Meaningful Volunteer Featured on Coffee Shop HR World Cafe

Meaningful Volunteer was recently featured at the Coffee Shop HR Site.

From the site:

I always find it inspirational to hear about people who carry out their greatest dreams, succeeding beyond their greatest expectations.  When Megin first told me that she was working to register a non-profit organization, I was excited, but skeptical.  How much good could she and Malcolm do in the Philippines from here in Canada?  But as time passed, I witnessed their small organization grow by leaps and bounds, and it’s been lovely to see.
Read the rest of the article here.



 

Penny War for School for Andy 2

School for Andy is a solar-powered school that was built in Uganda as a memorial to Andy Manley, a 2002 Brodhead High School graduate who died in a 2010 house explosion. 

A second School for Andy will be opening in Nepal with many of the same features as the school in Uganda. 

Brodhead Middle School will be holding a "penny war" the week of February 4-8 in hopes of raising the funds needed to supply School for Andy 2 with a rain-fed water system. This system will collect water from the roof, funnel it into guttering, and then into a large storage tank in order to provide the school with much needed water. 

Grade levels at BMS will compete against one another by adding pennies and bills to their jars, while putting silver coins in other grade level jars. Pennies and bills will count as positive points, while silver coins will subtract. The grade level with the most pennies and bills will be the winner. 

By working together, one penny at a time, BMS is collecting change to make a change at School for Andy 2. If you are interested in learning more about School for Andy, you can visit schoolforandy.org. If you would like to make a donation to this cause, it can be dropped off at BMS or you can contact Jessica Schooff at 897-2184 x222 or jschooff@brodhead.k12.wi.us for more information. Every penny truly does count! 

 

Meaningful Volunteer Welcome Hema Gurang to the team

Meaningful Volunteer is delighted to welcome Hema Gurang to our team.  

Hema Gurung is Meaningful Volunteer’s district manager for Nepal.

She comes from a large family and plans to focus on her career, rather than starting her own family.  She wants to financially support her parents and other members of her family.  
        
She has volunteer supervisory experience at the WSDO office in Rithepani.  She has also worked as a weaver for WSDO for many years.  She was personally recommended by Ram Kali Khadka, founder of WSDO.

 

Q Drums in Uganda

The Q Drums that were generously donated by an anonymous donor continue to be useful in Uganda.  Click here to see an album of them being used.

The idea of the Q Drum originated in response to the needs of rural people in Southern Africa who struggle conveying adequate quantities of potable water from a reliable source. A task generally bestowed on the women and children of each community.

Many debilitating back, neck and spine injuries are a result of women carrying heavy loads on their heads. Generally, the load is limited at best to 15litres per container and therefore requires families to make more than one trip to fetch water each day.

Q Drum addresses the problem of reducing the load yet increasing volume by rolling water in a cylindrical vessel.

Meaningful Volunteer is on its way to Nepal to build another solar powered school.  No doubt the Q Drums will be useful there are well.  Should you wish to donate a Q Drum to the cause, please contact us. 

Goldilocks Vancouver Donates Sandals

Goldilocks Vancouver has generously donated funds to ensure that all children attending Meaningful Volunteer's solar powered school in Uganda have sandals.

See below for more photos of the sandals.

Sandals help prevent numerous foot infections for the children, including the nasty Chigoe Flea (or jigger) that can bury its way into the children's feet.

A big thanks to Goldilocks from everyone at Meaningful Volunteer! 

Heather Evans Joins the Meaningful Volunteer Staff

Meaningful Volunteer is happy to announce the Heather Evans is joining the Meaningful Volunteer staff.

Heather will be working hard on our upcoming programs in Nepal, most notable our soon-to-be-constructed solar powered school.

Heather was born in Minneapolis, and received her BA in Comparative Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is now an MA candidate in the Human Security and Peacebuilding program at Royal Roads University in BC, Canada. 

Heather spent a combined 12 years in Europe and Asia before moving to Canada in 2011. For 9 years she worked in educational publishing in Seoul, South Korea, and served on the International Outreach Team for House of Sharing, residence and museum for survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery during WWII (“Comfort Women”), for 5 of those years. She also worked closely with other Korean NGOs dealing with women’s rights, migrant workers’ rights, and sex trafficking. In Canada, she continues to fight for the justice of survivors of sexual slavery by volunteering with BC ALPHA. 

Heather met Malcolm many years back while living in Korea, and has been involved with Meaningful Volunteer in a number of ways ever since. She’s now honored to be taking on the role of Program Coordinator for Meaningful Volunteer Nepal.

Lunchtime at the Solar Powered School

As part of our commitment to provide the best possible education for the kids attending our solar powered school, we provide a meal for every student at the start of class: A full stomach is one of the most important components of a good education.

Most of the food comes from our edible school yard and is prepared by the wonderful Mary.

See below for more pictures of lunchtime.

If you wish to sponsor one of the children at our school, then please click here.