Women Helping Women: USA

Following its 2009 launch in Norway, Voss Foundation’s Women Helping Women campaign held its first U.S. event in 2010. Since then, WHW USA has supported two clean water projects in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with plans to expand into Liberia this year.

Supporters are provided with the opportunity to view detailed project descriptions and reports, budgets and timelines, giving them an intimate relationship with the work they are funding. Please refer to the sidebar on this page to view all of our WHW project reports. Women Helping Women participants also keep track of their projects and WHW news through the Voss Foundation’s website, Facebook page, or Twitter updates. These sources are regularly updated with project reports, so that donors can stay connected to the African women and girls whom they have helped as well as kept abreast of the activities of other women internationally who are collaborating in the effort.

To see all Women Helping Women news updates, click here.
To learn more about our Women Helping Women program in Europe, click here.
To learn more about the Women Helping Women campaign in general, click here.

WHW USA Events

2011

WHW NY Luncheon
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.

To see more photos from the 2011 New York luncheon, click here.

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

WHW Boston
On June 9, we held our first Women Helping Women Boston event at Woodward at Ames. Dozens of men and women attended the reception, which included a silent auction of Stuart Franklin’s Mali photos and a raffle with prizes from La Perla, Moet-Hennessy, Greenvale Vineyards and the Red Sox. The event also featured this year’s Women Helping Women honoree, Saran Kaba Jones, founder of FACE Africa. Proceeds will help fund Voss Foundation’s 2011 Women Helping Women water project in Liberia.

To see more photos from the Boston reception, click here.

2010

WHW NY Luncheon
On November 3rd, over 100 women gathered for an intimate lunch at New York’s 3 West Club to support the Voss Foundation’s WHW campaign. This fundraiser, in conjunction with Voss Foundation’s European WHW campaign, funded a water system for the village of Ndonyo Nasipa in Kenya, and a well at the Georges Malaika School for Girls in Kalebuka, Democratic Republic of the Congo. At the luncheon, the Voss Foundation honored Noella Coursaris Musunka, international fashion model and founder of the Georges Malaika Foundation, for her devotion to the concept of Women Helping Women.

See more photos from our 2010 NY luncheon here.

WHW USA Projects

Hope Mission School, Paynesville, Liberia

For the latest project, the Voss Foundation is partnering with FACE Africa to bring clean water and sanitation systems to the Hope Mission School and the surrounding Bernard Farm Community of

Paynesville, Liberia. Through the installation of two institutional latrines, two handwashing stations and one hand-dug well, this community will have access to potable water, and the students of the school will reap the benefits of proper sanitation facilities.

Click here to read a detailed description of our latest project.

For the latest project, the Voss Foundation is partnering with FACE Africa to bring clean water and sanitation systems to the Hope Mission School and the surrounding Bernard Farm Community of

Click here to read a detailed description of our latest project.

Kalebuka, Democratic Republic of the Congo

In 2010, the Voss Foundation built a well at the Georges Malaika School for Girls in the village of Kalebuka, located in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The GMF School for Girls, the first all-girls school in the region, is set to open this fall with an initial capacity of 104 students. Thanks to the VF well, there is no need for the students to travel to collect clean water, allowing them more time for education and increasing their safety.

Read the full report to learn more about the WHW project at the Georges Malaika School for Girls!

You can learn more from our project updates and photos from Kalebuka!

Ndonyo Nasipa, Kenya

Voss Foundation again partnered with Milgis Trust to provide clean water to a the village of Ndonyo Nasipa in Samburuland, Kenya. The project involved well excavation and reinforcement, as well as installation of a solar-powered pump, a piping system, storage tanks, and water points.

The entire Ndonyo Nasipa community now has access to a clean water system. The new water access points have reduced the distance to the nearest water source from as many as 4 kilometers to less than 1 kilometer, and the time spent collecting water has been reduced to less than 15 minutes.

In January 2011, the Voss Foundation and some of our Women Helping Women Europe donors traveled to Ndonyo Nasipa to attend the village’s opening ceremony for the water system and meet the women whose lives we changed with access to clean water.

Please read the project description and the final report to learn more about the impact of our water project in Ndonyo Nasipa.

You can learn more from our project updates and photos of the implementation and our visit to attend the opening ceremony in Ndonyo Nasipa!