The Meaningful Shop

Meaningful Volunteer is delighted to announce the launch of the Meaningful Shop program in the Philippines. 

The Meaningful Shop is the umbrella organization for Meaningful Volunteer that coordinates all the various craft groups and sponsorship opportunities across Meaningful Volunteer placement countries.  It will be all coordinated via the website www.meaningfulshop.org (still in development).

By volunteering in the Philippines, you'll get to work with the wonderful ladies who are part of the Payawpao Orchids craft group.  Mt. Payawpao (Pa-ya-pow) is a local mountain that dominates the local landscape.

It is important that you bring some new craft ideas with you when you volunteer with the programs.  Just "hanging out" with the ladies is not encouraged.

By volunteering with this program you will:

• Introduce new crafts to the group
  Crafts that use recycled items are best.
   
• Help market the crafts
   
• Experience living and working in a developing community

So far, the Payawpao Orchids have learned how to make jewelry and various other items from paper-based beads.  They have a logo designed and are already planning many activities to market their craft.

Handover Notes

One of the challenges in running a volunteer program is continuity.  Sometime volunteers stay for a month, sometimes they stay for six months.  During the transition period, we try to minimize the impact on the students as much as we can.

We have implemented many methods to solve this problem including.

• The ability to see your classes before you arrive.
  
   
• "Meet" your students
   
• See how the student is performing
  We have now added the final piece of the puzzle in the form of handover notes.  These are notes left by former volunteers about tricks and tips for teaching a particular pupil. 

Seeking Corporate Sponsorship in Makati

Seeking Corporate Sponsorship in Makati

Malcolm Trevena - founder of Meaningful Volunteer - was recently in Makati to try and get some corporate sponsorship for the RYE School.

Makati is the financial hub of the Philippines.  It is where almost all of the big corporations in the Philippines have their base. It is the Wall Street of the Philippines.

Malcolm had meetings with two corporations.

The first was with Shell Philippines*.   Malcolm went through all the various Meaningful Volunteer projects before going into specific funding requirements for the RYE School.  Shell Philippines were very impressed with the RYE School initiative and the "modest cost" to build the RYE School itself.  Some more work needs to be done to align the financial requirements with Shell Philippines' CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) philosophy.  Early results are promising and it looks like Shell Philippines and Meaningful Volunteer will work closely in the future.

The second meeting was with Cemex.  Cemex is a concrete manufacturer.  Once again, Malcolm went through all of the Meaningful Volunteer programs.  Cemex was also impressed with the initiatives.  At the very least Cemex is going to donate the cement to build the RYE School.  This is great news!  Cemex is currently at the end of its giving budget cycle.  Come December, they'll have more money available - some of which will hopefully go toward the RYE School!

Overall, this was a very productive day for Meaningful Volunteer and the RYE School.

Should any other corporates wish to partner with us, the please contact us. 

* Malcolm would just like to wave to the incompetent taxi driver who managed to turn a half hour trip into a one-and-half hour ordeal that saw Malcolm arrive thirty minutes late to the meeting...

Locals Using the SDM Method

For a long time now, our dedicated staff have been working hard to roll out the SDM (Standard Days Method) Method here on the island of Tablas in the Philippines.  We worked hard to understand the sexual health of the island with our 500 person survey and were especially pleased with how well the training went. 

The local BHWs (Barangay Health Workers) were very excited to go out and promote the product, but we made them wait another week or so before we finally sent them out into the community.

By all accounts, the BHWs have been very successful in promoting and selling the SDM Necklaces.  It was very satisfying for us when one of volunteer happened to be in a locals home and took a picture.

On a slightly funnier (tragic?) note, we learnt that one lady in the isolated village of Cawayan thought that she had to first boil the necklace and then drink the resulting mixture!  A local health care worker was quickly dispatched to put her right.

Pico-Hydro Feasibility Study

James Willet - a Meaningful Volunteer and green energy expert - recently finished a feasibility study for a pico-hydro system for the RYE School in the Philippines.

What is pico-hydro?  Pico-hydro uses a freshwater stream to generate small amounts of electricity.  The water is collected at the top of the stream into an intake bay, fed into a long pen-stock pipe that runs directly down the mountain which then spins an electric generator.

The system that will be used for the RYE School will generate approx. 1 kilowatt of electricity and save 0.9 tonnes of harmful greenhouse gases every year.  About 500 watts will be used to power the RYE School during peak hours and the rest will be used to charge car batteries.  The car batteries will then be used to power household that aren't on the power grid.  They will typically be used to power lights and a small radio.

The feasibility study showed that pico-hydro is a much more economical system than solar energy given the local conditions. 

31 Jul 2009

Rolling out Project Lifecycle

Now that the training days have been finished, Project Lifecycle is all set to go!  To celebrate and acknowledge the wonderful work of the BHWs (Barangay [village] Health Workers), they were all presented with a certficate of attendance and an ID badge.  They were all very excited to be acknowleged.

The ID badge will formaly identify the BHW as being trained in the SDM (Standard Days Method) method.

The BHWs are now fully equiped to go out into the community and commence selling the necklace.  Each necklace will sell for 100 pesos (~ $US 2.08) with 20 pesos (~ $US 0.42) going to the BHW who sold the necklace.

More Computers Donated

Meaningful Volunteer is a 100% non-profit organization. We rely on the fees of generous volunteers to fund our projects. 

We also receive help from corporate sponsors and individuals. One such individual is Bob Bozsa.  Bob has already donated a projector for use in our computer classes.

Bob also recently sent a large amount of money to help fund Meaningful Volunteer projects.  Most of the money went to purchase three additional computers.  The computers will initially be used in the RYE School in the Philippines.  They will then be transported to Uganda for use in the Heart of Uganda program.

The remainder of the money was used to fund the training of local health-care workers in the use of the Project Lifecycle necklaces.

Thanks Bob!  You're a wonderful help and inspiration to all the volunteers who toil night and day to make a meaningful difference in the lives of the less fortunate.

30 Jul 2009 

Alternate Learning System Computer Class Added

AMeaningful Volunteer has a philosophy of teaching anyone that wants to learn.  If you don't want to learn and you don't want to study, then that's fine.  But you'll have no part of our programs.

With this idea in mind, Meaningful Volunteer has added a new ALS computer class.  What is ALS?  ALS stands for Alternate Learning System.  These type of programs used to be called OOSY (Out Of School Youth) but the name was changed to reflect the interest by adults in such programs.  Our particular class has a fifty-fifty mix of adults and youth.

The new computers that Bob Bozsa donated are being used in this program

First Payment to the Payawpao Orchids

After much measuring, cutting, rolling, and varnishing, the Payawpao Orchids have produced their very first craft item!

Now that they have the process sorted out, they are producing many beads and necklaces.

Not only have they produced many craft items, but they have also sold their first items to Meaningful Volunteer James Willet from the U.S.A.  The other volunteers on the island were equally excited and purchased their own items which led to the very first payment to the craft group. 

Each lady received approx. 1,000 pesos (~ $US 20.83).  This will be the first of many and the amount should increase overtime.  The Meaningful Shop retained 10% of the money from the items sold.  This will go toward the hosting of the website as well as the purchase of plastic beads, paper, varnish, and so on.

Get to the Heart of Uganda

Meaningful Volunteer is delighted to announce its new program: The Heart of Uganda.

The Heart of Uganda is a trail blazing project.  By being part of this program, you'll help Meaningful Volunteer to:

• Set up a RYE School
   
• Check out if the SDM (Single Days Method) is viable in Uganda
  It may or may not be appropriate depending on HIV prevalence and other factors
   
• Help with a mosquito program that is based on an Avon Lady type model
  We'll be traveling to nearby Rwanda to check out a program there.
   
• Help to expand the Grassroots Uganda initiative
  Grassroots Uganda is a craft group of women making jewelry from recycled poster paper.  Check out the Youtube video here.

We're looking for motivated individuals who are keen to have meaningful and lasting impact on Uganda.