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| Greetings! |
You are receiving this email because you have either signed up for our mailing list at an event or online via our website or someone you know thought you would be interested in our organization, our projects, and our events. Take a look what's been happening on the ground in Africa.
If you would like to unsubscribe, you may use the link at the bottom of this e-mail. And if you like what you see, please forward to your friends.
In addition to The Nexus, check out our Music and Events Newsletter, updating you on how the music scene is making a difference locally through events that you will not want to miss! If you want to receive the Music and Events Newsletter, update your profile using the link at the bottom of this e-mail.
Thank you for reading!
Sincerely,
The NextAid family |
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| Partnership with Architecture for Humanity |
NextAid received numerous qualified applications from dedicated architects and humanitarians from all over the world and we are thrilled to announce that NextAid has now hired a Site Architect in collaboration with Architecture for Humanity who will be a Fellow of the organization and on site in Dennilton for six months to a year. Having this person on site will catapult our construction into the completion of Phase 2 and prepare us for the partial opening of the NextAid Youth With A Vision Community Center and Children's Residential Village. Please read below about details of the Phase 2 projects and associated funding needs. |
| Volunteer Architects Make Headway |
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Last year and early this year, under the guidance of our lead Ecological Architect Joseph Kennedy, architects, designers, and natural builders have been busy collaborating with local builders and the directors of YWAV to design two houses, an outdoor energy efficient kitchen, and the overall site plan. Check out architectural and natural building design work by Richard Gregory, Joseph Gabriel, Louise Lakier, Geofrey Collins, and Mark Mazziotti. Other dedicated volunteers and project partners Nick Lemire, Jerry Greer, and John Van Dyk are working on specific projects including a playground, the main center, and a guest house. (House Design by Joseph Gabriel)
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| $8,000 Grant Obtained from Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation |
NextAid's Program Manager, Wendy Cross, wrote a grant to the Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation to plant 300 trees on site. The grant includes support for sourcing, purchasing, and delivering appropriate indigenous or fruit/nut trees and consulting on permaculture gardens. Beginning August 2007, NextAid and YWAV will coordinate a "Planting and Greening Day" event focused on sustainability and environmental impact awareness and education that integrates hand-on planting of trees and preparing of garden sites. The center will become a replicable model of what can be done to revitalize agriculture production as a means for sustainability and economic/food security. |
| NextAid's Green Scene News |
 UN Report: Environmental Degradation Triggering Tensions in Sudan
In a new report, Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) has warned that the rehabilitation of Sudan's environment is critical to peace efforts. "Sudan's tragedy is not just the tragedy of one country in Africa - it is a window to a wider world underlining how issues such as uncontrolled depletion of natural resources like soils and forests allied to impacts like climate change can destabilize communities, even entire nations." The recent investigation "has shown clearly that peace and people's livelihoods in Darfur as well as in the rest of Sudan are inextricably linked to the environmental challenge."
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| Fundraising for Construction |
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NextAid has raised approximately $250,000 since the start of the project in November 2004. Our primary sources of funding have been from music events, individual donors and a silent benefactor. Funds are also generated from benefit CD sales and auctions. We have been the recipient of small grants for natural building training workshops from Builders Without Borders and the Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation. Recently, NextAid and YWAV attained a development grant of nearly $140,000 for our partner organization, Youth With A Vision, from the South African National Development Agency. This one-year grant will provide for the launch of agriculture and micro-business programs on the project site in Dennilton.
 Adopt-A-Project Program
Join us as donors in our Adopt-A-Project Program while we begin Phase Two of construction for the NextAid Youth With A Vision Community Center and Children's Residential Village. Twelve major buildings, featuring energy efficient design and utilizing natural building techniques and materials have been planned and designed by our dedicated team of architects, natural builders, and our program director, with input from our local partner organization stakeholders.
(Main Center design by Geofrey Collins, Joe Kennedy and Louise Lakier)
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AIDS in Africa News
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US President George W Bush's top adviser on HIV/Aids has said the world is losing the battle against the virus. Dr
Anthony Fauci told a conference in Sydney that progress had been made,
but more people were being infected with HIV than were being treated. "For every one person that you put in therapy, six new people get infected." Last
year, 2.2 million people in the developing world had access to the
anti-retroviral drugs that help treat the virus, compared with less
than 300,000 people three years ago. But new infections are continuing to outpace the global effort to treat and educate patients. Dr
Brian Gazzard, of the British HIV Association, said that despite
greater access to anti-retroviral drugs, "The HIV epidemic is
essentially uncontrolled, uncontrolled in Africa, uncontrolled
completely in Asia right now."
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Special Event: Praxis Project
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NextAid partners with outstanding organizations and supports their local events. NextAid Co-Founder Craig Keys is the music director for the dance collaborative, Praxis Project, which encourages artistic collaboration and creates a diverse and dynamic learning environment, where students receive an increased social and artistic consciousness. Praxis Project presents "Steps to the Soul", two evenings of thought provoking and soul stirring dance that celebrate the journey of the human spirit. August 3 & 4, 8:00pm at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center. For more information and tickets, check out Praxis Project.
For all NextAid related events, please check out our events page of the website.
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