Click here to listen.

“In this interview, Gavin Hollet talks about what inspires him and how he finds working with senior executives. Gain insight into the value of seeing the world through different lenses and how we, as individuals and companies, play a role in the world and are a part of it at the same time – a more holistic perspective than the one inherited from industrial times.”

Click here to listen.

About 2 weeks ago, we received an email from Tonie, whom Duncan and I met in Kampala back in April.

Tonie started a small orphanage for street children in Kampala after he had grown up on the streets himself. He has also created a small band out of the boys who he has helped get off the streets, and they perform to raise money for the orphanage (and, Dunc and I were lucky enough to see them in action).

The band plays at the end of the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_zNhVB_LbA

Tonie emailed us to ask for help. Two of the boys were very sick in the hospital and they had no way to pay for the hospital bills that were coming.
“…Davis lost his senses on Thursday, last week, and he was admitted to Mengo Hospital. And, on Friday, he was put on oxygen. Right now, he can not talk — he is still unconscious. Doctors are trying to do whatever they can. We are so worried about him. Bryan was also admitted to Mengo Hospital, yesterday. He has malaria, cough flu, and pain inside the body…”

We found out the bill was going to be about $220 USD. So, Dunc, Chelsea (a friend of OA), and I sent out a few emails to our close friends asking for small donations of between $5 and $20. In less than 3 days, we raised almost $400 dollars from donations of $30 or less from people who don’t have a lot of money.

Had to share this as it is such a great example of the “Power of Plenty” (what our friends at Givemeaning.com advocate and facilitate) and how anyone, if they want, can make a huge difference with very little effort. But more than that, this exemplifies the increase in power that a group of people has over individuals in being able to make a difference.

Lesson: Get some people together and actually make a difference.

Gavin

The Magzuls, the family behind the upcoming OA-partnered Guatemala Initiative, are hosting a benefit evening at the Belfry Theatre, in Victoria, on November 23rd.

The evening will include performances from MC Art Napoleon (www.artnapoleon.com), a nationally-renowned singer and story-teller, along with Victoria’s “full contact folk” groupm The Ecclestons (www.theecclestons.com), Chris Fry from The Bills (www.thebills.ca), Adrian Dolan with B.C. Youth Orchestra fiddlers, and poetry from Budd Hall, who together will provide an entertaining and lively evening for all ages.

Admission by donation. Recommended: $15/adult, $10/child, $40/family or whatever you can give.

Details:

When: Sunday, November 23rd, 7-9pm (door at 6:30pm)

Where: The Belfy Arts Centre (1291 Gladstone Ave., Victoria, BC)

Why: To raise funds in support of an upcoming OA initiative, in which soccer fields will be rebuilt for the impoverished communities of Patzun, Guatemala.

Check out the latest post on Kieran Magzul’s blog for his OA-supported initiative in Guatemala:

http://projectguatemala.tumblr.com/

Stay tuned for details of a fundraising evening at The Belfry on November 23rd.

OA’s latest work in Rwanda was featured in a post on kamarinnovation.com.

Image from http://kamarinnovation.com

We have decided to remove all shipping costs for a limited time.

You can now buy any item on the OA Shop as if you were buying it from your local Sunday market.

OA will foot the bill for the shipping to anywhere in North America. Within about a week it will arrive on your doorstep. Remember, all proceeds from the sale of these shirts are donated to OA and its projects.

Take advantage of this offer soon, because the shirts are going like hotcakes! Thanks very much and enjoy,

Andrew B. & The OA Team.

Click here to enter the store.

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OA is very excited to announce the creation of a preliminary online shop aimed at not only providing a tangible way for people to support its projects but also providing consumers with a product that has both high ethical and quality standards. 100% of the proceeds from the sales at the OA shop go directly to help facilitate OA’s projects — both abroad and locally.

For now, the OA shop consists of an assortment of OA t-shirts and select photos from our most recent projects in Rwanda and Ecuador.

The OA Shirts are available in two general categories:

1) a brand new line of 100% organic cotton shirts, with original OA designs, manufactured in a sweatshop-free environment;

2) past OA designs from our fundraisers and soccer camps, which are available at a discounted price.

The new line of shirts comes in a variety of colours and are also available at HTO Sun Surf and Swimwear, on Broad Street, in Victoria.

The shirts are screened locally, in Victoria, by Incite Screening Company (we should also note that they have given OA a significantly discounted price allowing a greater % of the retail cost to go to OA’s “groundwork”, overseas and in BC), and the stock is from American Apparel’s organic line of shirts.

Furthermore, for every project, OA will illustrate what the funds raised from the OA Shop specifically contributed to the project. From number of soccer balls to the % of an Eco-friendly field re-construction, those who bought something from the OA Shop will know how much of a collective impact they had.

Also, if you have specific questions about the shop or if you want to get more involved with the Shop, then please email OA’s Andrew Brownlee at brownleeandrew@gmail.com

Everyone at OA is very excited about the shop, and we are asking everyone in the OA community to spread the word about it and about our shirts in HTO.

Many thanks!

The OA Team.

OA is teaming up with Kato’ki — an philanthropic project of Victoria’s Magzul family and other local volunteers — to undertake another great initiative for disadvantaged youth — this time in Guatemala.

Kato’ki and OA will work to collect and distribute soccer equipment as well as raise funds to build a school/community soccer field in a tiny village (Mocolicxot Alto), in Patzun, Guatemala.

OA partner Kieran Magzul and other volunteers have already organized a few fundraisers — soccer camps in James Bay and Fairfield, and a night of food, entertainment, and info — and more are on there way.

Check out the info at the bottom of the post to help support the project!

(OA is very excited about this initiative, as its our first ’satellite’ project in which OA partners/volunteers are the driving force. As you may know, one of OA’s main goals is to involve and inspire community members to carry out their own projects.)

To read more about the Guatemala Initiative, Kato’ki, and Patzun, check out this Victoria News article or see the project page at Givemeaning.com.

Follow the link, log in, and vote for the project on GiveMeaning.com. Then, stay tuned for events and news related to the project.

The last Rebero Camp story is from OA Volunteer, Ian Mathieson:

After spending a week coaching and playing soccer with the children of the Ribero Orphan Centre, I noticed that they had a different perspective on a few things. I noticed that the children have a very different outlook on life and the opportunities that it presents, compared to the views that any regular Canadian/Western child has. It may be because they have fewer opportunities, or it may just be the way people in Rwanda are, but, either way, the difference was obvious.

Every day at the camp, there were 10 Litres of water and 2 big ball bags to be carried along the 2km dirt path on the way to the field where the camp was held.

The 5 OAers, including myself and 2 other coaches, started off on Day 1 from the Orphan Centre carrying the water and equipment. After about thirty seconds after leaving the Centre, the water and equipment was kindly wrenched from our hands from the luckiest boys of the bunch — or at least that’s how they saw it. All the way down the 2km path to the field, the boys argued and fought over who was going to carry the equipment.

For the next 6 days, this is how the morning began once we arrived at the Centre. After seeing this, I thought about how much children of the West could learn from these boys’ actions — allowing them to appreciate the simple pleasures that these boys so obviously do.

—

Thanks, Ian.

I should also remind everyone that Ian was known by the kids in the camp, and in the surrounding communities, as ‘Ihene’ (’goat’ in Kinyarwanda). We would drive through parts of the area, and without fail (if Ian was in the car), we would hear shouts from the bushes and streets of “Ihene” — he made quite the impression on the kids of the community.

Also, I wanted to thank this opportunity and give a sincere thanks to volunteers Ian and Lindsay for their contributions to the project…wouldn’t have been the same without them!

Next posts will fill you in on the equipment and field.

G