The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan office in Canada has been saving the bottles and cans in their office and bringing them to a recycle depot each month. The proceeds from the sales of the bottles have thus far generated over $200 for the Trust.

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Many thanks to Linda Harrison, the receptionist in the Abbotsford office for so far raising $210.00 in pennies that have been collected from the office members! This will be an ongoing fundraising initiative for that office.

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Many thanks to all the staff in the Melbourne office who participated in a recent Arts and Crafts Exhibition in support of the Trust. Staff were encouraged to provide their crafts to be available for purchase by fellow employees! A total of $371 was raised for the Trust.

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Many thanks to members of the Perth office for hosting a Mad Hat Morning Tea Party for the Trust! Staff members were invited to wear elaborately designed and engineered hats that were judged by a carefully selected committee and $300 in donations were gathered from the participants.

Aditya Jha was awarded the prize for the “Worst Hat” (his unanimously named “Pot Hat”) and Steve Fenton was awarded first prize for his creative and colourful hat. Special mention also went to the “Dish Hat” elegantly worn by Perry Dowd.

Mad Hat Tea Party participants in Melbourne office!

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Many thanks to Jeremy Brown and the employees of the Tampa office who participated in the “GTO 2008 Olympics Fundraiser” organized by the Tampa office.

Staff were invited to make a $5 contribution to participate and guess how many Gold medals the USA would win during the Olympics in Beijing. The tie-breaking question was “Which country will win the most medals and how many will they win?”

Thank you to the following winners, who graciously donated their winnings ($95) to the Trust:

• 1st place David Witte
• 2nd place Lisa Robinton
• 3rd place Joe Krivanek / Karen Raihill

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As reported in the Trust September 2008 newsletter, the Trust recently started supporting the efforts of Carlos Vilanculos, a very caring man who is running a mission station from his family’s farm in Mozambique.

The first case of HIV/AIDS was diagnosed in 1986 in Mozambique. This was followed by a steady increase in the prevalence rate up to an estimated 16.2% among the population aged 15 to 49 years in 2004. In July 2004 the Government declared HIV/AIDS a national emergency.

The first case of HIV/AIDS was diagnosed in 1986 in Mozambique. This was followed by a steady increase in the prevalence rate up to an estimated 16.2% among the population aged 15 to 49 years in 2004. In July 2004 the Government declared HIV/AIDS a national emergency.

The chicken house built with funding from the Golder Trust for Orphans

The epidemic has reduced life expectancy from 41 years in 1999 to 38.1 years in 2004. On average, 500 new infections occur every day, 90 of them among young children through motherto-child transmission. Approximately 1.6million Mozambicans are living with HIV or AIDS, and more than 90,000 of them are children under the 15 years of age.

Among adults, it is estimated that AIDS now accounts for almost 25% of all deaths recorded. This has led to an orphan crisis of alarming dimensions. Out of almost 1.6 million orphaned children in Mozambique, around 325,000 have lost their mother, father or both parents due to AIDS. Their numbers will increase to almost 650,000 by 2010.

Carlos started his Mission Station in 2002 on 8 hectares of land in the Massinga district of Mozambique. The property is situated 20 kilometers between the small towns of Nhachenque and Mavanza. With help from the Golder Trust for Orphans, he has made amazing progress in the past few months. His feeding program initiative escalated from feeding the original 45 orphans to more than 175 orphans in need of help. The vegetables he has been able to grow as a result of the irrigation system he installed are generating enough income for him to feed all of those children.

Chickens purchased with help from the Golder Trust for Orphans

The Trust’s contribution also helped Carlos complete the building of a chicken house as well as purchase the supplies necessary to take care of 400 meat chickens (feed, food buckets, water buckets, lights, a heater).

In the first week after purchasing the chickens, some of the chickens died. Electricity for the lights at night was produced from a generator that Carlos had. It was soon realized that the generator was heavy on fuel, using 5 litres per night. The nearest filling station where petrol can be bought is 120 kilometres away. Carlos bought paraffin lamps instead of electric ones but the heat was not sufficient. He then borrowed a solar panel to load two 12 V batteries to solve the problem at night but discovered that one solar panel was not sufficient to create heat all night.

Next steps for Carlos?

He’ll explore building another chicken house where he can store his chicken feed and equipment.

He’ll be looking for alternative methods for electricity supply – likely solar given how isolated he is from an infrastructure of any sort. He’ll also need to consider how he’s going to freeze the chickens once he slaughters them to ensure they can be stored before they are sold.

He’ll be looking for a way to ensure a more consistent supply of water (a bore hole) and will need to build a storage tank in which to store his water.

With the help of the Trust for Orphans, Carlos is providing food to children in his community who would otherwise not be eating.

Garden at Carlos’ mission / Children being supported by Carlos

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Here’s the latest news update from Lewa Children’s Home!

For more information about this Trust sponsored project, visit their web site at www.lewachildrenshome.info!

Since our January newsletter, the home has admitted eight more children, fostered one and re-located eight with their relatives. Out of those admitted, three were babies who were abandoned at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, two were orphans and three came from Munyaka slums in Eldoret. The case of the three sisters from Munyaka slums was a bit touching as their mother is HIV+ and had been their sole caretaker. The eldest was always left to care for the other siblings and therefore faced difficult challenges, such as taking adult responsibilities as the head of the household. It was hard to imagine how these three young girls were meeting their daily basic needs, as their mother was away most of the time. After admission to the home, the three are now much happier and healthier. All they need is care and some loving intervention to help them cope with the trauma.

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Thanks to a $70,000 contribution to Bulembu Ministries in late 2007, the Bulembu Honey Project is underway and the first batch of honey was produced in May 2008!

Thanks to the contribution made by the Trust, beehives were built, a production facility was designed and completed, honey was collected from the hives and has been bottled for sale in shops in Swaziland.

For more information about Bulembu, which is one of the NGO’s being supported by the Trust, visit www.bulembu.org.

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A group of Golder staff from the London, UK office completed the Keswick to Barrow 40 mile (64 km) walk in the English Lake District on 10^th May 2008. The walk was started over 40 years ago as a challenge between English and American workers and a reported statement by a US president that ‘all Americans should be able to walk 50 miles’ (the walk has been straightened and shortened over time!). Further details are at http://www.keswick2barrow.co.uk/thewalk.asp

 Golder staff raised sponsorship internally and externally for the Golder Trust for Orphans, and are expecting to collect approximately £1000!  Monies will be forwarded to the Trust and used to help fund the various projects the Trust is currently supporting.

Question about the Golder Trust for Orphans? Send an email to GolderTrustforOrphans@golder.com or write your question on our blog!

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Since February 2008, Nancy Dessenberger, previously an Associate in the Denver office, became a part-time employee in order to spend more time living and sailing on “Lion’s Paw”. In addition to the pure joy of sailing, “Lion’s Paw” has a mission, which is to act as an emissary for the Golder Trust for Orphans. “Lion’s Paw” occasionally sails with volunteer crew who are interested in supporting the Golder Trust for Orphans; sharing costs and donating residual funds from the trip to the Trust. In late May, friends Anita and Ray joined “Lion’s Paw” sailing in Chesapeake Bay. The trip resulted in a donation of US$200 to the Trust, along with 3 great days of Bay sailing!

Check out the Lion’s Paw blog at www.sailblogs.com/member/lionspaw/ !

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