WINTER   

Living on a Dollar a Day   

Photo by George Rosenfeld

The year began with us continuing our research for our book and documentary project, Living on a Dollar a Day. Our team of Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, Renée Byer, and videographer, George Rosenfeld, would be heading to Eastern Europe in a couple months, and we were very busy creating itineraries and making arrangements with local guides for their safe travel. They would cover stories in Romania and Moldova, two of the poorest countries in Europe. After which, our plan was to send them to at least two countries in South America where they would wrap upthe final stories for the book. Renée and George had already travelled to six countries in Asia and Africa last year and the photos and stories coming back were compelling. We are fortunate to be working with notable photo editor, David Griffin, to help us lay out the manuscript and start preparing it for future publication. 

Fellowship Program   

Besides researching and writing our book, we also started recruiting applicants for our 2011 Fellowship Program. In the past TFI had sent one or two volunteers each year to work around the world. This year, with the help of former Fellow, Jeffrey Kaloustian, we decided to expand this program and broaden the scope of our volunteer opportunities. We weren't sure what to expect, but we were delighted when over 20 qualified applicants applied for eight possible positions with grassroots organizations in India, Peru and Niger. The nature of the work would vary from legal research and writing for a human rights center, to teaching English in an orphanage, to working in a remote medical clinic. Providing skilled volunteers to programs we support around the world is just one of the ways we try to help women and children move out of poverty.  

SPRING  

"24 for The Forgotten" Charity Ride   

Jason Bradeen from Woodside, CA, came to TFI with the idea of doing a charity bike ride to benefit our programs. Jason had interests in healthcare and Tibetan causes, so the fact that for several years now we have supported Tibetan Delek Hospital, a charitable clinic in the foothills of the Himalayas, fit his interests perfectly. Over Memorial Day weekend, Jason rode his bike for 24 hours across three Bay Area counties, covering 200 miles. In the end, he helped raise $5,000 for Delek Hospital in Dharamsala, India. Jason had a supportive team of friends and his wife, Nicole, making sure he had a safe ride the whole way. No sooner had the ride ended, that Jason was talking about doing an even bigger ride next year! 

First Fellow Lands in Peru 

Living on a Dollar a Day Milestone
The book project achieved a milestone in May with the return of our journalists from their last trip abroad. Over the past year, Renée Byer and George Rosenfeld had traveled through 10 countries on four continents, beginning in India in June 2010, moving through Bangladesh, Thailand, Cambodia, Liberia, Ghana, Romania, Moldova, Peru and lastly Bolivia. They have covered stories on subsistence farmers, factory workers, prostitutes, fishing families, herders, garbage recyclers and beggars, just to name a few. They visited charitable clinics, community centers, foundations, and other aid organizations trying to help the very poor to not only survive another day, but try to improve their lives through education, healthcare and job training.

SUMMER

Five Fellows in the Field

We were honored to have had so many talented and committed young people volunteer for our Fellowship Program. We ultimately chose seven Fellows total to travel to Peru and India to work for a period of eight weeks. (Political instability in the Sahara region this year prevented us from committing to the program in Niger.) The Fellows all came back with positive comments about their experiences despite the sometimes difficult living conditions abroad. We are grateful to them for their dedication and commitment to this good work.  

Beginning in early June, five Fellows began their work at four different organizations working directly with the local communities in Peru and India. We had three volunteers working in India. Mark Johnston and Supatra Basham traveled to Dharamsala and worked with the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) and the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) respectively. Both organizations serve to disseminate information about the Tibetan cause. Mark, with a background in international relations and foreign policy, covered topical events, while Supatra, an attorney, performed legal research documenting Human Rights abuses in Tibet. Lastly, Jennifer Ingram, a Stanford law student focusing on international law, interned with the Parliamentary Offices of B.J. Panda, a Representative from the State of Orissa. Jennifer worked in the field on poverty alleviation issues at the government level.  

Meanwhile, Yolanda Peneda and Sherry Shen lived and worked with over 800 children and young people at La Comunidad de Ninos Sagrada Familia, a boarding school and community center outside Lima. Besides their teaching duties, Yolanda and Sherry provided us with helpful information about the various needs of this community, including a public health assessment.

Some of these placements were new for us this year, and we were pleased with the results. We will continue to build partnerships with grassroots organizations around the world where skilled volunteers can contribute their time and expertise and work to make a positive change.

Living on a Dollar a Day at Bingham 

Photo by Paul Kitagaki Jr

In August, Bingham law firm hosted a presentation of the "Making of Living on a Dollar a Day" at their Silicon Valley office. Tom Nazario who has been writing the text and photojournalist Renée Byer gave our guests a preview of some the stories that will make up the book. Our plan is to have the book out by the end of 2012, and our hope is that with its publication, we will shine a light on the plight of these families and communities, encouraging the world to get involved. 

FALL 

Former Fellow, Danielle Bicknell, has been helping us organize a shipment of goods to Sagrada Familia, a shelter outside, Lima, Peru. Thanks to Fellows Sherry and Yolanda who worked at this community over the summer, we received a long needs list from their medical clinic. We have been working with Adam See at VIDA USA to arrange for the donation and transport of thousands of dollars of medical supplies. We have also received donations of toys, diapers and school supplies from one of our donors Steve Preminger and soccer balls from One World Futbol Project and Eric Frothingham. The cargo is being prepared now and will ship in January. In Lima, our good friend, Monica Pfeiffer, along with Jessica Oliver at VIDA Peru have been a big help in this process. We are thankful to everyone for making this happen.

Photo by George Rosenfeld

In early December, author Tom Nazario, photojournalist Renée Byer and photo editor David Griffin will all come together to go over the first 100 pages of text and photographs that will eventually become our book, and in doing so make the creative choices to begin to layout the chapters. An exciting way to end the year!