Our Projects: Progress / Results

For the children living at Mitaboni Special Unit Project (MSUP), being able to attend a government school plays a key role in their physical and mental development. Not only are they learning basic education, but attending school also gives them the opportunity to play with their peers and gives their self-confidence a much-needed boost. Education is a key factor in breaking the cycle of poverty. As a result of attending school, these 100 children will be better positioned to contribute to their family and help improve their communities.

"Our plan to clothe the children was very successful! They were shining like stars. The children were extremely happy and their teachers, caretakers and also the entire management. In fact you portrayed a very good gesture in Kenya and everybody thanked you so much."

~ Jonathan Ndambuki, a marathon winner and avid supporter of MSUP

Dominic Balama, Executive Director of TUCET, tells GO that he believes there are at least 1200 orphans and children living on the streets in his small town of Arusha. His mission in life is to help every orphan who needs a home. Child by child, the GO Community is helping Dominic improve the lives of so many, reassuring them that someone cares about them.

With GO's initial disbursement of $16,899 towards the GIMME SHELTER project, the GO Community has been able to improve the lives of close to 100 children at Tuseme often living on the brink of life. TUCET accomplishments include:

• Providing a home and a safe environment where children can sleep and play.
• Cultivating a vegetable garden and poultry pen that now provides the children with healthy food.
• Paying government school fees for the children and supplying them with the required uniforms, shoes and school materials.
• Helping orphans claim their inheritance by paying their legal fees and supporting them through the process.
• Educating community and government leaders, police and social workers about their responsibility to help orphans and vulnerable children.

This project has not yet reached full funding. Please consider helping reach our fundraising goal of $27,888 by donating or starting your own fundraising page!

With GO's initial disbursement of $4,000, TUCET has purchased the needed supplies to construct the workshop facility, the basic tools needed to make bike repairs and two new bikes to serve as learning models. Once the remaining funds are raised and construction is completed, the bike shop will open its doors for business! This micro-business will not only generate needed income, but it will provide the youth with valuable vocational training, helping them acquire employable skills for their future.

This project has not yet reached full funding. Please consider helping reach our fundraising goal of $8,453 by donating or starting your own fundraising page!

Pho Phanny cooks the children's meals and does the food shopping; and Pho Phanet and Chum Sitha manage and take care of the administrative needs of CCH.

Learn more about our "Support the Heroes" project and help us reach our goal of $8,358!

This has provided them with nutritious meals including cabbage, tofu, fried fish and eggs. See little girls and boys living at CCH eating the meals your GO donations provided!

Learn more about our "Out of the Dump" project and help us reach our goal of $7,350!

The Into the Light Education Fund is also providing children identified as having AIDS with school supplies, helping to pay for their schooling fees and is assisting orphans in claiming their inheritance. The support from the GO Community is making these difficult and scary circumstances considerably more manageable and less traumatic.

This project has not yet reached full funding. Please consider helping reach our fundraising goal of $16,500 by donating or starting your own fundraising page!

Augustine Githaiga, Director of Kawangware Street Children and Youth Project (KSCYP), told GO "Ethnically charged violence following the election rocked our country leaving many children out of school and hungry. The essence of our nation was destroyed...we urgently need to build peace and provide our youth and children with basic life support." In response, GO Campaign's LifeSavers grant provided KSCYP with:

New and repaired school uniforms for 24 children: As a result of the violence, many children's uniforms (a requirement for attending school) were torn and unable to be worn. Now, these students are attending school and continuing their studies.

Hot lunch for 11 weeks for more than 60 children: Concentrating and excelling in school is difficult while going hungry. GO funding provided nutritious meals to more than 60 school children, as a KSCYP student commented: "My mum can't afford to cook chapatti. That's why I was not #1 in my class. But, I have eaten 3 chapattis (and soup) today, and now I will be #1!" It's easy to make chapattis! See below for details.

Basic medical assistance: GO funds helped provide immediate medical attention to several children and youth who suffered injuries from the election violence. One such youth, Peter Kahara, whose chronic chest pains worsened through the violence, was able to get the appropriate medical attention for his condition and his health continues to improve.

Peace building and reconciliation seminar: To help build long-term peace, KSCYP organized a seminar bringing together law-enforcement officials and members from all tribes for a community dialogue on living together peacefully as one unified community. Three presenters spoke to 72 participants about the economic ramifications of violence, the moral and legal responsibilities of youth, and how different ethnicities co-existed to build the region. The seminar was followed by an open discussion that ended with a communal declaration, "Together forever, divided we fall!"

FUN ACTIVITY!
Chapatti, cooked round flat bread, is similar to tortillas. Kenyans dip it in tea or eat it with traditional dishes like Kunde (black-eyed peas & tomatoes) or Sukuma Wiki (collard green stew). However, sometimes a chapatti is the only hot thing a child will eat all day. Organize a special Chapatti Bake Sale to raise money for KSCYP's "Hope in the Slum" project.

Recipe for Chapati: http://kenya.rcbowen.com/recipes/chapati.html

In support of project partners The Niapele Project and Vision Awake Africa for Development, GO has awarded a GO Getter Prize to CAMES to renovate the school's cafeteria, purchase the necessary cookware and establish a school-wide nutrition program that will allow school children to receive the nutrients they need on a daily basis to ward off diseases and malnutrition.

The School Nutrition Program will ensure that the students receive all the necessary nutrients for healthy physical and intellectual development, allowing them to focus in class, thereby increasing learning capacity, and, ultimately, the quality of education.

GO awarded a $4,800 GO Getter Prize which funds a professional Street Educator and a Healthcare Specialist to teach basic education and take care of basic health needs of the street children and former child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Congolese government estimates that there are over 30,000 street kids in the country. Most of them are living on the streets in Kinshasa. They have no place to live and no access to education, healthcare or employment. The GO funded mobile education unit will help Oneworld Works in their fight to help these children.

"We are so grateful for the good works of the GO Campaign. Your grant for our mobile School Program in Kinshasha, Democratic Republic of Congo will help us serve many more children and make the program more stable. Again, thank you for all that you do to help others. I sincerely believe that working together we can really bring about positive changes in the lives of street kids in Kinshasa."
~ Ira Simmons, President Oneworld Works

GAWA, in collaboration with the Namibian government, has mandated that all public schools in the capital of Windhoek become official 'Green Zones'. The first phase, funded by GO at 10 schools, will see the planting of Orange Trees at each school. This includes tree planting, educating the children and teachers on proper care, and a public awareness campaign about organic food and micro enterprise.

The oranges will be sold at local markets, with funds benefiting the school. The objective is to create education, economic advantage, and life long pride in these trees which will become focal points at every school in the nation's capital.

CDV currently provides 43 children with basic needs in a loving, secure environment. GO has awarded a GO Getter Prize for their agricultural program, which includes funds for a staff agriculturalist, agriculture tools, compost-making tools, and the creation of an organic nursery. The project will enrich both the minds and the bodies of the children, and give them a sense of pride in their skills.

This was the case for students attending school in the remote Peruvian Andes Mountains. Thanks to the $4,400 "GO Getter Prize" awarded to GO partner Comunidad Campesina de Huama, over 100 students are better equipped to do well in school because they now have chairs and desks.

Learn more about our "School for Life" project in the Huama Community.

35,000! GO awarded the Jacaranda School a "GO Getter Prize" of $7,600 to build a suitable bathroom facility for girls who attend the school. Building began in April, after rainy season, and with six builders working on the project, the facility should be completed by the end of the summer.

Learn more about our "Safe Place to Study" program at Jacaranda School.

They sell their professional artwork to tourists and as part of the group's mission, they teach at-risk youth, ages 6-13, about their cultural heritage and train them how to create quality pieces of artwork that can be sold in the Arusha city markets. Many of these students are living with physical disabilities, are orphans and/or live on the streets.

The Mtakuja Art Group values education and thus offers flexible hours to allow students to develop their artistic skills after school hours, during the weekend and on holidays. In addition, the adult artists teach students life skills and help them to manage their earnings. Thanks to the $2,500 "GO Getter Prize", Mtakuja Art Group now has 29 young graduates equipped with the artistic training, resources and skills to help them earn a sustainable living.

Click here to see more paintings or to order prints in support of these young Tanzanian artists!

The orphanage is part of a larger arts-based cultural and education center, and the children are encouraged to partake in communal activities such as dancing, singing, poetry, art, drumming, acrobatics, and more. GO has funded a roof-enclosed porch for the orphanage, giving the kids a safe place to come together and continue their learning during the country's famous rainy seasons.

The Berivotra community currently has ten students continuing their education in a secondary or vocational school. They were in need of basic supplies. During the rainy season, from November to April, it is common for the children to become sick and fall behind in their studies because they are studying on the ground and sleeping on the dirt floors of their homes or other community structures. But now, just in time to make a difference, the children are warmer and more comfortable, and their studying will be more productive.

Most of the people in the area are internally displaced refugees and make their living through subsistence farming. Very few families own livestock and those who do often end up selling it prematurely, before a profit-making herd can be established, in order to buy food. Others produce charcoal and sell it to nearby urban centers. The Berivotra community greatly values education, and we are happy to have been able to come to their aid.

GO thanks our partner The Madagascar Ankizy Fund for helping to facilitate the delivery and success of this project.

The timely grant allowed Tuseme Director Dominic Balama to host a Christmas feast of chicken, pilau (traditional rice dish) and soda, buy clothes for the children to give to each other in a gift-exchange and give a small bonus to the staff who care for the children. For everyone at Tuseme, it was a Christmas to remember!

The majority of the grant was designated to improve the children's education in 2009. Dominic combined GO's grant with some of Tuseme's savings to pay for:

• Uniforms for kindergartners so they can attend school in Moshi
• 40 new desks and benches for the school in Moshi so students don't have to sit on the floor
• Construction of an informal classroom where more children can study
• School fees for a few of the older street children to be able to attend school in Arusha

Now, at the start of 2009, more children have a chance to go to school, stay in school and do better in school. Fred, one of the children living at Tuseme, told Dominic, "Tunashukuru na Mungu atawalipa." meaning, "We are thankful and God will repay them."

To learn more about the children living at the Tuseme Center, please visit Tuseme projects "Gimme Shelter" and
"A Bicycle Built for Tuseme".