African Dinner & Silent Auction Fundraising Night

Our African Dinner and Silent Auction evening was held on Fri, Aug 10 at the Kitsalano Yacht Club. The event was a success thanks to all the people who attended. We had great support of donations for our silent auction. The dinner and auction was held on a Fri evening due to booking schedules so some people attending had difficulty attending after work. My niece and her husband attended by leaving after work to drive from across the border in Bellingham.

Also thanks to Caty, a member going to Kenya, who arranged the club, beer and wine. The remaining 3 members, Jessica, Angus and Tom, helped with the food, setup and clean up.

We wish to personally thank all the attendees and donors, on behalf of the people of the village of Kanyawegi, for your generous contribution to help the people of Kenya. We all see advertising on TV, magazines, newspapers and the internet raising donations to help underprivileged people in Africa. However some people may be concerned that at times the money may not get to the people who actually need it. There are only 4 of us volunteering and living with the people in the village. So the donations will be taken by us to purchase the items that are required to assist the villagers with their future.

Why we wanted to raise some funding:

Nearly about 80% of Kenyan populations live in rural villages. One precious privilege that these rural folks enjoy is the ownership of land, which is passed on from generation to generation; the government does not own any land except lands reserved for schools, hospital etc. The Soil here is very fertile and the region enjoys reliable rainfall patterns. Both cash crops such as cotton and a variety of food crops do well under these conditions. The biggest problem facing farming activities here is lack of farm machinery, which has led to underutilization of farmlands. People rely on human labor, which has been affected by diseases and HIV/AIDS pandemic. Lack of mechanization has reduced these folks to subsistence farming, which in itself not enough due to human limitation. Introducing some sort of mechanization using local resources, stocking high quality seeds (seed bank), controlling crop pests & disease and crop rotation will not only generate more food production and better nutrition, but will also ensure surplus, which can be sold to supplement health care costs and education for children. The project intends to purchase and allocate local breed oxen and a locally made mould board plough to the women groups, which they can use to prepare their lands. It will also stock local high quality seeds and provide basic education on modern farming practices to boost yield and productivity. To ensure sustainability, the oxen and the plough will be rented out to generate income for maintenance and other use. For the people of Kanyawegi, a small village in the far west of Kenya, two oxen and a plow mean that they don't have to wait until the rainy season to plow their fields by hand. In turn, this allows for earlier planting, better harvests, and ultimately a more self-sufficient society. The price for two oxen and a plow is approximately $500 ($150 per ox and $200 for the plow).

One special project I wish to undertake is setting up of a Computer Resource Center in one school, which has electricity. I plan to create an instruction manual for the teachers, students and other people to better understand the basic use and operation of a computer. The Center will be open for any villager’s use. However we will educate a core group to use the computers so they can manage and educate others when we have to leave. In this way when the children leave the schools for further education they will have some knowledge and understanding of the computer in life.

It's really great to see that people feel in their hearts the need to support the impoverished people of Africa (specifically Kenya). I will make sure that your contribution will be used wisely for setting up a sustainable method to assist the villagers. We are all people of the world so cultures, language, borders and countries should not matter. If someone needs help and we can offer some assistance then why not offer it. I’ve found that making a difference in someone’s life is one of the most rewarding experiences.

Thank you again for providing a donation as it will be wisely used and greatly appreciated by the villagers. The work of the KOSOW organization will be to volunteer “One Village at a Time”!