2ND ANNUAL WOMEN HELPING WOMEN BOSTON

An evening to improve the lives of women in Africa with access to clean water; a celebration of global female cooperation.

Drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and Voss Foundation’s famous African Bazaar!

Purchase tickets online

WOMEN HELPING WOMEN BOSTON COMMITTEE

Event Chairs: Amy Canepa Donahue, Nancy Parker Wilson

Host Committee: Arreen Andrew, Natasha Zanzhe Boye, Kate Davis, Nora Dowley, Kristen Jurgenson Ellis, Nonie Gadsden, Jennifer S. Girvin, Ivelyne Jean, Saran Kaba Jones, Elisabeth Lind Jones, Caroline Lake, Tobi Mallinson, Brook DeAngelis Rowan, Marla Mullen Sanford, Kate Lubin Sutton

VOSS FOUNDATION

Voss Foundation is dedicated to providing access to clean water to communities in Sub-Saharan Africa and raising awareness of ongoing need in the region.  We employ a unique approach that ensures local ownership and long-term sustainability through partnerships with trusted organizations on the ground, use of appropriate technology, and through systems that align environmental consideration with the diverse water needs of a community.  Founded by the directors of VOSS of Norway ASA as an independent 501(c)(3) public charity in 2008, with offices in New York and Oslo, the Voss Foundation has changed the lives of over 100,000 people in Kenya, Mali, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Liberia.

Photographer Braden Summers

Voss Foundation is pleased to announce our newest artistic collaboration, with award-winning Paris- and New York-based photographer Braden Summers! Braden will be joining the executive directors of Voss Foundation and FACE Africa on a weeklong tour of Liberia to illustrate the impact of clean water in local communities.

Voss Foundation completed its first project in Liberia in December 2011, funded by Women Helping Women and implemented in partnership with FACE Africa, bringing clean water and sanitation facilities to the Hope Mission School in Paynesville. Voss Foundation will visit the site to monitor the project and measure its impact 6 months after implementation. Together with FACE Africa, we will also explore new sites in Liberia to evaluate options for future projects.

Image from Braden's Haiti portfolio.

Voss Foundation is excited to collaborate with Braden, and is confident that his professional imagery will help raise awareness of the need for clean water in Sub-Saharan Africa. We join FACE Africa in thanking Braden for his extraordinary generosity in volunteering his services pro-bono to our joint cause.

View Braden’s impressive portfolio at  www.bradensummers.com. As an independent photographer, his work also serves to document our progress from a third-party perspective, contributing to the transparency and accountability so necessary in development work. Braden previously traveled to Haiti with NGO Roots of Development, depicting the strength and dignity of the Haitian people as they rebuild their devastated nation. Conditions in post-civil war Liberia are in many ways analogous to those of Haiti, so exposure to the story of water in Liberia will add a global dimension to Braden’s artistic depiction of the issue of access to clean water.  An Indiegogo campaign has been created to help defray Braden’s expenses for the trip–connect to the campaign here and share to expand its reach! Contributors receive art photography collectible prints, photobooks, and more rewards.

Voss Foundation has had great success bringing photographers to our projects in the past, so we are equally excited about our collaboration with Braden! Renowned photographer Stuart Franklin created a beautiful gallery of images after visiting our projects in Mali. Professional photographer Danielle St. Laurent traveled to Latakwen, Kenya to photograph the opening of Voss Foundation’s first water project, and Rachel K.B. Troye contributed images from a Women Helping Women donor trip to Swari, Kenya as well. We are grateful that such artists are willing to share their vision to help document Voss Foundation’s work in Sub-Saharan Africa!

Learn more about Braden’s goal on his Indiegogo page, Braden in Liberia, and get involved! 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Voss Foundation invites you to a cocktail reception, hosted by renowned trainer Frank Madden in the VIP tent at Old Salem Farm Spring Horse Show, on Thursday May 17 from 4-6pm — immediately following the day’s competitive events.  Stop by to enjoy our exclusive silent auction and African Bazaar, along with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.

View photos from last year’s event here.  Voss Foundation thanks Old Salem Farm for featuring us for the second year at their Spring Horse Show!

We are thrilled that our art auction with Sotheby’s, held on May 22, 2011 at the Kistefos Museum outside Oslo, Norway raised $750,000 (NOK 4.2 million/£ 467,000) to improve the lives of people in Africa with access to clean water! In February 2012, representatives from Voss Foundation and donors from the art auction visited Urra, site of the first project to be funded by Just Around the Corner. See photos of the project and learn more about the trip here!

The Just Around the Corner Art Auction shattered an outrageous number of records. It was the most successful charity art auction ever to be held in Norway, and marked Sotheby’s first in the country. Kistefos Museum witnessed unprecedented crowds with over 2,200 attendees. Among the international artists who achieved record prices were Tony Cragg (NOK 850,000), Marc Quinn (NOK 360,000), Darren Almond (NOK 150,000), Olav Christopher Jenssen (NOK 290,000), Kjell Erik Killi Olsen (NOK 160,000), Mikkel McAlinden (NOK 130,000), Bjarne Melgaard (NOK 170,000) and Candida Höfer (NOK 350,000).

Sotheby’s Vice Chairman, Lord Poltimore auctioned the 52 lots donated by artists, galleries, and collectors from around the world. Proceeds will go towards water projects in Kenya and supporting the charitable activities of the Voss Foundation and Milgis Trust.

The community of Urra, where the first Just Around the Corner Art Auction project was implemented, is located in the Samburu region of Northern Kenya, west of the Ndoto Mountains.  The well currently serves approximately 500 people, and the community additionally plays host to hundreds of nomads, especially during the dry season, when they travel up to 20 kilometers to reach this spot.  As Helen Douglas-Dufresne, founder of Milgis Trust, remarked:

“Orra [sic.] is the safest gateway to the north of the [Ndoto mountains], and there will be many travellers [sic.] enjoying the fresh drinking water here…”

Students benefit from clean, convenient, centrally accessed water at the Urra School, which has two classrooms and a kitchen.  And the wildlife that Milgis Trust works so hard to preserve also enjoy water–elephants come to wallow in mud near the water basin built for them.

“This triumph is a result of global collaboration between artists, collectors and galleries  lasting over a year, exceeding all of our expectations. By combining our efforts, we found that we could achieve what was believed to be unattainable. We learned that no challenge – not even the water crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa– is insurmountable,” said Knut Brundtland, Founder and President of Voss Foundation. Christen Sveaas, Founder, Board member, and sponsor of Kistefos Museum, congratulated the Voss Foundation on an outstanding accomplishment to provide much-needed aid to the people of Africa.

To see photos of the event, please visit our Facebook page.  You can also view photos of the first project completed with the funds raised.  For more information, please contact info@thevossfoundation.org.

Well built at Urra with partners Milgis Trust

In February 2012, representatives from Voss Foundation and donors from last year’s Just Around the Corner Art Auction in Norway visited our latest project site to view progress and gather updated information.  Urra is located in the Samburu region of Northern Kenya, west of the Ndoto Mountains and north of our previous three projects, all completed in partnership with Milgis Trust. View photos from the trip here!

The well currently serves approximately 500 people, and the community additionally plays host to hundreds of nomads, especially during the dry season, when they travel up to 20 kilometers to reach this spot.  As Helen Douglas-Dufresne, founder of Milgis Trust, remarked:

“Orra [sic.] is the safest gateway to the north of the [Ndoto mountains], and there will be many travellers [sic.] enjoying the fresh drinking water here…”

Students benefit from clean, convenient, centrally accessed water at the Urra School, which has two classrooms and a kitchen.  And the wildlife that Milgis Trust works so hard to preserve also enjoy water–elephants come to wallow in mud near the water basin built for them.

The community at Urra is appreciative of all that has been accomplished so far.  Local women, especially, on whom the burden of water collection mainly falls, were enthusiastic participants in collaboration with Voss Foundation and Milgis Trust.  The picture below shows an elderly woman giving some remarks about the importance of water.

“In June 2010, we passed through Orra [sic.] on a safari, and the women came to our camp, and had a meeting with us… Their most important concern was water, and asked us if we can help… Since this day they have been [asking] us to help them in any possible way to improve the water situation… We have had several meetings in the area to discuss the situation…” – Helen Douglas-Dufresne, Founder, Milgis Trust

N.B. You may have noticed when we announced this project, we spelled it differently. In initial conversations about the project, Milgis Trust had spelled the community as “Orra.” However, they have recently informed us that the more proper transliteration from Samburu would be “Urra,” so we will spell it as such henceforth.

Visit our gallery to see more photos from the trip!

Hats off to the students of The Lab School–we are honored by your donation and hope that your success will inspire other students to action as well!

If you are a student, teacher, or school administrator interested in exploring potential service learning projects, please contact us to learn more.  We also invite you to explore our website or visit us on Facebook to see photos of the water projects we are able to complete with your help.  Thank you, from your friends at Voss Foundation!

The idea of water security may seem abstract and remote, yet it is a real and serious global problem that affects more than 40 percent of the world population. Today, 1.6 billion people live in areas with absolute water scarcity (including Sub-Saharan Africa), and by 2025 as much as two-thirds of the world population could be facing water stressed conditions (UN WWD FAQs).  As the UN proclaims, the world is thirsty because it is hungry.

Drought is the number one cause of food shortages in developing countries, and has caused more deaths in the past 100 years than any other natural disaster, primarily in Africa and Asia.  Since water is used in food production as well as for drinking, poor water management can lead to famine.  We need to drink an average of 2.5 liters of water a day, but the amount of water needed to produce food for one person for one day ranges from 2,000 to 5,000 liters! (UN WWD FAQs)  So when a community does not have reliable access to water, their food situation is insecure as well.  View this animation from our friends at UN Water to better understand the links between water and food.

Through the Voss Foundation’s water projects, communities in Sub-Saharan Africa are able to establish and maintain water security, which leads to food security through improved irrigation and agriculture.  They are able to take ownership of their own future, for the ripple effect of water leads to better nutrition, increased incomes, and more time spent in school.  The Voss Foundation and partners on the ground evaluate each potential project to meet the water requirements of a community and ensure long-term sustainability by taking advantage of the most appropriate and efficient technology available.

Water is not the only resource that should be better managed for the best results.  Women, also, are a resource!  In developing countries, they provide the majority of agricultural labor, yet they often have unequal access to services and other inputs, such as water or fertilizer.  If women had equal access, they could increase yields by 20-30 percent, lifting 150 million people out of hunger (UN WWD Brochure).  The Voss Foundation is doing its part by increasing women’s access to water:  one of the wells we built in Pel, Mali, irrigates a garden owned by a local women’s cooperative, helping them grow healthy produce and effectively double their income.  And the first well we built in the Democratic Republic of the Congo provides water to the Georges Malaika School for Girls—as well as to the garden where healthful food is grown for the girls to eat!  Also, on each one of our projects, we make sure 50 percent of the water management committee membership is female, thereby increasing women’s political power as well as economic impact.

Please join the Voss Foundation and VOSS Water in celebration of World Water Day by helping us raise awareness to increase access to water through our community projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.  See how you can help communities create an engine for growth with VOSS Water’s 31 Days to Make a Difference campaign:  every action makes a difference, from a “Like” on Facebook to a RT on Twitter, to a gift of water or a trip to our African Bazaar!  We thank you for your continued support, and wish you a Happy World Water Day, from your friends at the Voss Foundation!