January 18, 2011
Stories from the Field: Agnes Yeneya
G4G partner Mchezi Community-Based Organization asked a few students enrolled in their vocational tailoring program to tell their stories, in their words. This is the story of Agnes Phiri (pictured here with her mother), a seventeen year old girl who, unlike many children in Malawi, was given a second chance at completing her education:
My name is Agnes Yeneya. I was born as the first of four siblings; all boys but me. In my 17 years, I have lived with my mum who has been divorced twice and now lives without a husband. Life as the oldest sibling is tough, since my mother is old and weak. This means I must do most of the work at our home and had to dropout of school after making it all the way to 10th grade.
Since Goods for Good came to Mchezi Village, our community center has been able to care for more orphans and vulnerable children like me. I was selected to be part of the centers Vocational Skills Program. I now attend classes to learn how to be a tailor.
During one week of classes, Miss Andrea Tese and her mum came to visit us at the center. She was there to take photos of our training and show it to people in the United States. Many of us in our class are interested in photography, and Miss Andrea was kind enough to give us lessons.
I attended Miss Andrea’s photography lessons and received a B&H disposable camera. I took photos and gave the camera to Goods for Good for development. They brought me back my pictures with comments from Miss Andrea on how to improve my photography skills. Along with the notes for improvement they gave me another B&H disposable camera. I took better pictures, and once again they brought me my developed photos with comments. I can’t believe I took those photos!
Since then, Goods for Good has offered me a scholarship for finishing my secondary school education. I still attend the tailoring program in the afternoons. I feel very happy and look forward to having options for income to support my family. We don’t have any photographers here in our area, but people like having their picture taken very much. I still have a very strong interest in photography and hope to continue learning with Miss Andrea.
Agnes Yeneya Phiri, grade 11, 17 years old, Malawi
January 7, 2011
A very special thank you from Mchezi
We just received a very special email from Christopher Goma, Executive Director of G4G partner Mchezi Community-Based Organization, that we want to share with you all. This totally made our day!
Here’s what he had to say about G4G’s support of Mchezi:
Zikomo Kwambiri potitumizira kalayata ya mafano abwino. Mchezi thanks you greatly for the wonderful work you are doing in our community. You have really made us grow in the area. Our boundaries have been extended, gates have been opened for visitors and it has strengthened unity btween the community and the organization and the support has caused a reduction of children dropping out of school. While others are benefiting from the trainings offered, the orphans and vulnerable children are benefing from the products created by the trainings. The whole organization including the community members see it as a great blessings for Goods 4 Good to be in our community. We pray for your success and that of Goods 4 Good- long live!
Wishing all the staff of G4G including members of our home office, Blessings and Rapahel a wonderful new year.
Christopher Goma, Executive Direcctor of Mchezi CBO
Mchezi is a locally founded and run organization providing services to over 2,000 of the most vulnerable members of their community. Because of your support, G4G is able to provide Mchezi with the materials and capacity-building resources they need to better serve the children in their care.
Click HERE to learn more about the work Goods for Good is doing with Mchezi.
January 5, 2011
Thank You!
Thank you for supporting
Match 4 Good!
We are proud to announce that with your help, we exceeded our goal of $100,000 and raised over $120,000 to benefit vulnerable children in Malawi. Because of your support, we will continue to make progress out of excess and help provide a better future for children like Esmie, pictured here.
The Goods for Good team would like to extend a special thank you to all of those who helped make this initiative possible–you know who you are!
To learn more about G4G, visit www.goods4good.org
October 14, 2010
Melissa Kushner Receives Torch Award
Melissa Kushner, Founder and Executive Director of Goods for Good, has been selected to receive the 2010 Torch Award from the Robert Wagner School of Public Service at NYU. The Torch Award is conferred among recent alumni who have demonstrated an outstanding passion and dedication to public service.
Congratulations Melissa, we’re so proud of you!
October 6, 2010
TOMS Shoes Arrive in Malawi!
TOMS Shoes, a pioneer in the buy-one-give-one business model, recently donated 39,314 pairs of shoes to Goods for Good – one pair for every school-aged child we support. We’re taking this opportunity to help the children we serve to the next level: each child will not only receive their very own pair of TOMS shoes, but they’ll also be getting an albendazole tablet, a single-dose “de-worming” medicine that cures the dangerous infections contracted by many barefoot children.
Shoes are a luxury for children in Malawi, particularly for orphans and vulnerable children who lack the resources to purchase them. Walking barefoot puts these children at high risk for injury and infections such as hookworm, which can cause anemia, diarrhea and stunted mental development if left untreated. For those who have no one to provide for them or monitor their health, the repercussions are far-reaching: impaired learning, increased absences from school and decreased future economic productivity are serious concerns. By working hand-in-hand with our local partners, we’re able to reach those children who need assistance most. While not every child will be taken to a clinic if they become sick, most every child will show up on distribution day to receive what is likely their first pair of new shoes. This gives us the opportunity to bring in local health workers to administer the distribution of the medicine.
Goods for Good Founder and Executive Director, Melissa Kushner, explains how the TOMS/G4G partnership is emblematic of G4G’s model:
“We’re so excited to be partnering with an innovator like TOMS. We’re constantly looking for opportunities to form complementary partnerships with other organizations. Each organization can only do so much on their own, but together our reach will extend so much further.”
TOMS Founder Blake Mycoskie explains the synergy between the two organizations:
“Goods for Good is an ideal partner in large part due to the organization’s grassroots and holistic approach to development. Together, we are able to help these children more effectively and sustainably than either organization could alone.”
Make sure to keep a look out for pictures and stories from the field!
September 7, 2010
You’re Invited!
On Friday, September 10th, Goods for Good and designer Steven Alan are teaming up to inspire good for Fashion’s Night Out. The party will be held at Steven Alan’s Tribeca boutique from 6-10PM and will feature music, drinks by Boyd & Blair vodka, Heineken, and Arizona Rescue Water, and the chance to shop for a good cause!
Designers Steven Alan, Geren Ford, Soludos, Relwen, Rag and Bone and more are highlighting special items from each of their collections to benefit Goods for Good; 20% of the proceeds from these items will benefit our Tailor-in-Training program, which trains older orphans in the valuable skill of tailoring while creating required school uniforms for younger vulnerable children—and it’s all done with new and unused excess fabric, largely from the fashion industry.
To show guests what good they’ll be contributing to, fashion and fine art photographer Andrea Tese will debute a slideshow of pictures from her recent trip to Malawi with G4G. Tese spent time at G4G- partner Mchezi Community-Based Organization documenting all aspects the Tailor-in-Training program, from the delivery of the textiles, to its distribution, to the training of the tailors, to how the uniforms affect the lives of the orphans and vulnerable children we serve.
The event is a part of Goods for Good’s Back to School Campaign, an initiative to equip orphans and vulnerable children in Malawi with the materials they need to thrive in the classroom. For every $50 spent at Steven Alan on FNO, Goods for Good will be able to equip a child in Malawi with shoes, a new school uniform and school materials for the new academic year.
RSVP and invite your friends HERE!
Can’t make it to the store on Friday? Highlighted items will also be available on the Steven Alan website. Proceeds from online purchases made from September 10th-18th will go towards helping Goods for Good continue make progress out of excess.
August 11, 2010
Send a Child Back to School
Only 27% of children in Malawi complete elementary school. Many drop out because they lack something as basic as a pen or a school uniform. Renald Banikani, pictured here, stopped going to school because his single pair of tattered clothing was unfit for the classroom. As the new school year begins, you can help Goods for Good send children like Renald back to school.
For every $10 you give, Goods for Good will equip a child with the school supplies, school uniform, and shoes needed to thrive in the classroom.
When you wear rags, everyone laughs at you and you stop going to school. I am so happy to receive my new uniform. I will no longer miss class now because I feel carefree going to school”- Renald Banikani, 13 year old orphan supported by G4G
Consider what your gift will provide for a child in Malawi:
School Supplies Something as basic as a pen is difficult to access for many children in Malawi. Goods for Good provides two pens per term to every student we support.
School Uniform Uniforms are required for children to attend school in Malawi–without one, children are sent home. At a cost of about $3, the financial burden is too much for many to cover. Your contribution will support G4G’s Tailor-in-Training program, which provides school uniforms for vulnerable children while training local tailors in the valuable skill of tailoring.
Shoes and De-Worming Tablets G4G and TOMS shoes have teamed up to ensure a healthy start for the new school year. Without shoes to protect them, barefoot children suffer from disease, injury and low motivation. Your contribution will help G4G deliver a pair of TOMS shoes and a single-dose “de-worming” medicine to the children we serve in order to cure them of dangerous infections contracted by walking barefoot and to keep them healthy in the future.
Spread the word: visit www.ngafrica.goods4good.org
July 16, 2010
A Little Bit Goes a Long Way
G4G’s U.S. staff landed in Lilongwe, Malawi this past Monday to work side by side with our Malawi staff. Since we can’t be in-country nearly as much as we’d like, we have a lot of ground to cover during our one-month stay. We’ll be visiting all of our program partners to assess their progress, evaluate our programs and conduct surveys to see how we can best work together to serve the children in their care.
The first partner we visited was Bright Vision, an organization providing services to hundreds of toddlers, students, elderly community members and people living with HIV/AIDS in the surrounding villages. While at Bright Vision, we visited four different “nursery-school” centers–although they can hardly be called such by American standards. While community members had come together and volunteered their time to provide day-care services for the children, there was no actual “center” for the daycare to be held, no educational materials or toys for the children to play with and certainly no compensation for any of the workers.
At the third center, we noticed a huge pile of bricks sitting unused in a near-by field. We asked Stanley, the Director of Bright Vision, what the story was. He told us that the community had molded hundreds of bricks from mud (hundreds of hours of labor) to build a nursery school center for the children, yet they could not afford the cement to erect the structure. It was this lack of access to basic material inputs that was keeping Bright Vision from advancing their programs.
Despite the material shortcomings of the organization, I was so impressed with Bright Vision’s motivation, initiative and resourcefulness with the few materials that they did have. Every notebook, pen, stapler, and pair of shoes provided to Bright Vision by Goods for Good was being utilized to its fullest.
At the end of our stay- we sat down with local leaders, executive committee members and volunteers to discuss their needs and future plans for the organization how Goods for Good can best assist them in achieving their goals.
To support an organization like Bright Vision, click here. A little bit goes a long way.
June 28, 2010
BIC Malawi Hand-Off Celebration
In March of this year, we reached out to BIC Malawi requesting assistance in the form of writing materials for our Pens for Progress initiative.
BIC Malawi responded soon thereafter by generously donating over 90,000 items to Goods for Good! The donation included much-needed basics such as pens, pencils, and markers, as well as some fun stuff, like glitter glue.
On June 11th, the Goods for Good Malawi staff, BIC Malawi representatives and our partners gathered at Chankungu Primary School to celebrate the donation, the biggest yet ever sourced from within Malawi. The goods will be distributed across all public schools supported by Goods for Good.
Click HERE to see more pictures from the celebration
Goods for Good matches excess goods with the needs of orphans and vulnerable children in the developing world.
