Mother’s Day wrap-up

I’ve been waiting until I collected all of the funds from our Mother’s Day card fundraising project before sending you an update. Our goal was to raise $1,000 by selling the cards. We did better than that! We raised nearly $2,000.

Two thousand dollars is enough to cover the costs of sending three of our children to a full year of high school. It’s almost enough to cover a full year of Veronica’s university tuition as well.

Special huge thank you to everyone who helped us surpass our goal. So many of you were out there selling bookmarks, cards and accepting donations for us – your support was phenomenal.

I wanted to give a special thank you to Aynsley Morris (@aynsilly). This girl sold more than 50 cards on her own, one at a time. I’ve heard she’s quite the fast-talking salesperson! Thank you so much, Aynsley – we’re lucky to have you on our team of volunteers.

We’ve got some other great fundraisers in the works – a yard sale in the summer, as well as a pilates/yoga class. I’ll keep you posted and hopefully, we can get you involved.

Thanks again everyone!
Sincerely,
Monica Kahindo and Karen Snider

HoneyFig

I wanted to share with you some news about our newest supporter, HoneyFig, a gorgeous little shop near Yonge and Sheppard that sells beauty and body care products.

Thanks to Michelle Samuels who works there HoneyFig is now selling our bookmarks for $10.

I went by the store to bring some spring-coloured bookmarks and saw they have a display set up on the main counter with the bookmarks and a photo of some of the boys from the orphanage. It looks incredible! And it's inspiring to see such a great shop get behind this cause.

A huge thank you to HoneyFig, Michelle and all of the women who work there, for your support in helping us to support the Nzirambi Orphan Talent Development Centre and ensure these children can go to school.

If you haven't been to HoneyFig, definitely stop in. They carry top-of-the-line and all-natural products: frangrance-free, nut-free, soy-based...you name it! And it's not only body and beauty products, they sell hair accessories, jewellery and beautiful soy-based candles (which I bought for my mom for Mother's Day - in lilac, her favourite flower!).

Check out their products online.
HoneyFig is also on Facebook

A special thanks for a “twitterific” gift

For those of you on Twitter, you probably know about Scott Stratten, aka @unmarketing. He's “kind of a big deal on Twitter” and he tweets a lot - in fact, he’s tweeted more than 40,000 times.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with Scott on a few occasions. It was his birthday a few weeks ago and I thought that as a proud father, Scott would appreciate the greeting cards that we have been selling to raise funds for the orphanage.

I knew I would see him at Digital Leap (hosted by Stephen Thomas Ltd, Ted Hart and The Royal Conservatory ), where he was a presenter, so I gave him the card then.

Later that evening, Scott told me (in 140 characters) that Digital Leap organizers are making a donation to the charity of his choice as a gift for his presentation. He decided to give his donation to the orphanage.

The donation came at a good time. Monica and I have begun filling out the forms to obtain charitable status and the night before Digital Leap, we were especially overwhelmed. When we got Scott’s message, it was a reminder that we’re doing the right thing. That good people want to help us help these children.

So we’ll keep pushing to raise funds for the orphans. Our goals are reasonable: we aim to raise $10,000 every year for the next three years. Our funding will go toward an education fund to pay for the children’s secondary and post-secondary education. Without higher levels of education, these children won’t break free of the cycle of poverty they are currently in.

And they deserve the chance. These kids are so strong – some of them have lived their entire lives in the orphanage. There are 77 children at the home, ranging in age from newborns to teens. The mere fact that these children have survived the poverty - that over the years has left many of them ill with malaria or malnourished for long periods - is a feat in itself.

By supporting the education fund, not only are we giving the children a chance at success, but we are alleviating the stress of the day-to-day grind on the orphanage. That means there will be more funding for medicines, nutritious foods and salaries for the heroic housemothers who care for the children 24 hours a day.

A special thank you to Scott and Digital Leap for helping these children reach their goals.

The Children's Hospital in Uganda

With Mother's Day in Canada coming, I thought to share these photos that I just received from the orphanage. Being a housemother in Uganda takes on an entirely different meaning to motherhood.

When a child is sick, not only are there hospital fees to pay, but either Dorothy (the founder) or one of the housemothers has to be in hospital with the child. Attached is a photo of the children's ward at Kagando Hospital for you to have some idea as to what it is like.

Three more housemothers have been employed since the beginning of the year to ease the strain when children are ill and to assist in looking after the ever increasing numbers of children.

Milly (orphanage co-founder) also feels that it is right that the housemothers who have babies sleeping on their beds at night - and two other little ones in their room - should also have a time to rest during the day. This seems quite reasonable to me!

This luxury is not really possible at the moment, but it is something that she is aiming for by continuing to increase the number of housemothers in the future.

By supporting our Education Fund, which will fund secondary and post-secondary levels of education, we are alleviating the burden and stress on the orphanage so that more funding can be directed where it's needed - medicines for the children, nutritious foods and even a pittance so the housemothers can take even just a few hours off to themselves.

Tweet this!

As some of you know, I’m madly in love with Twitter.

It is, by far, the best networking tool I have ever used. Full stop.

I’ve benefitted in so many ways – everything from hiring consultants and web designers, to connecting with advocates passionate about the same topics that I am. I've been offered a couple jobs, and I’ve even helped host two “tweet-ups”; one for the Canadian Red Cross, the other for my friend Cecile, who is a career coach. I’ve also made tons of new friends – really, REALLY great people.

Twitter works. But it can be a little tricky for some people when they first start out. Stats show that so many people log on, don’t get it and don’t go back. I think it’s because they didn’t take the time to learn it and reap its benefits.

All this to say that every week I am asked (and sometimes I offer) to do free twitter tutorials for people. I’ve had to start saying no to this, simply because I don’t have enough hours in a day.

But, now I’m saying yes! But, it’s not free. If you’re keen to have a twitter tutorial – someone to lean over your shoulder, walk you through the basics and get you going on it, then I’m happy to do so. In return, I ask that you make a donation -the amount is your choice – to the orphanage.

Looking forward to sharing Twitter with you!
Karen -
karensnider@hotmail.com - please put Tweet This in the subject line

Why World Malaria Day Matters

In the weeks before I arrived at the orphanage, the worst happened. Three boys; two babies and one 10-year-old boy died in December, all of them had malaria.

The children had just moved into a new home on 30 acres of land where soon they will learn to farm and become self-sufficient. But, at the time, there was a major problem with mosquitoes that they didn’t know how to control.

The deaths were a shock to the orphanage – never before had they lost so many children at once.

The orphanage hired a nurse to help keep watch of the children on a daily basis and provide them with anti-malarial medication. It prevented any more children from dying. But, it did not stop the illness.

When I got to the orphanage, the women and children were still struggling with the loss of their boys.

There was no question that the mosquitoes were bad in the area. We all slept under bed nets, but the real problem was that the children have their play time at the end of the day when the chores are done – usually at dusk when the mosquitoes come out.
They play soccer in the field with no protection from the bugs.

I honestly don’t know how the babies contract it – they are kept inside almost all day long and they sleep under bed nets.

What we learned while I was there was that the mosquitoes were breeding in the latrines at the back of the buildings. The orphanage, quite simply, was not putting enough of a special solution down the drain to kill them. So, they started adding more to kill off the bugs.

Even still, it’s a problem they will struggle with always. The best we can do is raise funds for the orphanage so that they can purchase the medications they need that prevent malaria from becoming deadly.

Special Post for the Grade 4 class at St. Bernard Catholic School

I had a very nice surprise today. I came home to an envelope stuffed with letters written by the children of Mrs. Berardini’s Grade 4 class at St. Bernard Catholic School.

A few months ago, Kira Neves heard of the orphanage and decided to draw some pictures for the kids in Uganda. I posted a blog about it. Kira printed off that blog and brought it to school to show her classmates during a “Current Events” session. Mrs. Berardini and the other children loved the idea of sending letters and pictures to the orphanage, so they decided to make it a class activity.

Most of the letters are addressed to “Dear Children of Africa.” (I love that!)

In the letters, Mrs. Berardini asked them to include some questions for the kids.

Here are some of the questions:
“What is the temperature outside?” “What is it like in an orphanage?” “Who is taking care of you?” “Do you like to play basketball?” “Are you happy in Africa?” “Does it rain a lot in Africa?” “What part of Africa do you live in?” “What do you like to play?” “What food do you eat?” “Is it hot in Africa?” “Do you go to school?”

All really great questions!

I visited the orphanage in January, so I can tell you a bit about them. The children range in ages from newborn babies all the way up to teenagers. Many of them are the same age as Mrs. Berardini’s Grade 4 class. The children do go to school. Their classes are large – sometimes there are up to 90 children per teacher. The children don’t play basketball, but every night after their chores are done they play soccer in the fields.

The orphanage is in a country called Uganda, and it is hot in Uganda, but not too hot. There are four houses at the orphanage – two for girls and two for boys. In each house there is a woman called a House Mother who looks after the children. Most importantly, the children are indeed very happy!

Thank you to Kira, Nathan, Tonya, Teresa, Alexander, Tevron, Michelle, Aaron, Freddy, Zachary, Elvis, Tiago, Moises and Kassandra for your beautiful drawings and letters. We will be sending them to the orphanage later this month! I know they will enjoy reading your letters and appreciate that they are being thought of.

And a special thank you to Mrs. Berardini for taking the initiative and teaching children to think globally.

http://africanwalkabout.blogspot.com