This is amazing news. For the last two months, we have been unable to speak freely about the work we’ve been doing behind the scenes with our US partner, Stepwise, and our Kenyan NGO partners, Sisters Arise Project, to take over the guardianship of the 34 girls so we could move them into a more suitable home. Today, it is done.

We have been unable to speak openly about this until now. But you should know that the money you have donated in the past few weeks has already been put to work. We have secured a new temporary location for the girls and have paid for four months rent in advance.

I Leave For Kenya On Thursday

The timing of this news could not be better. Although we had some concern about how the volcanic activity in Iceland might affect this trip, that now appears to be mitigated. When I arrive in Kenya, my main focus will now be:

• preparing the new facility
• purchasing the needed supplies
• and moving the girls into the their new temporary home.

This signals a whole new chapter for these girls’ lives. And we could not be more thrilled. You will now begin to see more frequent updates about exactly what we’re doing and exactly why your funds are needed and where they are going.

Thank you all for your support. My heart is filled with joy right now!

I complained to a friend that it’s frustrating not to have the choice to get my children vaccinated.  She stopped me in my tracks when she thought out loud, “I wonder how the Moms in Africa feel when they can’t get vaccines or even basic necessities for their kids?”

Whoa.

I did a little research and found that:

• In Africa, nearly 1 in 5 kids still die of diarrhea.

• Polio, almost unheard of in my corner of the world, infected approximately 1,500 people in Africa in 2004.

• An estimated 300,000 children die of pneumonia each year in Africa.

My friend was right.  We have healthy children and are downright spoiled with our access to immediate medical care.  While conditions and medical care are improving in Africa, there is still such a long way to go.  My frustration over vaccines and the flu are just the tiniest taste of the fear and helplessness felt by Moms in other parts of the world.  I hope we can learn to use the frustrations to urge us on to action to make things better, everywhere.

Stepwise, a not for profit organization working to provide basic needs for East Africa’s youth, is throwing a fund raiser at the Daniel Cooney Fine Art gallery in Manhattan to raise funds for Universal Children’s Centre in Mombasa, Kenya.

WHY??

Conditions at Universal are par for the course in East Africa: no running water, no steady food source, and an utter lack of resources for both basic necessities and education. For instance, the children may go days without food, and live off only black tea. At school, there are no desks, no proper textbooks, no supplies, and not nearly enough room for all eight classes (170+ children) being taught in the same unbelievably cramped space.

Only two teachers are full-time at Universal (for ALL 170+ children), and get paid nothing for their work. One teacher has four children, and the other has six children of their own, all of whom suffer just as much as the orphans. Universal depends on volunteers to assist these full-timers in teaching the children, but these volunteers change week to week, and obviously their teaching skills vary. Thus, the children’s education greatly suffers.

So if you’re in the NY area, come out and help us raise funds for these children while enjoying the sounds of the Drum Cafe, a world-renown group of African drummers who work with the best local artists and the finest international performers.  The Drum Cafe will provide us with inspiring and fun interactive performances that cannot be missed!

Price: $50 advance purchase, $75 at the door *ask about student rates*
Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Time: 7:00pm – 11:00pm

Location:
Daniel Cooney Fine Art
511 West 25th Street, #506
New York, NY

Contact: sallyh@stepwise.org
www.stepwise.org
www.facebook.com/stepwise
www.twitter.com/stepwise

 

 

 

One trip to Malawi Africa and a visit to an orphanage in 2003 by a young woman has resulted in over 100 TONS of  “unwanted” goods being delivered to over 1000 schools and 120 community based organizations. 

When I hear stories like this I am always in awe.  It never ceases to amaze me how one woman with passion can make such an incredible difference in so many lives.

In 2003, Melissa Kushner, visited Malawi while working for the United Nations.  One of her first stops was “a remarkable but under-funded orphanage and community center that serves almost 1,000 children.” 

Like many countries in Africa, Malawi’s orphans are desperately in need of such basic resources as clothing and educational resources including paper and pencils.  Melissa returned from her trip and started calling her friends who worked at children’s toy stores to see if they had excess merchandise.  Her first shipment to the orphanage was almost 2 tons of clothing and toys.

And so began an effort that has grown into the non-profit organization:  Goods For Good,   “Making progress out of excess“.  According to Melissa, ” Our slogan is straightforward because our mission is straightforward.  We collect surplus goods for targeted distribution to vulnerable children in Africa.”  Goods for Good relies on donations from companies who have excess items, many  of which were just “gathering dust in warehouses or were slated to be destroyed”.

What a brilliant yet simple idea.  Another one of those “why didn’t I think of that?”  kind of stories.  Companies have excess and unwanted goods that can make a huge difference in the lives of so many in such places like Kenya, where Mothers Fighting For Others is helping orphans and refugees or Malawi.

Next week our founder, Rocky, is heading back to Kenya with school supplies and hugs for our precious girls.  And, that makes me wonder, if Rocky and Melissa both made one trip to an orphanage in Africa and came back with a vision, a passion and ultimately created non-profit efforts to help, what would happen if you, I and our friends visited these orphanages and met the children? 

My favorite quote from Margaret Mead sums it up perfectly:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

 

We’ve got some exciting news! GVN Foundation has decided to support Mothers Fighting For Others through their largest fundraiser ‘Eat So They Can!’

Eat So They Can is a global fundraising initiative that is sponsored by the Global Volunteer Network, and the GVN Foundation. This year, hosts around the world will share a meal with friends and raise money, and hosts will have the option of donating the funds they raise to Mothers Fighting For Others.  70% percentage of the proceeds will go directly to MFFO!!!  We will head back to Kenya next year and help the amazing people we met at the IDP camps back in April. I am so excited!

We’ve decided to make this a Kids Project. Inspired to make a difference, our own kids have decided to start their own project, Brothers Fighting for Others. Working directly under Mothers Fighting For Others, they will host their own party and invite the kids from the neighborhood to their ‘Eat So They Can’ fundraiser.

Let’s do something different with this and get our kids involved as well! What a great way to teach our kids about the world around us! Get them involved and let them get excited about helping people and making a difference!

It’s really up to you and your kids on what kind of party you would like to have. Your event can be a pancake breakfast, pizza party, or even an ice cream party… how cool would that be?  Party’s around the globe will be happening during the weekend of the 17th and 18th of October, 2009.

How this all works:

1. Sign up as a host by following this link: http://www.eatsotheycan.org/getinvolved/signup.php

2. Organize your event the weekend of October 17-18

3. Invite your friends and ALL their kids!!

4. Collect donations from your friends and submit these to GVN Foundation here:    http://www.eatsotheycan.org/getinvolved/donate_mffo.php

*Make sure you write ‘Eat So They Can-MFFO’ in the memo so we can tally how much we have raised!!!

Questions? Leave a comment and let me know what’s on your mind or contact the Eat So They Can host mentor, Eliza, at http://www.eatsotheycan.org/contact/

Don’t forget to spread the news as well! Go to your Facebook page and Twitter streams as well and get your friends kids involved as well! Let’s see how many Kids Party’s we can organize!

Let’s get moving!!

In my 5 year old world, her journey created an unforgettable adventure.  For my sister and I were placed in the care of two missionary families. They did their best to amuse us and keep us active while my mom undertook a dangerous humanitarian project.

Her trip was the culmination of a program named Operation Dorcas which derived it’s inspiration from a widow lady who sewed clothes for women and orphans in distress in Biblical times.  The difference of this modern day Dorcas operation in the early 1970′s expanded the outreach to men and women who labored long hours on treadle style sewing machines under Mom’s direction to make clothing for the victims of the Biafran war.  It was her job to teach them a trade and help these individuals who were refugees to get back on their feet by making garments for others.

It was only later, that I would hear of the journey my mother took in the belly of the beast; an apt name for a cargo plane stripped of essential elements, such as seats.

I was told of how she carried her own chair which was braced by the relief items that the plane was carrying to war torn Biafra in the eastern region of Nigeria.  Brutal scenes of devastation and starvation unfolded as people rushed to the landing strip when the plane landed to unload the clothing, food and relief supplies.  These were scenes which she would never forget  in the aftermath of the horrific war that almost divided the most populous nation on the African continent.

But the ongoing tragedy of our world today is that every day around the world, someone is still being devastated by war.  Today, there are more wars and more suffering human beings than at any other time in history.  And the aftermath of this reality, which displaces a vast sea of humanity with searing physical and emotional scars, still requires that people somehow learn anew the work of re-building a life.

So, when I heard about a fellow real estate agent, Sue Prins from Grand Rapids who went to South Africa to teach people how to sew and make a living through the use of treadle machines, my interest was piqued.  For it reminded me of the work my Mom was involved with in her 30′s.

This project named Vox Threads is using the treadle machine to fight another form of war…a war caused by the devastation of poverty and HIV AIDS which has left so many in this impoverished South African community without any means of livelihood.

Sue  & her daughter Ginger travelled to Kliptown, South Africa to give people the gift of life.  The gift of the tools through which to build a skill to knit together a new framework of provision to sustain themselves and their families.   This reminds me that many of the solutions that our world needs today are not new nor do they need to be to work.

The solutions we need require things like persistence, patience, generosity, perseverance, common sense and compassion.  These are ingredients which all of us have the capacity to give in some measure.

It can be as simple as keeping two little girls distracted and happy while their Mom was on a mission in Biafra, or donating to an organization like Vox Threads which helps people mend their lives again.  Or, you can simply GO…as Rocky Turner, the founder of Mothers Fighting For Others is to the little girls at St. Monica’s Children’s Home where she will work alongside others who are caring for these incredible young women.

The treadle machine symbolizes how our feet can be in motion to make something of value anywhere we are or choose to go. When one uses a treadle sewing machine, the motion of the feet creates the power to drive the motor which moves the sewing needle forward.  A metaphor for the path of life isn’t it? It’s about walking the walk, not simply talking the talk.  Where will you choose to put your feet to work today?

Picture courtesy of aussiegall on flickr

The first time I visited St. Monica’s I felt God move in my life…I felt the rumblings from the soles of my feet… as though all the journeys, heartache, and the lessons and wisdom I gained over the years had brought me to this place so God could ask me one question…”What will you do HERE with what I’ve given you?”  The Dalai Lama once said,  “Great love and great achievements involve great risk.”  There is no doubt this is true.  Love changes what you see.

It was “Big Joyce” who was the first to write me a letter during my visit.  It wasn’t like she wrote me a novel filled with revolutionary rhetoric about anything particular.  It was actually just a handful of sentences asking me how I was and that she loved me.  Below was a crayon drawing of flowers and stars.  When I stopped to think about this interaction, I realized the depth of this moment.  This beautiful child who comes from a place of immense darkness and turmoil wants to know how my day was going and to tell me hello.  I once heard someone say that somewhere in the writing of a letter your soul is revealed.  Over the next week, every letter I received seemed the same, but all seemed to tell me something of greater importance.   These children have so much love to give and not many opportunities to give it.  The culture of Africa is harsh, especially when it comes to matters of the heart, and all these girls wanted to do was love someone with such great abandon and connection that all the darkness in their world wouldn’t seem so bad.

I believe everyone at some point in their life feels the rumblings in their feet giving them an opportunity to open their hearts to moments of such rich possibility.  Erwin McManus once said, “We are always just one choice from a different life.  At our worst, good is only one decision away.”  Which decision did you make today?  What decision will you make tomorrow?  Or will you choose to ignore the rumblings in your feet and put aside the rich possibilities around you?  All you need to know to move forward and seize divine moments is right in front of you. Don’t sleep through a revolution.

For these are the people that are embedded into our being.

They make up the emotional DNA of who we are. We are… fill in the blank, because of them. They could be torn family members, old friends, ex loves, or simply children from a far off place. You know who they are. And they know you too. Because when people move you to the core like this, shake you from your being, they are truly special. You know, without a shadow of a doubt, they will always be with you, even when you can’t be with them.

They are extraordinary.

You allowed them to enter your heart. You love them deeply and you can’t forget them, even when it hurts too much. These are the people that we hold dear to our hearts. The core shakers. The ones that move us, love us, and can even inspire us to be better people.

This post may not make sense to some of you. Maybe, you’ve never been shaken to the core. Or maybe, it’s simply one o’clock in the morning, and I’m exhausted. Who knows. I’ve been inspired to write tonight about the core shakers in my life. And the best part of all, I believe they know who they are.

Here are just some of mine…

]]> http://www.mothersfightingforothers.com/shaken/feed/ 2 http://www.mothersfightingforothers.com/the-joy-of-pencils-mffo-in-kenya/ http://www.mothersfightingforothers.com/the-joy-of-pencils-mffo-in-kenya/#comments Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:02:36 +0000 HeadMutha http://www.mothersfightingforothers.com/?p=1134 We take so much for granted.

A recorded Skype conversation with my husband, Jeff Turner. I’m currently in Kenya with Juli, Ashley  and Tonja. The first thing we did when we got off of the plane was visit several Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.  In this audio, Jeff asks me about the reactions of the children to receiving something we take for granted… pencils.

More photos from the IDP Camps: