Give a Gift with Meaning: The Kyomya Calendars are now on sale!

The holidays are fast approaching, and what better gift to give than one that will have a lasting impact on a community in a developing country.

To raise funds to build a school and further other projects in Kyomya, Uganda, two NABUUR volunteers, Barb Briggs and Raul Alberto Caceres, have put together a calendar with stunning photographs taken from their travels this year to the community of Kyomya East. The calendar is now on sale, and eagerly waiting for your orders!

The price of the calendar has been reduced to $15 USD with a new printer on board. Your calendar will come with a white envelope to ship it on as a gift to a friend.

Postage in the US is no more than $2.50. If you can afford to, please round it up to $20. For more than one calendar, the postage on priority mail that can hold up to 6 calendars is $11.95 USD.

Postage to Canada, Australia and Europe is a flat rate of $11.95 USD, which can hold up to 6 calendars delivered in 6-10 days.

To place your orders just send an email to kyomyacalendar@gmail.com with the number of calendars you wish to order and the delivery address.

You will receive an email with instructions on how to process a secure payment using Paypal. Once the payment is confirmed the calendars will be delivered to the address specified in the email.

Make sure to order yours today!

And if you'd like to be a part of the Kyomya online team, click here to see what else the team is working on - and how you can contribute.

There's always a story to tell at NABUUR - Why not be the person telling it?

If you're a journalist, a writer, or someone with an interest or talent for storytelling, you're in luck as today we present you with a new and exciting volunteering opportunity.

There is always something cooking in NABUUR Villages. When you're participating in the Villages as a Neighbour and are right smack in the middle of the action, your volunteer time is better filled with researching solutions for the project, making contact with organisations, working on the assigned tasks, etc. All these efforts may not leave much time for other things, but there are Neighbours who may wish to take on a reporting role and write stories about the developments taking place in the Villages.

This is the reason why NABUUR is looking for volunteer storytellers. Each storyteller will get 20 Villages to monitor (check the news, stay on top of the results, get an update from the Facilitator and the Local Representative) and will write updates about the developments in this Village.

As storyteller, you will to act as the Village reporter and create stories (within a given format most of the time). If you like to keep a blog or post your stories outside NABUUR you are more than welcome as well.

If you can spend 5 hours a week, whenever it suits you, for the next 6 months, join us in the storytelling group where you'll find all you need to know on getting started as a NABUUR storyteller.

Preview page: 10 Things you can do on NABUUR

A very interesting discussion is taking shape on the Social Actions website on the topic of engaging volunteers.

Some excellent suggestions were brought forward and we have incorporated these into a brand new feature that will allow new and existing Nabuur volunteers to quickly get a sense of how they can start contributing.

A page has been created with a '10 things you can do' list. You'll find the things on the page range from becoming a Neighbour to taking on bigger tasks like becoming a Facilitator. The page is not live yet, and it's still a work in progress, but we wanted to give you a preview and would love to hear if you think this page will work for new volunteers to get started:

Visit the page here.

Let us know your thoughts, and if you feel inclined, join us on Social Actions to continue the discussion!

154 Votes on Give Meaning...and Counting!

Remember a few days ago when we shared with you the efforts of Yoshinkel and Gamauli to raise votes on Give Meaning? It seems quite a lot of you were listening, and took swift action to make sure that the vote count rose through the GM roof!

Within 48 hours, the goal of 100 votes was reached - and the votes are still coming in...Now showing 153...154...

Talk about fast and furious teamwork! We saw lots of promo links being posted on NABUUR users' Facebook accounts and other social networks; announcements sent on Twitter channels; emails being forwarded to friends and acquaintances asking to please vote, etc.

You ALL did it! Virtual high-fives going out to all of you! :)

Now onto the fundraising part...But if the voting phase is any indication of how quickly this team can get to its goal, raising funds will be a piece of cake.

Want to get in on the action? Here's how to do it.

How your Vote can help school children in Nepal

Now here's a great way to start the week off...Take a minute or two and vote on Givemeaning.com for a NABUUR project aimed at providing winter clothes to school children in Nepal.

Angelika, facilitator for Yoshinkel, tells us more below.

"Your vote on Givemeaning.com goes out to both the women of Yoshinkhel and the children of Gamauli today :) the two Nabuur villages have entered into a partnership to provide the needy children of Gamauli with winter clothes.

Our neighbour Jennifer has posted information about our proposed project and partnership to Givemeaning.com. In order for the project to "go live" and fundraising to begin, we need to first secure 100 votes. I am asking that all of our volunteers here please visit the Givemeaning.com site and cast your vote.

Click here to go to the project:

http://www.givemeaning.com/proposal/gamauli

Please get your friends to vote as well! Voting closes December 8th. The sooner we can get to 100 votes the better.

And if you do feel that this is a worthwhile cooperation, please do consider funding as well: You can buy a set of clothes for a child for EUR 5 / USD 6 already, ensuring that that child can attend school over winter! And of course the women and children in Yoshinkhel benefit too, as the women are paid for their work on the products."

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There, easy as it looks. A couple of minutes to register an account on GiveMeaning and a quick click of the Vote button. Please pass this on to your friends and acquaintances before the deadline.

I voted - Have you?

The Stephen Lewis Foundation Visits Kabondo

NABUUR woke up today to some heartening news from the project in Kabondo, Kenya.

Here's Eric Ochanji, local representative of Kabondo, to share with you the exciting news.

"Dr. Lucy Steinitz visited Kabondo on 1st and 2nd November to carry out an assesment visit for possible funding on behalf of the Stephen Leiws Foundation. Dr. Steinitz is co-founder of Catholic AIDS Action in Namibia and co-founder and chairperson of the board of CAFO; The Church Alliance for Orphans. She also works with Family Health International.

It is the policy of The Stephen Lewis Foundation to send a representative to any project they are actively considering for funding. We were privileged to host her to meet the board, asses the management and financial systems in place and also visit the beneficiaries of the project. The visit took 2 days and a report will be forwaded to SLF to help them make a final decision.

Dr. Lucy visited children supported by the project and a widow who is struggling with a small business that earns her less than a dollar a day (KShs 50) to feed her four children and help her provide the basic necessities. Though she is semi literate, Dr. Lucy was inspired and moved by Mrs Benter Owino's courage and strategic plan and donated KShs 5,000 of her own monwy to help her expand her business capacity to be able to make at least KShs 300 a day.

We thank Lucy for helping Kabondo Poverty Alleviation Organization(KPAO) reach out to one widow who has shown the way that hard work and determination can help the poor make great strides away from dependence."
Eric
Local Representative of Kabondo