Visit our homepage, www.niteoafrica.org, and click on the multimedia tab to listen to an amazing song.
"In My Dream" is a wonderful song written for Niteo Kids by Madi Kloss, a 1o-year old grade 5 student. She wrote and performed it over spring break. It will be a featured part of the Raise Your Voice concert on April 14th.
Please spread the word about this incredible song and the incredible young artist who wrote it. Madi and her parents have decided that all proceeds from the sales of the song (which is available as a download or as a CD) will go directly towards the purchase of the mobile bookmobile for Uganda.
Please take the time to listen and consider donating.
If you are interested in receiving a digital copy of the song, please comment and we will contact you from there.
And if you happen to live in the Okanagan, remember to save April 14th! There are some tickets still available for what promises to be the most joyful show of the season!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Supporting Education
ERRC Update - May the Work Continue!!
Meet Grace and her four beauties
by Betty
Grace Ampumuza is a mother of three and a guardian of four children. She is 29 yrs old and a survivor of the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Her husband died from cholera in Nakivale refugee camp in western Uganda where they lived for five years after the genocide. She talks about her perils with tears welling up in her eyes.
Grace with the four kids she looks after, three of her own and her big sister’s son Geoffrey (12 yrs). Geoffrey’s mother Beatrice got a mental problem after the genocide, so Grace had to take up her son. Grace has no formal school qualifications, so she has no specified job. She does domestic work and runs other errands for people and gets money to survive and pay school dues for her children. She first came to the center four months ago because she thought that Niteo could help her sponsor her kids in school. I told her that we’re not doing that right now. However she was pleased about all the books we have and from then on, she started bringing her kids to the center to read.
We gave her a casual job for cleaning the center after we sent away Vincent who was the care taker. Grace is working so well in keeping the center neat. She works three days in a week and we pay her 60.000 shilling a month. Of course this is not enough for her considering all her responsibilities of her family, but that’s what we could get for her, and we thought it was better than nothing. This center is here for the kids and any thing that I can do to help one kid means so much to ERRC, and Niteo as a whole. After talking to Grace and knowing her story, I on behalf of ERRC gave her some stationery for her kids to use in school as our contribution to her kids’ education. These included pens, pencils, crayons, reams of paper, erasers and exercise books. Grace received them as a miracle with so much appreciation and she showed me her gratitude in one sentence: God gives us the things we need just on time
by Betty
Grace Ampumuza is a mother of three and a guardian of four children. She is 29 yrs old and a survivor of the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Her husband died from cholera in Nakivale refugee camp in western Uganda where they lived for five years after the genocide. She talks about her perils with tears welling up in her eyes.
Grace with the four kids she looks after, three of her own and her big sister’s son Geoffrey (12 yrs). Geoffrey’s mother Beatrice got a mental problem after the genocide, so Grace had to take up her son. Grace has no formal school qualifications, so she has no specified job. She does domestic work and runs other errands for people and gets money to survive and pay school dues for her children. She first came to the center four months ago because she thought that Niteo could help her sponsor her kids in school. I told her that we’re not doing that right now. However she was pleased about all the books we have and from then on, she started bringing her kids to the center to read.
We gave her a casual job for cleaning the center after we sent away Vincent who was the care taker. Grace is working so well in keeping the center neat. She works three days in a week and we pay her 60.000 shilling a month. Of course this is not enough for her considering all her responsibilities of her family, but that’s what we could get for her, and we thought it was better than nothing. This center is here for the kids and any thing that I can do to help one kid means so much to ERRC, and Niteo as a whole. After talking to Grace and knowing her story, I on behalf of ERRC gave her some stationery for her kids to use in school as our contribution to her kids’ education. These included pens, pencils, crayons, reams of paper, erasers and exercise books. Grace received them as a miracle with so much appreciation and she showed me her gratitude in one sentence: God gives us the things we need just on time
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Glenmore Elementary Cares!
On March 4th, grade four students at Glenmore Elementary in Kelowna held a Used Toy Sale with proceeds to several charities -- including Niteo.
The toys, most of which were donated by students at the school, were sold for $1 each. Some "big ticket" items -- including a three-foot tall stuffed pug -- were raffled off with tickets selling for two for $1. The sale lasted from 9am to 4pm and while some members of the public came after school, most of the toys were sold to students at the school.
In total, the students raised $1827. Proceeds will benefit local charities, projects of the Glenmore Cares Club (who sorted and organized all the toys over a month-long collection period) and Niteo.
Niteo wishes to once again thank the students and staff of Glenmore for their efforts.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Team Building Begins!
It's an exciting time for us. This weekend our team leaders will gather in a secret location (okay, it's my kitchen) to look over the applications for this years' team.
We are buoyed and excited by the interest we have received in this project.
We humbly thank all of the people who have offered to come to Uganda this year and make a difference in the lives of children and adults alike.
We also humbly thank the spouses, children, family members, friends and workmates of our team members. You will make many sacrifices so that your loved one can come to help, and your support and generosity of spirit is very appreciated.
Thank you!
We are buoyed and excited by the interest we have received in this project.
We humbly thank all of the people who have offered to come to Uganda this year and make a difference in the lives of children and adults alike.
We also humbly thank the spouses, children, family members, friends and workmates of our team members. You will make many sacrifices so that your loved one can come to help, and your support and generosity of spirit is very appreciated.
Thank you!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Going to Africa - A Doorway
As I have experienced Africa, I have been changed...continue to change. Richard Rohr provides a helpful image when he defines critical incidents in an individual's life as liminal space. He says, "liminal space induces a type of inner crisis to help us make a needed transition. In brief it should wake us up a bit. That's what is meant by a liminal experience....A visit to another culture can jar us awake, if it is truly a visit to another culture....We have to see that others don't see things the way we do. We need to have our fundamental assumptions questioned. Maybe our questions aren't the only ones and maybe [the West] is not the center of the world....Liminal space is always an experience of displacement in the hope of a new point of view."
If you are still interested in considering our Africa trip this summer, please get your applications in!
For the sake of the children,
Karine
P.S. The boy pictured is standing next to his mother in a hut in a village in Western Uganda on the border of the Congo. She laid on a mat grieving and bleeding heavily from a late term miscarriage due to a malarial fever and lack of treatment.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Media coverage
We've sent some information about Glenmore Elementary's fund-raising extravaganza to the local media -- hopefully you'll see it in the paper soon. Please keep talking it up with everyone! The more seats we fill, the better it will be the students in Uganda.
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