The Grand Prize Draw Results!

On January 12, the GVN team gathered around our local policeman for our annual Grand Prize Draw! All our 2011 hosts who had raised more than $500 were entered into the Draw and the winner was to win an expense-paid trip to Kenya or Peru. It was an exciting moment when our policeman pulled out the name and announced the 2011 Grand Prize winner...

Adrienne Matheson! A huge congratulations from all the ESTC team to Adrienne!

Adrienne is from New Zealand and hosted her third ESTC event in 2011. She has chosen to join our Distribution Trip to Kenya this May and is hoping to stay on to volunteer after the trip.

Adrienne does a lot of volunteer work in her community and also works as a Nanny. Her interests include  making cards and other crafts, as well as photography. We're already looking forward to seeing the photos that Adrienne will be taking in Kenya!

Here are a few words from Adrienne:

About three years ago I volunteered for six weeks in Kenya with GVN and every year since I have been involved  with ESTC. I am beyond excited to return to Kenya on the distribution trip.
 
Every day is a good day to live life to the fullest and help others do the same.
 
Thank you GVN. Kenya here I come!" ~ Adrienne.


Congratulations once again Adrienne!

~ Eliza and the ESTC team

Happy Holidays!

Hi everyone!

This is our last ESTC blog for the year as we wind down for the Christmas and New Year period. This has been an amazing year for ESTC and we hope an amazing one for you to! The ESTC team want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

As we look forward to 2012 we want to share an opportunity with you to really make 2012 a year to remember - the chance to join an Eat So They Can Distribution Trip!

Our funds distribution trips to Kenya and Peru offer participants the once in a lifetime opportunity to directly help with distributing funds raised through our Eat So They Can campaign. By joining this program you will be assisting on the ground and delivering supplies to the schools, orphanages and camps we support. You will also have the opportunity to participate in workshops and see some of Kenya's most famous wildlife or several historical sites in Peru.

 

In Kenya the funds raised from Eat So They Can will be distributed to schools, orphanages and IDP (Internationally Displaced Persons) camps throughout the Nairobi and Nakuru areas.

And in Peru the funds will be distributed to schools, orphanages and community centers in Cusco and the Sacred Valley.

This is an unbelievable chance to see directly where the money you raised ends up and the amazing difference it is making to children and communities throughout Kenya and Peru.

To find out more visit: http://www.globalvolunteernetwork.org/distribution_trip/ or check out our Facebook page for photos from last years trips https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eat-So-They-Can/

See you in the New Year,

Eliza and the ESTC Team

Proud to Support the Losinoni Lunch Program!

Hello again!

I hope you enjoyed last week's update on the new Uganda projects. This week, we would like to take you on a trip to the village of Losinoni in Tanzania.

We recently sent out  a grant of $1,159 to help fund AfricAid's lunch program at Losinoni Primary School. AfricAid is a nonprofit organization that supports girls’ education in Tanzania in order to provide young women with the opportunity to transform their own lives and the futures of their communities.

The Losinoni community has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to the education of their children. They have partnered with AfricAid to build new classrooms, renovate existing classrooms and install solar electrical power in order to provide the students with improved learning environments.

In addition, the community has pooled its meager resources to hire a cook for the school, so that the lunch program can be provided during the entire school year. The community has also set aside land for growing maize to be used for the lunch program, in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the program.  As such, the community has made the school lunch program a priority, both for the education and for the sustenance of its children, a community commitment that is critical for the long-term sustainability of the program. However, resources continue to be critically scarce in this rural, impoverished community.

With the ESTC grant, AfricaAid will be able to feed the 750 students at Losinoni Primary School for over 9 weeks. That's more than 34,000 lunches!

Thank you to our hosts for making this grant possible and thank you to AfricAid and the Losinoni community for their amazing work!

~ Michelle and the ESTC Team

New Uganda projects funded by ESTC!

Hi everyone,

The ESTC team is excited to tell you that we’ve just sent out some new grants to our partners! In this blog post, we’ll focus on a $5,000 grant from our women’s empowerment cause which has just been sent to The Real Uganda. This grant will be used to support two projects:

YOFAFO’s micro-credit program

Source: YOFAFO

This program currently provides loans to local women in the village of Bulumagi to diversify their businesses and buy equipment which they previously rented. It has been very successful with 96% of all loans having been paid back in full.

The ESTC grant will allow YOFAFO to now give out larger loans to past clients who have paid back their loans, and give out small starter loans to new clients. With increased loans given out, the local population will expand their own businesses/investments, leading to higher household incomes in the immediate area.

In addition, the grant will fund a one-day workshop to educate all beneficiaries and employees about the importance of saving and investing, account security and privacy, and appropriate record keeping.

YOFAFO’s animal project

Source: pictoe.com

YOFAFO started a similar program in the village of Kitoola, but gave out animals instead of cash. The project has so far circulated 34 pigs, 5 goats, over 120 chickens and 1 cow. The project has been so successful that YOFAFO asked the women what they wanted to do next. YOFAFO was asked to bring cows because they have higher value, are easier to keep alive, and easier for project officers to keep track of.

The ESTC grant will allow YOFAFO to give out 4 improved breed cows to local Kitoola women. Women will qualify for the program by building a cow shelter, growing elephant grass for feed, and showing the $7 fee they’ll need to mate the cow. The first cow born will be returned to YOFAFO to be given out to the next member in line. Improved breed cows give 25 litres of milk per day, which is far beyond the 3 litres of milk a regular local cow gives. This will be a slow growth project as a cow is pregnant for 9 months but improved breed cows can conceive again 4 months after giving birth.

Women have increased self-esteem and independence by keeping their own animals. Culturally, women keeping animals is normal in Uganda and the women will use the income created to feed and educate their children.

The ESTC team is really proud to be supporting such great projects! A big thank you to The Real Uganda and YOFAFO for their amazing work.

- Eliza

Welcome to our new intern!

A warm welcome to Michelle Mitchell - we're so happy to have you join the Eat So They Can team!

Michelle is a business analyst by profession and performs all kinds of tasks ranging from project management to IT training. She also has experience in web design and development - yay!

When Michelle is not working, she is running a Christian lifegroup with her husband in their home. On top of that, she is also pursuing a graduate diploma in Theology in Laidlaw college.

So why is such a busy lady volunteering her time to support ESTC?

"I love what you all do. The lives you have touched. I have a passion for helping the poorer nations. My philosophy is to empower them through training, mentoring and provide them with practical assistance so they in turn can stand up on their own and eventually help others as well. I would hope to be able to go out and do something like the many volunteers you have one day, but meanwhile, I am very glad that I am able to come in and offer whatever limited help I can give to this organisation." ~ Michelle.

Thank you so much Michelle! This is always a busy time of year for us, and we're so grateful to have your support!

- Eliza

Why I love my job

There are many reasons why a love my job, but this time of the year is definitely one of them! Over the past week I've been receiving emails, facebook messages, skype messages and letters from ESTC hosts in every corner of the world. Although this is my third year working on this campaign, our hosts' creativity and generosity never cease to amaze and inspire me!

Musicians at Suraj's event in Nepal

One of my favourite things about this year's campaign is that we've had several events take place within the countries we support. For example in Nepal, Suraj teamed up with Antardristi (one of our partners) and Diwen (former GVN employee on her travels) to organize an evening of music and dancing. In Diwen's words "It was an EVENT. Two of the best bands from Nepal, as well as musicians from Egypt, Turkey, etc jamming with the bands. The music is SUPER. And these musicians were all playing for free for ESTC. The people who organised this ESTC were AMAZING. Capital letters AMAZING. Friends, business people, restaurant owners, musicians, those who care enough to organise ESTC at their own time and resource."

These delicious cupcakes didn't last long!

Our own event here in Wellington was so much fun! We decided to do our event at a beautiful little cinema in Petone. We watched Oranges and Sunshine and had some delicious nibbles and drinks. A big highlight of the evening was our annual raffle which had some amazing prizes thanks to our generous sponsors. It was such a fun evening and it was great to have people of all ages and nationalities there! A huge thank you to Lydia, Fiona and Luke for organizing the event.

Eliza, Lydia, Luke and Fiona at GVN's ESTC event in Wellington

I really recommend that you check out our past events gallery to read about other events from around the world and keep an eye on our facebook page as well for regular updates.

And don't forget - if you haven't yet hosted your event, it's not too late! Please take lots of photos and send them our way so we can add you to our gallery!

A HUGE thank you to everyone,
Eliza

Eat So They Can 2010 - One Year On

With Eat So They Can 2011 right around the corner, hopefully you're all very busy planning your events! Here at the Eat So They Can office, we are flat out planning for the weekend ahead.

But we thought that amidst all the chaos, you might like to hear about how one of our projects has come along in the past 12 months. The Real Uganda has been one of our key partner organisations over the last few years, and 2010 ESTC funds went towards building a goat farm, a sustainable initiative to support the children of Johnson Nkosi Memorial School and the surrounding community.

Here are a few words from Leslie Wieghill of The Real Uganda:

"This project created a sustainable environment for a goat farm to grow beyond pre-existing capacity. The farm will now generate income for the school. In its former (small) size it only created interest in goats and a bit of milk.

We built a 100’x70’ fenced goat grazing yard, constructed a raised permanent house for the goats, and purchased 7 pregnant goats (as they each gave birth to twins – we actually bought 21 goats!).

In 2010, when Johnson Nkosi Memorial School started keeping goats, they had 6 goats in a small enclosure made of tree branches. There was no house for the goats to sleep in or get out of the rain. There was no grazing area, food had to be brought to them everyday.

 Today the goat farm has expanded to 34 goats. They are healthier now with their private grazing area – eating fresh (growing) greens and getting some exercise. The raised house keeps them warm and clean at night and safe from thieves as well.

A goat keeper has been hired to keep their house clean and move them to and from the grazing yard. 

In terms of the future, we hope the project will become a learning aid for both Johnson Nkosi students and community members. Goats are in demand in Uganda right now. They are cheap and easy to keep and they multiply quickly. We want to show our process increases income as the goats are kept healthier than the traditional way.

324 children have benefited or will benefit from this program."

On behalf of everyone at ESTC, we just want to say a huge thank you to The Real Uganda for all the hard work they put in. To develop a project that will benefit over 300 children is an amazing result. We would also like to thank all the hosts who supported the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children cause in 2010, as this project would not have been able to go ahead without your support.

This is just an example of the kind of project that your ESTC 2011 funds will go towards. Hopefully, in one year from now, we can again tell you about all the amazing things that have been achieved with the funds that our hosts raise this year.

Finally, good luck with the weekend ahead! It feels like we have been building towards this weekend for quite some time, and now that it's finally here, we are so excited! As always, the ESTC team is here to answer any last minute questions you may have. Other than that, I guess all we can do is wish you all the best for this weekend! We are really looking forward to hearing about how everyone's events went!

Good luck everyone!

 - Luke and the ESTC Team.