On October 27 2008 I have the priveledge of taking an 89 day trip throughout Uganda, Tanzania, India, Nepal and Thailand, doing volunteer work in varying capacities along the way. While I am paying the the entire trip myself--travel costs, food, accomodation, volunteer fees, etc, I am hoping to raise some extra money to split between two specific projects.
In Uganda I will be volunteering on behalf of Partnerships for Opportunity, a non-profit based out of Victoria, BC. Through them I have been invited to a community called Bwera on the Congolese/Ugandan border. One of the projects Partnerships for Opportunity runs in Bwera is the goat project. Goats are provided for families affected by HIV, based on need. The families then have the choice of drinking the nutrient rich milk to supplement their diets, or selling it and using the money for other goods and supplies. Further more, the goat urine is used as a natural pesticide for the vegetable crops and the manure as fertilizer. All of the goats are also involved in a breeding program to further the project within the community. Beginning with 11 goats in 2005, there are now 125 goats providing milk for 700 individuals. The community of Bwera, as I am told, is filled with kind and hopeful people, despite feeling the detrimental affects of war, HIV and extreme poverty. In gratitude for their hospitality I hope to provide them with some funding for some of their basic needs, to be determined by them.
The second project I am hoping to support is a street children's rehabilitation centre run by Village Service Trust in Tamil Nadu, India. The purpose of the centre is to eradicate all forms of child poverty and exploitation, by molding the street children into responsible citizens using both awareness and rehabilitative means. Again, without any formal introduction, they have invited me in to meet the children, leaders and learn more about their way of life. And again, in gratitude I would like to provide them with some funding for the children's basic needs.
Now, I realize this is a mouthful, so in short I will fundraise for goats. Literally, half of the money raised will go Bwera, where the goat project initialized. However, metaphorically fundraising for goats represents so much more. Goats stand for the right to earn an income on one's own terms. Goats stand for the basic right of nutritious food. Essentially, goats stand for basic human necessities. And that is what I am fundraising for, the basic human needs of the community of Bwera and the street children of Tamil Nadu.