Charming the World

Education Restores Dignity & Offers Hope for a Brighter, More Sustainable Future.

2008-01-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

Charming The World ™ supports education initiatives for children, who have been marginalized by deep poverty. We consult with and provide documentation that increases awareness and aids crucial fundraising efforts. Books about the projects are available to purchase with all profits going to the projects.

Visit our fair trade website with purchases supporting sustainable development Bedelightful.com
Preview the companion publications at our bookstore

Grace Orphanage

2008-01-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

In Nairobi, Kenya, By Grace is both home and school for orphans of all ages. Started by Salome Wambui Muturi (now known as "Grace") several years ago when a few orphans needed a place to stay. Today Grace has 300 children living and studying together in eight tiny rooms in the Kayoli neighborhood. 250 students currently sleep on cement classroom floors with out bedding and share three toilettes. They do not have a kitchen, dining room, or enough school supplies. All the teachers are volunteers. Food is donated and often inadequate to feed the children. The building is very overcrowded. A makeshift classroom and shelter built from scraps on the roof expands the space. Here they cook their food in two large pots on a wood fire. Beans and corn are the staple of their diet and most months they lack basic nourishment.

Daisy's visit, in November 2007, documented conditions as well as the spirit and courage these children have to persevere. They pursue their studies diligently. Charming the World™ donated $1000 for food, which got them through the riots, as well as necessities like shoes, clothes, underwear, basic medicine, tooth brushes, school supplies and sanitary napkins. Continued financial support is necessary for them to achieve better lives and mentor others. Charming the World™. A long-term project with additional assistance provided by Kensington Cares and Bright Future Children, who ensure 100% of your donation will be given to the orphanage. Our 2008 goal for dormitory and supplies is a minimum of $50,000. Individual sponsorship is $540. Become a sponsor and receive a free copy of the book with your name on the donor's page. The profits from the book go to the support the school. This is a great investment in Kenya's future. These children have the will to succeed and to help others. Let's give them an opportunity to bless our lives and others through our support.

Upendo Academy

2008-01-01T08:52:00.000-08:00

Upendo Academy is a labour of love of for social worker, Isabella Mwampamba. She is committed to providing a quality education to impoverished and marginalized children. Isabella, transformed her home, into two small classrooms used to teach 36 needy children. Next year the school will enroll 54 additional students and hire two more teachers to join the team. Upendo Academy is an English Medium School, which provides English education at the primary level to better prepare children for the often difficult transition into secondary school.

Upendo Academy’s objectives include:
Implement cost-effective community-based school.
Provide good nutrition, health and parenting education.
Foster community awareness on the importance of a primary education.
Needed:
School supplies
Scholarships
New classrooms
A detailed budget is available upon request.

Golden Hearts

2008-01-01T02:21:00.000-08:00

In Arusha, Tanzania, Sara has opened her home to some deeply impoverished children. When she looked up she had 100 and no money, food or school supplies. This remarkable place left a lasting impression of the possibility of joy in the midst of hardship. Charming the World™ has committed to fund their uniforms, school supplies, regular food drops for six months, while we do a feasibility study for a school and dorm. An initial $6000 for the basic food and supplies is needed to sustain the children while we develop a long term plan.

Maasai Teachers

2008-01-01T02:16:00.000-08:00

Irbaan Primary School, Maasai Mara, Kenya, opened with three classrooms in November 2007, thanks to the generosity of international donors. The school, serves communities spread out for over the vast grasslands of the Mara region in Kenya, is still in need of ongoing support to provide a quality education to the hundreds of children in the area. More classrooms are needed to accommodate all the children and school supplies from textbooks to desks are in short supply. Funding for enough teachers that includes salaries and accommodation $300 a month, will help keep classroom sizes of reasonable size. Children, who walk as far as 7 kilometers to school, each way, often on an empty stomach, need a hot lunch to be provided. Provide an individual scholarship, $300 a year, and we will include you on the donors page of the Charming The World, Maasai book. I am astounded at the number of children in this touristed region that still lacked access to basic essentials like fresh water and food. This is an opportunity for the first generation of Maasai girls to go to school, and their first opportunity to experience physical and intellectual autonomy. Their young fathers appreciate what education did for them and want to share this gift with all their children. This generation values education and can transform the brutality of poverty into potential.

Papyrus Papers

2007-12-30T02:31:00.000-08:00

Luxor, Egypt, West bank. The leaders of the community have asked our assistance in developing a program for women and children. After viewing the plot donated by a local taxidriver and meeting with the community we believe an after school, learning center, supported by a women's Papyrus paper cooperative is feasible. A talented international team which includes, an architect, fresco painter, taxi-driver, three farmers, two doctors and four teachers, have volunteered their skills and long-term support. This school program and women's skill center will teach women to make and trade papyrus paper. Papyrus is a free resource growing on the banks of the Nile tributaries. This business project will aid in the support of their childrens education center. An initial investment of $40,000 to build the center has been budgeted. If you would like to volunteer and get involved with this dynamic project or sell Papyrus paper please contact us.

Investing In the Future

2007-12-29T11:58:00.000-08:00

The greatest future profits will be made by addressing and restoring the unfathomable dept that the previous century has left to the environment, human and species rights and future generations. We are entering into a phase that is larger, more productive and more exponentially rewarding than the dot com days at its height. Central to this opportunity is the discovery that we are not only consumers, or investors but rather human beings, members of a thriving global community and we do understand that when one member suffers we all suffer. Desmond Tutu centers many of his talks around an important African concept, Umbuntu, which means I am because we are. Culturally we are coming to realize the profound truth of this statement. Global health is just that, a measure of the health of our globe and an indication of the future for all. The reason Americans are never satisfied is because they are caught in a cycle that there is never enough for them; rather than an abundance cycle of how to create enough for everyone as essentially more valuable and rewarding. Ownership is in fact an illusion. Everything was given for free and we figured out how to sell it, and charge rent on it, rather than create a society that values health for all. We have become servants to money rather than it serving us. I would surmise that the last man standing, with the big sack of gold will most likely be very lonely. Aid, in conjunction with sustainable economic development, and education can solve this global health crisis. The average cost to teach a woman to read in Africa is $50. As quoted by CARE, "Statistically a woman who learns to read has three fewer pregnancies, and three fewer infant deaths. She is less likely to be forced into a young marriage, be raped or sold. " In addition to this she is able to raise her children with significantly higher health standards. If that wasn't enough for your investment you should note the exponential return, for every woman who learns to read all future generations connected to her statistically learn to read. Now what if that reading material as on resource management, health care, water purification, and sustainable gardening practices. We know that each orphaned child who is rescued from the streets is empowered to become a part of the solution. If the right lessons, the right aid and the legitimate desire to value community stability is our true goal then every effort to find and allocate appropriate funds will offer an exponential return on its investment.
There are a few astounding examples of sustainable aid solutions that have had exponential returns for the global commons and significant positive effects on the environment and population growth. Wangari Matai's landmark tree planting initiative, which won her the 2005 Nobel peace prize, mobilized Kenyan woman to plant over 30 million trees, is one prime example. She created jobs, habitat, water sheds, fuel, reforestation by mobilizing and educating women.

Common Wealth Debate Notes

2007-03-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

Does aid have the ability to stabilize marginalized populations in sub-saharan Africa?
Key Issues:
Resource distribution
Exponential population growth
Global warming and draught increasing anually.
HIV and water born disease.
Poverty
Corrupt Governmental Systems

We are part of the problem and responsible to seek a solution.
"20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods. This ever-expanding consumption puts strains on the environment and contributes to the life threatening problems of global warming. The world's dominant consumers are overwhelmingly concentrated among the well-off - but the environmental damage from the world's consumption falls most severely on the poor." (9 United Nations Human Development Report 1998)Eventually we will come to realize that no one will be immune to the impact of global warming.

Around the world, some 26,500 children die every day. Equivalent to a 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring every week.18 children died of malnutrition in Africa since I began speaking.
(2 Minutes) The silent killers are poverty, hunger, lack of access to fresh water and vaccines for preventable disease. Why is the plight of millions of children not daily headlines as it is obviously the most paramount issue of our time. How is it possible that this tragedy is not a more pressing issue.
Raising healthy, well educated children, empowers population's to seek sustainable solutions to their communities. As thousands of children “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world,” we shop, we avoid thinking about the overwhelming responsibility that comes with our cultural consumption mandated by economic growth. Virtually half of the 9.7 million children under five, who died in 2006, occurred Sub-Saharan Africa. (4.8 million). "The under-five mortality rate has several advantages as a barometer of child well-being in general and child health in particular." (Unicef-about child deaths)