Flying into Monrovia’s Roberts Field

I’m excited for the eight days ahead.

The tall and affable immigration officer, who was wearing a pressed brown uniform, was the most welcoming person to have ever stamped my passport.  My bags emerged last on the smallest luggage carousel that I’ve ever seen.

The airport was destroyed during the 14-year civil war that claimed an estimated 250,000 lives and left one million people displaced. A once viable and functioning economy was destroyed, entire villages were deserted and every family was impacted.  I’ve seen first-hand from Rwanda, Sudan and Mozambique the wreckage that war leaves on government institutions, commerce, households, landscapes and the people, especially women and children. Evidence of the conflict remains everywhere, with bombed out-deserted buildings, crumbling infrastructure and young people missing a hand or walking on crutches a common sight.

However, progress is also visible.  The Chinese have built a new tarmac road from the airport to town. Markets are thriving with stalls of locally grown produce, necessities and imported Chinese goods; petrol stations abound in Monrovia’s busy streets crowded by new cars (many shiny SUVs); buildings are getting coats of paint and lots of multi-story ones are under construction.  But the task of rebuilding this country’s infrastructure and human capital is monumental and every sector competes for donor aid and investment.

Recipients of Foundation for Women loans

I’m here on mission with the Foundation for Women – a San Diego-based micro-finance firm headed by my friend Deborah Lindholm.  Deborah and Ann Lovell (we serve on the Women’s Leadership Board at the Kennedy School together) stopped by the Foundation for Women’s Monrovia office this morning. Several groups of women had come long distances when they learned Deborah was coming.  We were welcomed with songs of praise.  The women take out small loans starting at $100 for income generating activities and have a payback rate of 98%.

Even though thousands of women are earning income, they still have to buy candles,  kerosene for lighting or cheap battery operated Chinese-made lights that don’t last more than a few months. The current options are costly, hazardous and damaging to the environment. That’s why Lifeline Energy and Foundation for Women are teaming up in a new initiative, Women Lighting-up Africa, starting in Liberia which will see women set-up in renewable lighting enterprises.

We wanted to let you know about an exciting opportunity that we are participating in, through GlobalGiving. When a donation is made to any of our projects on Wednesday 16th June 2010, GlobalGiving will be match your gift by 50% !

And if we raise the most money or get the most donations, we will be eligible for bonus prize.

We need to act fast! By selecting one of our projects, such as  Haiti Humanitarian Radio Relief Fund your donation will ensure Haitian children will quickly get back on an educational track with our wind-up and solar-powered Lifeline radios.

Please help us make the most of it of this opportunity – it’s an easy way to get more impact from your donation dollars right now !

Make your donation go further today.

Bafana Bafana fans

Written by Kristine Pearson.

I am feeling very emotional today.  When I first came to South Africa in 1986, it was the world’s pariah.  Today we welcome the world.

South Africa was part of a three-month journey on my own that took me across east and southern Africa. I fell in love with Africa – especially South Africa. Two years later I emigrated from California. I’ve been here ever since sitting in a ringside seat to history.

South Africa was an entirely different country then.  The apartheid government ruled with an iron fist, thousands of political prisoners were jailed, international companies were divesting, sanctions were growing tighter and it was the height of the state of emergency.

Now, I’m having a hard time coming up with the words to describe the feelings of being a part of this nation.

To be attending the World Cup in Soccer City, Soweto, is a thrill,  an honour for me, second only to being there the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and voting in the 1994 election.

Soccer fever is now gripping our rainbow nation.

Go Bafana go!

Adolescent Girls With Lifeline Radios

Written by Chhavi Sharma

Ish… Ish… Ishaka echoed the Mission Suedoise hall full of more than 80 adolescent girls in Bujumbura, all between the ages of 14 and 22. Eager to learn about how to use their solar-powered and wind-up Lifeline radios and how to get the most out of the financial literacy, sexual and reproductive health, and life skills programmes created for them by Radio Publique Africaine, the girls listened enthusiastically and participated actively as I conducted the training.

Despite the interpretation time lag – from French to Kirundi and Swahili – the girls were bursting with questions about the radios and the Guardian Agreements. They were impatient to know why only one person had been selected as the safe-keeper of the radio, and if it was a fair process in the Solidarity Groups, as the group’s savings are kept in a locked box that has three padlocks, held by three different girls. The girls, part of a CARE International’s village savings and loans project in Burundi, were some of the most outspoken, articulate and interactive beneficiaries that I have come across in my training sessions and were a real pleasure to work with.

The Iskaha project aims to educate girls to access safe savings and financial resources, as well as improve life skills and social support systems, to enable them to steer the transitions from adolescence to adulthood.

For more information on the vacancy and how to apply, please visit Our Opportunities page.

International Tom Hanks Day organiser, Kevin Turk

This year’s International Tom Hanks Day raised $1265! The money raised from the event will go to our Haiti Humanitarian Radio Fund. The project provides wind-up and solar-powered Lifeline radios to children effected by the January 2010 earthquake. Thanks to contributions from donors like Kevin, they will be able to obtain access to basic education and receive ongoing education.

International Tom Hanks Day was founded by Chicago resident Kevin Turk. Kevin started the day by inviting a small group of friends to his house for a Tom Hanks movie marathon. Through word of mouth, the event grew each year.

Inspired by Tom Hank’s commitment to good causes, Kevin decided to make the day a charity event. The fundraiser now takes place Galaway Bay, a bar in Chicago where Kevin sells T-shirts, food and tickets for a raffle to raise money.

Kevin already has big ideas for next year, when the event will move to a larger venue.

“This year was a huge success. People were at the event before the doors even opened and they stayed well beyond the event hours.” say Kevin. “We are busting at the seems in our current venue, so next year we should be moving up to a larger space with a lot more activities. Thanks to Tom Hanks for all the support.”

For more information, please visit the International Tom Hanks Day website. Lifeline Energy would like to thank Kevin Turk – we look forward to the next fundraiser!

Operating as Freeplay Foundation has served us well for the past 11 years, however, we feel that our new name better reflects our wider mission to tackle energy poverty head-on for the poorest and most vulnerable.

In addition to including Lifeline radios and Lifelights in projects and programmes, in the near future Lifeline Energy will launch a brand new, revolutionary communications tool that we believe will have a profound impact on education and information access in the developing world. We will send you more news about this soon.

We will continue to focus our research on the impact of dangerous kerosene, firewood and candles, and the harmful effects these have on vulnerable women and children. This better equips us to create clean energy products and to advocate approaches that reduce their use and improve quality of life.

Lifeline Energy remains a 501 (c)(3) registered charity in the USA, a registered charity in the UK and is a Section 18A and 21 non-profit in South Africa. Under our new name, Lifeline Energy will retain all current board members as well as our ambassadors: Academy Award winning actor Tom Hanks in America; noted humanitarian Terry Waite in Europe; Mount Everest and South Pole mountaineer Sibusiso Vilane in Africa.

Please visit our redesigned website and learn more about Lifeline Energy; www.lifelineenergy.org
All email addresses that were formerly @freeplayfoundation.org will now be @lifelineenergy.org.

A granny enjoys reading a Bible with her new Lifelight

Written by Kristine Pearson

I remember in 1995 when the first tin shacks went up in the Joe Slovo informal settlement not far from what is now Johannesburg University (formerly Rand Afrikaans University). It made headlines as local residents fought against a ‘squatter camp’ going up in the empty field in their neighbourhood. Fifteen years and 20,000 residents later, Joe Slovo remains unelectrified with limited services, although it does have running tap water and toilets.

We brightened the lives of 40 mainly granny-headed families who use candles or paraffin (kerosene) wick lamps for lighting with Lifelights. They all feel nervous and stressed about the use of candles and paraffin because of how easily they can tip over and start fires. The cramped makeshift houses are tight next to one another like rabbit warren, with very narrow walkways. The walkways in most parts are covered by carpet under-felt. This is the first time I’ve seen this in an informal settlement. Fires are common resulting in dire consequences, sweeping through the settlement at terrifying speed.

Project Manager Chhavi Sharma with Assistant Research Aaliya Sadruddin

Our partner organisation, Children of Fire, which does heroic work with victims of fire, identified the beneficiary families and we conducted a training session at a school outside Joe Slovo’s perimeter. Accompanied by our project manager, Chhavi Sharma and intern researcher Aalyia Sadruddin, after the distribution we visited with a couple of the grannies in their homes.

This is is 62-year-old granny and former domestic worker, Eveline, who is one of Joe Slovos residents who lives in the centre of the settlement. She’s seen many fires over the years and was very pleased to have a Lifelight.

Organiser, Kevin Turk, has also teamed up with ILikeFun – the official T-shirt company of Tom Hanks Day. ILikeFun have produced several spectacular International Tom Hanks Day designs, which are available to buy from the ILikeFun website.

Money raised from T-shirt sales and the event will go to our Haiti Humanitarian Radio Fund. The project will provide wind-up and solar-powered Lifeline radios to children that were effected by the January 2010 earthquake. Children will be able to obtain access to basic education and will ensure Haitian children receive ongoing education.

The 7th International Tom Hanks Day will be at Galaway Bay at 500 W. Diversy, Chicago, IL, Saturday 27 March at 1:00 pm. If you cannot make it to Chicago for the big event, no problem! Donations to Lifeline Energy can be made on our website or you can purchase an International Tom Hanks day T-shirts from ILikeFun.net.

For more information, please visit the International Tom Hanks Day website.