International Volunteer Day 5 December 2010

Nabuur Local Representatives say THANK YOU!

Thank you Mary!

Dear Mary,

Greetings to you. As we celeblate the international volunteer day for the year 2010. Teachers,pupils and non-teaching staff of Notre Dame High School here in Uganda wish to say THANK YOU for the caring and concern you have shown ever since we got into contact with you. Not only Notre Dame School,here in Uganda has benefoited,by the whole of Uganda and the world at large. May the Good Lord continue enebling you to continue helping humanity.

Yours

CHRISTOPHER WAMALAFOR /MASAKA VILLAGENOTRE DAME HIGH SCHOOL

Volunteers who made a special contribution

Geoff Brown 

Found an organisation in the UK who agreed to donate typewriters and sewing machines to Help Liberia Foundation Community School (Nabuur Buchanan), and another group who agreed to provide free shipping by including them items in the container they are sending to Liberia later this year. He also spent a lot of time and effort arranging for the machines to be transported from the donor to the group that will ship them. Finding organisations that will donate things is relatively easy, but getting them shipped to the relevant country is usually very hard! So Geoff's success was very much appreciated by me as Buchanan facilitator, also by Paul the LR.

Ken Hargesheimer For providing information about organic no-till agriculture and bucket drip irrigation which can increase crop yields to many villages, including sending them free DVDs. Provided farmers are willing to try new approaches, these are things that they can do for themselves with no (or very little) outside money required. So this really fits in with Nabuur's aim to be a place to solve local issues by sharing information. 

Volunteers who made a special contribution

Jennifer Wells For keeping Nabuur alive and orienting new Local Representatives through Nabuur, and for developing a new vision and guidelines for Nabuur.

Maria Zandt

For organising the Tweet A Net online fundraising event to raise money to buy mosquito nets for children in  Wakitaka, Jinja Central and Mawoito villages. 

Marina Klimi For creating professional websites for several villages free of charge.

Nonhlanhla DubeFor developing a new governance structure and a new vision for Nabuur, and for creating contacts with the capacity building organisation SIFE in Kenya to train Local Representatives.

Pelle Aardema, Romina Oliverio, Denis Marsha, Rolf KleefFor keeping Nabuur running and acting as the Nabuur board of directors.

HOPE Children’s Foundation Africa says thank you Cathy!

HCFA Started in September 2009 which was soon registered on Nabuur.com as Kawempe Village and after the study on how people can help behind their computers online, an idea was development to post a task for the a Facilitator (Online Volunteer). It didn’t take too long until Cathy applied to help in the position and was highly welcomed on the Board! By the founders. Later ideas on the projects which we wanted to implement for our village were developed and discussed accordingly.

Cathy Joined HCFA after our first distributions of US $380 in kind/items to the community. Next projects that she helped us in finding support from various donors including her family/friends and community in Petawawa were:

• 7 Goats (for needy children)• New HCFA website• Text books (from we have received a

number of more than 100 books from donors e.g Darien Book Aid, International Books Project, International Aids Alliance among others)

HOPE Children’s Foundation Africa says thank you Cathy!

• School Linking (helped our local School Star Light Academy in getting partner classes from USA through Books As Bridges Program “Part of the International Books Project)

• Monetary Donations (this helped us in running various HCFA programs including ; Behavioural Change Clubs, Post Test Clubs, Contributions to School feeding programs and also in running HCFA’s facilities in general)

• Created and made connections on various websites that helped us in getting International Volunteers coming to help us onsite in Uganda.

• With her volunteer coordination and management skills, we all learnt together a lot which helped (Kennedy Ochieng , the HCFA Vice-chairman) in starting a wonderful non-profit organisation ( www.hbvolunteeruganda.yolasite.com) that places and sends international volunteers to more than 30 charities in the needy communities of Uganda.

HOPE Children’s Foundation Africa says thank you Cathy!

With Cathy’s continuing support, we have hope that HCFA will be established in Canada in 2011 as a Non-profit Organisation with Tax Deduction which will encourage more people to join and support our community actions on HIV/Aids and the children of Africa.

So HCFA appreciates the support that Cathy (who has now become a family to us!) provided and is providing towards its projects and together we are very proud for them being on our team.

We also extend our sincere thanks to Nabuur for giving us a chance to meet these wonderful people who are very caring about our community’s needs.

Thank you very much, Ochieng Kennedy (Vice-chairman HCFA)

http://www.nabuur.com/en/village/kawempe

Tremendous change in Nambalayi Village

Ever since this village was registered around March this year, I as a local representative have gone through both deserving and undeserving circumstances, especially in a village where traditional belief plays 80% role. Sometimes I may be compelled to give up with this village but then a second thought sometimes is a better oblige. This village at the moment has made a tremendous change right from the start of this year to date.

To show the seriousness that I have to assist this village together with my global neighbours, the USAID made a wonderful support through the ministry of public health and sanitation by offering a few things like a safe water vessel, free nets, water treatment drug and some condoms.

Through that I am confident that my village will now get good and safe drinking water, sleep under the net fully treated to keep off mosquitoes which are the most root cause of malaria and lastly the condoms for safe sex.

Tremendous change in Nambalayi Village

I am appealing to all the good neighbours who have since showed interest in this village not to give up. Sometimes in August this year, there was a heavy tradition performed and that was circumcision. I had a very difficult time convincing parents and children to consider going to hospital instead of practicing a most dangerous local way of circumcision, riding my bicycle, crossing through the village, however I am happy that I managed a half way and things went on very well.The touchiest issue I have now is, to start up an early childhood education classes. Already I have identified a place I can put up two classrooms as a start. One may be able to check the attached to see few children playing in that field.

As I have said before, two qualified teachers are very much willing to ensure children of this village access education, so that they can grow up as educated people, through that, the village will be transformed greatly and future will be bright. I am hoping this and other projects will succeed too.Thanks a lot Nabuur.com for coming up with this kind of idea as it has made many people know each other, rehabilitate the unfortunate ones and many more.Thanking you in advance.

Geoffrey Mutali Wafula – Local representative (Nambalayi Village). http://www.nabuur.com/fr/village/nambalayi

Nabuur Volunteers Transform Bweyogerere Village The Zero Waste Campaign project in Bweyogerere village has come back to life after more than a year of silence. This project aims at improving the waste management practices of those living in Bweyogerere village in Uganda by encouraging composting, recycling and proper waste disposal. A major reason for stalling the project has been due to lack of resources, but several efforts by volunteers that supported the project behind the scenes continue to help edge the village ever closer to the much-required resources.Those working for the clean-up project owe sincere thanks to students from the World Partnership School, namely Frederike Sikkema and Jitske Wiersma, who volunteered to complete the design of Zero Waste Campaign materials and guidelines. These guidelines will be useful in assisting the youth to promote their programme, work through schools and manage toxic and wet wastes.

The guidelines include a well laid out drama skit, a game, the use of posters, waste recycling competition through art creation, a schematic lay out of an incinerator and a public toilet design. This is an incredible resource and NICRAD will do everything possible to ensure the guidelines are implemented to benefit the communities of Bweyogerere village.

Nabuur Volunteers Transform Bweyogerere Village Next, a project titled “Bweyogerere Youth Sports and Environment Resource Center” was submitted as a response to the Game Changers competitions (more details can be found at http://bit.ly/hZNxFT ). The build-up of this project was only possible with support from Carolyn DV, who worked behind the scenes to review several proposal pieces and a budget. Game Changers has now invited us to participate in the second round of the competition by answering a set of questions. The deadline for submission will be on December 3, 2010. The final results of this stage will be announced at the end of December.

Finally, the Zero Waste Project was successfully submitted to Global Giving after satisfying the due diligence requirements. The build-up of this project was only possible with support from volunteers like Carolyn DV, Chris Martin, Vijai Singh and Sonia Majanovic. The news of approval for the project paved the way for us to participate in the December Open Challenge (November 29 - December 22) and excited the team in Bweyogerere. Currently, the community is looking for potential supporters of the project to help in fundraising. If a minimum of $4,000 is raised by 50 or more donors, the project will maintain a permanent spot on the Global Giving website until the fundraising target of US$46,418 is met. This would make a big difference to the entire community in Kira town council. More volunteers and support are always welcome, as they have meant so much to the project thus far. To view and support the project and spread the word, please visit the leader board at http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/zero-waste-management-for-20000-low-income-dwellers/.

My courage was uplifted after knocking at the doors of three impressive volunteers

As a matter of fact, where the world is going to celebrate the volunteer day there I also want to raise my voice about the hidden personalities with visible performances who helped me a lot to modify the tired lives of my backward community.

When I was inexperienced, I was whirling in difficulties, I was facing the music, I was losing my courage & was thinking to surrender in front of hazy, problematic & hard conditions which were shaking hands & hugging with me every now & then in my new journey of spreading education & specifically where I was focusing on females education.

My courage was uplifted after knocking at the doors of three impressive volunteers

All of a sudden I visited Nabuur.com & read about free support. My first visit on this website really persuaded me to gain help from volunteers & bring positive, constructive & successive change in my society. My self confidence got raised, my faith for achieving goals became stronger & my courage was uplifted after knocking the doors of three impressive volunteers who helped me a lot to change from the worst to the best.

These all three volunteers who guided me through their valuable guidance on the channel of Nabuur.com. They're Ms. Jennifer Wells, Ms. Mary Smith & Ms. Zandt Maria.

I appreciate their impressive hard work, valuable guidance, comprehensive devotion, through dedication, kind behavior & optimistic opinion. Their appearance on net means, their presence in needy communities. I, therefore, nominate them for international volunteer day & wish them all the best for the golden crown of the best volunteer.

Best regards,Adnan Khan, Local Representative Pakistan

PATMOS VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTIONS FOR 2010 The Patmos junior school project is an institute of basic learning registered with the ministry of Gender, sports, culture and social services. The project has one site: Mathare Valley on the juja road, Nairobi Kenya, PJSP has enrolled 84 children who are undertaking primary education. The children are aged from 3 to 11 years. Two sections are; pre-school i.e baby class, nursery and pre-unit with primary school from standard 1 to 5. The PJSP offers lunch to all children as this was the basis upon which the project was found.

NABUUR VOLUNTEERS

The Patmos Junior School project feels, privileged for having been chosen by our dear Nabuur online volunteers .The PJSP is committed to God , to children and other stakeholders to offer not only education which will ensure a good future for this generation but education with internal perspective. It started from a feeding program for Sunday school children in a local church to a learning institution that is realizing some progress .This concern has not only come from the local people’s inspiration but it has touched the hearts of people globally who value humanity at heart.

PATMOS VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTIONS FOR 2010 Our continual growth has been informed by continued research on the global trends influencing the social and human value . Nabuur Volunteers have been on the fore front. Let me explore through them.

Romina: she is the first one I had contact with in 2007; she managed to feature all the information about Mathare on the site since I did not know how the site works .she kept updating me about the changes and developments Nabuur was bringing about. She was the first neighbour of our village. She carried on actively until she made me know Maria Zandit. We still honour and recognize her for the role she played and what she continues to do to keep us updated on any upcoming in the Nabuur cycyle. We cherish her so much.

Marina Klime: although I have not seen her photo but she has played a very significant role in making PJSP known to the globe Marina has remained positive for any request concerning the website. She has also helped in giving us donors links where we have send proposals although they have not been favoured. Marina’s works have brought in innovative changes to the project through the school website. We cherish her so much for this good work .May God bless her.

PATMOS VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTION FOR 2010 Shaun Halbert and Carol: Suddenly, I read from a man and his wife who have not only heard about Mathare’s slum but have visited Mathare and have witnessed the object poverty that prevails in Mathare. Shaun and his wife have all along been touched about the appealing conditions in Mathare. They have been moved with a heart of concern particularly towards children and mothers. If you watched the video he posted on the Nabuur site you too must have been touched as life in Mathare is worthy to be lived by a wild beast but not man created in God’s image and likeness. Shaun and his wife have all along been positive and motivated in bringing about positive changes in Mathare starting with children and mothers. Through his inspirations, guidance and inspirations, we have gone a milestone, we have managed to register the school as a CBO, and we have opened the school account, we are keeping the school’s financial records as donor’s demand. I believe he has made friends on his side to know about the appealing situation in Mathare slums. Shaun and Carol have been working together in sending a lot of proposals in various charitable organizations world wide including the local ones in Kenya. They insist in following up with those that have not send back their replies. They hope they are still giving it a consideration. Shaun has acknowledge in to make a maize farming project successful as he considers this as a start of the way to achieve the rests of the tasks. Indeed a long journey has to start with a single step. Shaun is not only a friend and a volunteer but also a concerned father to these children. He is indeed a stronghold to Patmos Junior School. We cherish his efforts and wish him a great success. I guess his dream is to see Patmos rising to a big project which can help the helpless generation. God crown his efforts with tremendous success.

PATMOS VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTION FOR 2010 Virginia Ellsworth: A mother’s heart, a caring attitude and indeed a spirit of concern has been seen from Virginia’s action. She is the first volunteer to initiate a practical project for the children on the school. She stepped in vividly with the concern of sponsorship. She understands that schooling is not only sitting and listening to the teacher but that a child needs learning materials and other necessary requirements. She brought in the concept of goat rearing that can cater for the child’s school requirements. The project started with three goats of which two are now expectant. This has influenced another Nabuur neighbor to contribute for the forth goat. She stills follows up the concerns of the goat project and we are expecting a multiplication of goats in the near future.

We love and cherish Virginia for she is now a true mother for the children at Patmos Junior School. May God crown her efforts with tremendous success.

PATMOS VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTION FOR 2010 Maria Zandt: the ushering in of Maria Zandt has brought innovative changes in Mathare. Having been introduced to me by Romina, she started by encouraging exchange programs with schools in our reach: The school I have found favour with is Kilele junior school in Komarock with John as the local representative. We have indeed exchanged ideas materials and words of encouragement from one another which have helped us forge ahead. It is Maria we had the first chat with by brain storming on a number of issues that could be considered in helping meet the project’s demands. We opted for maize farming which finally has been considered by all our online volunteers as an income generating project to start with in helping meet the school feeding program. Zandt has been an adviser and encouragement to us and indeed she has brought in progressive changes to our school project. With Zandt, she introduced me to Maria Klime. We love and cherish Zandt so much. She is a pillar in our school project.

John Keya: John is a local representative of Komarock. Since we knew one another, John has been a true partner and friend. Being in the same field, and both of us being in Nairobi, John understands vividly how Mathare slum is. He knows the poverty facing the dwellers of this slum and how children turn out to be thugs in the city corridors of Nairobi. He understands that most evil atrocities are groomed in Mathare. John has practically contributed towards the feeding program of our school and has kept me encouraged in helping the vulnerable children. He is an inspiration and encouragement to me.May God blesses him.

PATMOS VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTION FOR 2010 Other neighbors / volunteers who have shown their participation in Mathare, include:

Virjai Singh, who really contemplated on land in the beginning of this year,

Mary Smith, whose ideas have helped me a lot, she too has provided me with links which I am trying to use in securing more help

Sharon Hudson, Who has helped to link me with friends both in the USA and locally.

Pamella Williams; who joined us recently but she is still exploring on our tasks and make her participation

Ken: is helping in the farming knowledge/technique that is really going to help in our venture for farming just to mention a few.

Kilele Junior School Kids say Thank You!I want to specifically single our one volunteer MARIA ZANDT who has been very instrumental in helping Komarok village in particular.

Under Komarok village, we have a school. KILELE JUNIOR SCHOOL Maria has single handedly gone out of her busy schedule to help us  come up with our own website. www.kilelejuniorschool.yolasite.com. She took time out of her busy study schedule to working round the clock and see to it that the website is a success. from this website, we have been able to eastablish links with potential school partners and sponsor and I do know that something good is in the offing through our site.

The fist production is in German Language and already in circulation targeting possible German donors/Sponsors.Through Her, We hope to get a volunteer who will translate the German version into English so that we can cast our net wide

Kilele Junior School Kids say Thank You!Maria has also been able to help get sponsor to three children in Kilele. These children are: Katrina Alek, Dillan Bitange and Grace Acholla. The donor send money to cater for their school fees, school uniforms and feedingVolunteer Marie has also linked us Nonhlanhla, a volunteer who is working hard to link local reps with SIFE, an organization that helped educate local reps on how well to manage our projects. Maria has also been helpful to me, the founder and local Rep Komarok. by way of helping me learn tips on how to budget the funding we det and further trained me a little on writing a  project proposal

Finally allow me to thank the Nabuur staff for making it possible for us to get volunteers such as Maria. You are doing a commendable job.Many ThanksJohn KeyaLocal Rep, Komarok Villagehttp://www.nabuur.com/en/village/komarok

Grapevine school says thank you

Nabuur has for the last one year made us proud. Our project is 1 year old, but we have gotten lots of support from our member in terms of ideas, contacts of various agencies that can help us and many more. We have been inspired due to the compliments we get fro nabuur neighbors.Our contribution however little is being recognized.I have attached photos of our teachers and children,parents and the registration certificate as part of the progress we have made so far.

Nabuur has also linked us to other similar projects locally which we did not know and we are able to learn from some of them.It has also exposed our project to potential donors for support.We are very grateful for that.

I TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SAY A BIG THANK YOU TO THE NABUUR STAFF AND MEMBERS. http://www.nabuur.com/nl/village/sewage

Thanks for organising the Nabuur Camp in Amsterdam

The first Nabuur Camp took place in February 2010 in Amsterdam. Various volunteers worked hard on the redesign of Nabuur and a new governance structure.

Special thanks to Pelle, Rolf and Siegfried who organised the camp!

It is a great job done by volunteers across the word and it’s of great importance to recognise the volunteers. Being a volunteer is not a lesson that you go to class and attend to, it is just a heart to feel for others.

Me personally wherever I go, I don’t leave the work of volunteering behind because I love to treat my friend the way I wish to be treated.

I used to be the village representative of Kakabada Women Development in Rukungiri District but even when I shifted to Kampala I am representing the Courageous Ladies in Development.

Being a volunteer has helped me so much as in to learn how to treat different people and it has helped me as an individual learn different behaviours and how to live and fit in a community.

 

I am ready to join other volunteers to celebrate the day.

Thank you,

 

Susan Ahereza

http://www.nabuur.com/en/village/kakabada

THANK YOU !THANK YOU !