South Africa Partners is an organization that is facilitating collaborations between Americans and South Africans.  One of its projects is called Masifunde Sonke, Let Us Read Together.  They are holding a reception on Thursday, November 6, 2008 in support of this book project.  His Excellency, Welile Nhlapo, Ambassador of South Africa to the US has the pleasure of inviting you to attend the cocktail reception.  To RSVP and find out the place, contact Martina Bouey at 617-433-1072 or e-mail her at mbouey@sapartners.org.
Frances

Sorry for the short notice, but I was away and didn't open my mail.

        

Infinite Family, the mentoring program for South African children orphaned by AIDS using video-conferencing technology, is holding its annual fund-raising gala.  It is called "The Gift is You Gala."  It will be held on Monday, November 17, 2008 from 7-10 PM at 199 Bowery @ Spring St. in NYC.  Tickets are $175.

The evening will include wining & dining on South African wines and African-themed sweets and savories accompanied by lots of musical entertainment. 

You can shop for gifts of crafts, jewelry, textiles, etc. at an African Market Place.  Items will be priced from $10-$350.

You can buy an ornament from "The Giving Tree"

• $50     buys a webcam and headset for a child
• $105   sponsors a child for 3 months
• $250   Installs a printer/scanner in South Africa
• $420   sponsors a child for a year
• $500   train a child and a mentor
• $1000 installs a computer with internet connection in South africa
• $2500 helps a teen go to college or start a business
• $5000 builds a computer lab

There will also be a silent auction and a live auction.

To make a reservation go to gala@infinitefamily.org.

For more information, you can contact me at fsadler@amongwomensouthafrica.org.  I will be there in my festive attire; join me.

Frances

        

The voting for the Members Project closed a few minutes ago.  Room To Read finished at #9.  I wonder can this project be submitted again next year.  I think if we start earlier to promote the project and perhaps tap into RtR's database for everyone who made a donation using their Amex card, and get each chapter to promote to family and friends, it would be possible to make it to the top 5.  The amount of each award will be available on Oct.14.  That may be an incentive to develop a strategy early.

        

Tonight I finished my training with Infinite family to become a mentor for a SA child living in an orphanage.  I am in the process of being cleared by the FBI so that I can be assigned to a child.  I am glad that there is a process to screen out overt predators.   Aside from the mechanics of video-conferencing (which are way cool, BTW) we looked at actual e-mails and proposed a response and we discussed some ethical considerations and the consequences of not following the rules like no promises, no gifts.

I'm very excited about meeting my Net Buddy.  Although I think I am a big picture person, there is something about this one-on-one relationship that has me jazzed.  Anybody interested check out www.infinitefamily.org or be in touch with me.

        

American Express runs a project each year called The Members Project.  Members submit a project description that will have an impact on the community that they want to support.  The advisory board selects 25 projects and Amex members (and guests) can vote for their favorite project.  The top 5 projects are selected and American Express distributes prize money to them.  (This year, $2.5 million)
 
This year, a cardmember in California submitted a Room to Read project under the title '6,000 Girls Scholarships in the Developing World."  Today this project is #8.  In order to get into the top five, we have to get people to vote for it.  Go to www.membersproject.com . Vote for this project (you can only vote once).  The voting closes on Sept 30.  It costs nothing, so tell everyone you know.  It is an effortless way to support a very important activity because "World change begins with educated children."

        

Monday night I took my first night of online training to become a mentor to a South African child who has been orphaned by the AIDs pandemic.  How can I do this you ask since I am in the Bronx.  Through an alternate use of the technological advances that the business world has made in video-conferencing, and the skillful guidance of the staff at Infinite Families.

Infinite Families is a non-profit organization that has developed a mentoring program for children aged 8-18 at 3 orphanages in South Africa.  Did you know that more than 2 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa died from AIDS last year.  As a result, there are just not enough adults around to nuture this generation of children.  Most of us just say, "Oh, that's terrible."  Amy Stokes, the founder of Infinite Families, did something about it.  While perfecting the video-conferencing technology and having a secure network built, she and her staff designed a program to teach the South African children living in the orpahanges to use the video-conferencing technology.  Then she set out to find mentors here in the US who would be willing to commit to sitting in front of a camera at their computer for an hour a week to cultivate a relationship with a child.  To date she has about 80 children trained and about 50 mentors here in the US.  She needs more volunteers.

The training program for the mentors is very comprehensive.  It is designed to help us understand the culture of the children, to deal with the issues of death and dying as well as the issues of adolescence.  Not to mention that this video stuff is new to some of us!  But most importantly, with all of this information in our repertoire, we can feel confident that we will be able to establish a relationship with a child that will mutually rewarding.

I went to a reception and met some of the mentors.  To the person, they felt as though this was one of the most rewarding experiences of their lives.  Their NetBuddies were doing better in school; their English was improving so they could communicate with their American family; they had hope for their future.  I am excited about participating in this project.  I am committed to our appeal for Room To Read (I hope you have made a contribution), but I will be gratified to have an up-close-and-personal relationship also.  For me, contributing to the big picture feels like the right thing to do, but real satisfaction comes from my relationship with one person. 

If you would like to learn more about this program, go to www.Infinitefamily.org.  If you might be interested in becoming a mentor, contact me at FSadler@amongwomensouthafrica.org .

I'll keep you posted about my progress.

As ever,

Frances

        

With thanks to Wendy Greenfield at Bryn Mawr and Wendy Littlefield of Emma Willard, we are pleased to share exciting information on scholarships for 10 girls.  The Davis Scholarships offer extraordinary opportunity in that they cover all expenses for secondary school at Emma Willard, a highly regarded girls school in Troy, New York, and also may offer up to $20,000 per year for 4 years of college.

A student from Botswana is entering Emma Willard this year, and news of the program is also being broadcast in Nigeria.  See the link at http://www.EmmaWillard.org/giving/campaign/davis.php for more information.  Wendy Littlefield is hoping that we can help spread the word through our South African contacts and possibly generate some strong applicants.  I am setting up an email to all of those whom we visited last year to tell them about this; please spread the word.  If you have anyone interested, Wendy asks that we reference AmongWomenSouthAfrica so she can track responses and keep us all posted on the results.  The very first person we have apprised of this opportunity is Bernie Moffatt as her daughter, Maya, may be interested.

Comments, ideas, and other scholarship possibilities welcome!

Onward,

Deborah

        

Dear Readers and Writers, Talkers, and Workers and Contributors,

It is time to take the next step and learn to use this thing. I think that means setting passwords for users to gain access so they can create entries, etc.  I am excited in that this blog allows us to use email to blog, and also to create podcasts if we want to record rather than write.

So - what categories shall we have at first?  We need a Room to Read category, and a recent articles one.  Maybe one on politics? Education? Progress on various initiatives? Your suggestions are important as you are the creators.

Enough for now - I feel I am on the verge of a huge new discovery.  Come play with me in this weird new sandbox.

Deborah