Founders of Meaningful Volunteer to Wed in Uganda

wedding_1.jpg

Founders of Meaningful Volunteer - Malcolm Trevena and Megin Alvarez – are set to wed in Uganda as they wind up various projects. They describe the upcoming event in their own words below. 

We are both extremely lucky people. We have not wanted for much in our lives. 

We do not worry about food in our bellies, shelter above our heads, clean water, or an education for ourselves and our loved ones. Many others in the world are not so lucky. 

We write this in the small rural parish of Buyaya in Eastern Uganda surrounded by people we love. They are some of the most generous and warm hearted people you are ever likely to meet. 

Just yesterday we were given bananas, pumpkins, beans, and mangoes. How they can afford to feed their own families and shower us with gifts is beyond us. It is a humbling place to be. 

The sad reality here is that people go without. 

They go without adequate food, shelter, clean water, and an education. It is just not fair that we are so lucky and they are not. Meaningful Volunteer was set up in 2008 as an act of human solidarity to address this imbalance. We can think of no better place to make a public declaration of our love than here in Buyaya. 

We are different people. Malcolm is an atheist from New Zealand and Megin a practising Roman Catholic from Canada. What we share – the ties that bind us together – is a common love of humanity. We weep the same tears when a child passes away needlessly from HIV or malaria or a host of other reasons. 

I’m sure many of you would love to be with us here in Uganda, but we understand that it is not practical or feasible for most of you. We have set up a special email address for any messages you might want to send: wedding@meaningfulvolunteer.org

As already mentioned, we are fortunate people and do not want for much. The same cannot be said for those around us. As a result we are not asking for wedding gifts for ourselves (how many toasters does one person need?), but donations that we will use to help improve the lives of people in Buyaya. 

At the time of writing, the solar powered school that we are building in conjunction with the School for Andy movement is almost done, but there are still more things that need doing. We need blackboards, chairs, pencils, pens and the latrine finished. Ideally we would like to plaster the inside of the school as well, but we just do not have the budget for it. 

Any amount you can give – small or big – would be appreciated. 

Donations can be made via two methods

1. Via our Paypal account volunteer@meaningfulvolunteer.org. 

2. Direct credit into our Canadian Bank account TD Canada Trust … 

Name: MEANINGFUL VOLUNTEER SOCIETY
Account Number: 93240-004-09365240748
Bank: TD Canada Trust
Country: Canada
BIC/SWIFT code: TDOMCATTTOR


Take care Malcolm and Megin

 

Online Phonic Courses for Esther

6e43ceb0-2c38-4ec3-ad67-f5960ce4351d.jpg

Say hello to Esther.  Esther is 14 years old and lives in the small Ugandan parish of Buyaya. Despite attending the local school for a number of years, Esther cannot read.

In fact, Esther cannot even read a single letter.  If you show her a flashcard with the letter A on it, she will look at it blankly. During the classroom activities with here classmates at Meaningful Volunteer's RYE School, she waits for here classmates to commit to an answer before following sheepishly.  

In short, Esther lacks confidence in her ability and will need extra help if she is ever going to be able to read.

Esther - and many like here in Buyaya - will benefit from a new online phonics course developing by Meaningful Volunteer.

The online course will be run at Meaningful Volunteer's internet-enabled solar-powered school in Buyaya.  The construction for the school is due to start in July 2011.

The online course will enable Esther to:
 

  • Listen to the sounds and phoneme of the letters.
    For example. for the letter S she can listen to the letter itself ("ess"), and the sound the letter males ("ssss")
     
  • Simple words, their sounds and associated pictures can also be practised.

Esther will be presented with list of options that associate the concepts.  For example, she may be presented with the letter S, and choose the sound the matches the letter.

The system is now live on the Meaningful Volunteer site. Feel free to log in as Esther (username: Esther password: #Esther) and check out how the system works.

Note: Answers are saved within the system. So don't be surprised if answers have already been given by other users testing the system!

The interface is keep simple and lightweight to account for the low bandwidth in Buyaya. Screenshots for the system are shown below.

Meaningful Volunteer Receives Grant from RPCV Madison for Solar School

uganda101.jpg

 

Meaningful Volunteer is delighted to receive a $1,000 grant from the Return Peace Corps Volunteers' Organization in Madison, Wisconsin.

The RPCV aims to:

  • Support a social network for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
     
  • Promote cultural understanding and awareness of international issues. 
     
  • Support the Peace Corps' mission and active volunteers. 
     
  • Collaborate and volunteering with non-profit organizations aligned with our goal

Meaningful Volunteer will use the money to build a solar-powered school in Eastern Uganda.

A special thumbs up to Anne Eichmeyer for making this happen. 

26 Apr 2011

School for Andy Benefit

5397ccc2-2bbe-4819-b5a9-6c0a1e9554ac.jpg

Meaningful Volunteer and the School for Andy movement will be holding a benefit to support the construction of a solar-powered school in Buyaya, Uganda featuring Tani Diakite and the Drumer Djam Vivie and Ugandan dancer Alice Braskme.

Meaningful Volunteer and the School for Andy movement arebuilding a solar-powered computer literacy school in memory of Andy Manley. All proceeds for the event will be going directly to the school, which begins construction in June, 2011.

For those of you are unable to attend but would like to make a donation to the school- it would be very much apprecaited!

Where
High Noon Saloon, Madison
701 A E. Washington Ave., Madison, WI 53703 · Get directions

When
27th April 2011.  8pm - 11pm.

 

One-Legged Walk for Meaningful Volunteer

b401b6ac-97c5-4c73-84d0-704f9e609b93.jpg

Ngaire Trevena - 64 of Auckland, New Zealand - recently had one of her legs amputated below the knee due to diabetic complications from an infected toe which she picked up while volunteering in the Philippines with Meaningful Volunteer.

Having one leg hasn't slowed her down though.

Both as a personal challenge and a fundraiser for Meaningful Volunteer, Ngaire decided to walk up Mangere Mountain.  It started with just Ngaire, but it ended up with twenty-five or so people walking up the mountain with her.

Ngaire and her companions conquered the mountain!

The walkers also bought several fair-trade items from the Meaningful Shop.

Ngaire's story has been picked up by several magazines as well, including That's Life magazine and various diabetes-focused and amputee-focused publications.  

Together with donations gathered on the day and magazine royalties, Ngaire has raised over $1,000 for Meaningful Volunteer.  

This money will be used to help build a solar-powered school in Uganda.  Max Trevena - Ngaire's 67 year old husband - will help build the school.

Check out all the photos from the walk below.


 

Meaningful Volunteer Report: SDM Uptake on Tablas Island

lifecycle.jpg

Meaningful Volunteer recently compiled a report on the uptake of the SDM method on the island of Tablas in the Philippines.

Meaningful Volunteer promotes the SDM as part of its Project Lifecycle initiative. 

The conclusions of the report are:
 

  1. The uptake of SDM and CycleBeads on Tablas Island is low
     
  2. The level of understanding ability to communicate their use is below that required
     
  3. Interested and able healthcare workers and the midwives should be targeted for regular retraining
     
  4. The availability of the CycleBeads should be better publicised
     
  5. The use of condoms should be taught as an alternative to abstinence
     
  6. Meaningful Volunteer should focus on the provision of sex education at school and consider potential cooperation with the Church
     
  7. The provision of artificial forms of contraception to make up government shortfall is the simplest and most effective way to impact family planning on Tablas Island
     

The full report can be downloaded from here. 

11 Apr 2011 

Meaningful Volunteer Donates Contraceptives to Local Clinic

Rachel Murphy - a resident of the United Kingdom - recently spent some of her time and money on helping the less fortunate by volunteering with Meaningful Volunteer's Project Lifecycle initiative. 

Project Lifecycle aims to provide resident of Tablas island in the Philippines reproductive options.  Most of Meaningful Volunteer's efforts to date have revolved around the use of Cyclebeads - a 100% natural family planning method that works within the religious norms on the island.

Workers at the local healthcare clinics along with the help of meaningful volunteers, saw Cyclebeads distributed to fifteen or so villages in the area.

Workers at the clinic expressed the many locals were requesting access to other types of modern contraceptives such as condoms and the pill.

As a result, a portion of Rachel's volutneer fees saw the purchase of $US250 worth of contraceptives for the local health care clinic.


 

Meaningful Volunteer Achieves Non-Profit status in the U.S.A. and Canada

Meaningful Volunteer is delighted to announce that is has achieved non-profit status in both the U.S.A. and Canada.  This is in addition to similar statuses in the Philippines, Uganda and New Zealand.

A big thanks to our awesome volunteer coordinator Meran Chang for making this happen.

Once we work through a little bit more paperwork, we will be able to offer our Canada and U.S. based volunteers charitable receipts with which they can receive tax breaks.