Seasons greetings from Project HOPE

Seasons Greetings from Project HOPE UK and thank you for your continuing support in these difficult economic times.

Why not spread some seasonal cheer to all the orphans and other vulnerable children in need of our help by making a donation online here.

With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year,

Paul H Brooks
Executive Director, Project HOPE UK
B9, 1-3 Iron Bridge Road, Stockley Park West
Uxbridge UB11 1BT, United Kingdom
Website: http://www.projecthopeuk.org

Nearly £9000 raised so far in our Virtual Ball - help us make it more!

Dear Project HOPE supporter

So far we have raised nearly £9000 in our 'Virtual Ball', but you can help us take this total over £10,000 by taking part in our e-Bay auction which is still running, or simply make a donation by clicking here

Why not sell some of your own items on e-Bay and donate some or all of the proceeds to Project Hope - just click on the 'Sell' tab here, list your items and choose how much of the sale price you want to go to Project HOPE.

And don't forget to reserve the date for next year's real-life ball at the Savoy in the Strand on Thursday 18th November!

Thank you for your support.

The Project HOPE Virtual Ball is today!

Is your virtual party attire at the ready? Today is the day of the Project HOPE UK VIRTUAL BALL (www.virtualball.org) and the site is up and dancing, ready for you to visit and pass on to all your contacts!

The UK may be passing through difficult economic times, but not to be compared to the challenges faced by millions of orphans and other vulnerable children across Africa and Asia - the children Project HOPE UK is totally committed to support. Together with our supporters, we made the decision not to have our glittering fundraising ball in London this year (originally scheduled for today), but to ask you to be generous in supporting the Virtual Ball, so we can still serve the children.

Please, please ...... visit www.virtualball.org right now and send the link to all your colleagues and friends. You can bid in our online auctions for exciting lots from as little as £1.95 up to a £000s. And you can make on online donation through the site, or https://www.bmycharity.com/V2/projecthopeukvirtualball# - every penny raised will be used to change the lives of children forever!

Thank you for your generous support. By visiting www.virtualball.org, you will be part of a world first; the first-ever fundraising event of its type!

Just 3 days left to bid in the e-Bay auction for this year's Virtual Ball

There are just 3 days left to bid for the exciting items in our e-Bay auction which is part of this year's Virtual Ball - take a look at what's on offer now, ranging from fine art to vintage jewellery or a fantastic night out for four.

If you're not an e-Bay member, why not take part in our Silent Auction where we have a wonderful selection of lots to choose from, including a case of champagne or a Fortnum and Mason hamper, ideal for Christmas.

It's not too late to sponsor a page on the site or book a table, so send us your reservations now and check back on Nov 19th to see your own or your company's name on display.

Don't forget that you can also support this innnovative online event by making a donation - all funds raised will be used for our work helping to improve the lives of orphans and other vulnerable children in South Africa.

Thank you for your support

Virtual Ball e-Bay auction now live

As part of the exciting and innovative Project Hope Virtual Ball, we have an auction running on e-Bay until Nov 19th.

Take a look at the limited edition prints and lithographs by artists such as Renoir and Dali, or bid for some vintage jewellery or a fabulous night out for four people at the exclusive Mahiki night club in London's Mayfair.

If these items aren't quite your thing, then how about bidding for a luxury Fortnum and Mason hamper, six bottles of champagne or some beautiful jewellery in our silent auction. With Christmas not far away, this is an ideal way to do your shopping.

Don't delay - there's only just over a week to go before the auctions close, so get your bids in now!

All proceeds from this online event will go to support Project Hope's work helping to improve the lives of orphans and other vulnerable children in South Africa.

Thank you for your support.

Project HOPE's 2009 Virtual Ball - we need your help!

Dear Friend of Project HOPE UK,

We know you share our passion for improving the health of disadvantaged communities around the world - something that has become increasingly difficult in these recessionary times when everyone is feeling the pinch!

That's why we created our unique and brand new website - www.virtualball.org, a fun and innovative way to raise vitally needed funds for our work in support of orphans and other vulnerable children in the developing world.

WE REALLY NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE THIS A SUCCESS. Would you please do one or all of the four things below - you really can change a live in Africa forever!

1) Visit www.virtualball.org right now. We don't pretend that it is the flashiest site in the world, but it was created on a shoe string and yet captures the flavour of one of our real-life Fundraising Balls, but at a tiny fraction of the cost.

2) Consider one of the many sponsorship packages for your company - they represent excellent value because your logo and URL will be seen by thousands more visitors than we would ever get at an actual Fundraising Ball - www.virtualball.org is getting thousands of hits every day!

3) Make a personal donation online through the site - even a small amount will be gratefully received and put to use immediately in our child-centred projects in Africa.

4) PLEASE, PLEASE ... send the link to www.virtualball.org as far and wide as you can. Tell your friends and colleagues and send it out through Facebook and Twitter.

The Virtual Ball is just that - a virtual event. But the potential impact in the lives of children is massive, so thank you in advance for anything you can do to spread the word and increase the impact.

With very best wishes.

Paul H Brooks
Executive Director

Virtual Ball site now live

The Project HOPE UK Virtual Ball site is now live, but you don't need to wait until the 19th of November to join in the fun!
Take a look now at what's in store and sponsor a page, bid for some of the wonderful auction items or make a donation.
As this is an online event, all proceeds will go directly to our work helping to improve the lives of orphans and other vulnerable children in South Africa.
And help us spread the word about this innovative virtual event via your own blogs, Twitter sites, Facebook or Myspace pages and other social networking tools.
You can also get an exclusive preview of next year's real-life ball to be held at the refurbished Savoy in The Strand, London on Thursday 18 November 2010.

Latest Project HOPE UK newsletter now online

Project HOPE UK's latest newsletter is now online on our Web site - check out the updates on all our activities, including our signature programme helping to improve the lives of orphans and other vulnerable children in Munsieville, South Africa.

There's also more information about our upcoming 'Virtual Ball' on 19 November, where 100% of the funds raised will be used in support of this flagship programme.

http://www.projecthopeuk.org/newsreleasedetails.asp?ReleaseID=5E338165-1E39-4E8A-B372-449B9323DF54

Village Saving Fund Mentoring Day

In early 2008, Project HOPE used the successful experiences of its Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) project in Mozambique to launch a pilot Village Savings Fund (VSF) project in Munsieville, in partnership with The Haven (a local NGO).

VSFs involve small groups of 10-25 OVC caregivers who pool small amounts of savings, and then use those savings to provide interest-bearing loans to each other for their short-term credit needs (such as buying seeds for the planting season, paying school fees so children can attend school, paying for medical assistance, and to take advantage of business opportunities). The interest on the loans is essentially interest on the pooled savings, and goes back to the group members thus providing an increased revenue source whether they are borrowers or not. Local capacities are built because self-governing groups mobilise their own funds, manage them, decide on their loan terms, and receive interest return on their savings through investing in loans.

Because of the way the community is structured in Munsieville, Village Saving Fund (VSF) groups are based on the different nationalities in the settlement – i.e. there are groups from Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe etc. The groups generally tend not to interact with each other, and therefore lose out on benefiting from learning from one another. Over the past few months some of them have done extremely well by starting small businesses selling chickens and baking cakes, while others have struggled to get off the ground.

So that all the groups could learn from their counterparts in the community, a mentoring day was held recently, where they all came together to share their successes and the problems that they have faced. To add to the excitement, there was a prize for the most successful group (based on weekly meeting attendance, savings & loans portfolio, initiatives taken to start up a business etc).

The day was a great success. The groups shared information about what they have been doing – one group started by purchasing 10 chickens a week to sell, and now they are up to 25 a week. Other groups shared frustrations about the lack of unity between group members which makes it more difficult for them to work together. The highlight of the event was the announcement of the winners – a Mozambican group called “Sizanani” which means “helping each other.” They received certificates and a prize of food and clothing and the video below shows you how excited the room became when the winners were announced!

The day provided the motivation needed for the groups who have been struggling to get on the right track, and a Project Hope team will be following up with house visits over the next few months to encourage them further as they discover the important difference that VSFs can make to the health and lives of people living in informal settlements here in South Africa.

A Project Hope intern's work for children in South Africa

Cristian Greenwood, a recent graduate from Southampton University, talks about his background and how he came to be working with Project HOPE UK on a 6 month internship:

“Although I studied Applied Social Sciences at university, specialising in Anthropology, and want to pursue a career in International Development, my interest in the inequalities among different communities of the globe goes back to my childhood. I’m half Colombian, and it was on a family holiday to Colombia when I was eleven years old, that I became fully aware of the differences between the lives of people in developed countries and those in other parts of the world. On a visit to a prehistoric site in a remote mountain area, a group of young native children tried to sell us fossils, for which they spent all day digging on the mountainside in dangerous conditions. The contrast between their lives and mine was so great that the incident has stuck in my memory ever since, and from it came my inspiration to try and make a difference to the lives of people less fortunate than me.”

“After I left university in summer 2008, I applied to a number of UK-based charities for placements to get some experience in the sector. I joined Project HOPE in March 2009, and am working on a proposal to submit to various charities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who would be interested in funding field research in to violence and sexual crimes committed against orphans and other vulnerable children (OOVCs) in Gauteng Province, South Africa. As well as gathering evidence on the extent of the problem, the research project will also define ways to try and mitigate the impact of these crimes on the children, working with organisations already established in the region.”

“I’m spending two days a week at Project HOPE, and the rest of my time is divided between working for a charity fundraiser and in a designer clothes shop, as well as learning to drive! After this placement, I would like to work for a charity to get some further work experience in the sector, whilst saving to go to South America. My next step will be to go and work there with disadvantaged indigenous communities who lack access to opportunities for education, housing and employment, as well as travelling the sub-continent and becoming fluent in Spanish.”

“After 3-4 years of work and travel, I plan to return to the UK to study for a Masters in International Development or Demographic Statistics, which I will then use in my career helping to improve the lives of people less fortunate than me, while at the same time maintaining my interest in human nature, people and cultures of the world.”

For more details of internships with Project HOPE UK, click here.

Project HOPE assessing needs in South African settlements

From Stefan Lawson, Project Hope South Africa Country Director:
Over the past few weeks, with the help of two interns from East Tennessee State University, Project HOPE has been very busy conducting rapid needs assessments in a number of slums in and around the West Rand area.
We put together a survey to ask some specific questions about access to health facilities, water, sanitation, food, education and economic status and then went with someone from the local government into the slum area to begin conducting the survey. The first thing we did was to count the number of shacks – as these slums are “informal” there are no statistics on them, no one even knows exactly how many people live in them! So we walked up and down the rows of shacks counting them, which gave us an estimate of how many people are living there. With that number we worked out how many people we needed to survey to get an accurate sample of the population. After that, we went through the slum interviewing people at random to gather the information that we need. It has been very interesting because it provides the opportunity not only to collect data, but also to strike up conversations with people and let them tell you what the problems are and what they feel the solutions are.
There have been municipal strikes recently which has meant that a couple of these slums have not received any water. The government uses a tractor to pull a tank of water a couple of times a week into these areas. No water means limited cooking, washing and having to walk a distance to buy water from a shop when desperate. In all of these slums that I have visited, little food is grown, which means that people have to buy everything that they eat. With soaring food prices the amount and quality of food that people can buy is reduced. I like to dig a bit deeper with questions about food, asking where they get their food from and what they eat each day. A few people I interviewed were very honest. Their response was, “We don’t have money to buy food, so we steal it from the local farmer.” Walking around these areas you can see the intergenerational transmission of poverty very clearly. The mother who had a child at a young age is illiterate. Her child went to primary school but had to stop because she was “naughty”, which means she got pregnant. Her child faces so many barriers to overcome and break free from this cycle of disadvantage.
Project HOPE is currently designing a specific programme to address the needs of children under the age of 5 years, to enable them to break free from this cycle of poverty and help give them a brighter future where access to quality health care, education, basic services, employment opportunities and food will not be a dream, but a reality.

Project HOPE bids for funds for West Rand orphans

Project HOPE UK has submitted a proposal to the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) to support important advances in the care of orphans and other vulnerable children in four informal settlements in West Rand, South Africa, as part of its “Munsieville Model” initiative.

The DFID bid, for funding under its Civil Society Challenge Fund, requests a grant of £495,000 to create satellite projects in the slum settlements, each of which aims to get the communities and the providers of essential services working together to benefit vulnerable children and their caregivers initially, and through them, the whole community.

Executive Director, Paul Brooks, described the core problem. “The four informal settlements are typical of many around the major cities of southern Africa; they house growing populations in extreme poverty, often outside the reach of government services and the activities of voluntary organisations. The problems of Africa are magnified in these slums and the thousands of children who have lost parents to AIDS face a massive struggle simply to survive.

“The residents of these settlements are reluctant to claim services from their government for fear that they could provoke action to clear their illegal sites, and government and charity workers are equally reluctant to provide services, fearing the high crime rates and massive demand for services in these communities. It is essential”, says Paul, “that we build a bridge so that these wonderfully resourceful communities can come into mainstream society, from the shadows of their squatter camps”.

Orphans and other vulnerable children are at the heart of the Project HOPE strategy for the West Rand settlements. Of all residents, they are the most needy, but also, the growing challenge they pose is perhaps the one major point of common interest between the residents, whose resources are being overwhelmed by them, and the government, which is under scrutiny from the international community to comply with the child rights treaties it has endorsed. Project HOPE UK believes that as the communities come together to improve the prospects of their children, it will have a dramatic impact on the way the entire population engages with government and civil society.

The focal point of the new project will be the establishment of five, fully sustainable early childhood development centres – pre-school facilities where caregivers can leave their children for five days each week, freeing them to participate in a wide-ranging training programme to equip them to give excellent care, and also gain employment, start small-scale businesses or tend high-yield vegetable gardens. Whilst at the pre-school centres, which will be operated by Project HOPE UK partners, Safe and Sound, the children will receive health screening and immunisation, development checks, nutritious meals and early childhood education.

Other services will cascade out to the wider community, including numerous Village Savings and Loans groups and regular awareness events, run jointly in the settlements, by Project HOPE South Africa, local authority service providers, charities and other agencies, to help residents benefit from full access to their rights, including healthcare, education, social services, legal registration and participation in democratic processes.

Along with the proposal submitted to DFID, Project HOPE UK is also applying for funds from a variety of other sources for similar projects in the West Rand area of South Africa, as part of its long term vision of establishing The Munsieville Model as one of Africa’s leading, fully-integrated and locally sustainable models of excellence in the care of orphans and other vulnerable children, focused on their health and total well-being, and through it, to influence and enhance work with such children everywhere.

Paul Brooks’ African-style vegetable garden produces a bumper harvest

Project Hope UK’s Executive Director Paul Brooks has turned an unused corner of his garden in Buckinghamshire into a productive vegetable plot based on the keyhole design used in Africa.

Keyhole gardens act like an organic ‘recycling unit’, using kitchen and garden waste and rainwater or grey water from the house to grow vegetables.

The original garden design is named after the keyhole shape seen when it is viewed from above. Compostable waste is placed in a central basket and the soil banked up around it, sloping down towards the retaining wall of the garden. Rainwater or waste water from the kitchen or bathroom is poured over the compost bin so that it seeps through to water the vegetables and feed them with nutrients from the compost at the same time.

The design of the garden allows easy access to top up the compost bin, and also to plant, weed and pick the vegetables. As an added bonus, two or three times as many vegetables can be produced than from a traditional plot.

In Africa, keyhole gardens are transforming lives by allowing the smallest plots of land to be used for food production. The stone wall surrounding the garden prevents soil erosion, protects the crops from livestock and helps retain moisture. In addition, the raised soil level of the garden makes it easy for the sick and elderly and even children to work. In many areas, keyhole gardens have been so successful that families are able to feed themselves and have surplus produce to sell, providing additional income for the household.

Athough his garden did not conform to the authentic keyhole shape, Paul’s aim was to prove that this system of vegetable growing could dramatically increase yields (as you can see from the photos), and to demonstrate how such gardens can be used to improve the diets of orphaned and vulnerable children in places like Munsieville, South Africa.

By producing large volumes of vitamin-rich vegetables and fruits all year round from limited resources, keyhole gardens can help provide some of the world’s poorest people with access to safe, healthy food. Click here to learn more about Project Hope’s work in Munsieville or make a donation.

10K London run a great success

Despite the early morning rain, the 10km London run on Sunday 12th July was a great success, with over 50 people running for Project Hope.
The fastest runner was Jonathan Brooks, with an impressive time of 40 mins 35 secs, whilst his father, Paul Brooks, Project Hope UK's executive director, completed the course in just over 1 hour. The average time for runners in the fastest team was 60 mins 7 secs.
Everyone joined in the celebrations and award ceremony afterwards at the Blue Posts pub.
Project HOPE UK's "Running for HOPE" teams raised funds to support the charity's new signature programme, "The Munsieville Model", which aims to push forward the boundaries of care for thousands of AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children in South Africa.
Every step run, and every penny you donate, will take Project HOPE UK closer to the goal of creating genuinely sustainable, community-based initiatives that will ensure the health and total well-being of children in the urban slums around Johannesburg. It will also enhance and influence work with orphans and vulnerable children throughout the developing world.
I'ts not too late to sponsor Paul or any of the other Project Hope runners online at www.bmycharity.com/projecthopeuk
Next year's run will be on Sunday 11 July, so if you're inspired to join in, save the date now!

BBQ banquet raises nearly £3000 for Munsieville

Theresa McCarthy, Project Hope UK board member, commented on the BBQ evening held at North Mymms Park, Herts on Saturday 20th June:

Congratulations to everyone involved in organising such a wonderful evening last night at the Project HOPE Summer Event.
The venue was delightful (including the tour which was arranged for us of the magnificent house) the atmosphere was really warm and positive and everyone seemed to be havinga great time.
It was also nice to have enough space to walk around, which meant you could chat to lots of people at the different 'happenings' (casino tables, Scalextrix, barbecue) and build a feeling of being one of a group of benefactors rather than just individuals.

A total of nearly £3000 was raised to help Project Hope's work supporting orphaned and vulnerable children in Munsieville.

Those of you who were away missed a great time!

Can you help Project HOPE today?

Project HOPE is funded from the grassroots by caring people like you. Our financial year is ending on June 30th and we need your help to continue providing lifesaving health education and humanitarian assistance to those in need around the world, especially children.
You’ve been following our important work online and know about our lifesaving programmes around the globe as well as our inspiring new programme in South Africa.
You can help today by donating online - the fastest and most efficient way to help Project HOPE continue saving lives.

Donate now

Countering the “hand-out” mentality in Munsieville

Both the formal and informal settlements of Munsieville have been around a long time. Over the years there have been numerous NGOs both small and large that have run programmes and then left – both in good and bad circumstances. Right now in our office here there is a small NGO handing out food packages to vulnerable women and children. Other NGOs give out clothes, food, soap sporadically depending on when they receive donations.

This is valuable and necessary, people need to eat and to have clothes to wear, yet this has created over the years a “Hand-Out” mentality or “dependency syndrome” in which people expect to get. So there is this difficult tension between trying to meet immediate needs, and looking longer-term at trying to address root causes of the problems. The government has acknowledged this problem, and it wants organisations to empower people to dig themselves out of poverty. We (NGOs and government) can give people the tools, but they must do it for themselves.

An example of this would be Project HOPE's Village Savings Fund. This is a programme in which groups of 20 are formed, and trained to collect savings on a weekly basis – even if it is only 10 cents - and put it into a pot. From this pot loans can be made out to the group to start a business or expand an existing venture. These loans are paid back with interest thus increasing the savings pot. They also supplement this with a Social Fund which acts as a form of insurance. Each member puts the same amount into the Social Fund each week until it has reached the designated pot size. From this fund emergencies can be met like paying to get to the hospital, funeral expenses etc. A key component of each meeting is health education – talking about relevant issues such as HIV, TB, legal access to government services. The concept of the Village Savings Fund is a great one, and it has worked well in many other places in Africa, and also here in South Africa. We are taking it to the people and hitting the dependency syndrome right on the head with it. We are sure that once the first group of Village Savings Fund participants have gone through the cycle and they can see the tangible benefits, then they will become advocates for it and recruit others.

Opening doors with donation of medical supplies

Product Donation from Smith & Nephew and GlaxoSmithKline

Project Hope is known for its ability to effectively procure and distribute needed medicines and medical supply donations with high levels of accountability. We call this Gifts-In-Kind or GIK for short. It can act as a great introduction when one is beginning work in a new country.


In South Africa the Ministry of Health spends the largest portion of its budget on procuring drugs and medical equipment for the country’s patients. Therefore any donations are very welcome, and in fact are relied upon to make sure that the people living in South Africa have access to healthcare when they need it.

Project HOPE UK had been working for a number of months to get product valued at £200,000 (more than $293,000) from S&N and GSK to South Africa. After a few weeks on a ship and it passing through customs it arrived at our container warehouse from where it is being stored and distributed throughout West Rand to NGOs and clinics benefiting the community which we serve. Some of the items include peak flow meters, blood pressure monitors, scales, blankets, tissues, gloves, crutches, bandages and more.

To show our appreciation we had a ceremony inviting the South African representatives of GSK and S&N as well as the Executive Mayor of West Rand District, representatives from the West Rand Ministry of Health and other NGO beneficiaries including our partner The Haven.

Our programme site in South Africa

As you can see from the picture we are based at the moment out of a container office in the middle of a township called Munsieville. Munsieville’s most famous resident was the Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Nobel Peace Prize Winner) who went to school there. Munsieville is situated in the Mogale City Municipality and the West Rand District of Gauteng Province, South Africa. The whole area has been a target for African population movement over the last few decades drawing people from all over the continent to come work in the mining industry. At the peak of the “gold rush” many immigrants (predominantly males) found lucrative work, and over time brought their families from their home countries. However, with the downscaling of the mining industry, thousands of people have become unemployed. Formal rates of unemployment exceed 30%, with estimates up to 70% for the informal settlements. This is continuing with the shedding of jobs due to the current global financial crisis. With the rapid rise in food prices and tightening of credit availability, thousands of people are facing increased hardship. Even though many immigrants are now facing unemployment, the majority are not returning home, but staying in South Africa, as they have been in the country for many years.

Munsieville has two parts – a formal part and an informal part. In the formal part many South African residents live in low cost concrete houses to which services such as water and electricity are supplied. The informal part is made up of predominantly foreigners living in the country illegally – mainly Mozambicans and Zimbabweans. They live in shacks made from scraps of wood, plastic and metal. They have no electricity, water or sanitation services provided. Disease is prevalent in the area and unemployment is high. As they are in the country illegally many cannot access any form of healthcare, education or social service grants because they have no formal identification documents.If you want to read more on the history of Munsieville you can follow the link: http://www.mogalecity.gov.za/visitors/townships.stm

Keep on checking this blog to see how Project HOPE is meeting some of the many needs in this area!