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Work to be done

2012-05-05T19:45:13Z

I'm sat in Abu Dhabi airport killing time the best way - being social. This trip has been incredible in so many ways but most importantly; socially. We've met with people from all walks of life - high-rollers, the elite, local officials, children and some of the poorest of Kenya. I've heard laughter and seen tears, shed tears even.

There's work to be done in putting the video together by Ama Zon Art but also in preparing for Rio's +20 Earth Summit next month. The Terra Endeavors project is now in the hands of the Technical Advisor for Climate Change of the Kenyan Government so fingers crossed we can get that one operational soon, if only to showcase it in Rio as an example of the balance necessary between material production and environmental preservation. The project is primarily Algae production which in turn produces clean-burning cooking fuel, fresh drinking water, renewable electricity, nutritional supplements, high-protein animal feed, organic fertilizer, 10+ employment ops and of course reduces the carbon footprint of each village, especially when training and solar cookers are also introduced; another innovative tool for easy, effective, efficient and completely clean means of cooking.

Solar lanterns can also be used by the fishermen, a tool found by Anupma last year during her volunteering term. Each "solution" provides empowering business opportunities for trainers, entrepreneurs, innovators, and manufacturers. Solar cooking also saves trees and supports reforestation of barren places, to help make our whole world greener and healthier. Like Brazil.

The pitch to Kenya was simple:

LONG TERM : To work together to share best practice for sustainable development sensitive to climate change

SHORT TERM : To integrate the public, private and third sectors and identify the results achieved.

Using Music to start the dialogue is crucial in a country where music and dance is so important. To most it is the only form of release, fun, entertainment and voice! We know it works - using music as a medium - otherwise I wouldn't be sat here in transit en route home from Africa!

Lets hope the 2 countries can partner and make the links necessary.

Quick journal of the trip:

Meeting with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for Environment and Mineral Resources
Concert at the Alliance Francaise with guest Corinne Townett, Director of the Kenya Conservatoire of Music
Sliding down the muddy valley side to the outskirts of Kibera
Singing and dancing with the community of Uhundha in NW Kenya
Paddling and swimming in Lake Victoria
Hot water bottles in our beds on safari
Birthday cake cooked by maasai's just for me

I would like to offer my sincerest thanks to Ama Zon Art for the opportunity to work with them in Kenya and I look forward to much more great work.

Bridging the world

2012-04-18T17:48:02Z

I am so stupidly excited. So much is going on that I don't know where to start but the journey will take us right round the world.

While the craziness ensues with KO2 rattling cages to effect change, much bigger projects are spawning which may well enable us to rise way above and match the ethos of Ama Zon Art and Diego Carneiro de Oliveira’s music “to plant seeds” around the world to “Change Lives". Diego's incredibly passionate team strive to "Transformando realidades através da Arte"; Change Lives through Art. While KO2 uses a different tool; zero-emission dirtbikes, and AVIF uses volunteering and technology the mission is always the same; bringing people together to learn, gain perspective and to grow as human beings. The latest collaboration is bigger than most.

In a few days Diego, his cello & Filipe Parolin, responsible for the video below, will travel just under 9,500km to Nairobi, Kenya, on invitation from the Embassy of Brazil, in Nairobi, to perform in 4 separate cultural events designed to link the 2 countries.

After meeting with the Ambassador, Diego will be teaching students at the Kenya Conservatoire of Music prior to a Concert. The following day, at the Alliance Française - a concert open to the public - including pieces by Heitor Villa-Lobos: "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music" - Bachianas Brasileiras, classical pieces by Kenyan musicians and hopefully child musicians too.

Filipe will be filming a documentary to cover the events and the trip, especially a visit to Kibera, Kenya's largest slum area to run a workshop for the children there. Julius Mwelu of The Mwelu Foundation is also hopefully assisting with film and audio. My hope is that the high profile events also draw attention to his incredible work. Julius was born and grew up in the Mathare slum, close to Kibera and became inspired with photography after getting involved with the MYSA (Mathare Youth Sports Association) “Shootback” project. A selection of the photos from this project were made into a book. With a help of Jasper Groen (a photographer from Holland), he managed to publish a book in the Netherlands called “Julius” all about life in the slum and also started teaching street kids in Mathare how to use a camera to show people the talent that exists in the slum and how the slum looks through the eyes of the kids.

Julius also believes that "..if we invest in the future of today’s youth then we will make this world a better place for everyone to live in."

After a frantic five days in Nairobi, Diego, Julius and Filipe will then travel upcountry to film and visit with one of AVIF's host communities in Uhundha, Bondo District, NW Kenya and also visit the incredible Maasai Mara, filming Kenya's beauty along the way. We have wonderful support yet again from Charles and Prisca Adero who insist on me not worrying about logistical things. I know my Brazilian friends will be in good hands and can concentrate on their mission.

With the Rio +20 Earth Summit in June, environmental links between rainforests and water cycles are high on agendas. Water means economic prosperity and that only comes with protection of the rainforest. Brazil has been hitting headlines with one of the worlds largest hydro facilities devastating 400,000 hectares of rainforest, and of course Kenya is reeling from the massive loss of its own.

You have to remember that Brazil and Kenya used to be joined as one continent – sharing their rainforest Pangaea!

AVIF already has local and international links between Kenya, Ama Zon Art and community schools in UK and in the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest region of Kenya. I first met Diego Carneiro while he was performing at Nidderdale High School, who are formally linked with the Mida, Mbarakachembe and Mzizima Primary Schools in the rainforest region, a link sponsored by the UK Government’s Department For International Development DFID Global Schools Partnership (DGSP). The Arabuko-Sokoke Forest is recognised internationally as the second most important forest in all Africa for its indigenous bird life and is the largest remnant of a forest that once stretched 2500 kilometres along the East African coast from Mozambique to Somalia. This alone links Kenya significantly with the northern equatorial Amazonian region of Brazil, where Diego was born, and now runs Ama Zon Art.

Reduction of rainforest = reduction of rainfall. With the eventual green light for Belo Monte's $16 billion, 11400-megawatt dam in Brazil, the third biggest in the world - after the Three Gorges in China and Itaipu, which is jointly run by Brazil and Paraguay, the entire state of Para can be supplied with power. I sailed through the Three Gorges in 2002, months before the huge dams completion, and know first hand what the issues are. My children, aged 6 & 4 at the time, were enamoured by an old chinese woman at one of the communities we stopped at who said she would not be moving when the sirens sounded and the dam became operational. Her village is now underwater! I have no idea what became of the lady but we still hold dear the brooch she gave my daughter.

The Brazilian government, and many, must agree that it is crucial to progress, and to meet growing energy needs, but "environmentalists and those fighting for indigenous rights have been vociferous in their opposition" and rightly so. Controversy aside, the dam, even at reduced flow can generate enough clean energy to power the entire state of Para, where Diego lives.

Luckily they have the water in Brazil because they have the Amazon rainforest. Kenya does not have that luxury any more and despite being in a tropical region, AVIF's current project to put a well into a maasai village in Amboseli - which hosts our volunteers from around the world - spreads awareness of the critical need for water-aid in the area. Drought killed 50% of the wildlife and livestock in the area in 2009 (exacerbated by Kilimanjaro ice sheets dramatically reducing with climate change).

There has to be dialogue for change to take place. While AVIF uses volunteers and KO2 uses zero-emission dirtbikes, ♪ ♫ ♩ ♬ Music is a powerful force to effect change. Its also a vital tool to bring people together socially; whether its drums or classical Villa Lobos, we're all very excited by next weeks gathering. Watch this space for further updates.

Bringing the lost generation back on track

2012-04-01T12:31:50Z

Its been almost 4 years since 15 April 2008, when KO2 was incorporated as a Community Interest Company (CIC) to help support the work of AVIF. Mentored by a host of professionals from a wide variety of specialist fields, and schooled at the Yorkshire & Humber School of Social Entrepreneurs 2010/11, I still have my heart set on using bikes to inspire young people. One of my mentors was the Youth Officer responsible for Crucial Crew, which used to operate on the site at Defence Estates Forest Moor, Nidderdale, before it was sold; the perfect home for a social venture to re-engage young people.

As a biker and safety marshal as well as a lone parent, I have a deep understanding of the excitement, risk and fascination motorsport holds, and its power to do good. In 2009 I was part of a 7-man (including 1 woman - me) team that raced around the whole of France One Way Round to raise money for St Johns Ambulance.

At the absolute extreme; the TT Roadraces, is a powerful force to effect change and has been promoting green electric battery-power; the future of motorsports since the inaugural TTXGP in 2009. Combining this with a nurturing, IT-based, behavioural-monitoring, life-skills-building model will be an inspiring formula for success.

NYCC acquired the Forest Moor site for a new specialist school, relocating the successful Baliol School, Sedburgh, to provide facilities closer to Harrogate for young people with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties; kids who suffer from complex problems primarily due to chaotic home lives, kids who've never been given structure, emotional support, whose families may have been torn apart due to substance or alcohol abuse, or worse. The new school, Foremost, has been highly supportive of the collaboration for over a year now, offering a field for the dirt track and premises for operations.

KO2's activities are divided between accredited life skills programmes, via the National Childrens Bureau, and time spent with the exciting electric zero-emission dirtbikes. With no noise, petrol, gears or fuss, these bikes, though powerful, are easy to learn to control with discipline, focus and practice.

Among the research gone into setting up this CIC, are studies by the University of Nottingham's, Daniel Nettle, on Evolutionary Biology about the understanding of the psychology behind anti-social behaviour. The Unit for Child Studies at York St John University carries out multiple studies about risk and young people and all this, and more, have been incorporated into the educational and development components that KO2 use to bring the "lost generation" back on track.

Risk, however, is not looked at so holistically, in the authoritarian world, which has already excluded 'this generation'. Steps must always be taken to eliminate as much risk as possible but KO2 is driving change to use risk as a learning tool. To push people to balance risk with common sense, with understanding and compassion, to shoulder the responsibility of risk and to be aware of the risks to others.

To be aware of how your actions affect other people's lives is crucial to a healthy community, a healthy society and a healthy future society.

But we're being blocked!

Negotiations went "legal" back in November 2011 for KO2, with a lease being prepared by NYCC, for premises within the school grounds, while investors drew down start-up funding, while staff were recruited and while preparations were made for operations. In March 2012, after extensive delays by refurbishment contractors, the main school opened its partly-functioning doors. On March 13 the fleet of Zero MX & X bikes arrived from Europe and KO2 became real.

And then stopped.

On 29 March, 2012, NYCC Childrens & Young Peoples Service wrote a letter stating that they were ".. unable to sign any lease" due to risk.

On Sport Relief Friday 23 March, KO2 had a "Slalom Mile" prepared for the boys at the main school, to raise funds for UK child-carers; young people like themselves who care for sick/injured family members at home. The event was cancelled due to risk by NYCC Childrens & Young Peoples Service.
4 weeks ago, NYCC cancelled a collaborative weekend event where the Army Foundation College, Harrogate were bringing an entire platoon on site to help build the dirt track. The platoon were all going through Duke of Edinburgh Awards and needed to do 15 hours of voluntary work to help the community. NYCC said No, due to risk.

Luckily 25 Plt. Alamein Co. have been able to reschedule and KO2 are grateful for them coming to their rescue again April 14/15. Assuming NYCC don't block the event due to risk?

We are trying to make sense of this negative response from the very council who would benefit from the significant cost reductions of more supportive activities for young people. KO2 have extensive risk assessments, extensive combined insurance, extensive experience and competence in all areas. “The government agrees with Professor Munro that the system has become too focused on compliance with rules and procedures and has lost its focus on the needs and experiences of children and young people.”

North Yorkshire Safeguarding Childrens Board, 2011

North Yorkshire's Children and Young Peoples Plan 2008-2011 facts:

411 Looked After Children as at March 2009
2650 children ‘In Need’ as at March 2009
265 children with Child Protection Plans as at March 2009
In the January 2009 School Census, 416 Primary School pupils (0.97%) and 576 Secondary School pupils (1.42%) had statements of special educational needs
11,781 children with special educational needs (without a statement) recorded as School Action or School Action Plus
1,315 criminal sentences passed upon young offenders in 2008/09, for 2,764 offences
841 young offenders were diverted from Court by Police Reprimand or Final Warning
During 2008/09 there was a total of 776 first time entrants aged 10 to 17 to the youth justice system

8 months after the London Riots, something has to change! The government knows it - why isn't North Yorkshire County Council (Risk) listening?

Water water everywhere

2012-03-09T17:10:52Z

I've had a wonderful catchup conversation with Helene Van Der Roest of www.takafrica.org, a Kenyan-based travel company that also runs a foundation. During a stay in the Netherlands, TAKAfrica have joined forces with the dutch organization FloFlo, brainchild of designer and engineer Floris de Vos, who devised an incredible hand-drilling rig for borehole wells allowing any community to take charge of drilling for water themselves.

After an accident on an oil rig left de Vos lying flat for almost a year, he researched old Chinese methods of drilling using bamboo frames, techniques dating before Christ! With support from Shell and colleagues he designed a unit weighing only 70kg in total allowing anyone, regardless of literacy or background, to drill a well for fresh water, by hand. De Vos then tested the units from Morocco to Namibia, drilling along the way for various communities. Further development has led to a heavier-weight, 250kg electrical unit which, luckily for us, can cope with large depths and especially the lava layers under Amboseli, in the foothills of the volcanic Kilimanjaro, home to our maasai host community of Nkiito.

TAKAfrica and FloFlo will be bringing one of the larger units to Kenya in June/July 2012, drilling 3 wells already scheduled and providing training to each community in maintenance and ownership practice. Villagers must form a Project Maintenance Committee and since it is the women who are involved more directly in collecting water, they "should" count more than men in the committee though cultural issues tend to arise. The group owns and manages the entire operation with the elders investing in both building and maintaining the well as a good, clean, close source of water for the village into the far future.

AVIF need to raise funds for our drilling depth of 280m down into the lava and limestone!

TAKAfrica has already collaborated to bring in a professional, local organisation to perform a hydro-geological survey and cover the paperwork and application to the Water Resources Management Authority (WRMA), and for registration & permits. The total works will include drilling, pump, electrical source, storage tank, and even separate watering and feeder areas for cattle.

In Kenya, drylands occupy over 80% of the country, where over a THIRD of the Kenyan population and 50% of the national livestock herd is found. The sustainable development of drylands is a priority as with 70% of Kenyans being subsistence farmers, access to water is a critical issue. Most farmers obtain water from surface water sources – traveling large distances and transporting the water back to their farms. Such surface waters are often contaminated. The maasai women of Nkiito currently have to walk many kilometres and when volunteers visited in November the original settlement was barely habited as the community had had to move to a seasonal enclosure closer to water.

We'll keep you posted with progress but if you'd like to assist please donate via the link Top LEFT or via the FaceBook Page.

Asante Sana

Its not as bad as you think

2012-01-20T21:11:13Z

Today Ray Kurzweil announced the launch of the Abundance Book which promotes the simple message that "we're living during an incredible day and age" .. "the realization that the world is getting better at an accelerating rate". Having just watched Cool It by Bjørn Lomborg I'm totally up for the positive outlook; concentrating on what we can do right now to make the world a better place. AVIF's volunteers do that every time they get involved - they make change - and with good reason. It feels good. I haven't read the book yet (currently shipping internationally for $24 + $7.99) but it WILL make you feel good and positive about our future. The books authors are true change makers. Dr. Peter Diamandis is the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and launching large incentive prizes to drive radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. Best known for the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for private spaceflight and the $10 million Progressive Automotive X PRIZE for 100 mile-per-gallon equivalent cars, the Foundation is now launching prizes in Exploration, Life Sciences, Energy, and Education. Diamandis speaks about the "explosion in connectedness around the world" and uses the illustration of a maasai warrior with a mobile phone ... cue Jackson, our host in Nkiito, Amboseli!.

The book explains 4 major powers of force that are aiding the changes we need to make. Written also by Steven Kotler, bestselling author, award-winning journalist & co-founder and Director of Research at the Flow Genome Project, an international organization devoted to putting flow state research on a hard science footing. He's also the co-founder of the New Mexico-based Rancho de Chihuahua dog sanctuary n'awwwww !

Here are 2 technologies the book talks about that WILL change the world.

Dickson Despommier's Vertical Farms could solve the problem of finding the resources to feed the growing population. "By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth's population will reside in urban centers". An estimated area of new land about 20% greater than the entire country of Brazil will be needed to grow enough food. For places like China, India, ALL the Arab Emirates where there's a lot of people and limited farmable land Vertical farms could be built. The incredible part is the cycles sustainability .. "nothing leaves the building except the produce". The system even cleans water and coupled with ancilliary services alongside; grow wheat - make flour & bake bread next door - the system will employ more and more people.

Of course these buildings are capital intensive but as Bjørn proves in Cool It - we've got the funds available - especially with all the Techophilanthropists that will be made in the near future, in addition to the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg et al.

Dean Kamen’s Unique Slingshot Water Purifier. Kamen is well-known as the entrepreneur and wild-eyed inventor of the highly promoted Segway scooter. For almost 20 years he has been creating "a radically new way to purify water" thats cheap, extremely energy efficiency and portable.

"Every 8 seconds one child dies from diseases that are related to untreated water. The primary cause for 80% of all sicknesses that are easily preventable in 3rd world developing nations is the lack of clean drinking water".

Kamen’s refrigerator-sized water purifier makes 10 gallons of fresh clean water in 1 hour requiring only 500 watts of electrical power. It employs heat to distill, boil and condense water and then recycles the energy, using the heat captured from his self-developed generator. It is "elegantly simple and maintenance free" able to purify water containing lead, copper and other heavy metals, arsenic poison, latrine waste, crawling parasites, chemical waste and even ocean water!

Kamen states 95% reliability and has made various partnerships with African countries. Now we need a cost-effective smaller "home" version or help with distribution and we know how easily and quickly that will happen simply by looking at the size of Jackson's mobile phones.

Lastly I wanted to write about the incredibly simple back-to-basics way to source scarce water. Our project to drill a borehole well has a cost coming in at £19,000 for a 320m well. This is a lot of money. We're being advised by the established Kenyan-based wwwTAKAfrica.org who mentioned that they'd heard a story about a Dutchman who's invented a way for any community to drill their own well. Enter FLOFLO and Floris de Vos.

The video is self-explanatory and the system so simple that with a team already established in Kenya we're hoping to buy a kit and training for the Nkiito community to drill for their own water supply. TAK Africa will advise along the way and provide pumps and maintenance programmes such as flo feeders for separate cattle drinking. 2012 is really shaping up well.

Diary from Nkiito

2012-01-17T00:00:00Z

Děkuji Petr z Česká republika <Thank you to Petr from Czech Republic> for this article:

Petr & Jackson; liaison and community member

At the end of my stay in Nkiito in 2010, I promised that I would come back. Last year I made friend with Jackson. We were in contact almost every 2 weeks and I tried to find some money before I come back to help the community more. This time I wanted to see Nkiito in green, therefore I chose to go there in November. I promised I came back and took some stuff for the school (more than half my big bag), gifts for Jackson and money for the community. My plan was to go there alone but I was happy that I came with one girl from Scotland. It is easier to go with two people. It was like yesterday when I saw Jackson again. Not like one and half year. It was amazing to see and hug him again.

We arrived to Nkiito in the evening and there were nice memories of this place, but the village was quite empty because of the water. There was only half the people than last year. Only the people which take care of the children going to the school stay there. Rest of the village lived in seasonal village about 6 km from Nkiito where there are no proper houses, only the simple ones and some of the people sleep outside. Nkiito looked so empty but there were a lot of poeple which I wanted to see including almost all children from the school. I was wondering how the children will look like. If they will be so taller :) But I was surprised that they looked the same. Only the small Pinina which we saw last year only in Nakapone's hut was now so older. Last year she was baby and now she helps Nakapone all the time. Last year she was so shy and cried a lot and now she was full of energy. It was great that everyone recognized me and was happy that I am back.

It was not time only for the fun and enjoy the place but for the work as well :) At the start there was only Lorraine who can teach and therefore I help with the teaching as well. After one week there came three more volunteers. After that I could do more stuff for the school and enjoy the stay and time with Jackson. I got some nice colours from my friend and I decided to make painting on the wall in colour. I am not so good at it but hoped that the result will be nice :) - Ed: Outstanding results, Petr !!!!

I used some of the paintings from last year and just coloured it. But a lot of them I had to do again. It was quite long work but it was amazing that the children liked it and told me "sidinalink“. After the back wall I coloured the numbers and letters around the class as well. After that I made some more paintings as well. The last thing I put the map of the world and Europe on the wall. It is great that the children and people can see where I and other people are living and how far away it is.

The second thing was organize the stuff for school, there is almost all what the school needs for 3 years. They need only new workbooks and chalks and one more important thing; a permanent teacher. It is so difficult if there is every half year new teacher. He dont know the children properly and can not work with them long-term. Problem is in the payment for the teacher. Because of the problem with the water in last 4 years there is not a lot of cattle in the villages. And the cattle is money. The people have not enough money for meals and it is more important than payment for the school. It is not a lot of money for us and therefore it is my new goal to find this money; around 70 USD per month.

From the money which I gave to the community they decided to build toilets for the school. I was so happy for this decision because I could help with it and can see the result. First Jackson found a guy who will build it. Some of the work is so specific and need someone who know how to do it.

At the market we bought the stuff for the toilets and the construction could start. With the warriors we prepared the hole and the guy could start to prepare the base from concrete. We need a lot of big stones, small stones and sand. We needed to find all of it around the school and bring by wheelbarrow. The work was quite hard and together with the hot weather so exhausting. It is so different if you have to do it only with hands. It was like to be in the past but I enjoyed the work and to help with. Every day we could ses the progress and the toilets looked better and better. After five days the toilets were built and we were happy. Jackson decided to build the blackboard from the rest of concrete.

From the first time when I went to Nkiito it was possible to see that there is problem with the water. The nature around Nkiito was not so green how I expected and was almost like in dry season. It was not raining so often but the rain was so hard when it did. After each rain we could see the difference in green around Nkiito. First the grass grew and after some week the trees went green as well. It was nice to see the diference between and after 3 week the people from seasonal village came back. Everyone was so happy and Nkiito looked so busy after. The people can go back because the grass was so big for cattle and there was some small lakes with the water around. It was nice to have the fresh milk for the tea as well. Because there were 5 volunteers in Nkiito I had to sleep in the hut. It was a very nice experience and I enjoyed it. It is true that I had to use sleeping bag and the net against the mosquitoes as well. In the evening it was quite smoky and hot in the hut. But at the night it was quite silent inside, more than in the metal hut for the volunteers. Some of the nights I slept very well. The maasai people wake up so early and it was not easy to sleep in the morning.

In conclusion I would like to say that the second time in Nkiito was so better than first time and I enjoyed it so much. It was amazing to see Jackson, the children and people in the village as well. We made a lot of work and had a lot of fun. I will be happy if there will be more people like this year to go and help in Nkiito. It is amazing place and people and it is a lifetime experience. But I have to say that it is not for everyone. Living there is quite difficult for us. There is no shower, no electricity and you will feel lonely sometimes.

The place is quite dirty at the start for us as well. You have to be independent as well. If you will be interestied in information just let me know and I will be happy to answer you the question. Believe me that there is nothing better than the smile of the children in the village....

Photography from Nkiito

2012-01-13T00:00:00Z

Pictures tell a thousand words - from Petr & Ingie, 2 of 5 volunteers that stayed with our maasai hosts in November/December 2011.

Click for more pictures on our FaceBook page.

If you'd like to visit or simply to support the Water Project in Nkiito please contact us contact us.

AngelMule is Go !

2012-01-12T00:00:00Z

The amazing Avis Mulhall has finally launched the incredible mmMule service.

Sign up & post some requests for your projects here for example:

deliveries needed around the world; clothing, food, books, technology, mosquito nets
help with finding volunteers

Avis has managed to partner with a number of travel blogs & had 1000+ signups from travellers already. A big delivery of 600 school uniforms was recently arranged all the way from Sydney to Namibia by the Mad Max 4 film crew [ video], then Oasis Overland brought it the rest of the way into Kenya!

"..don't be afraid to put up even tricky deliveries, we'll do our best to try and find a solution" Avis says.

We'll certainly be posting and telling all our hosts about the service too, mainly due to the inclusive AngelMule service "delivering happiness".

Sign up to post some requests for your projects here and join the revolution.

Volunteerism Contributes Significantly to Human Development

2012-01-11T00:00:00Z

The extensive State of the Worlds Volunteerism Report, 2011, is now out. The full report can be found here.

Click the image for the full PRESS RELEASE

Some favourite quotes are :

"Volunteering is an expression of the individual’s involvement in their community. Participation, trust, solidarity and reciprocity, grounded in a shared understanding and a sense of common obligations, are mutually reinforcing values at the heart of governance and good citizenship. Volunteering is our first line of defence against social atomisation in a globalising world. Today, maybe more than ever before, caring and sharing are a necessity, not a charitable act." UNV (2000, November)

"Volunteering is a path to social inclusion signifying a reciprocal relationship in which both sides benefit."

"At the level of the individual, volunteer action can help people to overcome feelings of personal isolation and reduced self-worth. Volunteers come into contact with others face-to-face or via online media that can help to enhance feelings of belonging and of contributing. Volunteerism reduces stresses in life and combats feelings of loneliness."

"Volunteering can improve employability by enhancing a person’s vocational and social skills."

A New Year & already New Results

2012-01-01T13:47:59Z

Diego just sent pictures of the finished ponte <bridge> at Viviane's house (on left). After visiting Combu Island with Amazonart in October Viviane and her mother 'Nena' incredibly accommodated us in their home on the river. There are many different memories from the trip but what stands out to me are always the real and actual changes made. Meeting people and networking is important but only a certain percentage of people around the world “make change”. In our joint project with AmazonArt we really did. There is so much commitment from this young team and their obvious passion for Music is the medium they use to make change, especially here at the Combú Island School which is only a few hundred metres downriver from Vivianes house.

I was invited to stay in the house of Izete dos Santos Costa, lovingly known as Nena, thanks to the thoughts of the fabulous Diego Carneiro who "thought I might like to" !!. Nena works at the islands only medical centre and was only too happy to offer her home to Alex, from Travel2Change (sponsors of the trip) myself and Felipe, from Amazonart. Nena and her daughter, Viviane, talked openly (via our awesome translator, Felipe) about how they were now living alone. Nena had lost her husband to a snake bite in the forest while he was out collecting acai berries for his work. The hospital was simply too far away for him to get help in time. This also meant that Viviane had had to drop out of college.

When we arrived at the house we had to get off the boat and climb the steps up to their deck or “ponte”. Originally built by Nena’s husband but with no one to maintain it now it was in very bad repair. Pontes are essential and it only made sense to fix this lifeline for my new friends, thanks to all our donors. Nena and Viviane later offered to accommodate any volunteers wishing to help the school and medical centre in the future. I urge you to go visit, spend a night by the river. It is a magical and incredible experience you will NEVER forget.

Make it a resolution - travel over or just get on your laptop and assist Amazonart with their fantastic work - Open your eyes - Breathe deeply - its the AMAZON !! հձթթყ ռεա ყεձг ²º¹²