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“The Village”
September, 2012
Your generous support of Village of Love Canada in the earlier part of this year has resulted in some exciting advances in Kenya.
- Read in this edition how YOUR donations are enabling the Village of Love to expand right now!
- Hear a Canadian School Principal’s impressions of Kibera.
- Find out about current opportunities to empower orphan caregivers in the Village of Love!
Welcome to YOUR Village!
Endurance is a LIFE ART for Kibera families:
Support Village of Love Marathon Team
 To run a marathon is a metaphor for life, connoting endurance, perseverance, never giving in or giving up in the face of life’s struggles.
How appropriate that eight amazing Village of Love supporters are running in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon on October 14th to support impoverished families in the Kenyan slums of Kibera, where ENDURANCE IS A LIFE ART! With meagre resources, in the face of tremendous odds, their vision, patience, hope and faith in a better future for their children never dies.
Donate to support our Village of Love Marathon runners both here and in Kenya! Click SUPPORT MARATHON . It is not too late to join in. The event includes a half marathon, and a 5km run/ walk. See MARATHON.
You could even become a Marathon Donor!
What is a Marathon Donor?
A Marathon Donor is a champion supporter who gives every month to sustain Village of Love in continued provision of a better future for children. Even the smallest amount donated monthly makes a huge difference! See SUSTAINED GIVING
They visioned. They planned! They acted!
YOU donated!
and the Village is Growing……
From its inception, the aim of Kijiji Cha Upendo (Village of Love) was to embrace EVERY family in Kibera caring for children, orphaned and vulnerable through the HIV&AIDS pandemic that has swept through sub- Saharan Africa. This vision was re-affirmed during the Strategic Planning Session held early in 2012. The goal was set of adding a new cooperative every year. Now, through the dollars YOU donated for the AIDS Ride for Africa, this expansion has begun.
Thank you for your generosity. Your donations are already changing lives.
Beneficiaries from both cooperatives gather together to listen to encouraging words from the CAP/AIDS representative in Kenya.
Andrew Obara, volunteer Project Administrator for Kijiji Cha Upendo, writes,
“Outside our office the newly recruited group and the old one were being introduced to each other. Later on they had a session with our Community Health Workers in the presence of Gizaw who afterwards talked to them. He told them how he and his siblings were brought up by their mother in a slum in Ethiopia on meagre resources. He implored them….”
First Impressions of Kibera
TDSB Principal visits Kijiji Cha Upendo
Judy Whitfield, Isabella and Leonora Obara, step carefully as they negotiate their way along the slippery streets of Kibera where open sewers run beside the houses.
For Ms Whitfield, Kibera was a new experience and an eye opener. The closeness of the buildings, if one could use that term for corrugated iron shacks, and the lack of amenities surprised and disturbed her. She describes one house that was apparently better than most since it had two rooms and plastic covering on the walls. A single electric light bulb dangled from the ceiling. A small TV stood on a table. The entrance led off from a tiny common square with several openings to dwellings of some kind. For water there was a common neighbourhood tap. Two things shocked Ms Whitfield: that people so obviously without material means had to pay for access to the tap, which was their only drinking water; and that there were no toilets at all. Read MORE
Do some early Christmas shopping!
 Visit our online CATALOGUE to view gifts currently available at VERY reasonable prices. We’re still working on providing online purchase facility. However, if you live in Toronto, you can fill out an online form to make an arrangement to purchase.
We have attractive batik paintings, depicting common scenes from African life, such as women hurrying to market, or Massai warriors braiding their hair. Batiks are a traditional African way of painting on cloth, using the principle of wax repelling water,to create a lovely, luminous effect when backlit, though the pictures can also be displayed with a simple frame. The batik shown here is by Kiwanuka, a well know batik artist. We have a variety of sizes: 8”x6”, 19” x 11”, 26” x 17”, 38” x 61”. Also available are wooden tableware, carvings, jewellery and baskets.
For our range of special occasion gift cards to be given in lieu of a material gift along with a donation to Village of Love Canada, see GIFTS THAT GIVE TWICE
Linda Levin,
Coordinator of the Village of Love Canada
To receive news of the latest developments in the Village of Love, and to hear about the difference that your dollars are making to orphaned children and their caregivers, click the Village News icon
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