Join us at Gallery Nine 5 in New York on Tuesday, May 11, for a silent auction of original photography featuring House of Hope!

Thank you to everyone who supported our recent photo exhibit and silent auction for World Action on Sept. 15. Due to your generosity, we raised $2,660 through ticket sales and auction bids. Thank you again!

My name is Zoe Wakoff, and in the three months I worked at House of Hope in early 2009 I fell in love with each child who lived there, each teacher, and Jenifer, the amazing woman who founded and runs the program. I witnessed an inspiring community of people determined to stay afloat despite limited [...]]]>

My name is Zoe Wakoff, and in the three months I worked at House of Hope in early 2009 I fell in love with each child who lived there, each teacher, and Jenifer, the amazing woman who founded and runs the program. I witnessed an inspiring community of people determined to stay afloat despite limited resources and trying circumstances. Now I want to help them in any way I can, especially by raising money to purchase land to start a farm at House of Hope.

Currently House of Hope has great difficulty in raising enough resources to provide a nutritious breakfast and lunch for each child. If they had their own farm, each child would have three full meals a day, and the extra $14,000 a year saved in food expenses could be used for the children’s medical bills and general support for the project. At the moment it costs about $80 to feed one child for a year, which may not seem like much to us, but it’s quite a lot of money in Uganda. Once a farm is started by House of Hope, costs per child will decrease to just $17 a year, a life-changing difference!

What struck me most about the children of House of Hope was that despite the many hardships and traumas they endure in their lives, they were by far the most enthusiastic and happy children I have ever met. All of them had lost at least one parent, most had lost both, and some had suffered physical or sexual abuse, but they did not see themselves as victims. In fact they seemed to embody a wild joy for life that was both very contagious and very touching. It was quite a testimony for the human spirit, and I hope you will join me in letting them touch your lives as well.

House of Hope has identified 3 acres of working farmland adjacent to the project that is available for purchase. World Action, led by Zoe, is working to raise $15,000 to support this project.

Help Zoe and House of Hope purchase its own farm by donating today!

Of course, the evening couldn’t have happened without the help of many generous folks:

Very special thanks to [...]]]> Thanks so much to every one who came out to support our photography auction featuring beautiful photos of the staff, children and community at House of Hope in Uganda. With your support we raised over $2400 in one evening!

Of course, the evening couldn’t have happened without the help of many generous folks:

Very special thanks to Heather Marx and Steve Zavattero for once again donating their beautiful gallery space to host the event;

Thanks very much to Clos LaChance Winery for donating the evening’s libations;

Special thanks to my Dad, Bud Ellison, for donating his time to frame and matte the photographs with such professional care;

And last but definitely not least, a very special thanks to Violaine Beix, Emoke Ficz and Sonia Atallah for donating their beautiful photography for this very special cause.

Wishing every one a great October and we look forward to seeing you at this event again in SF next year.. and possibly in New York later this fall!

- Nicole

Tuesday, September 156:00 to 8:30

Marx & Zavattero Gallery77 Geary Street @ GrantSan Francisco

$20 suggested donation at the door

RSVP: info@worldactionforhumanity.org

Nicole here, post-trip greetings from a recent 10 day visit to Uganda. And as always, what an amazing trip it was. As announced earlier, I had the privilege of traveling with 3 colleagues from the IOMBA masters program I am currently completing in Geneva, Switzerland. Emo, Sonia & Violaine (Hungarian, Colombian [...]]]> Fellow World Action Supporters!

Nicole here, post-trip greetings from a recent 10 day visit to Uganda. And as always, what an amazing trip it was. As announced earlier, I had the privilege of traveling with 3 colleagues from the IOMBA masters program I am currently completing in Geneva, Switzerland. Emo, Sonia & Violaine (Hungarian, Colombian and French, respectively) made the visit incredibly fun, and also demonstrated extreme generosity and support to every one at HOH while there. My sincere, sincere, thanks to each of these incredible ladies for their optimism and sense of adventure while there. (Enjoy some pics here.)

So, upon returning from the week-long site visit to HOH as part of World Action’s annual monitoring and evaluation, I wanted to be sure and share news about a very unfortunate event that occurred at the project.

The evening before we arrived, there was a fire at the school. Unfortunately, it seems to have been arson as there was evidence of malintent. Luckily, none of the main school buildings were damaged too badly, though we did loose one temporary classroom to the fire. In addition, the brick dormitory structure that was nearly complete was taken down by what appears to be sledgehammers. All in all, damage has been estimated at about $12,000 USD.

The good news is that no one was injured, nothing was stolen and the livestock were left intact. I, along with Jenifer and her staff, was completely shocked as to who and why anyone would do this. However, over the course of the week and numerous meetings with police and community organizers, I have come to understand that this kind of reaction is not an isolated event in community development programs in Africa. The fire was most likely an act to intimidate Jenifer, a woman who is exhibiting strong, independent leadership and directing an incredibly successful community project that has attracted both local political and western financial support. Such a break with traditional power structures and the community status quo can often be met with acts of intimidation such as this.

Since the fire, Jenifer has received a flood of support from the community who came out in droves the following day and pledged volunteer time and financial support to help rebuild what was damaged (the financial pledges are significant in particular, given the extreme poverty most of these folks live in). Interestingly, the incident seems to have caused many in the local community to recognize the importance and value of the project. We believe these folks represent the vast majority and that the perpetrators of this incident were a merely a disgruntled few.

There is still much work to be done, however, to build more community support and gain the endorsement of local religious and tribal leaders to ensure this does not happen again. We are seeing this event as an opportunity to do just that. Last week, we helped to connect Jenifer with a local Ugandan woman who has significant community organizing experience. She has many years of experience setting up numerous, extremely successful, community based HIV/AIDS programs. She will be working with Jenifer on specific steps to better engage more of the community. Jenifer will also be working closely with World Action board member, Manka Johnson, who has significant experience working in East Africa.

There have been no interruption in services provided at HOH, and they have already begun rebuilding the temporary classroom. At the suggestion of our community organizating expert, Jenifer is working to garner more community support before beginning to rebuild the dormitory. A decision we support entirely. In the meantime, we have started a fund to support the dorm’s rebuilding. Donations to support rebuilding efforts can be sent to:

World Action for Humanity
P.O. Box 193584
San Francisco, CA 94119

Or directly online at: http://www.worldactionforhumanity.org/donate2.html

Together with Jenifer, World Action is using this recent event as an opportunity to reflect on the project and to build deeper relationships and develop stronger support from the community.

I wanted to be sure to share this information with our supporters around the world. This incident has given me a whole new understanding of the true development challenges these folks face in their communities, and motivates me and the World Action board even more to support the hard work of local leaders who are doing the real work on the ground. I feel completely confident that Jenifer and her staff will move past this incident and continue to expand upon the much-needed services they are providing to the Kyazanga and Nakateete villages.

Please feel free to contact me or anyone at World Action for more information.

Meantime, thanks again for all your continued support!

Nicole

Sonia Atallah, Violaine Beix Ginzburg and Emoke Ficz will travel [...]]]> Three MBA students from the University of Geneva will accompany World Action Director, Nicole Carta, on a site visit to House of Hope in Uganda this April to conduct a study examining the existing aid environment and its effectiveness in reaching small, community-based organizations.

Sonia Atallah, Violaine Beix Ginzburg and Emoke Ficz will travel for 10 days to complete research and interviews examining international aid and development mechanisms designed to reach grassroots organizations working to address the impacts of poverty and disease in sub-Saharan Africa. The report will be published in early July 2009.

The students are completing the International Organizations MBA (IOMBA) degree at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. The IOMBA is a multidisciplinary program focused on management, leadership and business administration in intergovernmental, public sector and non-profit organizations.