Africa
The problem - Genocide and Aids
In 1994 an estimated one million people were killed in 100 days in Rwanda.
By the end of 2001 there were 613,000 orphans of which nearly 300,000
were orphans of the AIDS epidemic.
In South Africa by 2005 approximately one million children under the age of 15 will have lost their mothers to AIDS. Every 14 seconds AIDS turns a child into an orphan. In Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Rwanda and Sudan alone, there are estimated to be more than two million children orphaned by conflict.
Rotary
solution - Africa Hope
Rotary's Africa Hope project works with Hope and Homes for Children to
alleviate children's despair and deprivation. Rotary's Africa Hope project
aims to support 5,000 children in 1,000 of the poorest child-headed and
grandparent-headed families in Rwanda and South Africa. With £1,000
a family can be rescued from crisis. This money is spent over three years
and transforms a family's future in a thorough and sustainable way. Rotary's
Africa Hope provides shelter, food and access to medicine, stability -
from practical advice and guidance, education and training - for long
term development and self-reliance.
Hope and Homes for children
Hope
and Homes for Children aims to give hope to children who have nowhere
to live, due to war or disaster, by providing them with homes and reintegrating
them into their own, foster or adoptive families. Children orphaned or
abandoned through conflict are given a family and a future. Hope and Homes
for Children is an international children's charity working with orphaned
and abandoned children in Eastern Europe and Africa. Since 1994 the organisation
has helped to secure the lives, and future livelihoods, of more than 7,500
orphaned or abandoned children in 14 countries.
(www.hopeandhomes.org)
BOF’s Pink Ice Cream Van to cross the Sahara
In 2003 Julian Nowill initiated an event as a low cost alternative to the Paris-Dakar Rally and also with the main objective of raising funds for charitable causes in Africa.
Two events have been successfully completed, the first to Dakar (Senegal) and the second to Banjul (Gambia).
The next Rally will be to Bamako (Mali) and two Rotarians – President Roger Frank of Upper Eden Club and John Taylor of Appleby Club will be taking part.
Starting from Plymouth in January 2007 travelling through France & Spain, crossing to Morocco and then traversing the Sahara desert to Timbuktu and on to Bamako. One of the rules governing the event is that any vehicle taking part must have cost a maximum of £100 (presumably purchased from local car scrap yards). The rules do, of course, allow the owners to modify & improve the vehicles after purchase to a fully roadworthy condition. Rotarians Roger & John wanted something out of the ordinary which would attract maximum attention to the event and eventually decided to create a Pink Ice Cream Van. They obtained a Transit Van from a scrap yard in North Shields and with parts & services donated by “sponsors” they have rebuilt the unit with a hand painted finish in a brilliant eye-catching shade of pink with bright yellow wheels and a white top. Blazoned across the front are the product name “Mr Drippy” and the firms name BOFS (no prizes for guessing what it stands for), Rotary Logo on the sides and sponsors details on the rear. With its large frontal ice cream cone (made from a road cone and a football) the van is certainly eye-catching to say the least. Ice cream making equipment is yet to be installed and tested and the plan is to make and distribute ice cream to local children in Bamako prior to the van being stripped out and converted for use as a local bus or other suitable unit.
The local Rotary Club in Bamako will assist in ensuring all funds raised by the van are used to maximum benefit in the local community. The Bamako Club advised that an item in high demand & short supply in Bamako is the household sewing machine which is mainly used for making clothing for the family especially for the growing children. Rotarians Roger & John are planning to collect and take as many machines (elect or manual) as they can possibly fit into the back of the van. They intend to raise cash for distribution in Bamako and they will be showing off the Pink Ice Cream Van at local events throughout our District to raise awareness of the project and will be accepting donations to their fund. A prize is on offer to the person who is closest in their estimate of the total mileage the van will cover from Plymouth to Bamako. Any Rotarians wishing to donate a sewing machine should contact Rotarian Roger Frank on Crogerfrank@aol.com or by telephone 015396 24326.
| Our contributions | |
| January 2007 | Due to the excellent contacts made with Rotary Clubs in Mali the sale of all those vehicles that survived the inaugural "Bamako Run" plus cash donations totalled in excess of £17,500 all of which will be used for local projects in Mali. |
| December 2005 | Club members chose not to exchange Christmas cards but to put the money towards the purchase and delivery of 3 live goats to a village in Africa. |
| January 2005 | £25 - Donation to Rotary's 'Africa Hope' Polar Challenge. |
| November 2004 | £1,000 - Following an excellent presentation by Claire Wright from 'Hope and homes for Children' the club donated this sum to Rotary's 'Africa Hope'. |
| August 2004 | £100 - Donated to Sudan Disaster Appeal |