CONGRATULATIONS, CRISTINA!

Cristina Kessler, award winning children’s book author as well as friend and supporter of Hope for Limpopo can now add another notch to her impressive ‘winning’ belt. Cristina recently attended the 2011 Florida Writers Association Annual Conference as a finalist in the Royal Palm Literary Awards competition. By the conclusion of the 3-day conference Cristina had been awarded First Place for her genre of unpublished Travel books. Congratulations, Cristina! We look forward to the first of your many published adult books. Cristina and her husband Joe have been longtime friends of VMS director Sue-Anne Cook and TVEP director Fiona Nicholson as well as sponsors to VMS students. To learn more about Cristina and her published children’s books please click here.

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

As we last reported, our much-anticipated 2012 Beetles arrived on Thursday, October 13th midst a flurry of media attention. Fathers and Sons of West Springfield, MA graciously offered to purchase the red Beetle so that much of the proceeds could be donated to Hope for Limpopo. Once again we must express our gratitude to Oprah, Volkswagen of America and Fathers and Sons Volkswagen dealership for assisting us in our efforts to aid the impoverished children of Vhutshilo Mountain School and the women and children survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence in the Limpopo Province. Although we are grateful for all of the recent publicity, we are anxious to refocus the attention on our South African friends and HFL supporters whose consistent assistance makes the existence of Hope for Limpopo possible.

And now the bad news. Unfortunately we’ve just learned from our friend Sue-Anne Cook, director of Vhutshilo Mountain School, that she is being forced to make preparations to downscale the school for next year. A newsletter from Suzi explaining the reasoning behind this drastic measure is forthcoming but suffice it to say that the South African Department of Education (DoE) has been obstructive and uncooperative when it comes to adequately educating and supporting these impoverished children. We will publish more detailed information very soon but please understand that Hope for Limpopo has no intention of relinquishing our own efforts to help Vhutshilo Mountain School and the children we have come to love as our own. Thanks to your never-ending support we will simply redouble our efforts.

The Cars Are Coming!

If you’ve been following us, then you know that in November, 2010 because of our involvement with Hope for Limpopo,Inc., we were chosen to be ‘Audience Guests’ on Oprah’s last gift-giving show. Beyond being showered with lavish gifts, most of which we either gave away or sold with the profits going to HFL, we met the most amazing people whose ‘goodness’ and ‘compassion’ astounded us. Last week we got the news that the long awaited arrival of our all-new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle was imminent. Today we are pleased to announce that the national 2012 Beetle delivery event coordinated by Volkswagen of America will occur on Thursday, October 13th. Coinciding with this event, Fathers & Sons of West Springfield, MA and Volkswagen of Northampton, MA will be presenting us with the keys to these fabulous vehicles. We are grateful to these two dealerships for their pledge to bring attention to Hope for Limpopo and the many needs of our impoverished friends in South Africa. Father’s & Sons has offered to purchase Nancy’s specially chosen red Beetle, proceeds of which will go to Hope for Limpopo; the check presentation will also occur on Thursday October 13th. Please feel free to contact us or the dealership directly if you are interested in owning and driving this fabulous piece of television history.

Tshilidzini Special School

Classroom for visually impaired children

Jenna Praschma, Sector Manager for TVEP’s Access to Justice and Trauma Services, brought us to the Tshilidzini Special School, located in the village of Shayandima. Tshildzini Special School, created in 1971, is a boarding school for hearing, visual and/or physically disabled children, many of whom are from impoverished families unable to afford specialized treatment. The school is currently at capacity with 483 learners.

While we were quite impressed by the well groomed grounds, dedicated staff and well behaved students, we were dismayed to hear that the school receives government support of only R15/day for each student which equals $1.81 per student per day. Keep in mind that this is a boarding school which not only houses the students but feeds them 3 meals a day AND educates them. Most of us in the US couldn’t buy breakfast for that amount of money.

The students and teachers alike welcomed us into the classrooms and demonstrated resourceful learning/teaching techniques with the limited supplies available to them. Mr. Luies, Deputy Principal, admitted that he has physical therapy equipment languishing in a storeroom for lack of qualified personnel to operate it. We witnessed visually impaired students pounding away on antiquated Braille typewriters and no specialized auditory equipment for the auditory impaired. Updated equipment and specialized professionals (OT/PT/SLP/TVI/O&M) are non-existent. School supplies are meager.

It came as no surprise to us that the school was unfamiliar with what various worldwide community service organizations such as the Peace Corps have to offer. The school personnel are stretched thin and simply have no time nor resources to access this information. Hope for Limpopo will make an effort to network with TSS but unfortunately we are also stretched thin at this time.

If you know of service organizations which might be willing to fund raise for TSS or if you have the capability to research grants and are able to complete the grant application then please contact us. Unfortunately we are unable to apply for these grants ourselves at this time but would be more than happy to assist you with the necessary information.

Sad News from VMS

 

Left to Right: Community Outreach Coordinator Khathu, Nancy,
Teacher Constance (K-1), Jo Ann, VMS Principle Florence 

Sadly, we just received news from Sue-Anne, Director of Vhutshilo Mountain School, informing us that our dear friend and colleague, Constance Muthivhi, has just suffered a serious debilitating stroke. Our latest news was that she has typical left side paralysis, slurred speech and the loss of sight in one eye. VMS is making every effort to continue to keep her on full salary since she is the sole support for her family. In the meantime, Sue-Anne is scrambling to provide adequate instructional supervision for her K-1 students. A huge “Thank you!” to an anonymous donor who has sent a donation specifically for Constance’s multiple needs.

South African Adventures and more

Forgive us for being so tardy in sharing our latest South African adventures. We returned with a full plate of new ideas, new needs, and new projects to complete. We are very excited to say that we will be doing a ‘soft launch’ of a new social networking project that Meryl and Laura from Verndale, a Boston full service digital agency, have been helping us to complete. Very exciting stuff which will be ready to preview in the next couple of months. We’ll keep you posted!

In the meantime, we’d like to share more of the 2011 trip experiences that we weren’t able to communicate from South Africa. Although the main road to the Vhutshilo Mountain School from Thathe Vendo (where we were staying) was washed out, we managed to travel the bumpy, dirt, back roads to school every day. We spent much of our time in teacher Constance’s K-1 and preschool teacher Dorah’s classes modeling lessons and assessing critical teaching needs. Teachers from the Indian Brook School in Plymouth, Massachusetts generously donated many of their personal teaching supplies which we put to immediate use in the classroom. Thanks to our generous Hope for Limpopo donors we were able to purchase additional instructional materials while in a distant South African city enabling us to round out specific lesson objectives. We were fortunate to have American teachers Amy and Tricia join us this trip for they pitched right in organizing lessons, teaching classes and training VMS teachers.  Read about teacher, Amy Baldwin, in VMS K-1 classroom.  It was such fun to see our own school materials on the walls of all three classrooms knowing that we left the VMS teachers comfortable using them in their instruction.

ZoZo Project

Thursday July 28th

One of our main goals was realized today. Jenna Praschma, Sector Manager for TVEP’s Access to Justice and Trauma Services, brought us to see the ZoZo Project or the Wendy House as it is sometimes called. Through the generosity of the Paul Newman Foundation, we were able to construct a small building that will serve as a combined waiting room/counseling center for young children and teenagers who have been physically and/or sexually abused and are awaiting their court appearance. The 'Wendy House' guarantees that these child-victims will have a safe area in which to wait rather than in a crowded common area with the perpetrator and his family/friends.

We were gratified to see this little wooden structure fully constructed awaiting electricity. Our next project will be to fence in a small yard ensuring the safety of the children. We’ve also asked Jenna to provide us with estimates for the necessary furniture and toys needed to complete this worthwhile project.

2011 South Africa Travels to Date

BLOG… 7-26-11

Today we focused on the monthly meeting of the VMS HIV/AIDS Women’s Support Group. Eleven women attended today’s meeting. Our goal was to discuss the viability of sustainable work, work which they are capable of performing and would enjoy. The outcome was positive and encouraging. A ‘Becky’s Buddies’ comfort doll project is in the making. Watch our website for more information.

BLOG.. 7-25-11

Saturday was a memorable day at VMS. Local children who are either on ARV meds or about to begin the medication are participants in the first-ever (in the continent!) youth ARV workshop facilitated by children. We are beyond thrilled to be witness to this history-making gathering. Saturday they were busy preparing a drama that they had collaboratively written and hope to share with surrounding villages in an effort to break the stigma of HIV. With help from the Scottish volunteers everyone broke into small groups to paint the backdrop scenery and practice lines. Laughter! Mutual Support! Team Spirit! A joy to watch. More information on the ARV workshop when we return to USA.

BLOG...7-22-11

We arrived safely with warm greetings from our SA friends. How wonderful to know that ‘smiles’ and ‘friendship’ has no language barriers. Unfortunately we have had great difficulty communicating with friends back home: international phone is not programmed correctly and internet is sketchy thus the delay in blogging. Hopefully all are bearing with us.

We’ve accomplished much in the week that we’ve been here but we still have much to do and a very short time left in Limpopo. Jo spent the first week with Fiona, the Director of TVEP, discussing important pending projects that are awaiting funding while Tricia and I have focused our efforts on Vhutshilo Mountain School.

Mr. Makwarela, Vice-Chairman of the VMS school board, took time out of his busy day to watch us model a K teaching lesson. We bought some much needed school supplies and have managed to model sample lessons in all of the classes.
We were a bit overwhelmed when entering the preschool class and 34 active preschoolers ages 2-5 years swarmed us! Darling children but as any teacher knows, it is very difficult to control 34 children in one class, much less 2-5 year olds with very few educational supplies at their disposal. Before the week was out we succeeded in organizing the entire preschool classroom which allowed the teacher to prepare her lessons more efficiently.

We were thrilled to learn that 10 Scottish university volunteers had paid R35 per day for housing at VMS. They have been assigned to work with CPC (Center for Positive Care) and the Jumbo Primary School while boarding at VMS. They are such willing participants and ready to help us with many spontaneous projects around the school during their free time.

There is so much more to share but time eludes us and the school children await!

WE’RE HEADING BACK!

We cannot believe that it has been 2 years since we last saw our dear (young and old) South African Friends. And even less believable is the fact that we will be returning to the Limpopo Province in little more than a week. Our flight leaves JFK on July 13th bound for Johannesburg then a quick hopper plane to Polokwane where we will get a driver to take us the last 2 hours to Thathe Vondo our final destination. A long journey to be sure, but the thoughts of seeing our Vhutshilo Mountain School children and friends, our Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Program colleagues and grateful recipients, and the brave HIV/AIDS afflicted women in the Women’s Support Group make us anxious for the journey to begin!

We have specific goals for this trip. We’ve gotten news that the Child Witness Room has already been constructed with the Paul Newman’s Own grant money we received thanks to our nomination from Bob. Hopefully, while there, we can determine what extra money we may need to raise for a nourishment garden, a toilet block, room furnishings and comfort toys. In the past, HFL has sent money for the Women’s Bead Project, Elisa’s new roof, Freda’s new home, the children’s quarterly ARV workshop for area children who are battling the ARV drug regime as well as a few smaller projects. It is our intent to try to see firsthand the fruits of YOUR labor while we are in the area. Thank you Meryl and Laura for giving us an idea of what we must capture with photographs and video.

Additionally, we are resolved to collaborate with both VMS and TVEP to determine the future role HFL can play towards ensuring the longevity of our charities. We hope to discuss the creation and viability of self sustaining programs like ‘Becky’s Buddies’; a goat project; a craft/dry agri group network; new curriculum for VMS; training programs for teachers/volunteers in Limpopo Province; new children’s workbooks to teach them about HIV; and an agriculture component to our efforts. Perhaps you get the gist that this trip will be a fact-finding/planning mission.

We are pleased to share this journey with 3 young travelers who have asked to accompany us. Tricia, a graduate of Stonehill College and master of many aptitudes, will travel with us the entire trip. Cristopher, a doctor at Boston Medical Center and Amy, a teacher in Plymouth, MA will join us for the last 10 days of our journey.

Wistfully we wish that each of you could also join us, knowing full well that you have each contributed something to make Hope for Limpopo possible. We are packing our suitcases with goods that many have sent especially for the children: more precious handmade dresses from 6 and 8 year old Julia and Sabrina and their grandmother Karen as well as some from Debbie and Jan; 50 warm knit caps from Julia and Sabrina’s great grandmother and her church knitting group; handmade T-shirt ‘baggies’ (shorts) as well as assorted items and books from Sarah, Catherine and Cristina; additional ‘pillowcase’ dresses from the Westfield High School sewing class; a gross of bracelets and bouncy balls from Pat and Tom; head scarves from Karen, Sarah and SalGal for the women who volunteer at VMS; numerous much-needed school supplies from the teachers at Indian Brook School. We continue to be amazed that each and every item was unsolicited, rather, given from the depths of their own hearts! Beyond the donation of material goods we had behind-the-scene folks like Matt and Select Design who donated the T-shirts for the ‘baggies’. Can you just visualize some little South African schoolboy running around wearing a pair of ‘Phish’ baggies? We owe a debt of gratitude to people like Sally, Gene, and others who donated material and pillowcases from which the dresses were made. Advance Mfg Co and their employees (especially Joe and Tom) are always graciously willing to box up necessary items for us….thank you. Of course, monetary considerations such as those just given by Pat M, Joe and Jan, Anthony and Norma are always appreciated. Beyond the tangible items, emotional support and encouragement from family and friends are priceless. Those of you who are longtime supporters but who have not been specifically mentioned in this blog will also be tenderly transported to South Africa in our hearts.

Please try to follow us on our (almost) month-long journey. We will make every attempt to find internet access along the way, however, know that we must travel great distances to make this possible so bear with us!

See you back in the states on August 9th!

Networking at SFF Annual Board Meeting

Last Thursday, May 5th, we were afforded a priceless opportunity to network with entrepreneurs from over 50 nonprofits ranging from the smallest grassroots effort to those with budgets nearing 3+ million dollars. The common denominator we all shared was the Segal Family Foundation (SFF) www.segalfamilyfoundation.org. Barry Segal, founding father and patriarch of SFF, himself a highly successful and renowned businessman, has had the vision and desire to benefit humanity by investing his wealth and resources in charitable organizations whose efforts are in keeping with his foundation’s mission. This mission is: “to find our niche where we can help deserving people and improve the quality of their life…perpetually. Our foundation tends to focus on Sub Saharan Africa where parts of the continent have not benefited from the modernization that has happened throughout the world. We would like to find areas where we can help, whether it be in education, jobs, economy, health, sports, or most important, birth control.”

In an effort to fulfill the SFF mission and their commitment, the SFF board of directors invited us to “learn, participate, and network” at a 12 hour annual working meeting with other invitees from all over the world who have varying charitable interests. It was a privilege to meet every like-minded person in attendance. We mingled and lunched with people who, like Barbara Bush of Global Health Corps www.ghcorps.org is mobilizing a youthful group of emerging leaders to Elizabeth Scharpf of Sustainable Health Enterprises www.SHEinnovates.com which jumpstarts sustainable businesses to improve the quality of life to Twesige Jackson Kaguri www.nyakaschool.org who authored the book, The Price of Stones, which explains his enormous efforts to build a school for AIDS orphans in his remote village in southwestern Uganda. No one in attendance was unapproachable and all of us were willing to share advice and experiences both positive and negative. This was “collaboration” at its best!

To say that this opportunity to network was a “valuable experience” for us would be a vast understatement. The knowledge in fundraising, economic development, health and community outreach that we gained from this meeting has increased our focus, confidence and knowledge base exponentially. It has caused us to redouble our efforts to ensure that the faith you, our donors and supporters, place in us makes a difference in the lives of those we serve.

We have repeatedly said that while financial support is a cornerstone to our success, the in-kind services, emotional encouragement and expertise of our supporters is every bit as important. This networking occasion was the opportunity we originally sought with our initial meeting with Barry, Dolly, Martin Segal and Andy Bryant. They did not disappoint us. The details and the contacts we now have as well as continued promised guidance from SFF are immeasurable and we will make every effort to use this information wisely. We are anxious to revisit the Limpopo Province community this July and prepare for our renewed efforts. Thank you for remaining HFL’s staunch supporters and “Stay Tuned!”

PEOPLE WE WANT YOU TO KNOW..

Many interesting people have come into our HFL lives over the past few months and we are eager to introduce them to you and share the impact they have had on our HFL lives.

This past January, Casey C. joined the Hope for Limpopo team working as our first college intern. He is a senior Business Management student at Westfield State University with a concentration in marketing and management. Casey brings many valuable skills to the table including a working knowledge of computers, web and social networking and a youthful approach to volunteerism and social service. In turn, we are providing him with course credits focusing on hands-on non-profit experience, knowledge and skills in time-management, effective communication, team collaboration, merchandising and marketing. Through his efforts we hope to see Casey launch HFL’s first online store in the next few weeks.

Other than our generous donors, Meryl P. and Laura V. may be considered as having the largest potential impact on the success of Hope for Limpopo, Inc. to date. Meryl and Laura are Social Media Campaign Specialists who work for Verndale, an award-winning full service digital agency (www.verndale.com) located in Boston, MA. Through Verndale, we have been given the opportunity to update our web presence and bring our viral marketing to a whole new level. Within the next few months we hope to introduce a unique opportunity for our supporters to become visible collaborators in HFL’s mission. We are beyond ‘adrenalized’ with the prospect that we will be inviting you all to become our true partners. Please watch for our site launch coming soon.

We have quickly learned that not all foundations are open to reviewing unsolicited requests and many require an ‘invitation’ to apply. A huge “thank you” goes out to Bob H. who recommended to the Paul Newman’s Own committee that Hope for Limpopo, Inc. be allowed to submit a grant application for a generous Paul Newman’s Own grant. Please know that we would gratefully acknowledge and unquestioningly accept any similar invitations for grant application submissions.

Of course no nonprofit could survive without generous financial donors such as Mr. Barry S., however, sometimes a significant opportunity accompanies the financial donation. We are pleased to have been invited to attend the annual meeting of his foundation on May 5th in NYC. We are looking forward to this valuable networking opportunity and for the chance to “learn, share, collaborate and act on the issues facing our projects in Africa”.

There are no words to express the gratitude we feel for the unimaginable opportunity Oprah and her staff gave us in order to further the HFL cause. Sadly, we are not allowed to acknowledge anyone related to the Oprah show with any “material goods”. Therefore, in honor of our special staffer friend Becky A, we have plans to begin a program called ‘Becky’s Buddies’ which will supply comfort dolls to our child abuse survivors. More on this later.

We are tempted to acknowledge the myriad of supporters who have reached out to make a difference in the lives of the women and children of the Limpopo Province of South Africa, but we fear that we would fail to recognize someone. Surely you know who you are and we hope you understand that you are a part of something very important and that we appreciate your efforts.

"Goodbye 2010"

First we must extend a heartfelt “Happy New Year!” to all of HFL’s ardent supporters and express our appreciation to all who have helped to make 2010 a most exciting and forward-thinking experience.

Because of your generous 2010 contributions, this year we were able to provide funding for a new roof for the Vhutshilo Mountain School addition as well as new roofing for the rondavel of a mother and her child who suffer from bronchial illnesses.

On October 1, 2010 the house keys were officially turned over to Freda who was the recipient of the HFL donation which helped to build her new house and allowed her to escape from a life of physical and sexual abuse. Masikhwa Tshilidzi, TVEP’s Access to Justice manager, graciously invited us to the ceremony and though we were unable to attend, we heard that HFL was given considerable credit and praise for the role we played in this life changing event. How proud our HFL donors must be to hear this happy news!

In November we were especially pleased to provide the funding which allowed a TVEP representative to accept an invitation to participate at the WHO/UNIFA conference in Bangkok, Thailand. This ‘invitation only’ meeting focused on universal access to female condoms and was considered quite significant to the TVEP organization since an estimated 650 South African women die each day from preventable AIDS. This meeting was an important human rights step for all South African women and for the recognition of TVEP on an international level.

2010 saw the addition of monthly sponsors for 7 Vhutshilo Mountain School children. Sponsorship provides a child with educational costs, school supplies, 2 nutritious meals per day, transport to and from school, clothing and medical support. We were especially happy to see that groups of friends/workers have begun to band together to support a needy child. In this particularly difficult economic time, a ‘group’ donation removes the burden of a monthly $50 fee from the shoulders of one donor and allows several friends to participate for the benefit of a common child.

We ended 2010 on a high note with the gracious donation of 30 precious dresses created and donated by Karen Callini and her 2 grandaughters, Julia and Sabrina. The local press featured this family on their front page as an example of heartfelt holiday giving. Hope for Limpopo’s optimistic expectation has always been that ‘givers’ would find some way to be a part of HFL and we would be bonded together in ‘giving’. We’ve always believed that most people want to help whether it is with a monetary donation, a kind word, an action, or simple support for what we do. We open our arms to everything. This was a perfect example of what we hope for…something small that grows. As a result of this article we now have several eager people who wish to join efforts in making ‘baggies with pockets’ for our underprivileged VMS boys. Please consider taking the time to view the article. The story is truly inspirational!

And how can we recap 2010 without mentioning our invitation to be recognized by Oprah as Inspirational Audience Guests on her last Oprah’s favorite things gift-giving show? The experience was both humbling and revolutionary. The event has catapulted us into uncharted waters but we continue to keep our HFL goals foremost in our minds. We’ll continue to reveal our strategy and plans for many of the gifts as we progress. Thank you to the many people who have congratulated us and we can only say, “Stay tuned!”

We’re quite excited to reveal that Verndale, a full-service digital agency out of Boston, has offered to help us revamp our website and introduce us to social networking skills allowing us to use our website to its full advantage. Watch for changes in 2011 and check out Verndale’s link which will soon be added to our Favorite Links page.

Speaking of our favorite links, we’ve recently added friend and award winning author Cristina Kessler’s link to our Favorite Links page. We are grateful for her support and friendship. Her children’s books about Africa have no equal!

In our final “Good-bye” to 2010 we must remind you that 99.96% of the money donated to HFL this year has gone straight to our South African charities. We expect to continue this tradition in 2011. Thank you All!