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Contents:
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1.
Africa Report: Getting Back to the Root
2 . Construction of Unity Center in Kenya
3 . OVF Youth Kenya Students
Take First Place in Contest
4. Africa Open Source Conference
Report
5 . Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima to and Ingrid
Kloet to Attend AIDS 2004 Conference in Bangkok
6 . AIDS 2004 Pre-Conference Workshop Serves
as a Test-case Demonstrating the Relevance
of ICT in the Fight Against AIDS
7 . One World Beat and Act Alive raising awareness
about AIDS
8 . Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness
Conference
9 . oneVillage Networked Meetings and Conferences
10 . About us
11. What you can do
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OVF Africa Updates
Africa Report: Getting Back
to the Root
OVF President and Founder Joy Tang has recently
completed a trip to Ghana and Burkina
Faso. On April 2, Joy Tang arrived in Accra
and met with the OVF Ghana team. They then went on
whirlwind tour meeting with leading officials in Kumasi
and Winneba including University
of Education and local government officials
as well as members of a local farmer’s cooperative.
This trip has moved us forward in expanding readiness
for the full implementation of the oneVillage
Initiatives in Ghana.
More on the Getting
back to the Root
Ground Broken on Construction of Unity Center
in Kenya
OVF Kenya is setting up a multi-purpose,
innovative and all-inclusive Information and
Resource Center on the shores of Lake-Victoria,
in Mbita in Nyanza Province. This site will
be the headquarters for the Grassroots Underpinnings
Poverty Nutrition Open and Distance Learning and Women
(GRASSUP NOW) program. This program provides a platform
for bringing together partners from all walks of life
to address outstanding problems at the community level.
Recently work has focused on completing the roof of
the first building.
More on
Kenya Unity Center
OVF Youth Kenya Students Take First Place
in Contest
Recently the OVF Kenya Youth completed their
open and distance learning program with the Global
Education Initiative. This involved the creation
of a power point presentation titled: H20
Purification Business Plan (download).
The culmination of this program involved the competition
of their presentation with 15 other GEI hubs around
the world in which the OVF Kenya team won first prize
in the competition. This program provided a wonderful
experience for the students to learn computer skills
in an environment where such tools are very scarce
and in high demand. We are inspired by the effort
of the students and the eloquence as well as that
of Francis Opiyo the instructor.
Francis’ dedication and commitment to the students
has helped make this program a success and is reflected
in his words: “Community building must become
the heart of any school improvement effort. 'To cope
with a changing world, an entity must develop the
capacity of shifting and changing - of developing
new skills and attitudes; in short, the capability
of learning. It is today that we create the world
of the future.” We are now working to expand
this program and create a new hub in Ghana.
Africa Free and Open Source Software Conference
Report
The meeting was a gathering of over 60 software
developers from across the whole world as well as
Africa. The event provided OVF with an opportunity
to acquire more knowledge and to identify social enterprise
needs for collaborative development in relation to
the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).
OVF Nigeria Director Olaposi Abiola was able to discuss
the challenges of open source software development
in Africa especially in West Africa and shared practical
tips and techniques with open source development leaders
in Africa. He had a chance to meet with Ben
Akoh who is IT project Coordinator
for the Open
Society Institute of West Africa (OSIWA)
and introduced the Onevillage Foundation program to
him.
More on Open
Source Conference Report
Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima and Ingrid Kloet
to Attend AIDS 2004 Conference in Bangkok
Dabesaki
Mac-Ikemenjima, facilitator of the AIDS2004Youth
Group has been preparing for the Bangkok
2004
15th International Conference on AIDS. He recently
qualified for a full scholarship to go to the conference.
He has also worked with Fred Mednick
of Teachers
Without Borders to found Students
Without Borders inspiring young people through
hands-on-service/learning projects, helping them to
understand the importance of cooperation and building
relationships with each other and the larger communities
of which they are a part. Through this process, they
use their achievements at the local level to educate
other young people across the world.
Ingrid Kloet, a senior advisor of AIDS2004Youth will
also be attending. She will participate in a skills
building
and leadership workshop with 3 other persons, Andrew
Doupe from UNAIDS-Geneva, and Julian V Hows from the
UK, Deloris Dockery from GNP-NA Newark. A major goal
of her organization Planet
Poz is to construct the Little Lambs and
ANFORD (African Nations
Foundation for Rural Development)
orphanage for AIDS children in Nakuru,
Kenya. She will also be presenting the "Hands
Project" panel made by the children at the Little
Lambs program in Nakuru, last fall when she and her
husband, Steve Garrett, went to visit. The "Hands
Project" originated in Thailand, and the creator
(Jose Luis Cano) is a good friend
of theirs. It involves making a picture (on cloth
or paper) using the colorfully-painted handprints
of people affected by HIV/AIDS, who then sign their
names underneath their prints. Very simple yet powerful,
and creates a great feeling of connection and community.
More on AIDS2004 Collaboration within our Network
Collaboration and Alliance
Building
AIDS 2004 Pre-Conference Workshop Serves
as a Test-case Demonstrating the Relevance of ICT
in the Fight Against AIDS
Minciu Sodas Laboratory has developed a unique management
system for working openly. Andrius Kulikauskas, Director
of Minciu
Sodas Laboratory of Vilnius, Lithuania, says,
"The
Campaign for Working Openly (WOW) amalgamates
all manner of web pages (wikis, blogs, groups) wherever
they may be into a single navigation system from which
they might be viewed in context." He adds, "It's
a way for a human editor (using The
Brain software) to show that there is a community
and help it function. "Virtual flash
mobs” are designed to complement WOW
technologies by bringing together like minded groups
in a more effective process of collaboration.
oneVillage Foundation as a participant of WOW, nominated
ActAlive and AIDS2004Youth
as two groups to support in this campaign. Andrius
then declared a Virtual Flash Mob to help the AIDS2004youth
group and its members' prepare for activities associated
with the AIDS
2004 Conference on July 12th in Bangkok. AIDS2004Youth
leader Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima, activist
and AIDS educator, Ingrid Kloet a
senior advisor of the group have confirmed their attendance
at the conference and their interest in participating
in this campaign.
Our goal is to encourage independent
thinkers, especially those with marginal Internet
access to participate in the global Internet society
and the youth. Our proposed actions would allow us
to convert adversity into opportunity by using ICT
to help us integrate our efforts to piece together
the breakdown of our communities. We have the integrated
IT tools. We have formed the human network. AIDS as
a world urgent issue needs us to work together.
Ecology and Sustainability
Socially Conscious Investing and the Redefinition
of Profit
In our first newsletter, we explored the
notion of profit in our interview
with Professor Akiwowo. Western societies
tend to define profit in terms of how much money one
makes without really looking into the quality of life
issues that make for a prosperous lifestyle. The assumption
is that if you have money you will have happiness.
More and more people are challenging this assumption.
Socially conscious investment expert Frank
Dixon spoke at the March Green Century Salon
in San Francisco about his work with a fund management
company called Innovest.
His company is developing advanced socially and ecologically
conscious screening criteria for mutual funds, looking
into how socially conscious investing strategies can
not only but extended out to developing countries
but how we can also learn from indigenous cultures
about what it means to live profitable and prosperous
lives. One example he noted of this blending of indigenous
and modern values was Bhutan’s Gross
National Happiness Index, which combines
spirituality with the secular science of technology.
More on Gross
National Happiness and Socially Conscious Investing
oneVillage Networked
Meetings and Conferences
OT22: Creating Community August 24 -
27, 2004 at Findhorn
Community in Scotland
The International OT (Organizational
Transformation) Creating Community Event
is a gathering of professionals who work towards changing
and transforming organizations through a process of
mutual learning, development and support. John
Adams of World
Cafe will be coordinating this event, incorporating
his World Café charette session methodology
as part of a process to explore and deepen our understanding
and experience of Community. Participants in this
workshop will co-create the flow
of events and topics within the overall theme asking
questions like:
1. What does ‘Community’ mean to you?
How does it inform and impact your work?
2. How can leaders build community within their organizations
and why would they want to?
3. What defines and builds a Community; Shared values
and principals? Geography? Common task?
4. What can technology contribute to ‘creating
community’?
More on this event
Permaculture Workshop in Tlholego Ecovillage
on November 8-13
NextAid
is coordinating a weeklong permaculture workshop at
Tlhelego
Ecovillage in South Africa for 16-20 people who
wish to learn about sustainable solutions for earth’s
future. Led by New Zealand born permaculture expert
Robina McCurdy, along with Paul
Cohen, kids from Youth With A Vision,
their caretakers Cynthia and Jabu
Nkosi, and others, they will explore the
fundamentals of permaculture design, specifically
addressing issues of rural development. By sponsoring
a child and yourself (or just yourself), and participating
in this years Permaculture Workshop, you will be empowering
a group of orphans living in Dennilton, South
Africa, many of whom have lost their parents
to AIDS. The curriculum may include a combination
from the following topics, specially tailored to our
group. Cost for the 5 day workshop including room
and board is $750. For more information contact Lauren
Segal at [email protected]
(Cell: 818-516-6959).
About us:
The one Village Foundation seeks to assist people
in Africa in overcoming the AIDS pandemic by addressing
immediate needs such as in the construction of treatment
centers and orphanages, while also providing a proactive
and whole systems platform to promote sustainable
development in Africa…and beyond. We seek to
promote social enterprise solutions that integrate
ICT with sustainable development in both developing
and developed regions of the world. We are dedicated
to increasing collaboration and access to ICT in under-served
communities all over the world as part of a process
of building local problem-solving capabilities, and
increasing the level of economic opportunity for all
who share our commitment to socially conscious and
sustainable economic development.
What you can do:
1. Make a donation
to the oneVillage Foundation.
2. Send us comments, news or relevant events.
3 . Subscribe to this monthly newsletter by sending
an email to:
[email protected] and write subscribe in the
subject line.
Write, email or call us at the oneVillage Foundation:
102 Ballatore Court
San Jose CA 95134
Voice: 408.435.0775
Fax: 408-351-8887
[email protected]
http://www.onevillagefoundation.org
http://www.onevillage.biz
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