15th December 2008
To all our friends who have expressed willingness to support the development charity ‘SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL GARDENS’:
This is the eighth newsletter which has been issued to those of you who have offered support for SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL GARDENS. The previous report was produced quite recently in November, but that report considered developments up to the end of September. There is much which has happened since then for us to consider, especially as we face the hectic approach to the Christmas festivities.
You can use this newsletter or any of the reports available on the website to inform friends, colleagues and other interested parties about what sort of work is done by SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL GARDENS.
What wonders come from the Internet! A researcher from Brisbane Museum, Australia has been preparing an exhibition on Grevillea robusta, the seedlings in the foreground. She discovered SGG’s use of this species on Tanzanian tree-planting projects. This photo of boys at Soni Seminary putting the young seedlings under shade (part of Project 6) will be used in the Brisbane exhibition.
Both continued individual generosity and willingness to spread the word about SGG are essential if we are to reach our financial target of £25,000 in our third financial year. By the end of November we had already surpassed last year’s fundraising total of £11,891.06p, so congratulations to all those supporters who have worked hard to support our African projects and have often been very generous indeed. Furthermore, we have perhaps another £4,000 in the pipeline, but not yet arrived at this office. This suggests that, although most of this financial year has already gone, there is still time and opportunity to reach our financial target by 31st March. To do so will require a good collection over Christmas and the New Year, and at least some success with ongoing grant applications.
By the way, as the person who regularly watches SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL GARDENS donations creep, and leap sometimes, towards our financial targets, I feel it very important not to focus too much on money. As I look back over 2008, what has particularly pleased me is the sending of volunteers for work overseas. A good volunteer can bring so much more than just money to a project. That volunteer, even if working on an overseas project for only a few weeks, will bring hope to those who are struggling in a mire of poverty and will also often spur local community leaders to work more positively. Thus, if you are wondering how best to support our projects, you should give a self-funded voluntary working holiday some serious thought. Make 2009 the year when you get your hands dirty in Africa! Some of our supporters express a great desire to go to Africa, but as an opportunity draws near they lose their confidence. If this has happened to you, do not worry. It always happens to me. Before every working visit to Africa I have doubts about being too old, too inexperienced, too uncertain about the best way forward - and after every visit I return home more relaxed and more assured that good was achieved from that time abroad. So banish those doubts and vanquish your fears in 2009!
September 2008. Volunteer John Harrison enjoying a meal with OWDF workers
Since my return from Kenya in October, I have become particularly aware of the problems and needs of the HIV orphans in Busia District, who are the main beneficiaries of Project 2. This project has been running quite successfully for a year and a half, but in this early stage of a five year project much of our funding has been used to improve the economic status of the carers of the orphans. In January 2009 we intend to greatly increase funds which will be spent directly on the orphans themselves. During discussions with Kenyan community leaders and project workers it became clear that last year’s funding was insufficient to provide two good meals a week to these orphans. Thus, I would like both to reduce the numbers of orphans in the feeding programme and also to commit SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL GARDENS to much greater funding to Project 2 in 2009.
Most of our supporters focus on one particular project already. However, some express no particular preference where donations are sent. In 2009 and until a large grant is secured from a Trust fund, I shall direct nearly all unspecified donations to Project 2 - the support of HIV orphans. For this reason am I attaching the new updated version of Project 2, so you can see the details of what we intend to do.
20th September- a scramble of young children and anxious parents. SGG & OWDF workers arrive at Khuyala ECDC to find information about the hundred orphans who wish to register for SGG’s feeding programme. Scores more orphans arrive, but return home disappointed. SGG does not yet have the funds to support all the children in need in this part of the world. How many orphans are there here?
Concerning Project 2, I hope that SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL GARDENS can raise £9,000 for our 500 orphans and their carers. I am fairly optimistic that we can achieve that target if the majority of supporters focus on this project. We already have some good news here. While working at Mundika, where the OWDF office is located, I met a Dutch Rotary doctor who works in Mundika for two months each year. SGG, OWDF and the doctor are now looking at joint action related to preventative medicine around Mundika. We do not yet have the funds, but we anticipate funding of at least £1,000 to supply youngsters with anti-malaria bed nets. Although HIV/AIDS is considered the ’scourge’ around Mundika, it is malaria which is still the biggest killer of young children in this mosquito-rich region of Kenya. There is good news for the food programme too: within the last month both the local Rotary Club and individual supporters have donated £500 each to this specific cause.
On 30th September orphans and their carers of Namulekhwa Wedinye group wait in the hope of being included in Project 2.
And how can we pay for all this charity project? Don’t worry: Christmas is around the corner. In recent months we have had several requests from supporters for a ’shopping list’ of items which can be donated to SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL GARDENS in lieu of a present to friends. We now have a list of about 10 items, not a whole catalogue as with some charities, which you can purchase if you wish to do something original or meaningful - or if you simply run out of time for that final shop. At least one of my relatives is going to get a hairy herbivore [see item 6 & 7] for Christmas - and if I do not manage to catch up with work and get out to the shops soon, several are going to find such beasts in their Christmas stocking.
The shopping list we are using at present is as follows:
- Purchase a high-grade fruit tree to improve children’s nutrition for £1,
- Donate 10 seedling trees for transplanting to improve the environment for £2,
- Buy a mosquito bed net and provide young children with much better protection against malaria in for £5,
- Give a child a year of primary education at Chawama township in Lusaka, Zambia for £8,
- Provide basic food security for a child orphaned by AIDS in West Kenya for £12,
- Donate a nanny goat and a kid to provide nutritious milk for £20,
- Purchase a goat couple to start a goat-breeding project for £35,
- Enable us to sink a shallow well in Zambia so that impoverished local farmers can produce vegetables in the dry season for £50,
- Provide a family with a modern toilet in West Kenya for £50,
- Provide a footpump and hosepipes to promote dry season vegetable production in West Kenya for £100. These pumps are called moneymaker pumps because the cost of the pump can be recovered by increased sales within two years.
So there is no need to panic before Christmas, or at birthdays, or any time of the year. Just let us know which gift you wish to purchase, and to whom you wish us to send the certificate of purchase. When we have received your donation we shall send the appropriate certificate, which will show the names of both the recipient of your present and the African beneficiaries. After SGG has visited the African beneficiaries at some stage of 2009, we shall send you a brief report on the progress of your gift. Christmas shopping couldn’t be easier!
Bunema Womens group manage a successful goat-breeding project.
Thank you for all you have done in 2008. Have a good Christmas festival, and enjoy your few days of holiday. My best wishes to you all!
Paul Keeley