We’re Challenging You

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Jonathan Kyle

There are 17 days until the biggest event of the year for our organization, Hope 4 Africa Night 2012. The success or failure of this event hinges, basically, on one thing: ticket sales. We’ve been sending emails, tweeting, and messaging people on facebook, because we know we need to advertise a lot… now we’re challenging you.

Many of you readers are from the Des Moines area; either you live there currently or you have parents there. If that applies to you, what we’re asking you to do is simple: invite, personally, at least 2 people to attend this event. It’s easy, just message or email em this link:

Hope 4 Africa Night 2012 Invitation

Now, on that page, you’ll see at the top options to tweet it, share it, and like it. That’s an excellent way to spread the word, if you all do that, it would help us immensely.

Alrighty, have ya tweeted it, shared it, liked it, and sent your invitations (or at least 2 to 3 of those)? If so, you should know that you’re the best. If Valentine’s Day had not already happened, Hope 4 Africa would ask you to be our valentine. That’s how awesome we think you are. Since that’s not an option though, here’s this:

~Kyle

Ndakasimba kana Makasimbawo

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Jonathan Kyle

Today I’d like to point your attention to another non-profit doing excellent work in Africa. Elias Fund is an organization focused on “spreading hope and opportunity in Zimbabwe through indigenous empowerment, and engaging the current youth culture of the United States by encouraging a positive identity centered on social justice.” According to their website, they are currently involved in three areas of aid, education, food, and micro-grants. What I like most about Elias Fund is that they partner with Zimbabwean, community-based organizations so as to empower the communities in which they work.

If the title of this post and the name of the organization are ringing a few bells for you, you might be a Dispatch fan. Here is a section from the organization’s History:

“In 1994, Elias Sithole, a gardener in Zimbabwe, met a young American songwriter. Elias shared his dream of one day helping his three sons with an university education. This dream was put to song and became a popular piece with the independent band Dispatch. After the band broke-up in 2004, brothers Eric and Scott Byington were approached to fundraise for a small initiative to sponsor Elias’ sons’ education.”

That fund grew into the organization today.

Ndakasimba kana Makasimbawo is a Shona phrase (you can hear it at the beginning of Dispatch’s song, Elias) that means “I am strong if you are strong”. This is the motto the organization runs by, and we here at Hope 4 Africa love it. I, for one, wear it everyday on a necklace.

Get involved here.

And here’s the song Elias.

Thanks for reading!

~Kyle

Bombing in Somalia/al-Shabab

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Jonathan Kyle

If you’ve followed us in past few months, you’ll know that Somalia has been in the news quite a bit. Beginning with the drought and famine in the summer of 2011, Somalia has seen a period of extreme instability and conflict, more so than even Somalia is used to. The latest news to come out of the region is a story of a car bombing in Mogadishu, the capital, that killed at least 10 people.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16947804

Mogadishu has seen multiple attacks since African Union and Somali troops recaptured the city last August. The group al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist organization, claimed responsibility for the attacks. Al-Shabab is responsible for much violence in the reason; recently Kenya and Ethiopia launched military offensives to disrupt the organization’s operations. Here is a very informative piece on who al-Shabab is:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15336689

Give those a read… conflicts in Somalia have very important ramifications for the region (the region in which h4a operates), continent, and world.

Thanks,

~Kyle

P.s. If you couldn’t tell, we love the BBC. They are a great news source for articles concerning Africa, in addition to just about everything else. Personally, I recommend making bbc.co.uk part of your “I just got online, what sites should I go to?” rounds – somewhere between Facebook, reddit, and Twitter.

The Hopeful Continent

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Jonathan Kyle

“Autocracy, corruption and strife will not disappear overnight. But at a dark time for the world economy, Africa’s progress is a reminder of the transformative promise of growth.”

I recently stumbled across an article in The Economist from Dec. 3rd of last year that hails the potential of the African continent. It’s honestly one of the better articles I’ve read recently and does a good job of not only showing why there is hope for and signs of growth in the continent, but also why that hope should be taken with a grain of salt. It’s a relatively quick and informative read that’s well worth a spot on our blog on this hopeFULL Tuesday.

http://www.economist.com/node/21541015

from The Economist

~Kyle

Our (written) Superbowl Ad (blog post)

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Jonathan Kyle

I’m just sitting here watching the Superbowl, becoming more and more bitter about the Bears’ season and thinking about H4A. Specifically, I’m thinking about how great it would be to have a 30 second advertising slot during the game. Just imagine all the possibilities. I don’t even know what we’d do. Would we try for funny, like the excellent VW commercial (okay, I admit: throw in Vader and I’m going to love it)? Or would we go for the serious, inspiring message, like Chrysler’s Clint Eastwood-narrated, chill-inducing reminder that America, like Detroit, can do great things if we pull together? For the record, I think we’d go with serious, but that’s a moot point; unfortunately, we don’t have millions of dollars just chilling in our marketing budget.

So, instead of movie-quality, 30 second productions for the Superbowl, we rely on social networks, blog posts, and the occasional media coverage. However, the most important means of advertisement for our organization is you. We have made our name through word of mouth and with our organization reaching more and more people, word of mouth is more powerful than ever before. Tell a friend or family member, post a status, send a tweet… whatever you want, as long as you’re telling people about the great work you help us do to better the education in Africa. Whether it’s A Hopeful Competition, Hope 4 Africa Night, or just the Programs that we’re funding, we’re asking you to spread the word. With your help, Hope 4 Africa plans to make this semester the best in the organization’s history.

Oh, and here are those awesome ads.

As always, thank you for reading. We hope you had an amazing Super Sunday.

~Kyle

H4A @ Loras – Officially Approved!

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Jonathan Kyle

Just want to give a shout out to our Loras branch, they were recently approved for official student organization status! That means the fun stuff can start now. We’re all very excited to see what this semester has in store.

Thanks again, Loras. And go Duhawks!

~Kyle

Important Hope 4 Africa Night Announcement!

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Jonathan Kyle

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

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Jonathan Kyle

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

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

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Jonathan Kyle

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!

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Moses Bomett

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~