The first project funded by the Just Around the Corner Art Auction was meant to be at a remote site called Nyiroyia. However, tribal unrest in the area at the end of 2011 forced Milgis Trust and the Voss Foundation to reevaluate the security and effectiveness of building a water system at that place and time. Ultimately, in early January, it was determined that the conditions were such that Milgis Trust was unable to work there. Fortunately, Milgis Trust had not gone too far at Nyiroyia and was able to cease work without great loss. It was agreed that Nyiroyia would be revisited once the tribal dispute had been settled; in the meantime, it would be prudent to begin work in the next community that had been selected for a water project.

The partners decided upon Orra, a site west of the Ndoto Mountains, which Voss Foundation’s President and European Representative had visited in August 2011. Orra has a large community which is just as desperate for water. See below an image of the old well at Orra.

Our 2011 Women Helping Women water project in Liberia is complete! Thanks to all of your efforts, we have been able to work with FACE Africa to build a life-altering water system at the Hope Mission School in the Bernard Farm Community of Paynesville, Liberia. The water system is comprised of a hand-dug well with a manual pump, a six-compartment latrine and hand-washing station with storage room. Additionally, the project provides for the formation of a Health Club at the school, a WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) Service Management Committee in the community, and the training of three pump mechanics. The project was dedicated to the community and inaugurated on December 12, 2011.

Saran Kaba Jones, our 2011 Women Helping Women honoree and founder of FACE Africa says,

”FACE Africa is extremely grateful for the generosity of those donors who funded the Hope Mission School project through the Voss Foundation. Collaborating with the Voss Foundation on this water system has increased our capacity to serve even more children and we hope that this is just the beginning of a fruitful partnership. I am heartened to think how many lives we have changed with this single well already. On behalf of the men, women and children whose futures will be changed by the generosity of the Voss Foundation and all who contributed to the 2011 Women Helping Women campaign, which made this most vital project a reality, FACE Africa and I thank you!”

Thank you to all our Women Helping Women donors who made this project possible!

Read the final report to learn more about how we achieved such success!

Click the image to read the final project report.

It’s hard to believe 2011 is already coming to a close! We have accomplished so much this year, constructing 15 new water access points in 4 countries: Kenya, Ethiopia, the D.R. Congo, and a new nation, Liberia! Once more, our wells and water systems have brought access to clean water to communities, schools, and health centers. Again, Voss Foundation’s program activities saved children’s lives, sent girls to school, helped women earn income and gain parity, and fueled community development throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. We attended opening ceremonies across the African continent, bringing our donors to see the very work they have helped to fund. You can learn more about our water projects and how they bring a brighter future to all they touch in our 2011 video, An Engine for Growth.

Turning on the tap in Kenya - January 2011

We continued to raise consciousness of the water crisis itself, bringing together thousands of donors and supporters through a variety of events. I am still amazed by the success of the Just Around the Corner Art Auction we held this May outside of Oslo with Sotheby’s, Kistefos Museum,and Blomqvist Kunsthandel – we surpassed our fundraising goal by a factor of seven! With the help of collectors, galleries, and artists we gathered and sold first-class art from international participants, all in the name of our work changing lives in Africa with access to clean water. The auction broke an astonishing number of records and I am eternally grateful to my Oslo staff and the untold other selfless philanthropists who made it all a possibility. I hope you will take a look at the catalog if you hadn’t already – there are not words to describe how proud I am of everyone’s efforts.

Our Women Helping Women campaign maintained its trajectory of growth in its third year as we added a Boston group. We celebrated success again in New York and, through our new African Bazaar, brought our supporters even closer to our work. Items from the bazaar are still online and I invite you to shop there today, before the goods sell out! Additional events with our friends at VOSS, and organizations like the Emirates Dubai Golf Invitational and Old Salem Farms Spring Horse Show further increased our ability to meet our mission’s goals.

We maintained our Give A Drop partnership with Jewel‘s Project Clean Water and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Unite, allowing us to reach many more people than we could otherwise. Jewel had some very kind words to say about us recently, and Sir Richard was kind enough to endorse our May art auction himself. Virgin and Jewel were some of our earliest supporters at the time Voss Foundation was founded and it’s an alliance of which we are exceedingly proud.

We couldn’t do our work without the people who devote their time and energy behind the scenes, like our pro-bono social media consultants STC Associates; our pro-bono counsel at Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman; VOSS’ marketing agency Addiction; McGladrey & Pullen; the video genius of Castle Court Images; and our tireless Board and event committee members.

And, of course, we continue to owe so much to our friends and founders at VOSS water. From public endeavors like their 31 Days to Make a Difference campaign, to their individual employees’ personal time and energy, to our donated office space in New York and Oslo, VOSS continues to enable the Voss Foundation’s vital work as part of their own sense of corporate social responsibility.

Making friends in D.R. Congo - August 2011

In sum, 2011 was an outstanding success and we have all of you to thank for it. Just as we talk about the ripple effect of clean water,  every single one of you and your actions, whether a donation, Facebook “Like” or Twitter RT, helped make this a reality. It really does start with a drop!

You’ll see here I’ve shared with you some of my own photos from visiting our projects in Kenya and the D.R. Congo this year — I do hope you will consider joining us on some site visits in 2012. We’ve got plans for donor trips to Kenya and Liberia, and are eager to share our great work with you!

In the meantime, I send all of you best wishes from the Voss Foundation for a happy and healthy new year. Clean water is a gift and we thank you for your support.

Warmly,

Kara Gerson, Executive Director

Show you care this holiday season by sending friends, family, and colleagues a Voss Foundation holiday card! Make a donation in someone’s name to simplify your holiday shopping and and help build wells this holiday season, making 2012 a better year for thousands of people in Sub-Saharan Africa by supporting the Voss Foundation. These beautiful cards can be customized with your own text for any donation amount (minimum of $10 donation per card). Email info@thevossfoundation.org for more information.

All orders and payment must be received by 12PM EST on December 15th.

View of Nyiroyia from above

Now that the glorious rains have ended (more about that later), work is finally able to get started in Nyiroyia, the site of our newest water project in Kenya with our partners Milgis Trust. Nyiroyia is located in the Marsabit district, an extremely arid area east of the Ndoto Mountains, near the Samburu region of Northern Kenya where we have been working since 2008.

The star marks Nyiroyia, in this map from our partners Milgis Trust

The closest water source in the area is 20-30 kilometers away through the desert, at the foothills of the Ndoto Mountains. With the changes in the environment, even the mountains are struggling to provide enough water for all the people and all the wildlife.

The project is unique from our previous Kenya water projects because the area is purely nomadic. There is no permanent settlement here and no defined community apart from the passing relationships of the migratory culture. The people here are pastoralists and rely on their transient lifestyle in order to keep their livestock healthy and their family provided for.

In a method similar to our other projects in Kenya, however, we will again hand-dig a well fitted with a solar pump, serving several water tanks and access points.

Nyiroyia is the first water project funded by our Just Around the Corner Art Auction this May in Norway. So far, the project is on schedule so it should be completed in time to bring some of our donors to attend the opening ceremony in Spring 2012.

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In other news, we hear from Milgis Trust that, following an historic drought, the much-anticipated rains have turned the Samburu region green!  See below what the same spot looked like before and after the rains! Beautiful!

Over 125 women came together for our second annual Women Helping Women New York Luncheon on November 2nd  at the 3 West Club at Rockefeller Center. Emmy-Award winning journalist and Executive Editor of Africa.com, Jacqueline Adams, served as Master of Ceremonies; while our 2010 WHW honoree Noella Coursaris could not attend, a representative from her Georges Malaika Foundation presented Saran Kaba Jones with our 2011 award. Replacing the traditional silent auction, attendees shopped our first African Bazaar, filling their Voss Foundation tote bags with beautiful crafts, jewelry, scarves, home goods, and books. The event supported Voss Foundation’s 2011 Women Helping Women water project with our honoree at the Hope Mission School in Paynesville, Liberia.

Check out the great pictures from our Women Helping Women New York luncheon on November 2nd! You can see more of the images in the photo gallery here, or on our Facebook album, where you can tag yourself and your friends!

Many thanks to Patrick McMullan and Susan Bokos for the fantastic photography!

To purchase items from the African Bazaar online, click here.

Still thinking about that colorful kikoy from Kenya? Or the beautiful handmade leather and bone necklaces from Mali? How about the gorgeous malachite dishes from the DR Congo? You can still get them! Visit our online African Bazaar to purchase the gifts you missed out on at the Women Helping Women New York Luncheon!

The bazaar was such a wild success that we decided to list some more items online, so that you can finish your holiday shopping and show you care with beautiful hand-crafted pieces directly from the regions in Africa where the Voss Foundation is changing lives with access to clean water.

If the item you wish to purchase does not appear on the website, it is because it is currently out of stock;  please contact us at info@thevossfoundation.org to  inquire about special orders.

Visit our online African Bazaar today!

Music to the Voss Foundation’s ears! In a recent meeting, Women Helping Women New York members met at the offices of STC Associates, our pro-bono PR and social media angels who so kindly lent us their space, for a private screening of Pray the Devil Back to Hell.  This documentary by WHW supporter Abigail Disney tells the story of Leymah Gbowee and how she rallied hundreds of brave and strong Liberian women to expel a dictator and end the civil wars that plagued their country for over a decade.  The film was the original inspiration for the Women Helping Women campaign and the screening was in preparation for our upcoming Women Helping Women New York luncheon, funding a water project at the Hope Mission School in Liberia.

At the start of the meeting, each committee member spoke about her relationship to and experience with the Voss Foundation’s Women Helping Women campaign.

Women Helping Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

So…why have some of our donors joined our Women Helping Women?

• My husband is involved in coffee and we’ve been to Ethiopia.  At first you see the malaria issues, but it’s all connected to water and women.  I just had a daughter last year so my life is very women centric right now; this is just another way for me to give back

• This is really something awesome that Voss does.  I’ve worked for a lot of different beverage companies but none that really give back, so I am so glad to be part of both Voss and the Foundation

• I am from the Congo and moved here when I was 5, so this is close to my heart. I am honored to be part of this in any kind of way.  I am always doing things on the personal level.  Its really wonderful to think there is something I can do to help a larger group

• I became involved through the [New York] Junior League.  The reason why I wanted to become more involved is because I think it is amazing for 150 women to come to a luncheon and be able to see the impact a few months later.

• It was a nice deviation from my normal daily routine.  I haven’t been involved in this type of event for a good cause.  I am happy to contribute my time: its amazing to see these results, it has a different meaning when you see the value of the time spent

Visit our DRC Projects page for photos, updates, and more information about our work there!

Photo Courtesy of FACE Africa

We are pleased to report much progress has already been made at our newest well site at the Hope Mission School in Paynesville, Liberia.  Representatives from FACE Africa recently visited the site and witnessed the tremendous work going in to digging the well at the site of the school.  Click here to check out the photos from this recent visit!

Thanks to the great fundraising efforts of our 2011 Women Helping Women campaign, Voss Foundation has raised enough money early on to begin funding ahead of the upcoming New York luncheon.