Past Project Updates...

Scheduled Events (as of Feb 13th)

We have confirmed that MannaFest Band (www.mannafestband.com) will be playing LIVE at the benefit dinner!

Also performing will be Michigan's very own GROOVE! (http://www.umich.edu/~uac/groove/)

Promote Awareness! (Feb 6th)

If any of you know people that might be interested in attending the Benefit Dinner on February 17th at the Michigan Theater (more details available through the link to the left), please direct them to the website. It is now possible to buy tickets right here online. If you want a formal invitation, send your address to Dgannes@umich.edu

The event is open to the public -- so anyone can come!

The donations keep coming in so the silent auction should be really great.

Thanks for the help and support! Hope to see all of you soon.

Donations! As of January 30th

We have received a huge assortment of items for the benefit dinner's silent auction. A complete list of sponsors and donations are available by clicking on the link to the left, but to highlight some of our top items:

Pistons Tickets - 4 floor tickets with complementary dinner and parking

A silver ring - casted by Abracadabra jewelry in Ann Arbor specifically for the event

Canon camera/printer combination - donated by Ritz Camera

ALSO: massages, clothing, gift certificates, framed photographs, Spanish prints, mp3 players, running wear, yoga passes, hair appointments, pottery, signed Michigan apparel, assorted themed baskets and more!

BENEFIT DINNER (Update Jan. 12th)

We have finalized the details of the project's benefit dinner!

Date: February 17th at 6:00PM

Location: The Michigan Theater

Events: food, live entertainment, silent auction and documentary screening

Tickets: $25/person

Add'l info: Benefit Dinner

Update -- January, 10th 2007

As of January 10th, 2007, we are still waiting to receive confirmation from the IRS of our 501c3 status. Our application was filed on December 1st so we are still within the 4-6 week range the IRS estimates it will take for an organization to hear back. The latest project has been working on the benefit dinner, which will take place on February 17th at a location in or near Ann Arbor. The event will be open to the public and among other things, include a variety of food (most of which will be donated from various local restaurants), live entertainment, and a silent auction. The auction will be made up of a large assortment of donated items such as event tickets, hand-painted pottery, organic clothing, themed gift baskets and gift certificates. As soon as we finalize the location, we will update the website. Project tshirts are still available.

Over the holidays I had the opportunity to talk with Tom, a man that is working alongside Good Hope Orphanage. Back when I was a volunteer with Cross Cultural Solutions, I visited Good Hope with Carol from the Pamoja Project. We donated school supplies and spent an afternoon with the kids. Tom is now working with Carol to deliver food for the center and provide a reliable source of clean water. It was great to hear about other projects that are going on around Tanzania.

The Olevolos Project Update (as of December, 2006)

As many of you know, I have spent time in Tanzania over the course of the past two summers.  During my trip in 2005, I was teaching English at a local primary school.  Just last summer I was able to raise enough support to carry out a project to benefit orphans and less fortunate children through the donation of an economical, nutritional, but most importantly, sustainable resource.  After constructing chicken coops at three different centers, we brought in 300 farm chickens that lay at least one egg per day.

The last center we visited was in a small village outside of Arusha called Jane’s Orphans’ Center (JOC).  Jane Sanare, the founder of JOC, and her husband James Sanare, have a heart from orphans and widows. After unsuccessful attempts to conceive a child themselves, the couple developed a desire to help the children surrounding them. The center was founded in 2005 for both orphaned and disadvantaged children in the Olevolos Village. Jane hopes to create a community in which her children can grow fee from the threat of HIV/AIDS and to give the children a world of equal opportunities where vulnerable children and youth are empowered.

Currently, the center provides a temporary classroom for 64 nursery school students, buys uniforms for more than 175 primary students to then can attend the government-funded primary schooling and assists 2 secondary students in their educational pursuits.  JOC donates books and pencils to the children, cooks nutritious meals each week on both Saturday and Sunday, and arranges recreational activities for children between 12 - 20 years of age.  Additionally, JOC works with widowed women in the community and holds seminars and workshops where these women receive HIV/AIDS and health counseling, learn how to read and write and also receive instruction in weaving, basketing and jewelry making.

Neither Jane nor James have any source of personal income. James quit his job as a night watchman after his wife’s program continued to expand.  Consequently, the center relies entirely upon donations from other people. Although the Tanzanian government supports JOC and regularly visit Jane and James and the children, their contributions are limited to a very small amount of nutritional supplements per month.  JOC has been recognized by multiple Tanzanian organizations (the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), the Orphans Foundation Fund (OFF) and Tanzanian Office of Child, Gender and Social Welfare), but due to the fact that these organizations are attempting to support 38 orphan care centers in the Arusha region, resources are limited.

More information available on "The Project" link (upper left hand corner of this homepage)...

The Kuku Project Update (September, 2006)

In August of 2005, I returned to East Africa for the second visit, this time I went with a program called Cross Cultural Solutions.  The majority of my time was spent working at my placement, Patandi Primary School where I taught English to three different sections of Standard 6 (eleven and twelve year olds).  I spent the majority of my time in urban areas with fortunate kids but simultaneously developed a desire to do something for disadvantaged children of Tanzania.

Immediately after I came back from Africa last year, I began to develop a project to benefit these less-fortunate children.  My project’s primary goal was to be sustainable – something that would exist not only after I returned to the United States but something that would also benefit the community for years after it was introduced.  So I began to actively work on the development of a program to provide orphanages with additional chickens to supplement their nutritional and economic resources and to help to eliminate some of the stress and strain forced upon the facilities and the children.  The goal of The Kuku Project is to establish a practical link between donors and local orphanages, in an effort to alleviate some the limiting circumstances facing the orphanage and to provide the orphans with a reliable source of food and income.

During the first two weeks of August this year (2006), I was able to go back to Tanzania and carry out The Kuku Project.  The project was completely funded by the support I raised from individual donors (personal family and friends), and I was able to purchase enough materials for 3 different coops along with 300 chicks.  Additionally, we distributed school supplies to over 150 children, we gave shoes to 32 orphans and we brought soccer balls to 10 different organizations.  I also spoke to many local organizations that cater towards disadvantaged children about the importance of education. 

Right now, I am working on a documentary to #1. Show the donors exactly how their money was used #2. Raise awareness about the current situations of orphans and disadvantaged children in Tanzania today and #3. Promote my next project – the building of a new facility in a small village outside of Arusha, Tanzania that will turn a day-care center into a permanent home for 42 orphaned children as well as a centralized educational location for both the nursery and primary school ages kids. 

The current day-care center ("Jane's Orphan's Center") was founded to help over 250 orphans and disadvantaged children from the Olevolos village whose guardians and parents are unable to feed and clothe their kids or pay for medical treatment and school fees.  Additionally, the program provides assistance to widowed women in the community to teach them about HIV/AIDS, health counseling and food and nutrition.  The widows also learn how to read, write and design crafts which  generate income for their families. 

My goal right now is to raise enough money so that I can return to Africa next year and oversee the final stages of the building project of the orphanage and educational facilities, help the children transition into their new home, and then to stay for 6 months to a year and teach English (and learn Swahili) to the students as well as the widows.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, or you are interested in supporting the next phase of the project, please contact me via email (Dgannes@umich.edu).