Creative fundraising - Attempting to make the largest stamp mosaic in the world

The village of Nabitende will attempt to break a Guinness World Record™ by making the largest stamp mosaic on the first of December, World Aids Day 2009.
Orphans and other vulnerable children will make it to raise awareness among themselves about Aids, to empower them, raise awareness of their situation and to raise funds for this village. The biggest reason is, though, to give them a fun day and maybe some art classes beforehand.
Stamps will be collected from neighbours around the world, through collection boxes a local shops, schools, charity shops (in Dublin, Lagos, Sydney and other places that Neighbours live) and through the free cycling network (look for people getting rid of old photo album) and sent to the village. Everybody has some old stamps, now you don't have to bin them!
We will measure the amount of stamps we use, how many different countries the stamps represent and the size of the mosaic, and Paddy suggested, also, looking at the dates of the stamps.A Stamp Mosaic was chosen because stamps are cheap, and easy to send to Uganda!
Foreign Ambassadors, NGOs operating in Uganda and local leaders will be invited to the event, which will hopefully attract Ugandan media. Neighbours will write stories for their local press. Facebook and www.nabuur.com will be used to highlight the event as well. The villagers will record the attempt and make a small movie to send to CNN i-report, as well as the BBC equivalent..
People will be able to follow the progress on Twitter. We hope also to use www.givemeaning.com or www.chooseaneed.org , so that people can sponsor the event through trustworthy charitable organisations.
The current record is a stamp mosaic measured 100.10 metres squared (1, 077, 47 feet squared) and contained approximately 115,133 individual stamps. It was created by Leipzig International School in Leipzig between 24 August and 23 June 2008.
Over 300 parents, students and teachers glued stamps to the mosaic which depicted the Leipzig skyline with the word Leipzig across the centre of the mosaic.
The school collected stamps for a year and a half and left stamp collection boxes in local shops.
We are hoping, with your help, that Nabitende Fruit Market will make the largest stamp mosaic in the world.
Let us know if you will join us in breaking a Guinness World Record™

Hi neighbours,
huge interest has been shown in this event, so just to let you all know, we recieved the claim id number (CLAIM ID: 250768). They are looking for more info from me and I will fax it to them after work today. We have been transfered to their internal system. I will let you know the next step, but in the meantime could you all collect old stamps. Or just don't bin them!
Paddy has told the children, and they have started collecting all ready
thank you all,
sinéad
Hi Sinéad
I would like to do this very much!
I have been involved in this before and don't know about how much funds you can get but it definitely raises awareness on the issues. You picked a great day too to have it, but is it a bit too soon
I'm attaching a file on General Information on Record Breaking. Guinness have probably sent you this. how many different attempts did you apply for?
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fatima
control arms now
hi,
I just got my first hundred stamps. Never having collecting stamps before I realised I did not know how to remove stamps from the envelops, so here is the advice I found on the internet
The best way to remove stamps from envelopes is Soaking. Tear the envelope/cover around the stamp and leaves a small margin. With the stamp facing down, place into a pan of warm water (not hot). After a few minutes (it depends of the stamps kind, self-adhesive gum ones may take longer), the stamp should be sunk to the bottom. Remove the stamp preferably using stamp tongs when all adhesive is dislodged and then place the stamp between two paper towels and put a heavy object, like a book, on top to keep out the curling of the stamp as it dries. Leave it dry overnight. In the next day you have your stamps ready to put on your collection.
The stamps are drying, and I will post them when I get more,
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fatima
control arms now
Hi Fatima,
wow, you already collected so many stamps! I only have 5 since nobody really uses stamps anymore, only automatic stamping machines. But the stamps I collect I just cut from the envelops. I hope this is fine as well? Or do they really have to be soaked of?
Jenny
hi Jenny,
the automatic stamping machines are a problem, but children who have penpals will have stamps and plenty of them. Maybe ask at local schools, if they have a penpal system in place. This is how I'm getting my stamps.
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fatima
control arms now
hi,
this is a problem i have come up with too, Jenny and Fatima, the problem with using schools, we would normally put all the letters into one envelope and then we get one envelope back.
Something else we could use, is the http://www.freecycle.org/
people exchange unwanted goods and there are networks in many countries. We could ask for unwanted stamp albums.
On a positive note, I'm attaching a very interesting stamp I found, maybe Paddy or another neighbour could date it.
thanks,
sinéad
hi,
I'm attaching a great colourful press release that Rayo sent me and hopefully you will use it to hang on local notice boards at a stamp collection point or give it your local schools,shops and libraries....
you can add your contact details at the bottom,,,
it looks great,
thanks so much,
Sinéad
hi all,
just checking in to see if anybody has had any more success in collecting stamps?
a community organisation in Belfast,Ireland have a number of volunteers with disabilities who have been collecting and cutting out stamps for a number of months now and are delighted to send them to help with the project.
Paddy, please let me know when you recieve them,
thanks,
Sinéad
Hi,
I have collected about 80-100 stamps with help from family and colleagues! I am saving them up for a while and send them all in once to Paddy.
I also wonder if Paddy already received any stamps?
Jenny
Hi,
I have started collecting stamps and am asking friends to collect as well. Could I please check 2 things? First, as per a previous question, do we need to remove the stamps from the paper or not? Second, what is the deadline you would like to receive the stamps by?
Cheers,
Angela
I have collected quite a few as well with the help of friends and family. I will be saving them up some time still.
hi,
I removed all my stamps from the papper because it is easier for us to access water than the people in Nabitende. I have sent them to you Sinéad but I suppose we could keep collecting until a month before the attempt date,
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fatima
control arms now
Hello
I have been saving stamps as well. Soaking them to get the paper off makes them the much less bulky and easier to work with later. It will take a lot of stamps to beat the record so I'm going to keep saving them until a month before the event.
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Rick Ellis
hi neighbours,
I believe a month before maybe too late as the children may want to design the mosaic together in parts and we have to rely on the postal service, although one last push in October and early November for stamps is not a bad idea.
Paddy, did you receive the Guinness world record book I sent you or the stamps that were sent from Belfast.
I have been very lucky collecting stamps, and will be getting my first stamp album soon from a woman who recieved my email from Galway Human Rights Action group, so the email I sent out is definitely doing the rounds, first Belfast in the North, now Galway in the West and also a Pax Christi member in New York,,
Would any neighbour like to adjudicate the attempt or be official cameraman or woman?let me know,
If you are about to send some stamps or somebody offers you a stampalbum, it would be great to log it here and if possible to take a photo,
I'm including here an email I got yesterday from Guinness,as well as their requirements,
thanks everybody,
Sinéad
I've also been stamp-gathering and i was surprised that very few people in Nigeria use stamps. Not even kids. E-mails have taken over. Almost all the stamps i got, over a hundred and still counting, are from friends in the US & UK. But i was lucky enough to meet an old friend whose husband works with the Postal Agency. He has promised as many stamps as he can lay his hands on, both old and new. I'll be seeing him next week.
I have to agree a month is not long enough. If we can get the stamps to Nabitende by early october, that will be much better.
Thank you, everybody. Lets keep up the good work.