Cool fridges

Nick Kempson, a 2007 Volunteer & Founder Member of the Mercy Home Foundation just FaceBooked me with this fabulous invention.



Mohammed Bah Abba actually invented the fridges in 1995 but they're so simple its definitely worth spreading the news as far as possible.



"You take a smaller pot and put it inside a larger pot. Fill the space
in between them with wet sand, and cover the top with a wet cloth. When
the water evaporates, it pulls the heat out with it, making the inside
cold. It's a natural, cheap, easy-to-make refrigerator."

Thanks to Chris Gupta for passing it on.

Message from Sharon

Thank you ALL for coming together to help. The goodwill that came from all of you was incredible and the fact that people can come together to help means a lot.



Sometimes you realise that what you need to do to make a difference is something that's actually doable and minimal on your side and yet it makes a big difference to the person you are helping out. Sometimes you need to make a bigger personal sacifice but when you think of the difference its going to make yet again you realise that the sacrifice is worth it.

Lets All keep up the goodwill and see how and when we can help out.
Thank you ALL for helping a needy child.
God Bless you ALL!

Sharon Argwings Kodkek
Managing Trustee, AVIF (Nairobi)


Technorati Tags: help, assistance. kenya, volunteer, AVIF

Kayole-Soweto near Nairobi

I'd like to introduce Bramuel & another project we're involved with, in the Embakasi slum areas around Nairobi.

Our partners NABUUR are running an online volunteering "Virtual Village" for the community, helping to assist them in various areas, especially their community hospital.



ARROW KENYA was established as a Non-Profit making Organization whose
main priority is to help the community in tackle major health
problems in their lives by offering curative and preventive health
services at Arrow-Web Hospital.

There are many more photos if you click on the one above.

Medical volunteers willing to offer assistance ON-SITE, in the community would be gratefully & securely received. Contact AVIF for further details. Online volunteers are also welcome, simply Join the Village and help from your home or office computer.


Technorati Tags: online volunteer, kenya, NABUUR, AVIF, health, medical

Getting results

I received a text from Edward a few days ago. Flora in grade 9 had an accident and broke her shoulder. The transport costs to get her into surgery & the treatment costs themselves were outside the reach of the orphanages current funding. Flora lives at the JNMCC orphanage which plays as main host to AVIF volunteers at the moment. Luckily the Director is a local man and persuaded the hospital that he'd find the funds somehow if they could just treat her now.

Within a minute of receiving the text from Edward I'd rounded up a few of the MHF crew with Facebook's group messaging facility. Funds were sent by Moneygram instantly by Zoe and arrangements to reimburse her made.
Simple as that, job done.

Flora is recovering well, but I guess the sunshine helps ! (speaking from a snowy North Yorkshire when its meant to be Summertime??)

Sponsored children in Njigari Primary

Photos of the children, Grace & Peninah, and other parents at Njigari Primary School have just been sent to me. The schools are closed now and the children are on holiday for one month but Wangechi has been busy putting up 3 temporary classrooms but they need more funding to put up pit latrines .. if anyone wishes to donate please contact Danielle Hoffman on daniele.hoffmann@bluewin.ch















Facts about Njigari :

Majority of the dwellers of Njigari derive a living through picking tea leaves from a few small scale farms found here. They earn less than 1 dollar a day on average.

Standing near the edge of Aberdare Forest Njigari is a 2-hour drive South West of Nairobi, on an elevation (altitude) of 8,500 ft above sea level and overlooking the beautiful Mt. Kenya.

Currently there are 306 pupils, 147 girls and 159 boys.

Donation for AVIF when you shop at Waterstones

INCREASED DONATION  Waterstones will make a donation to AVIF when you buy books via our webshop.

Fantastic offers and increased commission at Waterstones. For a limited period only shop at Waterstones and AVIF will receive 6% of what you spend. This offer ends on March 29th so please take advantage of this great deal now so that AVIF will receive an even bigger donation! There’s also FREE UK delivery on everything!

Pass this on to a friend and every purchase they make will raise funds for us.

Visit www.buy.at/AVIF for more great offers from over 100 top retailers.

Forward this mail on to help AVIF raise funds. Please forward this mail on if you think that you know people who would like to receive it. Responsible emailing Remember if someone receives this mail from you, then tells you they don't want to receive a similar one again you must not send them future messages. If you are considering forwarding it on you must do so only to people who you consider would like to receive it and to whom the content is relevant. If you have a formally-managed list you must only send it to those who have expressed that they wish to receive such mail from you. Purchases made through www.buy.at/AVIF All purchases are made according to the information and terms provided by the company making the sale to you. Further details on using the buy.at shop are provided on the site.

Testing Zemanta

Source: Wikipedia






Thanks to a plug from TechCrunch we just installed the Zemanta Firefox extension which has the ability to look intelligently at blog content as you write it and decide what to do with it; add the most likely links to the text, builds links to related stories, all of which you can then edit.



The demo looks great but they're still in alpha so lets see if this blog gets Zemified just as well. Try it yourself, if you're on Blogger, WordPress or TypePad.

Surprise donations

This morning I woke up to mail, nothing new there, we still receive the odd piece of paper through our mailbox but when I opened this particular letter I just wasn't ready for its contents.

.. are a locally run company who manufacture components for farming equipment. R S Hall Ltd, B Smith Ltd and my wonderful Sambuca-buddy & Director, Sophie Hall, have all generously donated a very large amount to go towards the sustainable development work AVIF will carry out this Summer, as well as promoting the new community interest company, KO2 (Biking).

We all want to express our gratitude, the volunteers and our contacts all over Kenya.

ASANTE SANA to you and yes, the money will most definitely "do some good", Sophie!






Technorati Tags: donate, AVIF, kenya, RS Hall Engineering

Easter or Christmas?

This blog is mainly for the kids in Kenya, and all our friends and contacts there.
This Easter morning North Yorkshire woke up to this ..



The photos are necessary because, unlike our Canadian friends, this snowfall will only last until lunchtime. The sun is already shining and my son's snowman might not be around by late afternoon.

AVIF wishes a peaceful Easter holiday for all.






Technorati Tags: Easter, peace, Kenya, AVIF

The Carewell Trust

AVIF have just been contacted by the Carewell Society's founder member & Executive Director, Kennedy M. Okong'o.



Ken is a lawyer and a former athlete who has been coordinating fundraising & awareness raising events such as marathons for the last 4 years in Kenya.



Photos of the marathon are here but before I give you a link I want to warn you of the graphic nature of the websites photo gallery. The marathon photos are very informative but there are extremely upsetting images in the 3rd gallery of the recent violence.

Sat here in the UK it is easy for even myself to forget about what has gone on in Kenya since December 27th 2007. The hype and the news coverage has diminished, simply because human nature demands we celebrate the signing of the coalition government and the beginning of a return to peace. What this unfortunately does, however, and simultaneously, is to block out the realities that still exist now. I believe the Carewell Trust has included these images simply because they have to deal with this on a regular basis whereas a lot of us are extremely lucky not to have to. They don't mean to upset anyone, just to educate us.

As the Carewell website tells "there are still 250,000 internally displaced people, including children, located in 300 sites in Western, Nyanza, Rift Valley and Nairobi Provinces of Kenya, alone. These people are in dire need of human, health and security services." Carewell are able to help with many things including trauma counselling. We hope to help too.

I wrote above that the images are extremely upsetting. In perspective I feel a bit ridiculous thinking of what the people looking through the bars into the church would write, or what the child on the bed would sob.


Technorati Tags: violence, kenya, carewell society, AVIF

Cheers Google

Google has launched its Non-Profits portal “a one-stop shop for tools to help advance your organization’s mission in a smart, cost-efficient way.” Thanks TechCrunch for the info.
I'm still waiting for a response as to how a non-US org can qualify for a Google Grant of Ad Words advertising but we've already submitted an application.
Their Google Gadget is very similar to Sprout's but I guess with a lot more clout behind it.




Technorati Tags: Google, non-profit, AVIF, kenya

Puzzling over what to give this Easter?

Rather than sending the usual chocolate egg to a loved one this Easter, why not give a Practical Present of Fluffy Ducks? For just £10, not only could they provide some of the poorest people in the world with nutritious eggs to eat, the ducks can be bred and sold to generate extra money for clothing, schooling or medicines. Isn't that a more appetising Easter gift? For our full range of ingenious ideas that help transform the lives of poor people overseas, visit www.practicalpresents.org Click here to send this message to a friend.

Practical Action is the working name of Intermediate Technology Development Group. Reg. Charity No. 247257. VAT no. 880 9924 76. If you do not wish to receive future email offers from Practical Presents at Practical Action click here or send an email to info@practicalpresents.org.uk