www.grofoundation.org

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For her 9th birthday, Teda asked her friends to join her in supporting African students by giving money instead of presents.  Teda and her friends gifted $150 for G.R.O.’s students at Molapo High School in Leribe, Lesotho.  Teda’s birthday gift will help buy more text books for the students.  We thank you, Teda, and your friends for doing such an amazing and inspiring thing!  All of us thank you at G.R.O. and wish you the very best this year!

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As the evening descended over the Toronto skyline the wind picked up off of Lake Ontario. One of the most beautiful patios in the city had undergone a transformation from its typical serene gardens into a vibrating buzz of excited conversation, soft floating light, and a great soundtrack provided by DJ Dave Ng. The 27th of September saw the patio filled with 75 GRO Canada supporters as they came together to celebrate the work of The GRO Foundation Lesotho, assist in pledging their support for our Basotho project partners, and mingle among other socially-conscious Torontonians.

As party-goers flowed through the doors they were treated to a projection-based slideshow of photos from the past year of project partners and beneficiaries from Lesotho. The evening was capped off with a short talk on ongoing and future initiatives by Megan Landes, who has just recently returned from a short working trip to Lesotho with OHAfrica and GRO. Inundated with the dark of evening and complimented by the shimmering city in the background the Red Party was ,in every respect, a glowing success. The evening was able to raise approximately $2000 for current programs and 100% of the donations have been given to the projects in Lesotho.

I want to share a personal thank you on behalf of GRO Canada and The GRO Foundation Lesotho to all of that came out to join us as well as the GRO Canada Team: Toby Whitfield and Megan Landes for hosting the event; Genevieve Scott and Hanna Faghfoury for all of your assistance with the wonderful spread of appetizers, decorations, as well as the beverages; Terry Alderbert for all of her setup assistance and bartending skills; and Jayne Wilkins for hand delivering all of the jewellery from The GRO Artisans Collective upon her return from visiting our projects in Lesotho. This will be the first of many GRO Canada Fundraising events so please contact us if you’re interested in hosting a future event.

Again, a deep thank you from all involved.

Jason Clark,

Operations Coordinator

jclark@grofoundation.org

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Check it out here.

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The G.R.O Foundation offers us the unique opportunity to not only engage in our own communities, but to create awareness about the situation in Lesotho. Through The G.R.O Foundation, we are working to provide educational opportunities for the next leaders of Lesotho, the business opportunities to establish strong economic infrastructure and resources for communities.

We at The G.R.O Foundation want to encourage you to communicate through the ways you feel can make the greatest awareness impact. We can help you with resources such as literature, photos, videos, personal stories, music, crafts, poetry, ideas, and non judgmental support in helping you organize a meeting, event, party or function to spread awareness for the Basotho people.

Join us in changing the future of Lesotho.

• Raise awareness in your community – hold an event, a party for a purpose or talk with your friends over coffee.
• Engage. Volunteer – in your community or with The G.R.O. Foundation. Get out there.
• Join our online community- connect with others – share ideas – pass the message.
• Mobilize. Come together. Work for a better future for the world.

Greg Felsen

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There’s been a lot of talk about change this year, and these discussions couldn’t occur at a better time.  The situation in Southern Africa is dire.  Political crisis and instability, food shortages, death and disease, and human rights abuses affect daily the people in Southern Africa. By providing hope and opportunity to our global brothers and sisters, and raising awareness in North America we ultimately create a change that will ripple across the world.  The most amazing thing is that we can contribute to this world-changing movement from our very own communities.  Each and every one of us has the ability to do this and that’s a very powerful thing. So how do you make a difference?  Volunteer in your community.  Raise awareness by talking to your friends, family and co-workers.  Write letters to your legislature.  Contribute what you are able to international organizations such as The G.R.O. Foundation that provide on-the-ground, direct support to people who need it.

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I have worked for the past two summers in Lesotho as both a teacher and public health intern. Throughout my time there, I was able to have many conversations with youth about their dreams and hopes for the future. In particular, I remember one of my first days in Lesotho where I had the chance to travel to a remote village with a physician from the pediatric AIDS clinic where I worked. The physician was going to the village to give medical records back to the family of a young girl who had died of tuberculosis.  The doctor and a social worker then proceeded to test the siblings, the grandmother, and stepmother all for HIV.  Thankfully, their tests all came out negative.  Many people came from around the community to be tested too once they heard that someone from our clinic was there.  We hung out with the children of the village afterwards and spoke with two of them who were about 12 years-old.  They were in their last year of primary school. They said they want to be nurses when they grow up, but then we also found out that their families did not have enough money to send them to high school (only primary education is covered by the government of Lesotho).  Without a high school education, there was no way that these children could fulfill their dream of becoming nurses.  I was deeply saddened by this and wanted desperately to find a way to get these girls to high school. And I regretted ever having taken my own opportunities for granted.

These youth and thousands of others like them have been on my mind for the past few years and I have thought about how much a scholarship fund could do to help fulfill the promise of Basotho youth. I am so thankful for the new G.R.O. Foundation Scholarship Challenge and for the Gifts of Hope campaign. There is a dire need for funds to pay for such things as school fees, books, and computer literacy training. Giving through the G.R.O. Foundation initiatives will allow so many Basotho children that are full of potential reach their goals of moving beyond poverty and becoming what they once could only dream of.

Basotho children are wonderfully creative and talented. Day to day you can see interesting contraptions that they make to play. Anything from cars made out of wire, to instruments, to their own modes of transportation. As a teacher, I also always found my students so eager to learn. And if given an opportunity to flourish with an education, they will surely thrive.

By Sophie Kim, G.R.O. Volunteer

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It’s never been easiser.

The G.R.O. Foundation is excited to launch it’s 2008 Gifts of Hope campaign. Check it out at www.grofoundation.org.

This year, honor your mother, your brother, and your best friend by giving them a gift of hope.  Instead of giving your mom that yellow scarf you’re not sure she’ll like, how about sending an African student to school in her name instead?  What if you gave an unemployed woman in Africa a chance a starting her own business and put your sister’s name on it?   Or give chickens to grandmothers for that person you have no idea how to buy for.  Check it out. This year - go with something unique - go with something special - and go with something that keeps on giving.  This year, give hope.

Visit our new secure, online shopping cart.  View the .pdf version here. Happy shopping!

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