Fundraising Activities

Fundraising is continuing through out the summer.

One fundraiser was a neighborhood garage sale, 5 miles of sales.

Our family decided to donate what we raised to the Maasai and to

put up a display to educate people about MWEEP. Neighbors and friends

donated items to sell which helped to make the event successful. ANYONE

interested in helping with this event next year or donating items (no clothes) please call

Loanna 360-830-4674 or email mweepboard@massaiwomen.org.

We will be hosting several lunch and dinners in. If you would like to attend an event, please call

or email Loanna.

Hellen Pulei from MWEEP Kenya is in the Seattle area. She has already attended one event and will be at two more events before she returns to Kenya.

Coursework for Village Women

The women taking the Project Baobab course number 30. They have now taken 5 of their 17 classes. They are coming from several villages to Oloshoi-bor where they are hosting the class in the local church. They start about 9:00 am and work until 2:00. Three women are hired to cook for them and present a lunch at 2:00 before the women start heading home. Since conditions in that area of the Rift Valley are very dry and gardens are without food, having a meal is very important. Women are hired to bring wood, water and the food and then do the preparation and clean up. There is also a woman hired to take care of any children who might be with their mothers.

The women meet the first three Saturdays of the month. I have been receiving emails with comments about the class.

"The training has become more and more interesting women are learning alot (more) than they expected, the topic we learned was about the reasons for starting a business and advantages of a business."

"I want to brief you about Saturday training. The turn up was good, 30 women attended the training. The lessons are wonderful every woman is enjoying it and they have started involving themselves in small businesses even before they have finish the training. This have bring a great impact in the life of each woman who is attending the training. The topic learned last Saturday was, types of businesses and marketing. Loanna may God bless you for organizing for us to have such training. I believe we shall never be the same again."

We are looking forward to some pictures from the class and will add them to the blog page as soon as they are received.

INVITATION TO HOST A "DINNER IN"

HAVE YOU BEEN THINKING ABOUT A WAY TO BECOME INVOLVED WITH MWEEP

Hosting a "Dinner IN" or luncheon/tea would be a fun and exciting way to let others know about MWEEP and to give them an opportunity to donate toward the education of girls and women in Maasailand, Kenya.

If you are considering this idea, please call Loanna Day (MWEEP Founder) at 360-830-4674
or email at mweepboard@maasaiwomen.com

We will have board members help you with any aspect: hosting, invitations, the meal, drinks, thank you notes and of course the presentation and decorations.

As of June, 2008 we are still in need of raising $8000.00 to meet the budget for this year.
These funds will help send about 30 girls to secondary boarding or day school for the 3rd and final term of 2008. It will also help pay for the Project Baobab Entrepreuer Coursework for the women in the villages.

Spring Fundraising Events

This Spring we have had several "lunch or dinner in" events. The idea is to host a lunch/tea/dinner/etc where women are invited to attend and bring a friend. The host presents the food or shares with another friend or ?. One or more board members of MWEEP USA attends to provide a presentation on the program. This usually includes photos, traditional Maasai clothes and beads work as well as information about the girls and women receiving costp-share help with school fees and for the woman in the village coursework to learn how to develop and present a business plan.

Luncheon at Loanna Day's (MWEEP Founder)
AMY'S CHOCOLATES FROM BREMERTON, WA donated chocolate dipped strawberries.
Loanna made an African Peanut Soup with shrimp that had been caught by her
home on the Hood Canal. The new brochure, business card and first newsletter
were introduced.

Dinner at Barb Stark's (MWEEP Corresponding Secretary)
Barb hosted a meal of salads and did the presentation with Pat O'Rourke (MWEEP)
Vice-President) and Liz Drew (MWEEP Secretary). Some members of Pat's guided
tour to Kenya were also present and sharing their stories.


We have had about 10 - 20 women attending our events, a very manageable group.
Those attending are friends, neighbors and colleagues as well as other women who they bring.

Central Kitsap Presbyterian Church Women's Ministries hosted a "Maasai in May" event. It was the 3rd annual gathering to hear about the needs of girls and women in Kenya. Wendy Kraft (MWEEP Donor Relations), Barb Stark (Corresponding Secretary, Barbara Coffey (MWEEP Financial Advisor) and Loanna Day (MWEEP Founder)helped with the presentation. The Fellowship Group of the church handled the meal which was provided greens for salad and guests brought toppings for the salad. We were delighted to have Hellen Pulei (MWEEP KENYA Assistant Chairlady) attend and speak to us (she is visiting her husband in the Seattle area) and Koi Tirima (Kenyan daughter, wife, mother and Professor of English at Olympic College) to share the way education makes a difference for the women in Kenya.
We had about 30 women in attendance who came from CKPC, Summit Avenue Presbyterian Church, North Point Presbyterian church and other invited friends.

The photos are of: Hellen and Shiela, Koi Tirima (in blue), Hellen Pulei(in red) presenting, Barb Stark and friend at the dinner table, and women at Loanna's luncheon.

"Educating women is like a vaccine against poverty and AIDS/HIV"

-- Koi Tirima (Kenyan daughter, wife, mother, Professor of English Olympic College, Bremerton, WA)

Village Coursework in Oloshoi-bor

The MWEEP USA board has continued to meet monthly. We are now waiting for the letter of determination from the IRS so we can be an offical non-profit.

We have had severl fundraising "dinners in" and were able to send off half of the fee for the coursework to Project Baobab. We now are continuing to set up fundraising events so we will be able to wire money for the second half of the course and to pay for the local MWEEP fees for coursework lunch, child care and transportation. By August we will need to wire $2000.00 for the last term fees to the boarding schools where the girls attend.

The Project Baobab cousework in the village began on Saturday, June 14th. There were 29 women in attendance. This first session "was about a vision and it was so interesting" according to Christine Pulei who is a MWEEP Kenya member and is managing this project. This coursework will continue for 24 weeks with a few breaks.

On December 6th they have scheduled the graduation ceremony for the coursework. Jon and Loanna Day plan to be in attendance to honor their work and to hear the women present their business plans. draft 10:12:00 AM by loanna Delete

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MWEEP USA Non-Profit Status

The MWEEP board in the US has now finally completed the non-profit paperwork and it is mailed off. We have our EIN# so we are ready to receive donations.

They can be made to: MWEEP
PO Box 1958
Silverdale, WA 98380

EIN# 87-0809872

We have finalized our MISSION and GOALS, they are:

MISSION: Providing educational opportunities to empower Maasai girls and women

Goals:

1) provide funding for cost-share educational opportunitites for girls and women through:
*secondary school
*college and vocational opportunities in health care, leadership, agriculture,
teaching community development, social work, finance and environment
*life and entrepreneurial skills at the village level
2) educate Americans about the life of Maasailand women and organize fund
raising for support of Maasailand women's education

We are pleased to be adding the education at the village level with the coursework that will be taught by Project Baobab. The photo is from December, 2007 when the MWEEP Kenya women and Loanna Day met with the Project Baobab in country director, Jane Kunyiha.

Our immediate funding needs are for this coursework and the $100.00 grants that will go to the top 1/3 of the women when they present their business plans upon graduation.

New Secondary Girls School in the Rift Valley

I was pleased to be able to view the new secondary girl's school in the Rift Valley. It is in the village of Kimuka right next to the Primary school there where Joshua Santiamo is the headmaster.

I did meet Joshua but school had already ended for the year so didn't have an opportunity to view his school.

The new school is ready to open this January. It will be a day school until there are funds to build the dormatories. It is my understanding that they will begin with Form 1 (9th grade to us) and add a Form each each year through Form Four.

A church in Ireland matched the money the greater community raised. The Maasai "taxed" each man a certain amount and each woman a lesser amount. Once they met their commitment, the group came with the rest of the money and built the school.

This group is called Asterias. You can see their webpage at www.asterias.org and then go to Team 2007.