Hello friends,
In this fifth year of operation, Village Volunteers saw the number of volunteers traveling to our partner villages triple, bringing explosive growth to program services and inspiring many exciting developments around the world. There are too many highlights to include them all, but I’ll try to recap some of the most exciting ones below.
Village Volunteers at Home and on the Net
Great strides have been made in our infrastructure (and website) to support our village programs and our volunteers.
Our Sustainable Village Library has tripled in size and continues to grow and develop as a “wikipedia” for development projects that gives access to education and appropriate templates for both volunteers and villagers around the world. You can access the Sustainable Village Library from our home page.
- The Village Volunteers Blog has been implemented with stories and photos from volunteers, proving itself a great tool for community sharing and networking.
- The Village Volunteers Forum was launched this year – thanks to the journalistic skill and enthusiasm of our past In-Country Coordinator for Kenya, Mark (Junior) Gaya – to offer opportunities for discussing issues and sharing development ideas. Check it out and join the conversation!
- A new Sustainability Policy guides us in our goal to become a “carbon neutral” organization. VV funded four tree nurseries, using bio-intensive farming techniques, and will purchase eight trees to offset the carbon from international flights on behalf of each volunteer.
Press and Awards: The World Takes Notice
- The CNN Heroes Medical Marvel Award went to Peter Kithene, Founder of Mama Maria Kenya. Mama Maria Kenya has been a VV partner since 2003, and we couldn’t be more proud of Peter. Watch the video of his story and the founding of Mama Maria Kenya.
- CNN International selected Village Volunteers in October to be featured and recommended on their website in their “Be the Change” section. In 2008, our volunteers’ videos, stories and photos will be featured so be sure to check it out.
- NPR Podcasts: Philadelphia NPR News Director, Windsor Johnston, volunteered at three of our partner villages this fall and created pod casts that will air in February 2008 in the Philadelphia region. The podcasts will be posted on our website, so stay tuned.
- Our Village Volunteers annual community party in November brought almost 185 past volunteers to Seattle to swap stories and reconnect with old friends. Alumni from as far away as Montreal, New York, British Columbia, California, Colorado and Chicago enjoyed getting together and seeing Mark Gaya (and his wife, Lydia), as well as the incomparable Joshua Machinga from Common Ground Program and Daniel Rateng from Mama na Dada Africa in Kenya.
Collaborative Projects: New Shoots
We are particularly excited about the new programs created by past alumni who were inspired by their work in partner villages, as well as new opportunities founded with other programs working in the region.
- Trees for Transmara and Feed Villages are two new programs started by enthusiastic VV volunteers as a result of their experiences in Kenya. You can donate to both of these programs through our website. Check them out!
- A new school and clinic is in the works for Namunyak Maasai Welfare thanks to a new collaboration between Village Volunteers, Architects without Borders (Seattle chapter), and Jonty Craig, a young architect from the UK/Australia who spent three months in Kenya helping to design projects. To donate to the building of the school for Namunyak Maasai Welfare, visit our Donate page. Architects without Borders has helped with the designs for the Mama Maria Kenya Clinic as well as the Rabuor Village Training Center.
- The Village Volunteers Action Club at the University of Washington (Bothell Campus) ran a fundraiser for the Ceramic Water Filter Project in Kiminini, Kenya. The Club, thanks to Professor Martha Groom and her “Sustainable Development in Africa” course, hopes to fund a building, a kiln, tools and training for women to create the filters. Potters for Peace has signed on to train the Kimimini women, and the club hopes to make filters available to needy families for just $10 each. Sponsoring a water filter today!
Funding for Sustainability and Education
Thanks to our tremendous growth this year, Village volunteers was able to grant funds for projects for our partner village programs. Below are examples of projects directly funded by Village Volunteers, as well as those facilitated through our organization.
- Making briquettes fuel that burn for 8 hours was the purpose of a workshop held at Common Ground Program. Village Volunteers sponsored the ten day training and event in June of 2007. All partner village programs in Kenya were invited, as well as representatives from several villages in Uganda. About 50 people were trained to make fuel out of weeds and waste paper, thereby reducing the demand for scarce firewood. Kenyan Isaiah conducted this workshop and will do more next year.
- Training in bio-intensive farming methods at four villages in Kenya by Common Ground’s Joshua Machinga. These trainings will be conducted in each village for a week starting in January 2008. Return visits to each site will be scheduled throughout the year. In addition, four tree nurseries will be started using the bio-intensive farming methods.
- New playgrounds, desks built at local schools, and a library for village programs in Ghana.
- Medical education was funded for Julius Fentra, VV’s first college fund recipient, through partnership with Angel Covers. He continues to make everyone proud through his excellent grades and gratitude for the opportunity. Julius’ goal is to help provide medical care for the underserved communities near Mt. Elgon in Kenya.
- A micro-credit program was funded for women weavers to make scarves through SMVS, our partner village program in India. In Kenya, two women’s cooperatives received micro-credit funding from VV to start or enhance their small enterprises.
- A library resource center was built in Kimuka for ELAND Maasai Project thanks to a generous donation from one of our volunteers. The opening will take place in January 2008.
- A bicycle repair business was funded for a youth cooperative in 2007, thanks to our fellowship with the Cottonwood Foundation.
- Orphan care: 75 students were sponsored this year. Alumni volunteers often chose to sponsor children after their heartfelt experiences in the villages. If you would like to sponsor a child visit our Donate page.
- Schoolbooks, a new kitchen, a rainwater cistern, and furnishings for the new girls dormitory were provided to Pathfinder Academy at Common Ground Program through the Pangea Foundation.
- Shining Star, a school near Mama Maria Kenya, received funding for desks, benches, and the construction of new classrooms.
- Donations for bicycles, breeding goats, clinic equipment, mosquito nets, trees, and books were made through our Donate page from people from around the world.
- Various fundraisers were held to support Micro-Credit for women’s groups including my favorite local (Seattle) annual Thanksgiving morning event through Wassa Dance and Lara Mcintosh.
Finally, we can also never discount the benefit of the hospitality fees of volunteers that help to support the social needs programs run by our partner organizations. Besides establishing a hospitality industry that creates jobs, and contributes to the village program, once volunteers return home, they continue to raise funds to support the programs that touched their lives.
The coming together of volunteers and their communities and the communities abroad show us the tremendous generosity in the world. Medical and school supplies, soccer equipment, and a myriad of other useful items are collected and delivered to villages abroad by our wonderful volunteers.
In 2007, as in years past, our wonderful volunteers have contributed untold benefits to villages with their ready smiles and compassion and their contributions as teachers andhelpers. The value of volunteers in rural communities is not only their assistance but most importantly the message that they came from a long distance to offer a hand in friendship.
*****
Despite all the great success and growth this year, I recap our 2007 with a heavy heart for the people and programs we support in Kenya. The political violence that erupted in late December forced us to withdraw all our volunteers from that country and prevents us from sending any in the first quarter of this year.
The conflict has had disastrous consequences for the people of Kenya. Food and medical supplies are scarce and prices for everything including fuel has tripled, creating a great burden.
Each of our village programs is taking on the burden as relief organizations and need our help. Joshua Machinga wrote: “Pathfinder Academy is now accommodating over 70 boarding students mainly from areas hit by the skirmishes. Some of the kids are too young but we are struggling to help them cope with the situation… We have changed one of the classrooms into a boarding room for boys and we’ll be preparing more pit latrines and bathrooms to accommodate the growing number of children.”
Village Volunteers is committed to supporting these villages in any way we can, and right now we are limited to wiring money. If you can, please consider a direct donation to help our partner villages as they struggle through this difficult time. You can specify the village programs, or simply have your donation divided among the villages with the most burden. Undeniably, the sense of hope, optimism, and resiliency of the Kenyan people will move them towards peace and reconciliation.
On behalf of the people of Kenya and all our partner programs, we thank you. We invite you to join us in making 2008 a year of continued progress towards a sustainable future for rural communities.
Sincerely,
Shana Greene