Mooooney!

No, I know what you are thinking. It's not bad spelling. 'Mooooney' because we are going to talk about cows and money in this blog post!

If you recall late last year, we wrote a blog about our new partnership with YOFAFO. This week, let’s pay our lovely friends in Uganda a visit to see what is happening in that part of the world.

Most people would have never heard of the small and quiet village of Bulumagi. This is where your donations brought about a burst of exciting activities. ESTC provided a fund of $5,000, which went towards YOFAFO’s microfinance loan and cow give-away project.

If you are not already familiar with the concept of microfinance loans, these are small loans conferred to people with few resources to help them kick off a business. The response to the project has been overwhelming. Using part of the fund, YOFAFO also ran a loan seminar to provide training about the duties of loan recipients and cashiers, microfinance best practices for cashiers, and small business tips for clients.

Microfinance loan conference

One of the beneficiaries of this loan is Nalongo and her family. Two years ago, Nalongo and her husband bought a piece of land for their family. Nalongo worked hard tilling the land from morning till dusk but yielded very little produce. With a microfinance loan from ESTC, her family has now managed to get hired help to work on the land. As a result, their yield increased significantly and she has bought a bicycle to transport the goods to the market instead of having to carry them on her head, thereby increasing her efficiency. With the additional income on hand, she is now able to provide better education for her children.

The cow give-away project is a longer-term venture. With the funds provided, YAFAFO gave away three pregnant heifers to a women's group in the village. It wasn’t a case of the village just receiving the aid. The event spurred the community to get together to plant elephant grass and even build a cow shelter to feed and house each cow. On top of that, they raised the funds themselves to do this.

One of the heifers

Village income has been boosted through many ways: milk production as a new source of income and manure to increase the fertility of the land, leading to higher yields of more food.

This project has shifted the paradigm of the entire village. They used to believe that heifers were meant only for the rich. With training provided, now they know that anyone can care for heifers and greater incomes will result if the animals are well looked after.  The whole community group members are now ready to do all it takes for the animals to thrive.

Moving forward, the aim of YAFAFO is to generate sufficient income through repayment of loans and interests so that the microfinance project can expand itself without outside donations.

With the cow give-away project, we are hoping to be able to buy another two or three heifers to maintain enthusiasm and increase the multiplier effect. We will be fundraising for this later this month so watch this space!

~ Michelle and the ESTC team

Hi everyone,

I'm Sarah Gwynn and I'm the new Funds Development Coordinator at GVN Foundation. My role is to help grow the Eat So They Can campaign this year, as well as develop new funding channels for our projects.

I was born and bred in Wellington, New Zealand. I am currently in my final year at the Victoria University of Wellington studying law, international relations and development studies.

I am passionate about helping and empowering communities so I thought that interning at GVN Foundation would be an awesome opportunity. Being in my final year of university, I started wanting to put my knowledge and skills that I've learnt to good use in a practical environment and GVN is that place. The people working here are lovely too. When I came into the office for the first time, I recognised about half the people already working here so I felt at home!

I am looking forward to getting to know all of you over the next year! Feel free to contact me any time - sarah@gvnfoundation.org

~ Sarah

Let's go fishing!

There is an ancient Chinese saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". Hence, the ESTC team went fishing!

In 2011, several ESTC grants were used to give new skills to vulnerable women. In this blog post, I'd like to tell you about two of these grants that were used to provide training for women so that they can generate income to feed themselves and their children.

Association of Huchuy Yachaq
The small community of Hermnos Ayar in Peru tells the stories of many women living day after day in privation. Lacking in education and social status, these women often find themselves victims of poverty, discrimination and domestic violence.

Using an ESTC grant of US$5,000, the association set up workshops to train these women in jewelry-making. The program does not just stop there. In the workshops, these women are also being taught essential business skills like: how to market their products, what is considered fair trade and how to manage their budget. Equipped with this know-how and expertise, the women in the small community of Hermanos Ayar are now able to stand tall, earn their own income and support their families financially.

Yoni, a mother of two, who has been participating in the jewelry workshops now proudly and confidently states that she is a "Jewelry Artesan". She can say this with a big smile and with assurance, as she knows that she is capable of producing beautiful silver jewlery.

Baan Saeng Tawan
On the other side of the globe in Thailand, there lies a similar tale of women's empowerment. Baan Saeng Tawan is a mission of the Bless Asia Foundation that has been setup to empower women who are involved in prostitution with the vocational skills and psycho-social foundation necessary to enable them to choose a better way of life. An ESTC grant of US$2,000 was provided to this project and was used to hire a vocational trainer who taught ten women sewing, hairdressing and card-making.

These women can now earn a living with their new skills. They feel empowered and hopeful to start new lives. The project has not only directly helped the women but it has also indirectly helped their children who will now benefit from their mothers' new careers.

Thank you to all our amazing ESTC hosts and supporters for making these grants possible.

~ Michelle and the ESTC Team

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