CECAM Donates Stove to Landslide Victims in La Paz
In early June, Sustainable Bolivia’s partner organisation CECAM donated a new prototype of a lage-scale efficient wood-burning stove to the victims of what has been called the worst landslide in recent Bolivian history. More than 1300 families in the Pampahasi area of La Paz lost their homes and belongings in the disaster. The stove is a prototype of new type of institutional wood stove funded by Sustainable Bolivia volunteers and is now being used to cook food and boil water for more than seven families in the area.
The donation to the zone is the first phase of a long-term project to provide the many victims in the area with solar stoves and a source of income. To fund this project, CECAM is raising funds online until the 18th of June.
You can read more about the project and donate here:
Scholarship Program Funded by Rotary Munchen Flughafen
Sustainable Bolivia recently received a sponsorship from Rotary Munchen Flughafen in Germany to fund 7 university or vocational scholarships for the next four years. The funding allows Sustainable Bolivia to add two scholarship recipients to our five current scholars. One scholarship is to begin in June, and the other scholarship will be awarded in January 2012. During the month of May, we invited the youth from all of our partner organizations to apply for the first scholarship. After receiving several applications and performing interviews with the scholarship applicants, Sustainable Bolivia has chosen Richard Eduardo Barragan Cabrera as the newest scholarship recipient. Richard is 19 years old. He was born in La Paz, Bolivia, but now lives in Cochabamba with his family. Since the age of 13, Richard has attended CAICC, his sponsor organization.
Due to the support Richard has received from CAICC, he graduated from secondary school, and has also become a national and international first place winner in his age and weight category in Judo-JIU JITSU competitions. Currently, Richard teaches judo classes to 6-15 year old children at CAICC, and will continue to do so when he begins his university studies. Richard requested a scholarship in order to study Medicine at San Simon University in Cochabamba.
Sustainable Bolivia believes that Richard has proven his tenacity and his good-will, and we believe that he will be a good candidate, worthy of economic and moral support throughout the duration of his studies. We are very excited to witness and assist in Richard's success as a university medical student.
Scholarship Fundraiser Results Are In!
During the month of April, Sustainable Bolivia held a scholarship fundraiser with the goal of raising $3,000 to put towards the expenses of our scholarship recipients. After a month of campaigning, our donations (through ChipIn, Paypal, and in cash) added up to a grand total of $4,000! We sincerely thank everyone who donated, because every bit makes a difference in these students' lives.
Support Sustainable Bolivia this Holiday Season
I just wanted to take this opportunity to encourage you all to support Sustainable Bolivia and our partners this holiday season. As the holidays approach it is an opportune time to help those less fortunate than ourselves.
In an effort to attract new donors, Sustainable Bolivia is actively seeking out individuals interested in participating in a new ‘transparent, effective and efficient’ donation experience. Sustainable Bolivia will place interested donors in contact with volunteers so that they can propose, discuss and evaluate the best way to allocate the donated funds at his/her volunteer location. This interactive experience will allow the donor to ask questions and make suggestions as he/she sees fit. Once the project, or purchases, has been approved the volunteer will implement the project sending written updates, receipts and pictures allowing for complete transparency. 100% of the donated money will allocated directly for the project and tax deductible receipts will be provided to those interested.
Any donation no matter how large or small is welcome. Donations can be made by personal checks made out to Sustainable Bolivia or online via our paypal account. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to hearing from all of you and wish everyone a happy holidays.
Movember
Sustainable Bolivia’s first blog would like to highlight the fundraising activities of board member Paul Kelley. In an effort to help raise funds for Sustainable Bolivia’s scholarship program, Paul has decided to participate in ‘Movember’; an annual month-long event involving the growing of mustaches during November. He is actively looking for individuals who would like to sponsor him and his mustache, to help support a worthy cause.
The aim of SB’s scholarship program is to assist young students from one of our partner organizations. SB is currently providing assistance to four students supporting them for all four years of their BA degree. SB provides all school fees, including books and transportation, as well as a small living stipend. With the help of fundraising efforts like Paul’s SB has been able to raise more than $8,000 of the total $12,000 needed. The second phase of the program is to assist four girls who live in a care-home run by another of our partners to study year-long vocational courses. They have chosen technical courses which will give them the skills and training to work in specific professions. So far we have raised over $3000 to be able to cover all of the expenses of the three young women. All three will be graduating this December and we are actively seeking funds to continue the program for 2011.