A special note for the holidays

This is what it’s all about.

Our friend Brian Pieters was recently at the orphanage to photograph the children and House Mothers. Our goal is to connect all of you with the children through a photo exhibition that we are planning for in the New Year. He already sent us home some photos that we wanted to share with you – have a look, they are posted on the Facebook group page: http://groups.to/orphans

These photos are a reminder of what all of this fundraising and talk about the Nzirambi Orphans Fund is about: We’re giving these vulnerable children an opportunity to grow up and become independent, successful citizens.

All of the funds raised this year are going toward a scholarship fund to cover school fees from senior levels of high school and post-secondary education.

By paying for the older children to go to school, we are helping to relieve the overall stress of the orphanage – that means, there will be more funds in place to make sure that all of the children will have a sturdy roof over their head, water they can drink, clothing, a bed to sleep in, nutritious food and medicine when they need it. And they will all have the chance to be educated or learn important skills to help them land jobs.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and for inspiring us (Monica and Karen) to keep doing what we’re doing. All of you have made a difference.

Happy Holiday everyone!

Holiday shopping ideas to support the orphanage

What do you know? It’s snowing in Ontario – and it is starting to look a lot like Christmas!

I’m super happy to tell you that we’ve already sold 325 bookmarks in our annual drive, but our goal is to sell 400. Help us reach our goal and share info about the bookmarks with your friends and colleagues. They make great stocking stuffers, Secret Santas, gift toppers and gifts for colleagues, friends, family. Each one cost $10 and you can order them from this blog using paypal. They’re really cute and ALL of the money raised will go directly to the orphanage to help send the children to school.

We’ve also got some other crafty goods for sale to help us raise funds. Check it out:

Poetic Art

Roxane Tracy of Poetic Art is giving proceeds from the sale of her African-inspired art to the orphanage. Her work is a perfect match for the orphanage, depicting the challenges and triumphs of women and children. Take a minute to look at her work – it’s gorgeous. She is selling prints for $40 and greeting cards for $5 each or 4 for $15. http://www.poeticartgallery.com/

Yoga bags for a good cause
Our friend and supporter Aynsley Morris (@aynsilly) has handcrafted these really amazing bags for yoga mats. She did some in African prints, and some other designs, including one white with daisies. The yoga bags are $20 donation. She also made eye pillows with flax seed and lavender – great for meditation, blocking out light when you’re sleeping or if you get headaches like I do. We’re asking for a $10 donation for those. Aynsley donated the material and so ALL of the money raised from these purchases will go directly to the orphanage.

Last but not least
Please do think of our children this holiday season. Right now they will be just finishing up their semester at school and gearing up for a few weeks off over the holidays. The kids don’t really celebrate Xmas, except, hopefully, this year they will have an opportunity to have a big feast. They’re happy kids, and we are helping to give them a world of opportunities by paying for their education.

Please do consider the orphanage when making your holiday donations this year. We don’t have charity status yet for tax receipts – but stay with us because we aim to have that in place for this time next year.

Thank you for your support - Happy holidays!

Bookmarks for Babes are back!

Last year, you may remember that the beaded bookmarks kicked off the fundraising efforts for the orphanage. At that time, I was trying to figure out how I might raise $500 to bring to the orphanage on my volunteer trip. Turns out, people ordered the bookmarks in droves and $4,000 was raised. And so the Nzirambi Fund was born!

A year in the making

I’m a little more prepared this time around and have been working on them all year. I also have a small army of really awesome volunteers who have been helping me make them (@nancyjt), helping to put ribbons on (Monica, Cindy, Marie-Helen), and others helping to sell them. Barbara Strang took some amazing photos (like the one posted here), and Lawrence designed a new card to attach to them.

Hundreds of bookmarks have already been delivered – we have Aynsley Morris (@aynsilly) selling them in Ottawa, Jessica Taylor in Calgary, Tenesha Clarke in Brampton and Nancy in Niagara. Our friends at Honey Fig will also be selling them at the Yonge Street store.

Want to buy one now?

You can order bookmarks on this blog by using the paypal box in the right column. Let us know what colour you like – they come in pearls, pinks, blues, greens, purples or mixed colours. Or say: “surprise me” and we’ll pick something out for you. Be sure to include your address so we can mail them to you.

Boomarks are a $10 donation. Each one will have a card on it that says: “All of the funds raised from the sale of this gift will go toward the boys and girls at the Nzirambi Orphans Talent Development Centre. Thank you for your support.”

Last year, people bought them as gifts for friends, colleagues, teachers, family, etc. They’re also really great stocking stuffers!

Want to sell bookmarks?

If you are keen to help us sell some to your family, friends or co-workers, please do let us know.

Where your donation goes

All of the money raised will go directly to the orphanage and pay for the children to go to school. By helping these children obtain higher levels of education, they will be able to escape the cycle of poverty. We're helping to make dreams come true for these children.

Thanks, as always, for your support.

A letter from Veronica

I recently received this letter in the mail from one of the older girls at the orphanage. Her name is Veronica and she's getting ready to apply to university next year. I'm going to write her letter out in full to share it with you. It's very sweet!

Hello Karen,

How are you and how is work and your life in Canada? Well, back here in Uganda, I am doing ok. I am at school busy reading my books since I am soon doing my final exams in November that will register me for university.

I really thank God for the time we spent together here in Uganda and I would also like to come and visit you in Canada since we had a good time here. How is Monica? Do you normally visit her and go for coffee together? Send my sincere greetings to her and tell her that we lover her so much.

I have been communicating to Auntie Milly via phone and I have always been informed about what has been taking place at home. I really miss those children at the orphanage. (**fyi, Vero has been doing her final school year at a boarding school in Kampala.)

I have chosen the right courses that I would like to do at the university with the help from my teachers. They have advised me about the courses that best suit my subjects that I am doing here in Senior 6. These are some of the courses-- law as my first choice and accounting as my second course. My results from my final exam will determine the course I will be doing in university.

After my results are back in February 2011, I will be going to university in August 2011.

I will be soon going for my long vacation in November after my exams on the 24th, I will be going back to Kasese and be with the children. I am also going to start my computer studies and I will open up an email where I will be communicating to you.

In my vacation, I will be helping with the work at home, playing with the children and helping Auntie Milly with her work in the office.

Lastly, I would like to send my greetings to all of your friends in Canada and I with you a nice stay and hope to see you again here in Uganda.

Greetings from all of my friends here at school like Rhoda, Martha, Esther and Faith.

With love,

Veronica Nabasinga.

Amazing Race Maps

Did anyone see the Amazing Race last night? They were racing in Ghana and one of their challenges was to correctly identify the Ghana on a map of Africa. (What?! You mean Africa is not a country??)

Just today, I had to dig up some maps of Uganda and Kasese, where the orphanage is, as part of our application for charitable status. And then I had an "Amazing Race moment" and realized that people who read this blog and know about the orphanage may not know where it is.

Here's a map to put things into perspective. It also shows where Gulu is - many of us are aware of the long-standing war in Northern Uganda - and its proximity to the Congo and Sudan.

Look south on the map and you will find Kasese on the Congo border, surrounded by lakes, mountains and forest. Actually, the orphanage borders on the land of a national park and one night that I was there, the elephants came onto the property in search of food and water. I didn't see the elephants, but heard the gun shots of rangers trying to scare them off the land.

Hope

I recently received some sad news that two of the babies from the orphanage, Caroline and David, have passed away. Both of these babies came to the orphanage after I was there in January, so I didn’t get to know them.

David
David was born Feb. 20 of last year and when he was just four months old, his mother became mentally ill and unable to care for him. With seven other children, David’s father was not taking good care of him.

A sickly severely malnourished baby, he was regularly in and out of the hospital for his first four months. A nurse, having heard of the Nzirambi Orphans Talent Development Centre made arrangements with the probation officer and the orphanage for him to live there. Slowly, after six months he began to recover, showing strength in his legs by kicking and playing.

Just recently, doctors began to suspect that David had spina bifida. He came down with pneumonia and, despite the best efforts of the house mothers, doctors and nurses, he didn’t survive.

Caroline
Caroline was born November 18, 2009 and brought to the orphanage in June after her mother died of malaria. Again, the father was unable to adequately care for his child and Caroline was removed from his care and brought to the orphanage after being hospitalized for pneumonia.

This little girl became quite ill over the summer and required a blood transfusion. However, none of the hospitals in the area had blood supplies to donate. In Uganda, a person must have an HIV test every six months in order to donate blood and none of the house mothers had this test done and could not donate blood. They decided to transport baby Caroline to the Kampala hospital, but she died along the way.

The reality
The reality of the situation is that neither of these children likely would have died had they been given the care we can expect for our children in Canada. The housemothers and hospitals did everything they could, but there are so many limitations, especially when a child is born into these incredibly stressful, life endangering situations.

Hope
In so many ways, it’s frustrating to hear that two of our children have passed away. But, it’s not time to lose hope. There are more than 80 children there now, some now in their late teens, haven grown up and survived these difficult circumstances. The death of these little ones inspires me even more to stay focused and continue my goal to raise $10,000 per year for the next three years so that we can give the older children a real chance through education.

Thank you so much for your steady support.

Pilates for Men

Our Pilates4Babes was so much fun in the summer, but there was only one man in attendance!

So, why aren’t more men doing pilates?

Pilates was, after all, started by a man – Joseph Pilates. He was a boxer and trained athletes. And there is nothing wimpy about Joseph! (That's him in the photo!)

It’s challenging, but not impossible; you don’t have to be flexible like yoga; it gives you awesome abs and the classes are full of hot, fit women. What’s not to love about Pilates?

So, we decided to call the men out for their own class. Hosted by Sandra Brunner (aka @Wallabina) at Chang’e Studio,1114 Queen Street East in Leslieville, the class will be held Sept. 11 from 2-3p.m.

Come have fun, work out and support a charity, all at the same time!

We'll also have some great raffle prizes available – including tickets to the Leaf/Senators Fans First game on September 21.

With the proceeds we hope to be able to raise enough money - $700 - to send one child to school for a year.

Class size will be small, so please let us know asap if you want to sign up. You can purchase your ticket in advance by making a donation on this blog using Paypal .