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A Sabbatical For Ellen

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 18:40:27 GMT

This time has come for me to take a leave of absence for several months from Women's Giving Tree. I moved to Washington, DC at the end of December and am fully caught up in getting settled in a new apartment, working at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and launching my new book.

The book is JOURNEYING: Reflections of a Woman Traveler and covers many of my travels for the last two decades and contains lots of information on NGOs serving women and children. You can obtain the book at www.authorhouse.com ($11.55) or www.amazon.com ($17.65).

I will be back with new NGOS for Women's Giving Tree this summer or fall. Untill then, have a fulfilling 2011.

Best, Ellen Boneparth

What do YOU think???

Fri, 21 May 2010 15:23:16 GMT

We will be adding an open blog during the coming month where you can set up an account and post about your own favorite NGOs. We hope this will bring small NGOs a higher profile and new opportunities via the World Wide Web. Please add your comments and let us know what you think of this idea.

AHope Fights Aids

Wed, 05 May 2010 09:11:09 GMT

AHOPE for Children, featured on our site for February 2010, is working to raise awareness for World AIDS Orphans Day. They have launched their Text2Give campaign to raise funds for Ethiopian AIDS orphans.

The Text2Give campaign culminates on World AIDS Orphans Day, May 7. Donors just need to text "AHOPE" to "85944", and respond with "Yes", to donate $10. We would be very grateful if you could help us spread the word by sharing this campaign with your friends.

Thank you for any help you can give!

A Visit To Aarti

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:36:11 GMT

Some months back Ellen introduced me via email to Sandhya, saying that as we were in the same corner of the world (India) we should meet. Actually, we both live in the south of India in Andhra Pradesh state. Sandhya lives an eight-hour train ride south of Hyderabad (my home) and one day came to see her daughter and other family members. She invited me to join them for lunch. I did and learned about the Vijay Foundation Trust (VFT), and particularly Aarti Home. I was amazed at her organization and what she had achieved. I resolved to visit her but it took me much too much time to actually do it.

I set out from Jubilee Hills, Hydrabad on Friday, March 26, boarding a train at 5:35 p.m. in an AC 2nd class chair car. Twelve hours later the conductor tapped me to say we’d arrived. Sandhya’s driver met me and took me home to rest. After a delicious meal of dhosas (thin pancakes) Sandhya drove me to Aarti Home in time to see the children streaming out of the school next door. In an interval before lunch they peppered me with questions. Ranging in age from 4-18, the children had different levels of English—some surprisingly good. I sang songs to them and they sang even more back to me. They’d enjoyed a number of English speaking volunteers who has taught them “Hokey Pokey”, “Row Row, Row Your Boat”, and many more.

When it was time for lunch each child took a metal plate and sat on the floor to wait. It seemed like an awful long time but eventually each went up to be served huge portions of an enriched rice mixture and some vegetables. No one touched the food until everyone was served. They sang a simple Hindu grace and used their fingers to eat. Everyone cleaned his or her plate. I’d inspected the kitchen earlier and it was orderly and clean. The food was simple but nutritious.

Everyone took a nap after lunch—or at least pretended to-- lying down on the floor alongside the others. We used the time to go up to the second floor to see the tailoring and sewing workshops. A tailoring professor taught women on new sewing machines. I also saw some of the handiwork and crafts the women made and were selling in bulk to various outlets. The VFT conducts a number of training programs for destitute women.

I spent a very enjoyable time talking to the volunteers from the U.S., Australia and elsewhere. Two were on a gap year and had spent two weeks teaching hygiene to all the children. All were very loving to the children—love that was obviously reciprocated. They knew the children’s names, treasured the pictures they’d drawn for them. The volunteers played a vital role at Aarti to include encouraging the children to use English.

That evening before the sun went down and I had to get my train at 10:00 p.m., Sandhya and her husband drove me out to the land they had purchased to build a new home for Aarti. It is quite far from the center of town but in an area where buildings are coming up. The area is rolling hills and scrub and as the sun’s rays hit the valleys and hills it cast a pinkish glow on everything. The area was still and quiet and I could imagine the new complex. Sandhya’s daughter is an architect and she is designing the buildings.

I departed reluctantly from Kadapa. I loved the children and I could see so much could be done to help each one grow intellectually and emotionally. Aarti Home deserves our support and I saw how donations—of whatever amount—helped provide food, clothes and supplies for the children.

~ Juliet Wurr, Public Affairs Officer, U.S Consulate General, Hyderabad, India

WINGS Visits Santa Rosa!

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:32:12 GMT

We are so fortunate that the Director of WINGS in Guatemala, Janeen Simon, will be visiting California.

We will hold a meeting with her in Santa Rosa on Sunday, April 25, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. to hear about the work of WINGS, Guatemala's fantastic NGO providing reproductive services across the country.

Janeen is a terrific speaker. If you wish to attend the meeting and would like directions, please email us.

Hope to see you on the 25th!

So Many NGOs to Choose From!

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:33:17 GMT

We have featured six NGOs so far and are just about to announce our second NGO in Guatemala! We’d like to know which NGO made the biggest impression on you and why.

The winning NGO will get a contribution from Women’s Giving Tree!

Here’s our list – just fill in the comment form below and tell us which NGO impressed you the most!

For January:

Empowering Women of Nepal
Mayan Families of Guatemala

For February:

Aarti in India
AHope for Children in Ethiopia

For March:

Recyclarte in Costa Rica
Eye of the Child in Malawi

For April:

WINGS in Guatemala

Please vote and help the NGO of your choice!

Warmly, Ellen

Protect This Woman!

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:56:33 GMT

Sara Spaulding-Phillips (aka Sarita, the artist) one of our Women's Giving Tree board members, says, "spending time in Mexico and Guatemala inspires me to paint icons on "lovingly-used" jeans jackets, friend's give me.

"These paintings are of the "Madonna de Guadelupe" asking to PROTECT THIS WOMAN. They have been so popular in my hometown, I am offerring two for sale on Women's Giving Tree's Giving Blog. They sell for $135.00, including postage. The jackets are size small (10-12) and size 12. They are both washable.

"To purchase a jacket, select an NGO from those featured on Women's Giving Tree, then send your check and postal mail address to me: Sara Spaulding-Phillips 818 Cherry Street, Santa Rosa, California, 95404.

"I will send you the jacket, and your donation will be made. And thank you so much in advance. Your gift will be enjoyed by many."

Art Heaven's Challenge

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:42:57 GMT

Art Heaven just donated money to Mayan Families, a Women's Giving Tree featured NGO, after a raffle of two paintings at our current Art Show. Carole Watanabe, the founder of Art Heaven in Sebastopol, California and Sandra Rubin painted collaboratatively under the name of ALMA as we often do, to create art for worthy organizations.

We chose Mayan Families because of our deep connections to Guatemala and Panajachel. Carole had gone to that region when she was 19 to learn to weave with the Mayan weavers and one of our members, Judy Tilt, had family holdings in that area and sponsored a child for many years through Mayan Families. I had attended a wonderful workshop in San Marcos, with Ellen Boneparth, several years before and made nice contacts there. One of our Art Heaven friends, Salli Razberry lives there now.

That gave us an idea. Instead of just donating money we decided to sponsor a young girl, Natalia Belinda, for her schooling; uniforms, school supplies and tuition. (If there is any money in poor Mayan families, the boys are schooled, not the girls.) Now we have contributed to Natalia's future and we feel a deeper connection to Guatemala and Mayan Families.

As Art Heaven, and Alma, in the future we will continue to paint and donate and challenge others to do something through the groups featured on Women's Giving Tree. What can you do you help women and children on the global front?

Buy a Jacket, Help an NGO

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:12:44 GMT

Sara Spaulding Phillips, one of Art Heaven's painters, has occasionally turned her brush to jean jackets as a way of making our apparel glow.

Her paintings are of the Mexico goddess Guadelupe and bear beautiful messages such as "Protect this Woman."

I proudly wear one of Sara's jackets and everyone compliments me.

Sending A Mayan Girl To School

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:54:23 GMT

Art Heaven in Sebastopol, California is a studio created by artist Carole Watanabe and artist friends as a way to bring light to the world after 9/11.

The Art Heaven studio hosts 10 women who are committed to working together and supporting each other as they show their work collectively and individually.

They decided to contribute to Women's Giving Tree by auctioning off one of their paintings and using the funds to provide for schooling fees for a young Guatemalan girl. She is part of the NGO Mayan Families, one of our featured NGOs for January 2010.

A Family of Clinics in Rural Nepal

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 18:46:46 GMT

When I traveled to Nepal in October, 2009, I met with a number of impressive NGOS (some already described in Women’s Giving Tree) and my best experience was with a grass roots organization, a women’s health clinic, located in the foothills 2-3 hours outside Kathmandu. The clinic is one of four village clinics established by World Neighbors, an American NGO, but are now independent nonprofit community clinics. Friends of Nepal Pariwar Foundation (pariwar means family) provides partial support for salaries of nurse-midwives; other expenses are covered by small fees for services and margin on medicines sold. The clinics work on very little money and serve a very wide area.

We drove down a steep mountainside to a hamlet surrounded by rich green rice paddies. The clinic served even more distant villages by providing basic gynecological and obstetric services to women who often walked a day to the clinic to receive care. I met a woman, toothless when she smiled, who was being treated for uterine prolapse, a common problem resulting from either early childbirth or lack of rest after delivery. She was incredibly grateful to be given a vaginal ring, which cost little and made such a big difference!

The clinics do about two-thirds general care and one third women’s and maternal care. Two thirds of the clients are female from all ages. In the last year close to two thousand women were provided family planning services with 81 percent using Depo-Provera, a contraceptive injection given every 3 months, often at “depo camps” stations set up along the road. Family planning users increased by percent in one year. The clinics performed 259 clinic deliveries, a 28 percent increase from the previous year and included prenatal checkups. As Tom Arens, President of the Foundation, observed, “It’s common for a woman to arrive in the middle of the night for delivery, carried from a remote village in a basket or a chair usually used for a bride being carried to her wedding.” Tom takes travelers to Nepal on visits to the clinics – it’s an amazing experience

The four clinics manage on their own small earnings and a grant under $15,000 a year. I know that my small annual contribution goes a long way. Won’t you join me in helping the rural women of Nepal? For more information or to make a contribution, email tarens@sonic.net

WONETHA

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 13:25:09 GMT

Sex work is a way that many African women manage to survive and support their families. It is not a chosen, but necessary, occupation. Sex workers are particularly vulnerable, subject to abuse by law enforcement and the general public. Sex workers are also discriminated against by the health system which often denies access for HIV/AIDS victims to antiretroviral drugs. One sex worker commented: "I vowed never to go back to a health facility when a nurse told me that the facility was constrained by a lack of drugs and priority was given to those who needed them badly. She said givnig them to a sex worker who was a vector of HIV and STIs would be like washing a cloth spotless white and spreading it on filthy ground to dry."

Likewise, sex worker initiatives geared toward advancing their health and socioeconomic wellbeing are often furstrated by state agents. One government minister ordered hotel management to evict participants of a sex workers' training, saying that if the training continued the hotel would be held as an accomplice to the promotion of prostitution, a criminal act in Uganda.

Finally, sex workers are subject to sexual violence since the public believes sex workers cannot be raped since sex work is a criminal offence.

A Ugandan civil society organization, Women's Organization Network for Human Rights Advocacy (WONETHA), was esablished in 2008 to improve the health, social and economic standards of adult sex workers. The organization has close to 400 members in 13 communities around Uganda.

What does WONETHA seek to do? First, it has an Outreach and Support Programme that does education on human rights and sexual reproductive help, condom distribution, counseling and referral. In its Advocacy and Networking Programme, WONETHA's activities include a media campaign, training of police, litigation and policy advocacy. Finally, the Leadership and Capacity Programme engages in training of peer educators, training in social justice, human rights and feminism, recordkeeping on sex work, and documentation of health violations.

WONETHA's most all-encompassing goal is decriminalization of adult sex work in Uganda. No other African country has decriminalized sex work. While Uganda has made great strides in confronting the HIV/AIDS problem, it continues to stigmatize sex workers and creates fear for workers to come out of the closet. As a result, rates of HIV infections among sex workers is almost twice as high at 47 percent as in the general population.

WONETHA is to be recognized for its work on one of the most hidden and discriminatory fields for women. In the African context: Women don't choose to be sex workers -- they are forced by poverty to obtain income for their families. They deserve to be rescued and rehabilitated. For more information, please see the WONETHA blog.

One by One

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 10:45:24 GMT

This holiday season, how about making a gift that will give a woman her life back?

Many of you know about obstetric fistula, an injury resulting from childbearing that leaves affected women with chronic incontinence and usually abandonment by their families and communities. Fistula mostly affects women who have children too early or who have no medical care for delivery. It can be treated with surgery, costing only $420! It can also be prevented with education and outreach to women in remote areas of Africa and Asia.

One By One is a nonprofit based in Seattle that is committed to ending obstetric fistula through treatment and prevention programs. Over the last five years, more than 200 Giving Circles, which educate about fistula and fundraise for One By One, have formed in the US and internationally. If 10 women in a Giving Circle each give $40, the funds collected will enable a struggling, woman in need to receive healing surgery and return to her village as a contributing member of society. One By One also supports important prevention programs that aim to save women from suffering from fistula. See them featured on One By One’s visual annual report at their website. One By One works on treatment and prevention in Tanzania, Ethiopia and Niger and will soon add Kenya to its list of countries.

One By One was founded by its current director, Heidi Breeze-Harris, along with Katya Matanovic, now on the Board of Directors. In 2003, Heidi, home and feeling ill from her pregnancy, saw or heard three different media programs about fistula in one week. She had never before heard of the injury and was determined to do something about it. Her original all-volunteer program became a nonprofit six year ago and last year took in revenues of $540,000, including gifts from hundreds of annual donors and several corporations.

One By One’s partnerships in each country help provide many services: treatment for fistula victims, prevention programs, and medical research on ways to identify at-risk women earlier in pregnancy. One of the unique qualities of One By One is its attention to prevention – teaching women likely to have fistula about their conditions and emergency transportation for delivery, and training village midwives.

A fine way to find out more about One By One is to read the blog on the organization’s Web site and watch videos on their YouTube Channel. Best of all, join One By One by starting a giving circle among your friends. A small contribution this holiday season can change a woman’s life forever. Please visit One By One today.

P.S. Thanks to my cousin, Maggie Bangser, who is an advisor to One By One, in Tanzania, who first taught me about fistula many years ago and has done extraordinary work through Women’s Dignity Project, a program she initiated.

Sabore

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 13:08:59 GMT

In the last year, Women’s Giving Tree has featured NGOs across the world that aid women and children. This is the first time we highlight an NGO led by a man, Sabore Oyie, an extraordinary and articulate Masai community leader, who has initiated a project to build wells for the 9000 residents in the Ewaso Nyiro region, 2 and ½ hours southwest of Nairobi, Kenya.

Without wells, the women and girls must walk 6-8 kilometers one way to collect water from the river. The trip to the river can be dangerous, subject to attacks by wild animals. And if girls spend so much time on water collection, they cannot attend school.

The women and girls of the area carry water in 5-liter plastic gas cans that are strapped by a leather band to the head and hoisted onto their backs or they balance the cans in baskets on their heads. The water is used for drinking, bathing, washing clothes and consumption by domestic animals. The river water is often contaminated – only wells can provide fresh water.

Sabore is the rare Masai man who seeks to liberate women from traditional drudgery and cultural oppression. Not only is his work aimed at helping women and girls but he chooses to remain unmarried in order to counter early marriage and female circumcision. See a video of Sabore at Vimeo.

Fundraising for the wells has been led by Therese Hjelm-Baer, retired from the financial industry and living in Aptos, California, who has visited Kenya several times. Therese has assisted Sabore on his trips to California by arranging talks for him at schools, promoting events through Dining for Women, and selling Masai bead work to help widowed artisans earn money to acquire their own land.

Already a visionary, Sabore participated in Global Leaders for Justice in 2010 at Santa Clara University, a program linked to Global Women Leaders Network. As a result of the Santa Clara program, Sabore’s aspirations have risen from 2 wells to 400 wells. He hopes small profits from his project can be directed to girls to pay for their school tuition and uniforms.

Wells are expensive at $25,000 each. US efforts have so far raised enough money for only half of one well. Please contribute this holiday season by making the best possible gift to the Masai people. You can contribute directly at www.blueplanetnetwork.org/sabore.

Sun, Sea and Refugees

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 23:38:54 GMT

One source of assistance for refugees in Athens is the Refugee Programme of Caritas, the philanthropic service of the Catholic Church. My friend, Begonia Kalliga, Secretary of the five-member, volunteer Managing Committee, gave me an overview of its work. This includes: serving annually almost 45,000 hot lunches in the Soup Kitchen; providing 600 packages of food and almost 300 packages of clothes and bed linens to families; offering language lessons in Greek and English. The Refugee Programme also offers social services through its staff social worker and volunteer doctors and lawyers -- health education for mothers, vaccinations for children, and counseling for over 2000 adults.

The varying appearances of Athens' refugees and illegal migrants made me wonder where these street people came from. I learned that families helped by the Refugee Programme were mostly from Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, while individual young men came from those same countries and also Iran, Palestine, and countries in North and West Africa. Migrants often arrive on the shores of Greek islands on inflatable boats, having paid huge amounts of money (3000 - 5000 Euros) for passage from Turkey, and having no idea where they've landed or how to move on.

On the day I visited the Refugee Programme, the lunch crowd was quiet, polite, friendly, and clearly intent on consuming a large hot meal. The Refugee Programme operates through the work of volunteer managers, 70 volunteer workers per week, and a paid staff of five. Funding comes from the small Catholic community in Athens and the private sector. While the Programme once had some state support, government help was discontinued three years ago as a result of Greece's economic crisis.

This snapshot of the refugee problem in Athens reveals an attempt by good people to deal with a large and far darker problem in Greece and throughout Europe. With a population of only 12 million, Greece has about a half million irregular -- or illegal -- migrants, along with 700,000 legal or partially legal immigrants. The Red Cross reports that approximately 300 irregulars arrive in Greece every day. Human

For those who don't escape, some are picked up and detained by Greek authorities in Reception Centers which are extremely unpleasant and unhealthy with poor food, overcrowded sleeping arrangements, terrible hygiene and untrained immigration police who offer little help with asylum paperwork and little information on legal procedures. For migrants who manage to escape the Greek authorities, many sleep in the open air or in shabby rooms with up to 50 people per room.

Besides Caritas, there are several other NGOs providing refugee help, but they are a drop in the bucket for the 250,000 illegals living in or near Athens. The next time you fantasize about Aegean holiday fun, consider the tragedy of Middle Eastern, Asian and African immigrants whose experiences of Greece are traumatic and desperate. As my friend Begonia Kalliga says, "The Refugee Program gives a hot meal, a short break from daily hassles and a small bit of hope for making it to the next day." If you wish to help refugees in Greece, please email womensgivingtree@gmail.com for information.

Cantera, Nicaraguan Cornerstone

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:15:39 GMT

My friend Alice Waco, from Santa Rosa, has been volunteering at Cantera, an NGO in Nicaragua, since its founding in 1988 during the Sandinista revolution. Cantera's leader, Anabel Torres, a former nun, was inspired by the Sandinista struggle for social justice, left her religious order and received land from the Sandinistas. Her goal was to establish an organization named Cantera, "cornerstone" in Spanish, that would strengthen the capabilities of the people in the fields of "gender, intergenerational relationships, agro-ecology, ethics and spirituality."

Torres was particularly concerned with empowering women through gender workshops that foster women's roles as leaders and managers who can take charge as equals. In men's workshops on gender, the themes are oppression of women through machismo, the evils of domestic violence, and the importance of men participating in work in the home. These topics are taught not only to adults but also to youth and children.

Cantera has many other programs that promote gender equality such as groups for abused women, scholarships for girls and women, and training of women as "promatores" so they can lead workshops in their own communities. I was delighted that Anabel Torres has also envisioned the creation of organic farms and bee farms. She received a grant from the Japanese government to train women become beekeepers. And after terrible hurricanes in recent years, Cantera has rebuilt houses with women playing a role in designing their small homes and working on the construction.

My friend Alice, a professional masseuse, has given workshops for Cantera in massage, stress reduction, and natural health. All these progressive activities take place in a Catholic country that has been subject to the brutality of civil war, with the Sandinistas' leader, Daniel Ortega, finally elected to power as President of Nicaragua in 2006. Cantera demonstrates how grass roots organization, aided by external volunteers, can overcome the forces of male culture and conservatism in Central America. Many Americans support Cantera through Friends of Cantera. Contributions can be sent to Alice Waco, 918 Benton St., Santa Rosa, California and more information can be found at CanteraNicaragua.org.

Nepal Youth Foundation

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 07:21:11 GMT

I have been a supporter of the Nepalese Youth Foundation (NYF) for years, and a trip to Nepal in October, 2009, intensified my enthusiasm for this extraordinary NGO. NYF was founded by Olga Murray in 1990, when she retired from her career as a legal researcher. Retired?? Olga, the most active 85 year old I know, made her fascination with Nepal into a new, lifelong commitment.

Let’s start with the Nepali children who are the focus of NYF's activities. NYF started out by setting up two children's homes in Kathmandu, one for boys and one for girls. Many of the children have been street kids, working as beggars and abandoned by their parents. The children live in a NYF community in which, together, they form their own caring family, finish high school, and many go on, with scholarships, to university and professional careers.

Olga took a special interest in malnutrition in existing poor families. She established Nutritional Rehabilitation Homes for malnourished children who are referred by hospitals. These are small hospitals dedicated to restoring severely malnourished children to health and educating their mothers about nutrition and all aspects of child care. At the end of this year, there will be 12 such facilities around the country. After five weeks of the feeding program, most children gain enough weight to reach average for their age and the mothers gain an average of 12 pounds. Best of all, the mothers learn how to cook and grow healthier foods than rice and lentils so they can better feed their entire families when they return home.

NYF's program that moved me the most is Indentured Daughters in which NYF buys back daughters in the western Terai region who have been indentured at a young age to work as a servant for a wealthy family. NYF buys the girl’s family a piglet or goat to make up for lost income from indenturing the girl and then sends the girl to school in her home community. NYF has liberated 10,000 bonded girls and is on the verge of eradicating the bonding custom. The best part is that the girls have formed their own groups to publicize the illegality and cruelty of indenturing.

Always innovating, Olga has recently started a children's counseling center. As reported on NYF's website, "Nepal is in its infancy as far as psychological counseling is concerned. However, many children suffer from emotional trauma as a result of the insurgency which raged through the country for ten years and was only recently resolved. Furthermore, disabled children, orphans, and homeless youth suffer from oppression and discrimination, and they, too, are in need of counseling."

Please read in detail about NYF and consider ways you can contribute to this amazing work!

The Butterfly Project

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 08:21:39 GMT

I'm sure we've all thought about the power of one – how one person can make a huge difference in the world. For me, the work done by Carole Peccorini in East Africa symbolizes beyond measure the power of one.

Carole, a nurse, counselor and writer, traveled in 2005 to 14 orphanages in Uganda to bring children health-giving glyconutrients and vitamins. There, she met Evaline at an orphanage in the north, and was completely taken by this bright and shining girl of ten. Carole asked the orphanage director if Evaline could go to college. "Intellectually, yes," he said, "but it would be a question of money. Who would pay the $6000 for three years of college?" Carole knew it was doable and immediately committed from a place deep within to become a partner in funding higher education for Evaline if she wanted to go to college.

She created the Butterfly Project based on the 1200 Blue Morpho Butterflies, iridescent blue mylar butterflies, she had tucked in her suitcase for gifts. Before she left Uganda, she vowed to raise $60,000 to send ten orphan girls to college.

But Carole does not sit still. The Butterfly Project is now in Kenya and Tanzania with 9 promising young women currently in college. Five are studying to be teachers and four are training to be nurses. There is still an open promise to Evaline awaiting her graduation from high school. The program is administered by Village Volunteers through three local, African program directors who select the girls and administer the funds. Shana Greene, Director of Village Volunteers, notes, "We do not have staff in country and I never go there because they want to treat me as a hero. Village Volunteers does not believe in simply giving aid but in partnering with stakeholders.”

For Carole, the butterflies symbolize transformation and she uses them to attract donations. She shares her dream with anyone who will listen and has received donations from over 400 individuals. As Carole tells her contributors, "Girls are the change agents for their culture when they have the opportunity for higher education. Educated girls lower the birth rate and the incidence of HIV/AIDS. They change communities, villages, countries." The gift for contributing partners is knowing they have made a real difference that changes a young woman's life and ripples out to touch many, many more. It gives everyone wings. Butterflies are beautiful; butterflies glide through the air. And so do the girls whose lives take flight from the Butterfly Project. And all this is happening from the power of one.

Please visit the Butterfly Project website to find out how you, yourself, can tap into the power of one.

Seeds of Learning

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:54:06 GMT

Sometimes, right from your own backyard, you can discover an amazing NGO that works overseas. Recently, I met Annie Bacon, Executive Director of Seeds of Learning, in Santa Rosa. The US office of Seeds of Learning (SOL) is just down the road in Sonoma.

SOL's work is in depressed communities in Nicaragua and El Salvador. In the past 19 years, SOL has built 114 classrooms in 38 schools in Nicaragua and El Salvador. SOL's mission – a bit like Greg Mortenson's efforts in the Himalayas, made so well-known by his book Three Cups of Tea – is to promote quality learning in developing communities.

SOL was started in 1988 by two volunteers working for Habitat for Humanity in Nicaragua. Todd Evans and Patrick Rickon first made rustic school desks out of scrap lumber from Habitat’s saw mill. Soon they went on to build one-room schools, created SOL, and in 1995 put up a Learning Resource Center in Dario, Nicaragua, with books, puzzles and eventually reference materials for high school students. SOL also has a scholarship program to help students pay the costs of tuition, books, uniforms, and transportation to school.

All the education-building work is done Central American community members and US and foreign volunteers, often high school students. Volunteers have become so attached to the Central American communities they work in that they have begun a sister school program, now involving 2000 students and 80 teachers.

What impressed me most about SOL is its community development model – Central Americans must participate alongside the foreign volunteers and learn practical and leadership skills. As Annie Bacon put it, “Communities have to invite us and commit to work with us before we go.”

Best of all, SOL’s activities are only a short distance from the US. It’s easy to go and volunteer and the SOL work is a phenomenal learning experience for high school students and US community members. Please visit the SOL web site to learn more.

Knysna Educational Trust (KET)

Fri, 21 May 2010 15:15:13 GMT

You probably never heard of Knysna, South Africa, and neither had I until I launched Women’s Giving Tree. It turns out that Knysna is a beautiful town along the Garden Route on South Africa’s southern coast.

A resident notes, “As in all South African towns, the affluent residential areas lie within view of all who pass through. More than half of the town’s population dwells in poor living conditions on the outskirts of town where the dwellings are substandard and services, up until the last few years, have been little more than basic.”

In 1993, the Knysna Educational Trust (KET) was established to help upgrade early childhood development centers (ECD) in the town’s disadvantaged communities. Unfortunately, as informal settlements around Knysna grew, no provision was made for additional educational centers. As a result, many unemployed and uneducated women opened their homes for child care but failed to provide much educational stimulation.

KET, consisting of 8 Trustees and 4 members of staff, seeks to bridge the gap in the foundational years of children up to six years old by assisting 27 partnered edu-centers to comply to regulations as set out by Department of Social Services, Education and Health. KET has sought to upgrade early childhood development in the following manner:

partnering with South Cape College on teacher training;
providing skills development opportunities as the need arises, e.g., bookkeeping, IT literacy for teachers and principals at early childhood development centers;
offering basic conversational English to children at affiliated centers;
upgrading preschool buildings and equipping preschools with educational books, games, posters and playground equipment;
sourcing sponsorships for healthy feeding programs and endeavouring to establish vegetable door gardens at each of our edu-centers.

As a Board Member at KET observes, “We are in the process of empowering principals and practitioners by providing training and skills in order for them to effectively teach learners up to six years old. We help them upgrade their buildings in order to comply to regulations, ensure skills learnt in training is implemented in the classroom, assist in finding the necessary resources and materials. We have made it our mission, not just to hand over educational items, but through skills development to uplift the selfless individuals who are committed to the task at hand.”

Please visit the KET website to see how you might help.