Updates: The Kawangware Vision Center, Kenya
|
  Credit: CADD Rendering: Anderson Nyaga Design:Kariuki
Kiragu General CADD input: Waswa Nyongesa.
NextAid is pleased to announce
that through our partnership with the Kawangware Street Children and Youth Project (KSCYP), we have made significant progress in the lives
of children living in the Kawangware slum. KSCYP, a locally created
and managed organization, was started by former street children
to provide positive opportunities to get kids off the street in this slum
bordering Nairobi. The youth's primary income generating business
is making custom silkscreened gift bags and cards out of recycled paper
for sale to safari companies, tourist shops, and corporate clients.
Currently, the facility that KSCYP is working in is too small, so NextAid
is raising funds to build the Kawangware Vision Center
(KVC). The KVC will consist of a new green workshop and multipurpose
facility that will allow KSCYP expand their operation and ultimately
serve more youth.Phase I of the project began in January when NextAid wired funds
for a youth skills training program. This training will teach the youth how to
manufacture eco-bricks, roof tiles and other construction materials on-site in
Kawangware. Such materials will be used during phase II of the project,
which is the construction of the facility. Help us raise the
$25,000 necessary for the completion of the project! |
Profile: Architect Kariuki Kiragu
|
 NextAid is thrilled to announce
that we are working closely with architect Kariuki Kiragu during the
planning and construction process of the Kawangware Vision Center. Kariuki
is a visionary architect who applies his talent to projects that utilize
local resources in order to gain sustainable social, economic, and environmental
benefits. Kariuki, who has a great deal of experience with field-based
leadership, shares NextAid's passions for helping orphans and vulnerable
children, and sustainable environmental conservation. For example, in
2004 he successfully built a sustainable village in Nyumbani in order
to accommodate 1,000 HIV/AIDS orphans and 125 elders. Kariuki has proven
to be an inspiration for the communities and people his projects support,
as well as, the entire NextAid team. Find him on Sustainable Holistic African Development Alliance.
|
Updates: "Send a Child to School" with goGogetters, South Africa
|
With your help, NextAid was able to wire the
necessary funds to provide 75 orphaned and vulnerable children with new school
uniforms, shoes and supplies! In light of the success of these initial
fundraising efforts and a desire to help even more children participating in
the program, NextAid has decided to expand our partnership with the goGogetters program.
The
goGogetters program was created by loveLife to support grandmothers (gogos) who have
dedicated their senior years to the well-being of orphaned and vulnerable
children. The influence gogos have on the
development of young people in South African culture has always been important,
but the role in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic has even greater
importance. This nationwide support network is designed to empower gogos as
they fight to protect what's left of a vulnerable social fabric.
There is an entire generation of orphans that have a weakened understanding of
the values, norms and familial structure which hold society together. goGogetters has mobilized around advocacy for
education and HIV awareness in an attempt to create sustainable change within
communities and for the thousands of youth who participate in the innovative
program. Learn more about these amazing goGos! Support their efforts by making a donation.
|
Red Rhino Orphanage Project
|
In late 2008, Make Up Designory (MUD) produced and began generously donating 100% of the sales of a limited-edition
eye shadow palette to NextAid through their MUD Cares initiative to help fund construction on the Red Rhino Orphanage Project (RROP) in Kenya. In addition to providing children
a safe and loving home, RROP also funds the children's educational pursuits from elementary school through secondary and university or trade school. We are excited to report that the necessary funds have been generated and construction of two timber-framed children's homes, each providing long-term
shelter, food and medical needs for 16 local orphans is almost complete! Read status reports by amazing RROP founder David Saunders.
With the help of a promotional campaign by lovely superstars
Colette, DJ Rap, Eve Falcon, and Samantha James, NextAid has increased efforts
to sell the remaining palettes. To help spread beauty from the inside
out, purchase this limited edition palette at MUD Shop.
|
Take Action: Demand G8 Leaders to Keep the Promise Now!
|
 In 2005 the G8 committed to providing
access to HIV treatment, prevention, care and support for all those who
need it by 2010. Despite this promise, those needing access to life
saving anti-retroviral drugs remains above 9 million, dwarfing the 4 million
people currently on treatment. "Every moment the G8 promise is not kept,
someone is dying a preventable death or becoming infected with HIV for lack
of access to treatment and prevention services," states Allyson Leacock, Chair of the World
AIDS Campaign's Global Steering Committee. World AIDS Campaign has launched the online
petition Keep The Promise Now! to tell leaders of the
world's richest countries to live up to their faltering commitment to fund
access for all to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by the end of
this year. Add your voice to the demand that world leaders deliver on this promise
urgently. Collected signatures will be added to the letter and
delivered to G8 leaders when they meet in Canada this summer.
|
SAVE THE DATE: Help BIDS BUILD HOPE May 7th - May 31st
|
 On World AIDS Orphans Day
(May 7), a grassroots campaign advocating for the 15 million children
orphaned by AIDS around the world, NextAid will launch its annual online auction on biddingforgood.com - BIDS BUILD HOPE.
The auction will raise awareness and funds for NextAid's projects
promoting and implementing sustainable solutions to the challenges
facing African children. The
auction will launch on May 7th at 8:00AM EST and end on May 31st at
11:00PM EST. Auction items will be in the general spirit of NextAid's belief in the hope that music inspires and commitment to green and eco-friendly initiatives, as well as, allow our supporters to treat themselves.
For a donation form and more information please visit the BIDS BUILD HOPE page or email Auction Director, Jessica Chan at bidsbuildhope@gmail.com.
|
|
