The Eric L. Brandenburg
Children's Fund
Eric L. Brandenburg
After our book Living on a Dollar a Day was released, we established this fund at the urging of one of our Board members. We discovered that some of the children we were encountering throughout our travels were living in such dire circumstances that absent our intervention, they would likely either live a life in extreme poverty or simply die. As to these children, this fund commits to an individualized plan of long-term support, and in doing so, pays for all their basic needs and education in order to ensure that they leave poverty and obtain a chance at a decent life. Currently, 15 children have been served by this program and all are living in India, Ghana, Uganda, or in the United States.
Meet The Children
Solomon, 2014
Solomon, 2019
Solomon
Upon the release of our book Living on a Dollar a Day, we were asked to return to Ghana to help the kids we photographed living on an e-waste dumpsite. One child we hoped to find was named Philimon, but he was nowhere to be found. Instead, we discovered a boy named Solomon who worked every day at the dumpsite in order to earn the money he needed for his education. Inspired by his love for learning, we got Solomon out and sent him to a boarding school where he could advance much further in life. As expected, he became an Honor student.
Solomon graduated from High School in 2023. Although he was a very good student, his Math grade from the Regional exam was not high enough for the school he wanted to attend, so he took the option of retesting and is now enrolled in Accra Technical University and is studying to be a mechanical engineer. He is doing well in classes and taking on internships during school breaks. He is expected to graduate in May 2028. Additionally, we have connected Solomon to a local young engineer to act as a Mentor and advise him with his education and hopefully beyond.
Fatima
At eight years old we found Fatima, with several other children, attempting to survive on the e-waste dumpsite in the city of Accra in Ghana, West Africa. We were there chronicling stories from around the world for our book Living on a Dollar a Day. The bucket that Fatima rests on her head was used to hold tiny bits of metal which she gathered off the ground to sell for pennies in order to simply get through another day. All the while, she was breathing in toxic smoke that would surely kill her if she was not removed from this environment. Thanks to support from our Children’s Fund, Fatima did well at school.
Fatima graduated from High School in 2023, and sat for the Regional exam which determines college admittance. Unfortunately, there were internal problems with the exam, so she had to retest. This delayed her education, but over the course of the delay, she decided to switch from a Nursing focus to Education. She has applied to three Teachers Colleges and while waiting for the admission decisions, she is working as an assistant teacher in her home village. She will start her college education in fall 2026.
Fatima, 2011
Fatima, 2019
Elvis, 2015
Elvis, 2019
Elvis
We found Elvis at the boarding school where we had placed the three young girls from the e-waste dump site. School administrators were excluding him from classes because his mother had fallen behind in paying his tuition. He was living in a dorm at the whim of other students who would bring him food as he hid from the administrators. We paid his tuition, located his mother, and have supported his education through high school.
After Elvis graduated High School in 2022, he had to leave Ghana and return to Nigeria where he is a citizen. He was living at home with his mother and sister and some Covid restrictions were still in place, but we learned he is actually a talented artist and is hoping to make art his career.
We thought the best way Elvis could develop his skills while also making contacts in the art world would be to try to enroll in an arts program in the US as he is largely self-taught. We figured out what Elvis needs to do to come to the US. We had him take computer classes and English classes to improve these skills. We researched US colleges that have programs in Studio Arts for international students. He applied and got into a State school in Southern California, but in the end the US State Dept. would not issue him a Visa to start school in Fall 2023. We tried again, but this time with schools in Canada where we hoped the Visa situation is friendlier. Unfortunately, the results were the same.
Ultimately, Elvis enrolled at the University of Lagos in Nigeria, where he is studying for a Bachelor’s degree in Fine and Applied Arts and also making inroads in the local artists community. He has been accepted to show his work in festivals and has gotten some media attention as an up and coming artist. He expects to graduate in May 2028, and hopes his art will eventually take him around the world.
Dennis, Rhoda, and Jennifer
Dennis, Rhoda, and Jennifer are the three children of Darry Kwame, who served as our local guide in Ghana since 2015 where he has helped us monitor and care for the four students we took from the e-waste dumpsite in Accra and the one student we found at the boarding school where we placed them. He was doing this for us while his own children needed help. Without Darry’s help on the ground, we could not have help all these children succeed.
In 2026, the ages and grades for Darry’s children are:
Dennis: Age 15, 9th Grade
Rhoda: Age 13, 6th Grade
Jennifer: Age 8, 3rd Grade
Darry’s kids attend Firm Academy which was the school where our students, Solomon, Fatima, Elvis, and Asana, attended and graduated. They are very good students, and TFI has been paying their education expenses as part of our compensation to Darry. We agreed to do so through Primary school, which is through Grade 9. Dennis will be the first to graduate from school this year. He is preparing for the Regional exam which will determine his acceptance to senior high school.
Dennis, Rhoda, and Jennifer, 2020
Dennis, Rhoda, and Jennifer, 2022
Zach and Tom, 2019
Zakaria
When TFI President Tom Nazario visited the Orthopedic Training Centre in Ghana, he discovered a boy named Zach who was born without the lower halves of his legs. The Mohan Fund is supporting Zach with his education and boarding at the Centre, as well as his medical care which includes upgrading his prostheses.
Zach is now a high school student at St. Peter’s Senior High School in Ghana. He is a dedicated student pursuing a science track with the hope of one day becoming a doctor. He is a very motivated young man with a very good sense of what he needs to do to eventually reach his goals in life. We hope to continue to help him in his journey.
Our Newest Children's Fund Student!
Yvonne
BACKGROUND: Yvonne was a child whose mother was raped and killed when she was only four days old. Her own life could have been cut short before it even started. However, a Pastor whose program with refugees we fund in Uganda and was working for the Ugandan government at the time, found her lying on the side of the road. She was brought to a wet-nurse who took care of her for three years. After 19 years of living at an orphanage in a refugee camp, we are now supporting her with her education.
Yvonne started nursing school in fall 2025 and expects to graduate as a medical assistant by December 2027. She now has a bright future ahead of her and a career in service to her community.
Yvonne, 2025
Celebrating Their Success
Thulasi and Diane, 2021
Thulasi
Thulasi Priya Ramesh is pictured here with Diane Brandenburg, the principal donor of our Children’s Fund and a supporter of the work of the Shanti Bhavan school in India. She is the first recipient of our Priyanka Singh Scholarship. (See the last entry on this page to learn about Priyanka.) Thulasi was born in Southern India to an impoverished family and began attending Shanti Bhavan at age four. Thulasi graduated from Shanti Bhavan with straight A’s and got accepted to the College of Idaho. Our Children’s Fund started supporting her education here in the United States in the spring of 2021. Thulasi stayed in Boise and got a marketing job after graduating in 2023. She worked for a number of years before receiving a Master’s degree in Business Analytics, and she now works at Onnit, a health, sports, and personal care company.
Kusuma
Kusuma Kumar is the second recipient of our Priyanka Singh Scholarship. Born in a small village in India, Kusuma attended the Shanti Bhavan school, which aims to help students leave the life they were born into and someday be able to help others escape from the extreme poverty. Kusuma enrolled at Middlebury College in Vermont in 2021, and the Children’s Fund began supporting her education there shortly after. Since graduating with a Bachelor’s degree, Kusuma has been working as a software engineer in San Francisco, California, at a company called Atlassian, which builds project management tools for software developers.
Kusuma, 2021
Asana, 2011
Asana, 2019
Asana
Asana was found living in squalor. Seen here to the left in the pink pants, she was wearing the only clothes she had and slept each night in a shack with a group of girls and young women so that together they might protect themselves. She was about ten years old at the time, and we could not leave her trapped in a life with no future.
Asana graduated High School in 2022, and her grades were not good enough for college. She wanted to re-test, and we said she could, but as a backup, she had to enroll in a vocational program of her choosing. She chose baking. She re-sat for the Regional exams in the Summer of 2023 but did not improve enough academically. However, she did well in the baking courses and enjoyed it.
We agreed to put her through a full baking program as her final education. This was the largest expense that year because it was essentially like a culinary college and every week she needed to buy baking supplies while food costs were rising. The program took about nine months, and she graduated with a vocational certificate. She did an apprenticeship at a hotel restaurant and can now work wherever she likes. Asana ultimately chose to move back to her home village and started her own baking business. She is taking care of herself and has a skill that will serve her for her entire life.
Ayesha
Ayesha is seen here lost in the garbage that at the time surrounded her life. She was the oldest of the girls we removed from this dumpsite in 2015. Twelve years old and quite depressed, she was struggling with the life the world had dealt her. In short, she had come to Accra from an impoverished village in northern Ghana with hopes of improving her life, but with no help from anyone, she was left without options other than a life of necessity. Today, thanks to the fund, Ayesha trained as a baker and can support herself and her family.
Ayesha was the oldest student and was too far behind her schooling for an academic education. She was also too young at the time for some vocational training, but she tried. Unfortunately, she ended up leaving school, but we persuaded her to take baking classes. She finished her courses, and decided to leave our program and went back to her northern village to live with her mother. Ayesha is now married, has two boys, and sells food and baked goods in the local market. In 2022, after a visit with her, TFI bought her a small stove and gave her funds to buy some initial cooking supplies so she could build her business. She is better than when we found her, for she now has a certificate from a baking school and has the skills and tools to make a living.
Ayesha, 2011
Ayesha, 2018
Karishma, 1999
Karishma, 2018
Karishma
Karishma was the first child we decided to help through this program. When we found her she was four years old and living with her family in a hole in the ground covered with a tarp on the side of a road in Northern India. Her mother had migrated from Nepal but could find only limited work as a road construction worker making about eighteen cents an hour. TFI helped get this family of five a home and put this child in private school. In 2018, she graduated from college and began teaching at a primary school near where she grew up. When the schools closed during the pandemic, she found new work with a marketing company and has been taking care of herself and her aging parents.
Sangeeta
Sangeeta was found in a beggar’s encampment in Northern India. At the age of two, she only weighed nine pounds. This was because her mother had decided to starve her for the purpose of using a starving child to gain more sympathy from passersby as she begged on the street. She used whatever money she could acquire to feed her other children. After we found Sangeeta, we saw to it that she received medical care and later placed her in a boarding school where she found sponsors and is now thriving. Because she did well in school, and with the help of her teachers, she has been able to bring all three of her siblings to attend school with her. Sangeeta’s life story became quite well-known after we highlighted how we came to know her in our book, Living on a Dollar a Day.
Sangeeta, 2010
Sangeeta 2014
Priyanka, 2018
Priyanka Singh
Gone But Not Forgotten
We knew Priyanka from age five until shortly after her 17th birthday when she was found dead in her home under very suspicious circumstances. In our minds, it is easy for us to piece together a collage of scenes of her as a barefoot child walking to school in her new uniform or playing behind her home among the wild pigs and the garbage they fed on, and as she grew, how her face would continue to light up when she talked about maybe someday coming to America. She was ambitious, often telling us how she wanted to grow up and to one day become an airline pilot. We would tell her that being a pilot is not an easy task and that she would have to work hard on her math and science skills and continue to practice her English. She would always say, “Yes, sir”. Sir was the first word she ever learned in English. Always smiling, always optimistic, and always happy although she had so little. She was a gift to all of us at our foundation, one that will never be forgotten. For one we knew for all too short a time, all of us at our foundation miss her dearly. To continue to honor her memory, TFI helped build the Priyanka Singh Girls Dorm in a school in Southern India that educates impoverished children and changes their futures.