Donorschoose.org

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[cjp1973]

Two new projects have been added to the kivafriends giving page.  You can find them here

A Long Way Gone The book A Long Way Gone is a well-written and moving personal account of a child soldier and his struggle to move past those difficult and defining moments in his life. In my opinion, it provides a better picture of an issue like child soldiers than I could ever provide with my second-hand presentations.
I plan to use this book when teaching about modern conflicts in Africa. This book is a personal account of a child soldier who has since moved to the United States and achieved incredible things given his difficult first several years.

My Forbidden Face I want/need to show my students how different things can be in countries where education is often denied to students because of money, gender or politics. Latifa's book will open an ugly reality to my students. This book will also help my students to see just how precious education really is. I hope that this book will spark an interest in students that ultimately leads them to read other books including "Three Cups of Tea," "A Thousand Splendid Suns," and "Reading Lolita in Tehran."

Because I was not familiar with My Forbidden Face I looked it up and according to this review it is "a true story written by a 16-year-old girl who faithfully recorded events over a five-year period as they happened to her and her family in their country of Afghanistan after it was taken over by the Taliban."

[Alaska Pack]

We just donated to the project using the book "A Long Way Gone" as we notice it has only 4 days left to fund.  Let's hope it makes it.

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=244676&challengeid=20825

Bernice 

[cjp1973]

One of the projects that was on the donorschoose.org kivafriends giving page has been completed. 

I would like to have people submit a project that they would like to see added to the list.  We have been getting ideas for a couple of you, but would like to include more ideas.  Maybe there is one you have seen that really touched you for some reason, maybe there is one you have donated to outside of kivafriends that could use a little help getting to the finish line.  However you come about it, send it to me and we will get them on the list!

Charmaine

[cjp1973]

Monday August 16th Jan of Jan & John is having a birthday.  They are on vacation at the moment, but I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight 2 projects on the the kivafriends giving page that Jan has been involved in.

Teens in Need  FUNDED
"Teens helping homeless teens-service learning hits home.  Our school is comprised of 95% minority at risk high school students. We are in the process of teaching our students about service learning and how the community affect them.
Our student see many of their friends have to leave their homes due to the economic pressures of today. When they leave they do not get to take many of their belongings with them. In our service learning class, our students found they wanted to focus on homelessness and poverty in children. Even though our students are considered poor, they have seen worse and want to help.
The resources we collect will go into hygiene bags that we will give to local shelters. When homeless teens go into the shelters they will have something that is theirs. No one wants to share razors or other personal hygiene items. Therefore our students want to give back to the community where they see a need and they can relate to the cause. Without donations, they will not be able to do this project.
Your help will ensure that my students will have the resources to see their idea come to life. They will have the opportunity to go to the shelters with their gift and be able to see their accomplishments. Giving back to the community especially when it relates directly to you makes a difference in sometimes hard to reach teens.

Mahoney Drinks Three Cups of Tea
We propose to have all students and teachers participate in a One School/One Book event, reading Mortensen's dramatic story together. All 8 of our public schools in the city will be working simultaneously on an all-district collaboration. At the elementary level, students will be read aloud the picture book version, Listen to the Wind. Middle school students will read the young adult version, and will participate in interdisciplinary units that will include a study of this little-understood part of the world, as well as mountaineering techniques.

For as little as $1 you can support any project on donorschoose.org, but if you feel like supporting either of these this time, make sure you say a Happy Birthday to Jan!

[cjp1973]

Thought I would highlight 2 more projects from the Kivafriends Giving Page

For the Birds!!!-Joan's Nephew's Class
New science units have been assigned to our second grades but we don't have the materials needed! As the result of state mandated consolidation, our district has recently joined with another. In the subsequent curriculum review, it was decided Birds in Our Community would be a second grade unit, for which I have no supporting materials.

This newly assigned unit needs to be taught for the first time in the fall, 2009. Although grade level teachers have started to collaborate on designing the unit, we are "on our own" to gather supplies.

Dissecting owl pellets will provide students with a hands on opportunity to learn how living things are interdependent, which is one of the Maine state learning outcomes for this grade level.

Years ago, I observed primary students as they dissected pellets and then matched bones and hair to diagrams to determine what the owl had had for dinner! The excited engagement of every child could be summed up in seven year old Ruby's announcement, "I'm going to be a scientist when I grow up!" Funding my project will make it possible for my students to experience Ruby's joy of learning about birds in our community! Thank you for considering this most worthy project.

Special Needs Reading Center
My students all have multiple disabilities. They are high school age and many of them are non-verbal, autistic, have cerebral palsy, are blind and/or unable to walk. They also live in a poverty stricken area.

Many of my students are in wheelchairs and it is difficult for them to see books on a regular bookshelf. They really wanted me to find a way so that they could have a library of books that will fit them and they would feel comfortable using without constant assistance from someone else. They love to look at and read books. Please make this possible for them. You'll make a bigger impact then you could ever imagine.

My students need 2 leveled reading carts. These carts are mobile and accessible for kids with wheelchairs. The students want to create their own library. I have purchased several hundreds of dollars of books for them, but we need someplace to display it for them. This reading center would really mean a lot to these students with multiple disabilities.

You will make it possible for a student to pick out of book on their own. This may not seem like a big issue, but it is. Imagine you are confined to a wheelchair and cannot speak, but you can read. Would you want to try and explain what book you would like or would you like the feeling of independence and pick out a book for yourself? Please help these students if you can. They face so more obstacles daily - please make this one less that they have to deal with. They really need a reading center.

[Kewalee]

Dear Kiva Friends:

My name is Kelli.  You are currently sponsoring one of my DonorsChoose proposals, "My Forbidden Face."  I was so taken by your generosity and your team work that I joined Kiva and Kiva friends.  I am currently supporting 4 Kiva projects.  My special areas of interest are education and eastern Africa.  My husband is a military officer deployed to Djibouti.  His group's mission is to help the local populations throughout eastern Africa to resist terrorist influence by building strong schools, infrastructure, business, communities, etc.  His mission meshes nicely with Kiva's mission.  I'm not sure that many people are aware of what our military is doing in Africa.  The Horn of Africa command reaches out to Kenya, Somalia, Eritrea, Uganda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. 

Thank you for all that you have done for me, for my students, and for the world community. 

Best,
Kelli

[cjp1973]

Kelli,
Thank you so much for posting here.  It is wonderful to hear from teachers that are benefiting from our donations.  And thank you for posting about your husband.  I was unaware of this, and am now interested in finding out more.

Charmaine

[Eli]

Welcome Kelli!  It is always great to have new KivaFriends, and love that you found us through the participation on your DonorsChoose project.  I couldn't resist adding my small donation to help your project get funded (less than $100 to go!).  I agree with Charmaine, and am fascinated about what you posted about your husband, was unaware of the strength of the military presence there.  Would love to know more.

In case anyone is interested, you can find 'My Forbidden Face' listed here.

[cjp1973]

For those of you on Twitter, from the donorschoose.org blog

Twitter Trivia to Benefit DonorsChoose.org
By Kari Monday, Aug 17, 2009 at 6:04pm

Starting August 17th and running through the 24th, Twitter users will have the opportunity to enter PayPal’s back-to-school sweepstakes for a chance to win $50 and a $50 DonorsChoose.org gift card!  For each day of the sweepstakes, a back-to-school themed trivia question will be posted to the PayPal Shopping Twitter handle; all users who “@reply” the correct answer will be automatically entered into the daily drawings. Visit PayPal Shopping on Twitter to learn more; http://twitter.com/PayPalShopping and follow DonorsChoose.org on Twitter too; http://twitter.com/DonorsChoose

[Kewalee]

Hello friends,

I'm funded!  Thank you very much.  I posted a nice little note for all of you on DonorsChoose.  I am excited to use the book with my students, but I am also excited to talk about how the project was funded.  They need to know about the goodness in the world.

OK.  As for my husband, the location is CJTF HOA (Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa) which is part of AFRICOM (African Command).  Perhaps you've heard of CENTCOM (Central Command).  That's the headquarters command that controls all of the military actions in Afghanistan, Iraq and other locations throughout southwest Asia including all the "stan's"  Uzbekistan, Pakistan, etc.  AFRICOM was established with the specific task of promoting stability on the African continent and thwarting terrorism through the three D's (Diplomacy, Defense and Development).  Diplomacy - embassies in the various countries; Defense - American forces carry a big stick; Development - building schools, digging aqueducts, etc.  A big part of this is using local labor and resources in order to build the economy.  If the locals have a strong economy, then the lure of money from Al-Qaedra, the madrassas, etc. will be lessened.  (This is the hope, anyway).

Here are a few of the interesting things that I've learned since Mike has been stationed in Djibouti (pronounced Ja-booty).

1.  African map lines are nebulous as many African tribes, clans and sub clans are nomadic.
2.  Many African clans have no knowledge of America.
3.  Animals are crucial to the family economy and are the responsibility of the women.  Female veterinarians are an important piece of the diplomacy puzzle.  For instance, in a place like Yemen, if you send a male veterinarian in, there will be big problems.
4.  It is improper to ask a man about his wife.  You should only ask about his family.
5.  For many children, school is conducted under the big tree in the center of the village.

My husband can participate in certain community activities such as discussion groups for adults learning English and cradling babies at orphanages. 

Your pal,
Kelli



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