. Providing 24/7 lighting and solar electricity would be transformational. It would:

• Enable remote connections with hospitals and medical databases
• Improve communication and emergency response
• Support nighttime deliveries and procedures now done by flashlight
• Make portable diagnostics like ultrasound possible
• Allow real-time image analysis by radiologists anywhere in the world

That is the kind of technology we can provide through our solar projects.

This year, we have selected Buhororo Clinic as our first rural facility to receive solar power. Located about 25 miles from the Rwanda and Burundi borders, it is a two-hour walk from the nearest full-service hospital in Ngara. Construction of the solar array and battery system is planned to begin in mid-July. We hope to follow up with a second installation at Lourdes Dispensary this fall.

Looking ahead, we remain firmly committed to our mission:

To bring solar-powered, sustainable electricity to resource challenged hospitals and clinics in western Tanzania.

We believe no one should have to practice medicine in the dark.

We know that building electrical infrastructure is one of the most effective ways to bring 21st-century medicine and improved healthcare outcomes to sub-Saharan Africa.

Our mission is now more urgent than ever as U.S. financial support for global health has expired.

Thank you for walking this journey with us—and for making our work possible. We plan to hold a fundraiser later this year, but your support is always needed and deeply appreciated.

With gratitude,
Larry