Important Hope 4 Africa Night Announcement!

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We are pleased to announce “Hope 4 Africa Night 2012″, a night to celebrate our successes, talk about our programs, raise money to operate the organization, and recognize our supporters.

A night of celebration, food, and all out awesomeness.

 

Hope 4 Africa Night 2012 will be held MARCH 4th, from 4-6 at the LRC: 3550 Mills Civic Parkway,  West Des Moines, Iowa 50265. Tickets will be $20 per person.

BUY TICKETS HERE

The night will consist of a dinner, entertainment, speeches about the organization, Kenyan tea, and a silent auction. Through this event, our guests (we are planning on around 100) will be able to learn about what we do, have a good time, and help support the organization financially.

We have held this event once before, through Hope 4 Africa @ ISU, and it was a major success. It was super fun (after we all nearly had panic attacks trying to prepare at the last minute), informative, and lucrative for the organization. This year, we have adapted it to the organizational level, in order to raise money for operation costs. As we gain experience, we are quickly realizing that expenses grow alongside revenues – and our revenues are growing quickly. We also are bringing the event to West Des Moines, which is our home market – the birth place of the club.

H4A Night, we feel, is a very good way to both give ourselves a financial base, preparing for future growth, and provide our supporters a close look into what we do, what their money and volunteer hours have gone to support.

If you live in the area, or your parents do, we would be absolutely thrilled for you to join us on our special night.

Thanks for reading. Keep March 4th clear on your calendar, we hope to see you there!

~Kyle

U.S. Hostage Rescue in Somalia

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Hello Readers,

[paraphrased from BBC] Earlier this morning, a team of Navy SEALS successfully rescued two kidnapped aid workers in Somalia. One hostage was a 32 year old American woman named Jessica Buchanan and the other was a 62 year old Dane named Poul Thisted. The raid, which was conducted by SEAL Team Six, the same unit (though not necessarily the “same personnel”) that ran the bin Laden operation, was ordered because the health of Ms. Buchanan was a matter of concern.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16714344

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As courageous and proficient as the soldiers involved proved themselves to be, this blog post is about the dangers faced by aid workers in the Horn of Africa. We have posted before about the murders of Doctors Without Borders workers, and it is certain that these two cases are not isolated incidents. Somalia is a failed state; while Mogadishu (the capital) has recently been more or less secured by the government and UN, the government of Somalia has little to no control outside of the city-limits, and some would argue that it does not even reach that far. On top of the violence and instability this has brought about, East Africa faced its worst drought in a century in the summer of 2011.

So, at a time when Somalia most needs help, it is also one of the most dangerous places to be for aid workers. Somalis are consistently forced into illegitimate and illegal methods of keeping themselves and their families alive. This, combine with the presence of aid workers, creates an environment that is ripe for danger and criminal activities, including kidnappings for ransom.

And yet, people still make the trip to this region to provide whatever service they can. These workers are literally keeping people alive everyday by providing food and health care to those that would otherwise go without.

In this instance, it is important to recognize both the soldiers that conducted the amazing rescue and the aid workers that risk their lives so that others have the chance to live their own.

- Kyle

A Hopeful Competition

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We are very excited to announce our new fundraiser event: A Hopeful Competition.

As the video said: This event will be 3 month long competition between our clubs starting today, Monday, January 23rd and ending on April 23rd. Clubs will have various opportunities to earn prizes, including total money earned, most creative idea, and average meeting attendance. We have broken the clubs down into divisions so new and smaller members don’t have to compete against the veterans. Also, we have decided to run this fundraiser through Crowdrise.com. It’s basically a platform that will help us track the money raised so we can up to the minute data on who is winning the competition! So, if you’re involved with a H4A club, familiarize yourself with that website.

I could write a whole lot more about the details of the competition, but we’ve already done that over at the webpage, and I think we can all agree that it’s no fun to do more writing than is necessary.  Plus, there was that cool video up there to help explain it.

Basically, we’ve been working hard on this, and we’re INCREDIBLY excited to get going. We’re confident that we can get $10,000, making it by far the most productive semester in H4A history, bringing electricity, water, music, and sponsorship to students. Yeah. That’s pretty exciting, right?

~Kyle

Video Shoot…it’s a surprise!

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Monday night Kyle, Marisa, Alex, Aaron and I were hard at work shooting a new Hope 4 Africa video that will be released soon! We really can’t say what is about (sorry) but what we can say you don’t want to miss out on it!
~Moses~

2012: New Clubs, Fundraisers, Hope, and… the Apocalypse?

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Well, hopefully the world won’t end this year, because we plan on making this our most successful year yet! (Okay, so, using the whole end-of-the-world joke as a lead-in probably isn’t original, but we figured since it’s early in the year, you probably aren’t too sick of the subject yet. Bear with us.)

We’ll start with some very exciting news: we have two new clubs on the way! Now, since it’s not completely a done deal, we can’t announce the names, but we’re feeling pretty good about it. We can say, that if both of these go through, the Hope 4 Africa name will be spread to two more states. Yeah, it’s kind of a big deal… not to brag or anything. Stay tuned!

Another thing, we’re going to be announcing an event soon about which we’re really, really pumped. Once again, details will be left for when plans are absolutely finalized, but we’ll say that it will be a fundraiser to give the organization a financial base from which to operate and if you are involved with the Iowa State club, you will recognize it.

We’ve raised around $7,000 during this school year, and as you know our goal is $15,000. Traditionally, spring semester has been our more productive semester, so we’re looking forward to accomplishing our goal.

As long as the world doesn’t end, we are confident that when we make our “2013:…” post this time next year, we will be looking back on by far the most successful, exciting year of this young organization’s life.

Stay updated, keep reading.

Thank you,

~Kyle

 

Violence/Protests in Nigeria

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Recently, Nigeria removed fuel subsidies, which drove up the prices and sent the population into protests and riots. Nigeria is an oil-rich country,  but they have seemingly fallen into the resource-trap – their oil has served as an impetus for corruption in both multinational companies and government as leaders take the profits for themselves and their friends. BBC News says that “[m]any poverty-stricken Nigerians see subsidised fuel as the only benefit they get from their country’s oil wealth.” When President Goodluck Jonathan suspended those subsidies, Nigerians, mainly the youth and the impoverished, took to the streets. In a picture on the BBC News site, one protester holds up a sign that says “Corruption is our problem, not subsidy”. Oil workers today warned that they might shutdown the country’s output, an action that would have huge economic ramifications. As the oil protests threaten Nigeria’s stability, Boko Haram, a Nigerian Islamist group has ratcheted up violence against Christians, and threatened even more through a video released today (Wednesday, Jan 11). Nigeria, which has a near even split of Christians and Muslims, that also is largely regionally separated, has had many problems dealing with the conflict between these two groups, including governmental and territorial issues. I recommend the NPR article to learn more about the latest developments.

Here are the articles from which I got the information.

links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16518521 - article on new curfew
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16469029 - protests in pictures
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/11/145051655/nigeria-rattled-by-strikes-sectarian-violence - NPR Article
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-16521943 - Video on the strike and general situation

Thanks for reading. Nigeria is an incredibly important country in the west of Africa; it is my personal opinion that people should keep themselves updated on this situation.

~ Kyle

Worsening Sudan-South Sudan Relations

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“Seventeen South Sudanese civilians have been killed during air raids by Sudan’s military, an official has told the BBC.” - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16359310

The link above is to an article on the BBC website detailing the latest sign that relations between Sudan and recently formed South Sudan are worsening, leading to violence, especially near contested borders.

South Sudan became officially independent on July 9th of 2011, following years of disputes with their Northern neighbors. The Sudan region, as a whole, has suffered from intense ethnic and tribal conflicts, including the Darfur crisis. Due to Sudan’s size and importance, the geopolitics of Africa as a continent have changed and will continue to change as developments in the region occur. Therefore, it will be important to know what’s happening in these two countries.

~Kyle

hopeFULL: Loroupe invests Sh300m($3.5m) in school for peace, sports

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An interesting story from The Standard, about a successful runner in Kenya who is investing in a school in a poverty stricken area in the Horn of Africa. Enjoy

~Moses~

By Stephen Makabila

From January, the first lot of 200 children drawn from four countries that have for decades suffered from cross-border cattle rustling raids would be enrolled in a ultra-modern school in Kapenguria, West-Pokot County. The multi-million school, built on a 20-acre farm, will comprise primary and secondary wings and will be known as Tegla Loroupe Peace and Leadership Centre.

The school is expected to bring together pupils from the warring communities in the greater Horn of Africa and offer them free education and intensive training on peace matters. Preferential admission will mainly be accorded to children from cattle-rustling areas in Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia.

The brain behind the school is retired athlete and UN goodwill ambassador for Peace and Sports Tegla Loroupe, through her Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation. She was, also, awarded honorary doctorate in Peace and Sports from the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.

Tegla Loroupe with guests who recently visisted the school, among them, KCAA Chairman Charles Wako (second right)

Sponsors

“The total cost of the schools, which will be semi-public, would be Sh300 million but we have completed the first phase at the cost of Sh48 million,” Loroupe told Education in an interview. Some of her sponsors include Prince Albert of Monaco, UNDP, the International Olympic Committee, International Amateur Association Federation, Oxfam-GB and Sameer Group.

“This is an integrative boarding school that will bring together students from warring communities to live together, learn together and basically foster unity among them. We shall offer them normal education, but with a great focus on Peace Studies which we have incorporated in the curriculum. Basically, this will be a Peace Building institution,” she explains.

She adds, “For the last 10 years, since I established the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation, we have been using sports as a unifying factor, through peace races, but we want to diversify our approach into education and other areas.” The Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Eunice Kaumbi says the school will have four components: vocational training, rescue centre for girls under threat of female genital mutilation, the academy section and a sports training facility.

“The first intake in January will be for Class One to Class Five, both boarding and day, and we expect pupils from communities that suffer from rustling such as Pokot, Marakwet and Turkana in Kenya, Karamojong (Uganda), Toposa (Sudan) and Dasanech (Ethiopia),” said Ms Kaumbi. “The school which is a semi-public institution will gradually grow to offer secondary education. We are finalising registration with the Ministry of Education on November 30, to enable Teachers Service Commission post teachers and a principal.”

She says more deserving students will be sponsored and more schools will be facilitated once the foundation receives enough support from well wishers. Besides matters of integration, the centre will also be used for tapping talent especially in athletics. The foundation intends to use it as a training camp for talented athletes from the region.

“This foundation believes in sports as one of the greatest factors of unity, and we shall use the centre to tap sports talent and train them in various fields. We shall do our best to ensure we create other sources of livelihood for our people so that they can stop fighting. This centre will help them develop their talents in sports,” says Kaumbi.

Opportunities

Loroupe says next year’s edition of the Peace Race would be held at the new institution. This year’s edition, held a few weeks back, was attended by Managing Director of the National Bank Reuben Marambii and the chairman of the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority Charles Wako, who called on members of the pastoral communities in Kenya, eastern Uganda and Southern Sudan to embrace education as a way of eradicating poverty and insecurity.

Kaumbi adds, “Through this initiative, we expect that educational opportunities will be widened within the Karamojang cluster, educational status will improve, enrolment will increase, drop out decreased significantly, retention rates increase, graduation from one level to the other will be enhanced and performance of pupils will be higher.”

The Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation is a charitable organisation that focuses on restoring peace and fostering economic empowerment among pastoralists in North-Rift region and the greater Horn of Africa. It was established in 2003 by Loroupe, a Kenyan marathon legend who is also the foundation’s president, with an intention of championing for peaceful co-existence through sports and creating a difference in the lives of the less privileged.

The foundation focuses on rebuilding social relations and inducing trust among warring communities, showcase sports as an alternative economic livelihood, increase awareness on the girl-child rights, foster education, champion for peace and change the perception of pastoralists towards cattle raiding.

Peace building

“Personally, I got concerned about the ever increasing cases of cattle rustling incidents and ethnic clashes among pastoralists and I asked God to give me the courage and resources to facilitate peace building activities in this region,” recalls Loroupe.

Though the foundation’s peace efforts have yielded significant results, Loroupe describes the process of uniting warring communities as a daunting task that requires extreme patience, perseverance and persistence. She recalls that at the beginning, it was not easy to get the warring parties come together.

“One could easily give up because the more we talked about peace, the more things remained the same. Sometimes communities attacked each other soon after a peace-meeting. This was a great setback but we never gave up,” says Loroupe, who represented Kenya in many international races and became the first African woman to win the New York City marathon race in 1995.

Peace ambassadors

The foundation is credited with having been able to get many people out of cattle-rustling through sensitisation.

“Currently, 16 groups have been formed in the region to foster peaceful co-existence among the pastoralists and about 1,000 former warriors are under-going training as peace ambassadors, besides being empowered with livelihood skills and knowledge. We have further facilitated the formation of eight district Peace and Development Committees in Pokot, Marakwet and Turkana,” says Kaumbi.

Campaigns: Update from Ogilgei Primary School

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Students who visited Kenya last May with teachers and staff of Ogilgei Primary - May 2011

Here is a detailed update from the principal of one of our partner schools: Ogilgei Primary School.

~Moses~

Hi Moses,

Thanks very much for the warm greetings from you and our dear friends in USA. Kenya is fine and particularly home and its environs. The weather is good and very favorable at this time. The term has had lots of rains unlike other years of the past. Indeed we are looking forward to harvesting Maize though in small scale farming. Christmas festivities are nearing up and with this, our people being Christians, are preparing themselves for the same.
Our class eight pupils have just concluded their first national examination (K.C.P.E) and we are looking forward for good results as compared to the past. The rest of the classes (i.e) class 1-7 are preparing themselves for their end-term paper that will see them promoted to the next  classes.
Academic
The school has steadily improved in the academic performance. Divisional examination as compared to that of term one 2011 featured as follows: Our division comprises of 28 schools i.e 12 public primary schools and 16 private primary schools.
The following classes did very well among the public schools. Namely:
I.                   Class    2 blue- Ogilgei-No. 3 out of 16 streams m/s 325.86
                   2 green- Ogilgei- No. 4 out of 16 streams m/s 306.25
II.                Class    5 blue- Ogilgei- No. 2 out of 26 streams m/s 252.68
III.             Class    6 green- Ogilgei No. 2 out of 16 streams m/s 3257.18
The rest of the other classes got positions among the 1st half category which was good
The following pupils from our school to the same exams got themselves the top three positions out of the very many pupils is the division. They are:-
1.      Paul Muigai 3 blue marks 456/500
2.      Joseph Ekeno  No. 1from 5 blue marks 372/500
3.      Vivian  Cherono          No. 2 from 7 Green marks      376/500
4.      Caleb Kiprono No. 9from 7 Green marks       350/500
5.      Judy Chelangat No. 3 from 3 Green marks    444/500
This improvement is greatly attributed to the efforts we’ve received from the Hope 4 all Africa through the provision of library books, computer lessons and the continued encouragement.
Athletics/Ball games
Our pupils are good both in athletics and ball games. They like doing a lot of exercise and it’s their hobby. The balls which you brought us have been of great use to the Boys and Girls. This has brought a lot of activity among the young pupils hence preparing them for next year.
Term I (i.e February 2012) ball games competition, on the other hand the pupils have been also doing good in athletics, as I reported to you lastly in term two this year saw our two pupils reaching the provincial level. This was a great achievement.
Arts  Performance.
The pupils in this school are good in arts and only needs support to strengthen their talents. Subjects like Music have been in their hearts for long. A little Provision of musical instruments will help better their talents. The art instructional materials which you provided the pupils during your last visit in May have helped the young children draw and enjoy art subjects. We are very grateful for such a gesture that we received from you people.
Library
Library has been on since last year and the pupils have really enjoyed reading materials especially the books from Hope 4 Africa. This has helped improve English language both the spoken and written. By an extend, the same has been able to help the pupils improve in their academic performance.
Computer lessons
The Computer lessons have done the school very proud. The pupils are able to open access and use computer basically. The teachers are doing a pretty good work in assisting the pupil’s use computers which you brought us this year. This is a dream come true and a pace you did set that cannot be challenged by anyone. The school indeed is the only public school one in the district that has computers and where such lessons are taught. Live long Hope 4 Africa for this provision.
School compound
The school compound got an environmental boost through the planting of tree seedlings provided by Hope 4 Africa. These trees are growing vey fast and it will have covered the ground by the time you come in May. The soil will no longer be bare and hence the environment will remain to be pretty good.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the school has reached this far through your assistance and we belief that it will form a source of inspiration knowledge at the heart of Rift- Valley. That your continued support will greatly improve the lives of many pupils now and in future. The photos enclosed will help sum up all that is written. Please try  to move them inform of Video slides and you will be able to see all this. Thanks that you are through with Kirobon’s issues of water harvesting and that you are now embarking on Ogilgei primary school project. May god bless you and Hope 4 Africa long live the organization long live Ogilgei primary.
Thanks.
Jacob songor
Head Teacher
Here are the photos that came with the update. Enjoy!

Awareness: Kony 2012 – Invisible Children

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Some of you may remember a post that we posted 2 months ago about Obama sending 100 troops to Uganda to stop the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). If you didn’t read it here is the link. The organization that has been behind all this activism is called Invisible Children and they are based out of San Diego. There mission statement reads “Invisible Children uses film, creativity and social action to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony’s rebel war and restore LRA-affected communities in central Africa to peace and prosperity.”

This coming spring they will be launching a campaign called Kony 2012 that aims to bring Kony to justice once and for all and end this 25 year old civil war. I encourage all of you to be apart of this, because you don’t want to miss out on this. Watch the video below!


~Moses~