The proud grandmother of an African village Holmdel publicist's charity raises funds for children in Uganda BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer Sylvia Allen (center) poses with the children of Masaka, Uganda, during a recent trip. MATAWAN - They have names like Tendo Omega and Farid Sesimba. They live in squalor unmatched in the darkest places of the world. Some of them have been orphaned by the AIDS pandemic, and still others are tending to ill parents and supporting entire families at ages 11 or 12. Their lives are so foreign to even the poorest of Americans that the smallest of gifts could mean the difference between life and death. They stand to live short, brutal lives unseen by the wealthy of the world. But they do have one thing on their side, however - Sylvia Allen is their grandmother. Allen, the owner of Allen Consulting, a public relations firm, is the driving force behind Sylvia's Children, a charity with a mission of bringing food, clothing and education to the children of Masaka, Uganda. Sylvia's Children, along with Home Away From Home Academy, a local school, held a fundraiser and silent auction at the Buttonwood Manor in Matawan on Nov. 4. Colleagues and local celebrities came out to support Allen and the children she has promised to look after. In May of 2003, Allen, called "a marketing guru" by one colleague, traveled to Uganda with a group of ministers to help villages create partnerships for economic prosperity. While there, she encountered hundreds of children bound to abject poverty, living in an AIDS-ravaged country with no hope of fairing better than the generations that came before. After days of talking with children and adults, something unusual happened. While discussing American business practices with a local man, who was voraciously taking notes, the children of the village began to gather around her. "They want you to be their grandmother," Allen recalled her translator saying. She agreed and has devoted herself to that charge. "A grandmother in Africa is a very revered position," Allen said. Sylvia's Children and Home Away From Home have teamed up with the Mbrizi Advanced Day and Boarding School in Masaka, Uganda to help the 667 children in the school get a better education, better living conditions and most of all, a hope for prosperity in an otherwise bleak life. "For the cost of a Starbucks coffee each day, you can support two children," Allen said. "You can't stand there and see these people have nothing. You see children starving and I have to do something." In its first three years, Allen's charity has raised enough money to adopt 55 of these children at a cost of $360 per year, per student. That was and is not good enough for the grandmother of all grandmothers. Allen and Home Away From Home have worked tirelessly to raise money and awareness for these children. Sunday's fund-raiser included silent auction items and photo-strewn booths where people can choose to adopt a child in Uganda. Allen Consulting picks up the tab for all the administrative costs of the charity so that 100 percent of the money raised goes directly to the children. "There is no middle man," Carmine Visone, owner of Home Away From Home, said. "All the money goes directly to them. Every single dollar goes directly to the school." Tool companies such as Ryobi and Stanley donated items for the silent auction at the behest of Trading Spaces cast member and host of the radio show "The Money Pit," Leslie Segretti. "This is so nice," Segretti said. "What she does is so lovely, that she can help so many people so far away." Segretti was able to contact the companies and convince them to donate to the benefit event. She was also planning on auctioning herself off as a home design consultant for the highest bidder. Also on hand to provide entertainment were the Jersey Shore's quintessential cover band, the Nerds. They played for the crowd of 250 at the Buttonwood for free and lead singer/bass player Jim Garcia said it was something they had to do. Garcia said that as parents, all the members of the Nerds recognized that helping children was a worthy enterprise. "We have to be a part of this," Garcia said. "It's all good. That's the future." The road so far has been far from easy. Visone said that the first time they tried to send school supplies to Uganda nearly half of it never made it. He said that some of it was either stolen or used to pay high import tariffs. Despite the difficulties, Allen is resolute. She is planning a trip back to Uganda in June and has invited anyone who wants to join to come along. In the meantime she will continue to raise money and awareness of the children she has adopted in Uganda. "Every time I tell one person they tell more people, and you start a chain reaction," Allen said. At the fund-raiser, Allen presented an award to Colts Neck resident Irene Sessa for winning "Grandmother of the Year" honors. Other nominees included Kris Lim, of Holmdel, and Deborah Wechsler, of Matawan. The night following the event, Allen, always the optimist, had good reason to feel that way. The fund-raiser had accumulated $22,000 in just four hours. Visone said that they more or less hit their goal. "I'm so excited," Allen said. "I have enough money in the account to pay for 95 students."