Open Dreams Organization Inc

Aviva Lilia Bernardo Kullberg had a huge heart and loved everybody with her bright smile and radiant energy. Our precious Aviva passed away unexpectedly after severe heart complications. Though she had bouts of bradycardia (slow heart rate), doctors were puzzled and weren't able to figure out what afflicted her. Frustratingly piles of data and lots of tests couldn't reveal anything abnormal and we wish we could have answers.  We are absolutely devastated and crushed by her loss. Heartbroken doesn't even begin to describe the feeling - our world is shattered to pieces.

In Aviva's memory, we have established the Aviva Women in Science programs and Aviva Day to support families in the NICU in Cameroon and help further the advancement of science of heart disease and its causes for women studying in this field. We hope her legacy will live on through these women that are driving progress in science. This fund will be used to support scholarships for women to study medicine and science, launch community health programs to support pregnant women and their infants, further research in the maternal and child field, help families in the NICU over the holidays for Aviva Day, and support our staff and programs to make it all happen on the ground.

We started Open Dreams 10 years ago in December 2013 to help high achieving, low income students achieve their dreams. We are so excited to share that 10 years later, we have helped over 200+ scholars from Cameroon get full scholarships to leading universities and summer programs at top universities all over the world including Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Oxford, McGill, University of Edinburgh, Ashesi, University of Capetown, and more! Through our Aviva Women in Science Fund programs, we have also helped over 200+ pregnant women in the war-torn area of NW Cameroon gain access to antenatal care and ultra sounds and helped our first Aviva Scholar, Mbwame Niegem, finish her medical degree in neonatology. We are also thrilled to announce that we also just awarded three Art Scholarships to incredible artists from South Africa, Ghana, and Cameroon on behalf of the Liu Shiming Art Foundation!

We are so excited for the future and there is still so much work to be done, especially in Cameroon, where the Anglophone crisis continues with no end in sight and many of our Open Dreams scholars have had to flees their homes for safety. With your help, we hope to achieve many great things in the 10 years ahead including:

1) Secure safe and stable housing in Yaounde for 10+ internally displaced students (IDPs) from the Anglophone conflict with two apartment rentals for young men and women who have had to flee war-torn areas for safety.

2) Purchase an Open Dreams bus to safely transport scholars between our centers in Yaounde, Douala, Bamenda, and outposts in Bafoussam and Buea. This transport is especially important for SAT testing, college visits, and for supporting the safe travel of our internally displaced students.

3) Increase our Aviva Women in Science programming to include a grant for a new project on preventing and treating childhood epilepsy, offering two more medical scholarships, and awarding our first research grant to support maternal and child health.

4) Run three incredible 8-Week Summer Academies in Yaounde, Bamenda, and Douala with educational training, mentorship, design thinking bootcamps, and SAT/TOEFL prep for at least 100+ new Open Dreams Scholars.

5) Hire and train staff to run all of our incredible programming across Cameroon. For years we have relied on predominately volunteer work to make our programs a success. We hope to increase employment be offering an additional 3-5 full time, well paid locally positions within Open Dreams.

Want to join us in making a difference? Then please consider donating for our 10th Anniversary of Open Dreams and let's keep making dreams come true!!

Are you based in Cameroon and want to make donations directly via MTN and mobile money? Send donations to our Open Dreams Administrative Assistant in Yaounde - Mbaku Shansel Ticha at +237 6 70 34 93 69