A postcard from Tanzania

Do you enjoy receiving handwritten cards in the mail and help support a charity? Here you can now combine those two things!

Hearts in Unity, a charity based in Tanzania, gives you the oppurtunity to help the children at the base of mount Kilimanjaro by purchasing some much needed schoolsupplies. If you now wire $5 to Hearts in Unity using Paypal the next time the organisations director goes to Tanzania (november 2010) she will use your $5 to buy a postcard and a stamp. One of the children will write a 'thank you' on the postcard and it will be mailed to you!

Why a 'thank you'?

Because the rest of your $5 will be spend on schoolsupplies for this particular child. Want to help more children and receive more postcards? Just wire $10 or $15 to Hearts in Unity and help these children get an education. I have sent my 5 dollars to Hearts in Unity!

To read more about this project click here.

To go directly to the website and send your $5 to help a child in need go to Hearts in unity and help!



Have you sent your $5 (or more)? Tell us about it by clicking on 'reacties'.

Baby Hope!

In many countries the mortality rate among newborns and women in childbirth is still very high. Stichting Baby Hope collects hygiene products to support maternity clinics in Africa, South-America and eastern-Europe. Increasing the hygiene during childbirth so more women can take their healthy newborn home!

Stichting Baby Hope is a Dutch organization started in 2003 by one women who did not want to waste the hygiene products that were left over after the birth of her child. Baby Hope has grown since then to an organization with 161 locations throughout the country were women can bring their left-over hygiene items. Helping 14 maternity projects in 11 countries!

What to send?
-Latex gloves
-Desinfectant
-Plastic aprons
-umbilical clamps
-sanitary towels
-syringes
and other useful items in unopened wrapping.

Dutch readers can click here to find the nearest location!
International readers can send an e-mail to ask for the right location to send their items!



Sent your items to Stichting Baby Hope? Tell us about it by clicking on 'reacties' below!

Kiva - Loans that change lives

Got a few  minutes and $25? Go to KIVA and lend your $25 to someone in need.

                                           Lend? Yes, lend it!

Instead of a charity where you donate the money, via Kiva you can lend your money to someone on the other side of the globe!

For example a mother of four from Rwanda in need of a loan to buy clothes to start her own clothingstore or a group of 15 people from Cambodia in need of funds to buy more groceries to resell in their general store. Go to the Kiva website and decide yourself who you will loan your $25 to.

When you click on the name of the person or group of your choice you can read more about them and their plans with their money. You will also find the repayment schedule and the term in which your loan will be paid back.

Kiva is the perfect example how people from all over the world can work together to assist someone in getting out of the cycle of poverty


Got your loan back? Invest it in another entrepreneur and change their life!

I used my $25 to support 21-year-old Fatoumata from Senegal. She is married and mother of one child and she owns a small shop with food products. We can help her grow her business by allowing her to buy larger stocks with her loan. She has already received 5 loans in the 2,5 years she has been a member of the loan group, all well-managed and paid back on time.

Click here to support Fatoumata

Tried this? Tell us about in by clicking on 'reacties' below.

The postcard crossing project

Try Postcrossing now! It is a fun and addictive way to get in touch with many people from all over the world through postcards!

  

Postcard from Taiwan            

1. Start by signing up at http://www.postcrossing.com/
2.Fill out your profile and enter you home address
3.Request an address and mail the card (don't forget the ID-number)
4.Wait for your card to be received
5.Now your address is giving out to a random person anywhere in the world who will send you a card!

Card from Postcrosser in Finland

Find fun postcards at your local store or order them online!

One of my favourite cards, sent from Thailand

Try to find that one special postcard that fits someone's collection!

Tried this? Tell us about it by clicking on 'reacties' below.

Read and Release, recycle your books!

Bookcrossing is a great way to share your love of reading with thousands of people around the world! Give life to your books and send them out on an adventure.



After reading your book go to http://www.bookcrossing.com/ and join this great community of passionate readers. In the supply store you can buy lovely stickers, bookmarks and envelopes to send your books across the world. Request a book code and write this on your stickers and bookmark, make sure its clearly written!



Now it is time to mail your book to someone far away or to release your book in the wild by leaving it in a bus, train or restaurant. You can follow the travels of your book through the automatic e-mails you receive when someone registers your book using the book code. After reading this person can send the book to someone else or release into back in the wild.

Recycle and share your books!!

Tried this? Tell us about it by clicking on 'reacties' below.

Schoolbags for Hearts in Unity

Get creative for Hearts in Unity by sewing some much needed schoolbags for children in Tanzania.

Few children in these Tanzanian villages are fortunate enough to have their own schoolbag. Having a nice bag for their schoolsupplies is a great gift for these children. A gift that you can give them! Find some nice fabrics, maybe with stripes, dots, fruits, vegetables or flower on it and start sewing!

Try to use a cotton or cottonblend fabric, these are lightweight and therefore cheaper to mail and easy to clean. Try to remember that most of these children do not have access to running water for washing so use some dark or decorated fabrics as these will hide dirt and mud better.

Click here for measurements and sewing instructions

A fun and creative afternoon for you, a perfect and much needed gift for a child in Tanzania!


Completed schoolbags can be mailed to:

Hearts in Unity
P.O. Box 41
Germantown, WI 53022
United States of America


Tried this? Tell us about it by clicking on 'reacties'  below!

Postcards to Kenya

Do you also enjoy sending beautiful postcards and lovely letters? Here is a chance to use that to put a smile on the face of a child!
Galilee Primary School is a school in the Kayole-Soweto slum in Kenya, a community filled with AIDS and poverty. Most families live of only $1 a day. Galilee has given these children a chance to get an education by building a school in the slum.

The school is funded by private donations and child sponsorship programms. Unfortunately many children do not have a sponsor to pay for their schoolfees and to encourage them to stay in school by writing letters and sending postcards. Letting them know there is someone that cares about them and wants them to succeed.


You can be that person for one (or more) of these children by sending a letter or card!


The address is:

Galilee Primary School
Direct Agent Bag
P.O. Box 70014-00400
Tom Mboya Street
Nairobi, KENYA




Click here for more information on Galilee or sponsoring a child

Tried this? Tell us about it by clicking on 'reacties' below.