2019 Annual Report for Humanist Global Charity / Brighter Brains Institute

Brighter Brains Institute’s 6th year (2019) was successful in numerous ways. Our main achievement is BBI’s emergence as the pioneering “on-the-ground” humanist organization in the SubSahara. Constant emails from Africans praise us for this reality.

• We’re the only nonprofit delivering aid in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to humanist groups suffering from Ebola and civil war. We support an orphan center there, and we’re setting up a clinic/drug store.

• We’ve led the way in Islamic northern Nigeria, providing critical thinking classes in sharia zones, delivering aid to refugees from Boko Haram, helping ex-Muslims with sustainability and education funding, and we established the nation’s first-ever humanist sanctuary - KaZoHa Safe House - in the capital of Abuja. (Atheist Alliance International will join us in this venture).

• In Kenya, we followed in the footsteps of Center for Inquiry in our funding of the Humanist Orphan Centre, and our funding equals or surpasses CFI’s.

• Uganda’s humanists receive help from multiple groups including Humanists Canada, Atheists Alliance International, and Uganda Humanist Schools Trust (UK), but, unlike the other npos, BBI is involved in not one or two projects; instead, we help dozens, perhaps hundreds, of students, schools, businesspeople and women’s collectives.

In 2019 Brighter Brains Institute: 

• raised $101,000 our second-highest total ever; 

• expanded into new nations, notably DR Congo, Sri Lanka, and Turkey; 

• established KaZoHa Sanctuary for ex-Muslim humanists in Abuja, Nigeria; 

• expanded our Humanist Entrepreneur and Humanist Scholar assistance programs; 

• constructed Brighter Brains Humanist Secondary School in Kanungu, Uganda;

• expanded our orphan assistance in Kenya from 22 to 30 children 

• established a new BBI Orphan Centre in DR Congo, helping 72 orphans

SUSTAINABILITY: In 2019 BBI provided fifty-eight $300 humanist entrepreneur grants to recipients in Uganda, Nigeria, DR Congo, Kenya, Turkey and Sri Lanka. Many of the grants were to women’s collectives, like the Joy Women Group and African Women Dignity Foundation in Uganda, and Thaliha Women Initiative in DR Congo. We also provided larger amounts for Kenyan projects: a popsicle machine ($2,000), a Sisal Factory ($1,760), and a Corn-Grinder ($940). Additionally, we launched tree-planting projects in Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria; this project employed orphans, and it’ll provide them with food and revenue when the trees mature in two years. A partial list of our Humanist Entrepreneur grant recipients includes Women Initiative Network, Pearl Vocational Training College, Nyakiyumbu Womens Group, Buhanga Thuligahuma Womens Collective, African Ark Development Foundation, Viirika Humanists, Kabuhole Womens Group, Freethinkers Humanist Association, Basima Women Group, and a Humanist Café in Nigeria. 

EDUCATION: BBI provided full scholarships to two humanist college students at Mbarara University of Science & Technology; five partial scholarships to humanist students at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda; 18 partial scholarships to humanist college students in Nigeria; 7 partial scholarships to humanist college students in DR Congo; 11 partial scholarships to humanist vocational students in Uganda, and two full scholarships to two secondary students in Buhanga, Uganda. Additionally, we provided funds to support Maseno University Freethinkers Club in Kenya; and Pearl Vocational Training College in Uganda. We maintained our position as a conduit for funding (over $21,000) to Kasese Humanist Schools in Uganda, and we completed our participation in the construction of Brighter Brains Humanist Secondary School in Kanungu, Uganda. 

HUMANIST ACTIVISM: BBI supports members of HAN (Humanists of Nigeria), HALEA-UGANDA (Humanist Association for Leadership, Equity, and Accountability), and DEHASSO (Democratique Republique de Congo Humanist Association) via scholarships and entrepreneur grants. We also support college clubs at Makarere University (Uganda) and Maseno University (Kenya). Our establisement of “KaZoHa” Ex-Muslim Humanist Sanctuary in Abuja, Nigeria, provides a meeting place and library for Nigerian humanists. In Morocco, we support the atheist/feminist/LGBT actisim of BBI Board member Ibtissame Lachgar.