Dear Supporter,
In November, just before Marula School broke up for their summer holiday and Christmas break, the children got together to write the following letter to you to thank you for helping them in 2015.
We would like to thank you very much for the money you gave us towards buying relish (meant) for the feeding of day scholars.
Your donation came at a time when our parents had no relish to offer from our homes. We can now eat our lunch at our school and all thanks to you.
May you find it in your heart to continue the good gesture.
I have also shared the letter as the picture attached to this report.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for helping us to help the children at Marula School. As we mentioned in our last report, the drought is taking its toll and times are incredibly tough for everyone.
We hope that you have a wonderful festive season and that the new year brings nothing but good things for you!
With Gratitude,
GVI Charitable Trust
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Dear Supporter,
Times are very tough here in Zimbabwe. The drought continues and people are suffering. Crops are failing because it is too hot and the rains are scarce, and as the crops fail people's source of food are depleting. On top of this, there is no indication that the government has the means or the desire to help its people. It all comes down to you and your donations.
Thankfully, our feeding program here at Marula school has been able to continue for another few months. With your donations, we are able to supply the ingredients for the cooks to make a relish that is served over the mealie meal porridge, a staple food here in Zimbabwe.
Without this food, some of the 270 students here would go all day before getting a meal in the evening. That is a long time to go without food for a young child who has walked a substantial distance to attend school and then expected to concentrate all day long.
Many of the students are severely malnourished and there is no end in sight with the drought continuing, the economy continuing its downward spiral with hyperinflation the order of the day and the political situation worsening.
Please consider donating a few extra dollars to help us feed the children at Marula!
With Gratitude,
GVI Charitable Trust
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Dear Supporter,
It is school holidays here in Zimbabwe now, so things at the school are very quiet, but that does not mean that our work stops. It is our aim to be able to supply food to our scholars throughout the school holidays.
Up to now, the school has been asking parents to donate the money for lunch - but quite simply, most are unable to manage it as they are not employed. The drought this year is also a killer, which adds pressure to families. The crops have failed and we are having a hot, dry winter which does not bode well for the next season. This means that the hunger has really started to take hold in the area and parents simply don’t have the resources to supply money for children’s lunches.
Here at Marula School we presently have 243 day scholars, all of whom should be receiving a school lunch regardless of if their parents can pay or not. This lunch consists of a bowl of pap, which is a mealie meal porridge. Mealie meal is a staple food in southern Africa. It is crushed maize meal that is cooked with water and served very thick and stodgy and used as a base for serving stews and relishes. To go with this, we provide a relish made from cabbage, soy mince, sugar beans, tomatoes and onions.
National Foods here in Bulawayo have been donating the mealie meal for the past few months and we hope they will continue doing so going forward so that we can continue using your donations to buy the ingredients for the relish.
We thank you for your kind support.
Best Wishes,
GVI Charitable Trust
Links:
Dear Supporter,
On Tuesday, 12th May, the Rotary Club Claremont: CapeTown awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship, the highest accolade from the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, to social entrepreneur - Dr Basil Kransdorff.
A humorous moment was had by all as it was a surprise presentation organized by long term e'Pap supporter Jo Maxwell. In on the act was our Cape Town distributor, Harold Peters. Not a whisper from anyone.
Jo Maxwell, a Rotarian from Claremont Rotary Club was one of the first people to understand and recognize the e'Pap contribution to addressing malnutrition (hidden hunger) in relation to early childhood development. She introduced e'Pap to Cape Town creches 14 years ago. She continues to ensure that children receive it. For her efforts in the community, Jo received a Paul Harris Fellowship award in 2008. In 2014, Shelley Godsell was also awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship for their work in setting up the e'Pap Feeding Project in the Eastern Cape www.epapfeeding.co.za. Shelley and Peter Godsell created the e'Pap feeding program that now feeds e'Pap to 5,000 children in 95 schools across the Garden Route in South Africa. The exciting part of this project is the 100 volunteers in the area ensure that the children receive their e'Pap which forges great relationships across communities. This project is in its 13th year.
A surprised Basil received the award on behalf of the whole e'Pap team across Africa and now across the World. e'Pap Contributors have managed to distribute over 200 million food portions on our 15-year journey and commitment to be part of making Africa - nutrient replete.
Thank you for your continuous support on this project.
All the best
GVI Charitable Trust
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Dear Supporter,
We are proud to announce that our co-founder Basil Kransdorff has been awarded an honorary degree for his unique and outstanding contributions that have had a huge impact on society locally as well as at a global level.
An industrial chemist, social entrepreneur and CEO of Econocom Foods, Basil is also the co-inventor of the innovative and low-cost nutritional product - e'Pap technologies - aimed at redressing micro-nutrient deficiencies in marginalised and poorer populations.
Basil's category for the award is for a personal record of distinguished service and/or achievement in some other field of endeavour (e.g. the advancement of democracy and social justice, social service, community leadership, economic enterprise, public affairs, philanthropy, the performing and creative arts) which is deemed appropriate for the University to recognise.
We are proud to be working with Basila and e'PAP to help fight against poverty in Harare and Africa, in general.
Another noteworthy person we would like to congratulate is Samkeliso Masuku for bringing e'PAP into the Pumula community. He is now heading up our first school tuck shop which aims to introduce greater nutrition to the children at Godlwayo School. This is not only a great initiative to help the children, but is a fantastic income generation project at grassroots level.
Thank you for supporting this project.
All the best.
The GVI Charitable Trust
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