#11 Hope for AIDS Orphans in Rwanada

No one can dispute the seriousness of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic that affects over 40 million people worldwide. The seriousness and magnitude of the problem can be overwhelming. But today, SAWA Global wants to inspire you with the story of an organization in Rwanda (AMAHORO Association) that is making a positive impact on the lives of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. In Rwanda, about 1 in seven people are living with HIV/AIDS, and in a country where the population is so young, (about half of the population is under 17), that means many living with HIV/AIDS are children or youth– most of whom have been orphaned by the legacy of the disease.

The AMAHORO Association was founded in April of 2000 by fourteen passionate and creative individuals who were orphaned by HIV/AIDS, determined to empower others orphaned by the disease through providing education, vocational training, proper health care, counseling and even food and shelter to the most vulnerable families. They used the Arts (music, dance, and poetry) to raise money and rally their community around their cause, to speak out against society's discrimination and stigmatization of those orphaned by AIDS, and to bring together children with HIV/AIDS facing similar problems. Today, the organization, with significant financial support from their partnering NGO CHABHA (Children Affected by HIV/AIDS), has been able to provide 2,000 children with health insurance, 600 children with primary education and school supplies, 120 children with secondary school education, and 200 children with vocational training.

SAWA is excited to share the story of this inspiring local project uncovered by one of our SAWA Storytellers, Ruhalla. With Ruhalla's helps SAWA hopes to soon share with you a short video clip on the beautiful people behind The AMAHORO Association, who are working hard to keep the future bright and promising for the children and youth of Rwanda.

To donate or learn more please visit their website: http://www.amahoro.nl/a1/_a/amahoro.asp

Founder of the Organization:

NDAYAMBAJE Eugène Emile

Written by : Claudia

#10 SAWA speaks at the Projecting Change: Vancouver Green Film Festival happening at The Ridge Theatre May 8-11th

SAWA is extremely excited to be participating in the upcoming Projecting Change: Vancouver Green Film Festival happening at The Ridge Theatre May 8-11^th.

The four day film festival will showcase at least 20 inspiring and provocative films on sustainable living and will bring together local community leaders, environmentalists, engaging speakers, and film lovers to discuss key issues highlighted by the films. The profits from this event will be invested back into local initiatives, SAWA Global gratefully being one of them.

Because of SAWA’s focus on showcasing sustainable solutions to global problems, including environmental issues, SAWA has been asked to be a speaker at the festival on Saturday May 10^th following the film Taking Root. This film tells the story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, who became an inspiring leader of an environmental movement that began with the simple act of planting trees. Her vision of protecting the environment, her people’s human rights, and her country’s democracy became infectious and this film shows how this charismatic woman helped eventually bring down Kenya’s twenty-four year dictatorship.

Her story reveals what SAWA showcases every day – that small changes, small acts of defiant hope can have great impacts – that sometimes all it takes is a vision, and the will to install it. This will be an educational and engaging event promoting an awareness of environmental problems and sustainable solutions. See you all there!

#9 Doing the Future a Favour: The Rehabilitation of Arid Environments Trust in Kenya

SAWA Theme: Ending Environmental Degradation and Extreme Poverty

"We're looking at a situation where about 82 percent of the area of Kenya is semiarid, and very much of that area has become overgrazed and denuded. Now, using the techniques that we have developed here, a lot of that area can be rehabilitated and become useful again." – Murray Roberts, founder of Rehabilitation of Arid Environments Trust

In sub-Saharan Africa, and in Kenya in particular, land degradation and desertification due to overgrazing and overpopulation pressures, are having serious environmental and social consequences - as erosion, drought and diminishing resources exacerbate the problem of poverty. Today, about 30 million people are dependent on resources from Africa's Lake Victoria, a body of water large enough to share its waters with Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, and yet, not large enough to sustainabley support so many people.

Much of the surrounding grasslands around the lake have become overgrazed, leading to severely eroded savannas and destroyed ecosystems. To the north of Lake Victoria lies Lake Baringo, another beautiful fresh water oasis amid the surrounding arid plains. But as the lake receives about 4 million cubic meters of silt every year it is predicted to turn into a swamp.

Murray Roberts, born and raised in Baringo, Kenya, has seen with his own eyes, the lake’s waters begin to disappear. In 1982, he formed the Rehabilitation of Arid Environments Trust with the goal of rehabilitating local grasslands and so far, by working closely with local pastoralist communities of Baringo, the RAE Trust and its programs have managed to reclaim almost 5,000 acres of once-devastated landscape! There are incredible before and after pictures on their website.

By using knowledge from practical research, development experience and local expertise, the RAE Trust has created a program that benefits both people and the environment of the Baringo lowlands. The RAE Trust not only works to restore the savanna, it also aims to alleviate poverty by providing sustainable income generating opportunities for local agriculturists.

By addressing the challenge of environmental degradation today, the RAE Trust are doing the future a favour.

To Learn More:

The Rehabilitation of Arid Environments Trust: http://michna.com/rae/

PBS article: http://www.pbs.org/journeytoplanetearth/hope/baringo.html

#8 UN World Urban Forum 2008 in Nanjing, China

SAWA Global, together with the Huairou Commission, have applied to participate in the upcoming UN World Urban Forum happening in March 2008 in Nanjing, China. Together, and in partnership with two other organizations, they have sent a proposal to do a training workshop on video production for organizations of the economically poorest countries. The goal of the workshop is to empower these organizations to be able to make and submit short effective videos promoting their projects. The ability to create effective short videos and submit them to media outlets like SAWA is an empowering way for organizations to raise awareness and gather resources to support their causes. SAWA is excited by the prospect of connecting with the many organizations that will be at the conference and being able to offer them the opportunity to promote their causes through SAWA.

The UN World Urban Forum - hosted by the UN every two years, bringing together NGOs from all over the world to discuss the environmental, social and economic impacts of rapid urbanization - is a wonderful opportunity for organizations to network, share ideas and solutions and work together to figure out how to make our cities environmentally, socially, politically, economically sustainable. This is an extremely important and valuable conference and SAWA Global is hoping to participate.

The 100 years from 1950 to 2050 will be remembered for the greatest
social, cultural, economic and environmental transformation in history
– the urbanization of humanity. With half of us now occupying urban
space, the future of the human species is tied to the city.
– Anna Tibaijuka, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Executive Director
UN-HABITAT in remarks at the third session of the Forum in Vancouver, Canada, in 2006.

#7 SAWA partners with The Huairou Commission

SAWA Theme: Global Partnerships

SAWA is pleased to announce its new partnership with the NGO Huairou Commission – a global coalition of networks, institutions and individual professionals supporting and promoting the creative and grounded perspectives of grassroots women’s organizations involved in development. Grassroots women’s organizations have emerged as innovative leaders offering creative and tested solutions to many challenges facing their communities. They also play a vital role in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment as a priority in development work

SAWA is excited to partner with the Commission and help support and empower the different grassroots organizations it is involved with by sharing their stories and spreading their ideas. Through this new partnership these grassroots organizations are given the opportunity to submit videos of their inspiring stories, strengthening their influence and impact on the global community.

The Huairou Commission provides a platform where grassroots women’s organizations share creative solutions to problems facing their communities; a goal SAWA Global is happy to support. Together, SAWA and the Commission will help improve the overall practice of development by sharing the stories of grassroots organizations using local solutions that work.


To Learn More: http://www.huairou.org/

#6 SAWA Global supports upcoming 2008 Youth Darfur Conference here in Vancouver, BC, March 2nd

SAWA Theme: Empowering Youth

SAWA is excited to support the upcoming model-UN conference for youth, being held here in Vancouver, BC on March 2nd, by Amnesty International. At this 2008 Youth Darfur Conference, students from across the province will come to discuss the issues currently surrounding Darfur- where, according to UN estimates, at least 450,000 people have died from violence and disease, and 2.5 million people have been displaced since the conflict began in 2003.

At the conference, 100 youth between the ages of 16-30, will represent relevant nations, groups, multilateral organizations, and non-governmental organizations, in order to examine and discuss the complex issues surrounding the Darfur crisis. For the sake of creating a better understanding of the complexities surrounding the conflict, groups like the Janjaweed, the Justice and Equality Movement, Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army and Darfuri women refugees will be represented at the event.

Through participation in this forum, students will not only gain a deeper understanding of the situation in Darfur, but they will also gain insight into effective and creative ways to raise awareness and motivate appropriate individual action after the conference.

The conference is further exciting for bringing together the support of many different Canadian NGO’s, of which SAWA Global is one of them. This conference allows an opportunity for different organizations, who are working in their own way towards a better world, to be able to come together to share insights and inspiration for today’s youth. Each participating youth will receive a package with information on the different organizations supporting the conference. Through the package youth at the conference will learn about SAWA’s journalist campaign – just one opportunity for them to continue making a difference after the conference.

To learn more about the upcoming conference, or the crisis in Darfur, please visit:

www.darfur2008.com

#5 SAWA's Journalist Campaign

In the fall of 2007, SAWA Global launched a campaign to recruit 100 volunteers across the world("Sawa Journalists") to find and film stories of hope and inspiration in the poorests countries of the world. SAWA has been receiving hundreds e-mails, (which we are currently going through), from people all over the world who know of individuals, local heroes, and local NGO's making positive changes in their communities. With their knowledge and connections, the stories of these local heroes will be shared at SAWA Global: the gateway to change.

SAWA's aim is to make connections with journalists and journalism/media students in the capitals of these countries who can help us find stories we can showcase on our site. Finding these stories of inspiration and admirable leadership may be challenging, and being able to film a shrot clip about them may be even more challenging. This is why SAWA's goal is to make connections with new and established journalists and media personell. Together we hope to ignite a new media - one that offers hope and inspiration for positive change, and fosters global awareness, and global action.

At SAWA we give a voice to these heroes of the world and offer an opportunity for them to voice their initiatives to a global audience, which we hope will inspire and spark action and positive change.

At SAWA we also provide an opportunity for people all over the world to get involved by supporting these local grassroots intitiatives that are making positive lasting changes in the fight against poverty, HIV/Aids, child abuse, gender inequality and environmental degradation.
Stay tuned for more stories of hope coming soon!