Thanks Mary-I've been away so I haven't had much of an opportunity to update on things. Bramuel and I have been communicating and I spoke yesterday with Calvin. A lot has been happening via email, so as soon as I get the chance, hopefully tonight I'll get an update posted.

I appreciate you posting this for everyone.

Jennifer

Hi Mary
Thanks for your reguest you know this community has tryed alot as you know just local community to raise that a lot of maney is not easy today one of may friends has expted to pay the remaining balance and made with the landlord today to agree of how he will pay the balance so am hoping that he may pay the balance by this week and the project will continue smoothly for some time.
I will sent the photos of the new hospital ones i get back.
warm regard
Bramuel :lol:

Hi Bramuel

That is very good news! Hope that means that the hospital is off to a good start in its new home.

Mary

Hi everyone-

I know things have been a bit quiet here for the past two weeks. Bramuel and I were not able to speak last week, I'm hoping to catch up with him today. He's been out of the country in Uganda at a conference. We have been communicating via email though and things are still moving forward. Here are a few brief updates-

1. As you know, there was a meeting held with the new hospital building owner about the rent. The new owner still felt it was necessary to raise the rent by 100%, so Bramuel arranged to meet with the owner of another building closeby the current location. This meeting went well and a reasonable rate was determined for them to rent the new building however, they had to come up with a deposit and the first two month's rent. The community held fundraising events and via these efforts as well as other donations they were able to come up with the money necessary to have the keys turned over and make the rennovations needed to move the hospital into the new location. In anticipation of the mobile unit, they built on an area where it can be stored. The new hospital has more room for them to expand as well which is a good thing!

2. One of our volunteers in Kenya sews cloth pads and has offered to talk with Bramuel about this for the hospital. She also offered to help with obtaining some toys for the hospital waiting area for any children that come in to make their visit more pleasant. I have contacted the Matopeni project as well per Mary's suggestion to see if they might be able to assist in any way with making some of the needed items.

3. I contacted several organizations in the past two weeks seeking someone who can assist with supplying mosquito netting. Per Sue's suggestion, I contacted Malaria No More, Nothing but Nets, and the Kenyan Red Cross. I had made some previous contact with PSI in Kenya, but had no response. I talked with one of the other facilitators, Milena about the work they've done on their project. We are still communicating to see if there might be a way for us to collaborate together if an organization can be located we can work with.

4. I talked with Calvin about the mobile health unit project. It is in the very early stages of development. The first part will be a "test" unit to learn more about the weaknesses in the overall construction so that they can address any issues and make sure the unit ends up being the strongest it can be. He has been working tirelessly on making contacts with people who can help. Things will likely be quiet in this area for awhile because there is so much involved in the process and again it's still in the early stages, but Calvin and I communicate frequently so any new updates will be posted here as I have them.

5. I am trying to arrange for a time for Bramuel, Alison from AVIF and I to talk further about bring volunteers to Kenya to help at the hospital.

6. Website-Alex has created a template for starting a new site. I actually logged into the existing one yesterday and took a look around. I don't know enough about it to make all the changes we discussed, but we definitely have the access we need to change/edit any content on the existing site. This may be easier than trying to recreate it, but we'll need to talk about it some more. I know several of you have contacted me about helping with this. I need to touch base with Alex and Bramuel and hope to be able to update and delegate for this task once I have a better sense of what Bramuel wants to do.

7. Bramuel and I started some discussion this week about brainstorming income generating activities the local community could benefit from that could also raise funding for the hospital. This is an area that he and I really need to discuss further, but possibly we'll be posting some tasks here in regard to this. I would be very interested in hearing from our volunteers in Kenya about your thoughts associated with this topic. This would be more than a fundraiser, something that could be done on an ongoing basis that would generate a source of consistent income for the hospital.

8. Budget-we've had a few volunteers offer to assist with the budget. I've followed up with all, but haven't heard back again from any of you. This is a critical area for us right now and we need to make sure the budget is accurate and reported in a way that makes sense so that we can include it in any proposal writing we do. There are several places we'd like to submit funding proposals to, but we're stuck until we can get assistance looking over the budget. This is a high priority right now. If you can help us, we need you! Please contact me.

9. Proposal Writing-if any of you have a particular interest in writing proposals, please send me a message and let me know. We've started to identify some places that we can contact to apply for small funding opportunties and will need assistance completing applications and writing up the proposals to the specifications noted. I think we're in a position we can get started on at least a couple of these.

10. We had a resume submitted as well for someone trained to help at the hospital. I thought that was pretty exciting!

Wow, I had more to say than I thought I did! I hope you're all still reading at this point. Anyway, we just want to say thank you to everyone that has put in efforts to help us so far. Your contributions are invaluable and we try to follow-up with each one. Again, once I meet with Bramuel, I'll post any additional updates here, but I think this sums up the past 2 weeks.

Kind regards-

Jennifer :-)

Hi Jennifer

Thanks for the update - sounds like there is a lot going on!

On the subject of nets, have you had any contact with Barb, ffacilitator of Kabondo (also in Kenya)? http://www.nabuur.com/modules/newbb/viewforum.php?forum=338 A while ago she was trying to find a source of nets for them, as far as I know she was not successful and I think the task is now on hold. But you may be able to work together? The problem she was having was that organisations were only prepared to supply them in large quantities, more than Kabondo needed, but maybe if all the Kenyan Nabuur communities got together on this one...

Mary

Yes, as Mary suggest with Barb now there is a possibility for Nets that is really close but still the transport as in other projects is a problem. I feel we should maybe try to find a way to put together all villages with issues with transportation and try to use a general approach with a partnership to see what can be done.

Any ideas?

Raul

Hi Raul-

This is definitely something I think we need to be discussing. Whenever and wherever we can pool resources together to get the help needed I think that's a much more favorable alternative than letting an opportunity fall by the wayside.

Jennifer

What I had in mind was that someone could put together a list of all villages requiring transportation and then also putting togetehr the list of potential partners, I think there is someone that has one but can't remember who. Do you remember Mary?.

Then we can just go ahead and contact.

ANy more thoughts, Jennifer, Mary, who else should we invite for this discussion?

Take care,

Raul

Hi Raul

You mean a list of potential transport partners, or sources of nets?

Nets - there is a lot of info in Kabondo, although from what you say Barb is sorting this.

Transport - there are bits of lists scattered across lots of villages, much in relation to computers (although shipping companies will probably transport anything) - I may be able to find some of them. I also think that someone (Pelle?) has had contact with a company in Holland who can fit bits and pieces into spare space in containers, I think thats how some computers got to Uganda. I don't know more details, may be worth asking.

Shipping in general is a big issue for lots of villages, not just in Kenya... so I guess it depends how wide you want to go. Would be nice to find a general solution or two!

It has always seemed to me that it would be a good idea for Nabuur to try and form some partnerships...

Mary

I was thinking we could approach transport companies to look for a general partnership for all projects longer term.

We could always ask the people at the office but my feeling is that we could maybe get it happening faster if we organise it ourselves.

What do you feel about that?

From where I see it we would need:

- Group the people that could get involved in it

- List the projects that could benefit now

- List the potential companies

- Decide what we have to offer for them.

- Contact the companies

Any thoughts on this?

Raul

Hi Raul
This is the best idea Raul I know ones we have all villages in one group.it could be the best way.

Am back after being out for some days Thank you all for your contraption to our village. :lol:

Good afternoon,

I had a similar idea to organize all the villages with educational projects and order computers for all of them at the same time to get lower shipment rates to a central location convenient for most of the villages, but it is very much in the works. I think Nabuur will benefit of clustering the villages together based on their needs.Let me know if I can help with anything...

Best,
Tanja

Hi Tanja
Thanks for your idea but remember not only education projects that needs computers. Computer can be in any projects that put records and files and not only for education purpose or that is only you interest.
Warm regard
Bram :lol:

Bramuel,

You are correct:-) I did not clarify that I was looking into the One laptop per child program and these computers are more learning tools that actual computers.
http://laptop.org/

Best,
Tanja

Dear Tanja
Thanks for your clarifications
best wishes
Bram :lol: