A Message from the ROTH Team Dear Donors, Volunteers and Friends, During the construction of the school this past summer, a local boy named Francis came to ask if he could gather some of the scrap material we had lying around the site. When he returned to the site a couple of days later, he had everyone amazed. In this world of unprecedented affluence, it defies reason that people should still live in areas of remarkable deprivation. Francis’ toy car serves as a powerful reminder of the unharnessed human potential in areas of severe poverty. For this reason, we would also like to sincerely thank you for your active contribution. Whether you donate your time, expertise or money, you are helping to reduce the gap of inequality while giving a fellow human being the best gift of all; the opportunity to reach his or her full potential as a human being.
The design and the translation of this newsletter was done voluntarily by Annie St-Amant and Maryse Gauthier.
Content
MWEDO Girls Secondary School (Tanzania) 2 Piave Maternity Ward and Dispensary (Kenya) 3 The Pansoy Project (Peru) 4 Women in Crisis Center (Kenya Project 2011) 5 Tumaini Paulo Laizer’s Story 6 ROTH Scholar David Kimani 7
Over the past four years, our small NGO, comprised entirely of a devoted team of over 100 volunteers, has been involved in building the spaces and structures communities need to enhance the work of their own leaders and change-makers. In addition to the generous and unwavering support of people like you, our projects would not be possible without the close relationship we have formed with local partners over the years. These men and women involved in local groups and community organizations are the real agents of change. Quite the opposite of being the passive recipients of “aid”, they work tirelessly to enhance the freedoms of their community members and ROTH is honoured to be able to help out where we can. On behalf of all of us at Reach Out To Humanity, I would like to thank you once again and we wish you and your family happiness and health in 2011.
Reaching New Heights 8
Sincerely,
Who and What are we looking for? 9
Frédérique Vallières and the ROTH Team
MWEDO Girls Secondary School (Tanzania) By Kasia Mychajlowycz We are thrilled to announce that classes at the school ROTH built this summer start on January 29, 2011! The school has been renamed the MWEDO Girls Secondary School by the Tanzanian Ministry of Education. So far, 24 of the 60 students in this first class will have full scholarships, including our ROTH scholar, Tumaini (please see page 6 for Tumaini’s story). ROTH partnered with the local group Maasai Women Development Organization (MWEDO), and built the first phase of the school during the summer of 2010, with the help of over 30 volunteers from Canada, Ireland, the United States and Kenya.
A school building, with three classrooms and one laboratory, along with Sasha Hall, a dormitory for 80 girls, was built in just 11 weeks by volunteers and local workers.
The Classroom Building and the Dorm itory (Sacha H all)
The kitchen and dining hall is being finished now, under the supervision of MWEDO, who have also dug a well to fill the water tanks for showers, sinks and toilets, and installed solar electricity. MWEDO worked tirelessly with the Ministry of Education these last months to ensure the school would open for the start of the Tanzanian school year, in January.
Less than 1% of Maasai women have finished secondary school. Let’s change that; this holiday season you can donate towards funding a girl’s education at the MWEDO Girls Secondary School through ROTH online here. All donations made within Canada are tax-deductible.
The Kitchen
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ya) Piave Maternity Ward and Dispensary: An Update
(Ken
By Kasia Mychajlowycz
In July of this year, the community of Piave elected a new committee to oversee the selling of drinking water from the ward’s borehole, which was also built by ROTH. The money goes to a fund buying essential medicines, and any future repairs to the borehole’s mechanical pump. ROTH was delighted that Esther Nyokabi was elected chairwoman of the committee. A senior woman in the community, Esther works tirelessly with her group, the Piave chapter of the Society for Women and AIDS Kenya (SWAK). Her and twenty other women over the age of 50 support 424 children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS, using their own money from their own farming or small businesses. They provide food, counseling, social events and workshop to the children and their caregivers, creating a network of support for families affected by HIV and AIDS. ROTH is proud to support these fearless women’s work to end the cycle of poverty in their own community. As of May 2010, SWAK Piave now have an office in the maternity ward; they act as the ward’s unofficial liaison to the community, resulting in more women using the ward than ever. SWAK Piave’s recognition by the Kenyan Ministry of Health
as an important part of the health services in the village is a triumph for the group. With funding from Sanofi-Aventis’s corporate social responsibility programme, ROTH distributed 5,000 mosquito nets this summer to families identified by SWAK Piave, who also ran workshops for children and caregivers on how to use the nets properly. The project was presented by ROTH president Frédérique Vallières and representatives from Sanofi-Aventis during a discussion, entitled How social innovation is contributing to improvement in global health, at the 6th Women’s Forum Global Meeting in France this October. Most recently, ROTH was awarded a second grant by Sanofi-Aventis, which will go towards equipment for the lab at the Maternity Ward built by ROTH in 2007. The tests run in the lab will help health staff more accurately diagnose illnesses like clinical malaria. This will reduce referral rates and allow for more accurate dispensing of the limited supply of drugs for those who really need them, improving the ward’s care for all its patients.
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) (Peru The Pansoy Project By Frédérique Vallières The Hijos de Luya Centre, built by ROTH In 2008, continues to successfully accommodate the children of the Luya slum. With most of the children under the age of 3, the centre offers a basic education, potable water, two healthy meals a day as well as essential health care services. The centre also acts as a safe place for parents to bring their children during the day while they go into the city for work.
The group of local women chosen to participate in this programme will be trained in the production of soymilk and taught how to incorporate this into crepes and deserts that they can then sell in local markets. In exchange, the group of women must distribute 5 days a week a ration of soy based products to 300 of the most needy families in their community. Stay tuned to hear about their progress!
Built by ROTH with the intention of housing community programmes, the second kitchen in the building has recently been approved to enter the “Pansoy” programme. Through this programme, the community will be given a machine evaluated at 20,000 Soles (approximately $7,000 CDN) and 400kg of soy.
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(Nairob i, Keny a) Women in Crisis Center in Kibera (2011 New Project) By Jane Harbottle Kibera is currently Africa’s largest slum, with a population of over one million people. Within this vast informal settlement, exist some of the most difficult living conditions on earth. The lack of services, combined with a densely populated environment and high level of poverty, has negative implications for the health and wellbeing of Kibera’s residents. Women and children are particularly vulnerable in this environment. Women in Kibera suffer under the brutal hand of poverty, domestic violence, rape, HIV/ AIDS, unwanted and teenage pregnancies. It is for this reason that some of the women of Kibera came together to form the Vision Sisters Working Sisters (VSWS). Their aim is to provide women in Kibera with access to crisis counseling, skill enhancement training and refuge. The VSWS have been working to establish this project since 2006 and they are now ready to begin construction to bring their centre to fruition. ROTH and McGill University students will work in partnership with local women’s group
VSWS and local community members in the construction of the centre. Once completed, the centre will provide crisis counseling, emergency refuge, basic first aid, vocational training and act as a meeting place and resource centre for women in crisis in Kibera. In addition, the project will provide access to clean water, washroom facilities to the women using the centre and the community at large. These washroom facilities will act as income generating activities to help sustain the project post funding.
“Once completed, the centre will provide crisis counseling, emergency refuge, basic first aid, vocational training and act as a meeting place and resource centre for women in crisis in Kibera.”
McGill University students and volunteers have a longstanding relationship with the VSWS. If you would like to get involved locally by holding a fundraiser or learn more about participating in this project please contact Jane Harbottle at : jane@reachouttohumanity.org During this holiday time, we are continuing to fundraise for the development of the Women in Crisis Centre in Kibera. If you would like to donate to this project please find ROTH on Canadahelps.com and choose to designate funds to the Kibera Women in Crisis Centre – Kenya. Thank you for your support and Happy Holidays!
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Tumaini: An Update on our Newest ROTH Scholar By Kasia Mychajlowycz Tumaini Paulo-Laizer is a 12-year old girl from the Maasai tribe in northern Tanzania. Tumaini was introduced to ROTH through our partner on the Tanzania project. Little did we know, when she started hanging around our office, that we’d found our newest ROTH scholar and our first student at the MWEDO Girls Secondary School! Intelligent and sassy, Tumaini has a small frame and a huge personality for someone her age. But her story is the same as many Maasai women; after finishing elementary school and getting good grades, her mother told her she was going to marry a man from their village (a few hours’ drive from Arusha, where ROTH was working), which would end her education and her childhood. Unlike so many other girls, though, Tumaini managed to change the fate handed to her. She ran away, and found our partners, the Maasai Women Development Organization (MWEDO), knowing that they gave Maasai girls’ scholarships for secondary school. The scholarships had already been awarded for that year, but a MWEDO employee, Scholastika, paid her first year’s tuition out
of her own pocket, knowing that this was the only way to continue Tumaini’s education and save the child from marriage. During my volunteer work with ROTH in Arusha, I met Tumaini, then on her second visit to the big town. This is an excerpt from my blog post, that I wrote a few days after meeting Tumaini: That’s when Scholar sat down beside the pair of us, and told me what brought Tumaini here, and that she would not be able to pay her tuition anymore. Scholar looked at Tumaini, and shrugged her shoulders, looking pained. I was on the verge of tears, also looking at the girl, at her tiny body: the body of a wife? For the first time, she was quiet, looking at the ground, as Scholar told me that Tumaini’s mother had kicked her out of the house for disobeying her.
a ‘Giving Page’ for Tumaini so that people could donate towards her schooling. In a few weeks, individual donors had given over $ 1,500, and Tumaini’s page will be featured in the CanadaHelps 2010 annual report as a “success story”. Tumaini’s story is evidence that a girl can choose her own life. Tumaini’s supporters, as well as ROTH and MWEDO, stood up for her rights; you’ve done more than just give her an education. You’ve given her freedom.
I decided to sponsor her education; ROTH co-president Frédérique Vallières proposed to the board to make Tumaini the newest ROTH scholar, and the board accepted. Through the charity CanadaHelps, I set up
lunteer Kasia Tumaini and Vo
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Some News From ROTH Scholar David Kimani Dearest ROTH Team, This semester has been crazily busy and demanding. In fact, it only seems like yesterday when we reported to the campus. There was so much academic tasks to do that the end of semester caught many in disbelief. However, just like in any semester, it had been a time of hard work. It was a heartening experience to progress to third year of our Biochemistry degree course, another step closer to our academic prize. At the end of this academic year, we are going to have to go for an Industrial Attachment, a course on its own entitled BIO 320, Industrial Attachment. The funniest thing in the semester happened in the exam room of third year computer students. The exam was so difficult and out of syllabus that they did not do it and they had to march up to the HOD’s office to complain. Fairly to them, the exam was canceled, reset and rescheduled. I wish to take this moment to say a HUGE THANK YOU, to the ROTH team for making the dreams of its scholars come true. You are true heroes and we celebrate you! Photos Top: Silvia Spampinato Bottom Left: Dermot Kehoe Bottom Center: Ariane Poulin Bottom Right: Annie St-Amant
A Roth Scholar, David Nakuru, Kenya
Christophe Volunteer
and David
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Reaching New Heights By Annie St-Amant The year 2010 was marked by various fundraising activities literally taking place on three different continents. Individuals from all over the globe gathered in Montreal, Vancouver, Dublin and Arusha to show their support for ROTH – some for an evening and others for a few weeks! This shared collaboration and hard work resulted in the construction of a classroom and dormitory building. Nestled in the picturesque surroundings of Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro, the Maasai Girls Secondary School will open its doors to its first students at the end of January. Thanks to our athletic supporters who were willing to undertake 5, 21, or 80km either on foot or on bicycle a kitchen was erected in November, allowing us to complete this first phase of construction. It is with great enthusiasm that ROTH will start two new projects in 2011. The Women in Crisis Centre will be built in Kibera, Kenya in 2011 and a second phase of construction for the Maasai Girls Secondary School will take place in Tanzania during the summer of 2012. With two new budgets of $ 60,000.00 and $ 115,000 respectively, our team is already busy preparing a number of fundraisers.
ROTH will be partnering with the Montreal Young Leaders Club to launch a nationwide physical endurance challenge. Reaching New Heights will be an invitation for individuals as well as groups to participate in a 5km, 10km, half or full marathon race taking place in the city of their choice during 2011 and/ or ascend Kilimanjaro during the summer of 2012 in order to raise the funds for the second phase of our Tanzania project. Participants will be provided with training support, prizes, individual training programs and a number of social events throughout the entire process. Stay tuned for updates on this great initiative! If you would like to get involved or have an idea for a fundraising event please write to us: fundraising@reachouttohumanity.org
Photos Top: PhotoXpress Bottom: Picture Taker 2
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WHAT Are We Looking For?
WHO Are We Looking For? Database Manager The ROTH team is currently looking for someone with good administrative skills and experience to help us manage our database. This will require a time commitment of approximately two hours per week. We are looking for someone honest, organized and dependable. Someone with experience in using database management software such as Microsoft Access is a plus.
Communication and Public Relation Officer ROTH is looking for a multi-tasking and bilingual communication and public relations officer to plan and implement communication strategies for fundraising activities and initiatives on the field. They will identify visibility opportunities and promote our activities.
Secretary Of The Board Of Directors
Graphic Designer
The ROTH Team is also currently looking for a bilingual, responsible and enthusiastic person to join the ROTH Board of Directors. This person should have a firm grasp of CRA guidelines as well as be familiar with both the federal and provincial rules and regulations for registered charities. This person will be responsible for ensuring that the corporate minutes book is up to date as well as keeping the board informed on new policy and requirements for charities.
The ROTH team is currently looking for creative individuals with a passion for PRINT and WEB as well as possessing a good working knowledge of Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Working with ROTH is a great way to volunteer your time for a good cause while diversifying your portfolio and being a part of our large network of volunteers and donors. We give you creative ‘carte blanche’ for all graphic works including reports, cards, website, posters, etc.
If you are interested please forward your CV to Frédérique: volunteer@reachouttohumanity.org
Donate Used Electronics Laptops One of our ROTH Scholars recently wrote to us saying that he would greatly appreciate a computer to help him complete his university studies. Access to computers at his University is beyond scarce with only a handful of computers to serve the needs of hundreds of University students. If you have an old laptop complete with Microsoft Office that you would be willing to donate it would be greatly appreciated!
Digital Camera Our partners in Kenya, the Society for Women and AIDS in Kenya (SWAK) is currently looking for a second hand digital camera. They would use this camera to record the many activities they currently carry out within the community including caring for 424 orphans and vulnerable children and their elderly caregivers as well as 124 people living with HIV. If you have a spare camera you would be willing to donate to an amazing group of women please contact us at info@ reachouttohumanity.org
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