This website is designed to help you join me in the 2010 Seva Challenge.
Be a part of the change!
Be a part of an amazing journey of Seva (selfless service) by joining the Emerald Coast Seva Challenge set by Tammy for 20 individuals to raise $1,000 each or as much as you can by the end of 2010 and then you will go on a wonderful & relaxing yoga retreat with me in Destin Florida.
The top 20 individuals that help raise the most money will enjoy the FREE Yoga Retreat weekend with me in Destin, Florida.
I am taking the "Seva Challenge" set up by the famous Los Angeles based Yoga Teacher Seane Corn and Off the Mat, Into the WorldÆ Team to raise $20,000 in 2010 for African children with HIV/AIDS.
When I meet my goal of $20,000, I will be going to South Africa with Seane to work on these projects (see below) with other yogi's who have also met the challenge.
 | Seane Corn imagescourtesy of OTM |
What is the Seva Challenge?
The Seva Challenge asks participants to raise significant funds in support of a select few organizations working to eradicate the tremendous financial and health crises that exist in Africa, and creating sustainable solutions for communities in crisis. This effort helps participants know that they are leaders who have the ability to find, support and manifest a dream. We then take a small group of leaders and push them to expand their self-confidence and capabilities by exposing them to unique physical and spiritual challenges. We will leave Africa knowing we have been in deep service and have left a powerful legacy.
Off The Mat, Into The World www.offthematintotheworld.com
is an organization committed to helping alleviate the suffering of children, working towards sustainable living, and helping to create a higher quality of living in some of the most impoverished areas of the world. OTM is also dedicated to ‘supporting cultures and communities where basic human need are at risk' through their yearly Seva Challenge.
"Over 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS today, with 67% living in sub-saharan Africa. "
image courtesy of OTM
The money raised will go towards the following:
Working closely with YouthAIDS, TAC and the Linawo School in South Africa, we will help to fund and build health and education programs that will provide tools and resources for the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
About Linawo School
Linawo Children's Home was started in 2002 by Ivy Konisi and some members of her Khayelitsha based church. The home was started in response to the need to provide these children with adequate care that, for various reasons, their parents were not able to provide. Soon children were being left with Mama Ivy resulting in her needing to find alternative accommodation for the children. After a few temporary destinations, LCW now has the use of an unused creche in Elsies River (about 15km from Cape Town). The home currently accommodates 15 children between the ages of 1 and 10 years. There are 4 full-time childcare works, a full-time cleaner, part-time secretary and a full-time manager, all of whom receive a stipend for the work that they do.
The breakdown of funds and where the funds go…
Direct Community Support: up to 80% of the funds raised will support creation and sustainability of partner projects in South Africa.
Seva Participant Travel for Tour: 5% support for air and ground travel, accommodations and trip facilitation for two weeks for each Bare Witness Tour participant.
OTM Administrative and Urban Seva Support: remaining funds support continued expansion and sustainability of the Urban Seva Project, as well as administrative support for all OTM programs and projects.
* See below for specific projects we will be doing in South Africa.
Interested in helping me? It’s easy. All you need to do is to contact me:
Tammy Binkley, 850-246-1112 or email tommyandtammy@cox.net
This is an opportunity for me, with your help, to make a positive difference in the world.
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Click link below to watch a short VIDEO on Off the Mat, Into the World®.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzykt559WH4
OVERVIEW OF PARTNERS AND PROJECTS FOR SEVA CHALLENGE SOUTH AFRICA
It has been a decade or more since Africa as a whole was struck by the devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic. Shifting the focus down to South Africa, statistics around HIV/AIDS transmission had been growing dramatically to a point that South Africa had been marked as the most country with the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate. During the initial stages of the pandemic the focus was only around one high risk group, the adults: woman and man. As time passed on, gradually there was a great yet fundamental shift as the number of woman victims increased plus this caused a significant shift to the society at large. Because the emphasis has always been largely based upon adults, it has taken many years to understand the devastating effect HIV/AIDS has had on children’s lives.
Due to the issues mentioned above there is now a growing concern over a number of orphans HIV/AIDS has created. Children in affected families are deprived of their childhood and the privileges of living in a safe environment. These children are then forced to leave school early and look for jobs so to shoulder the burden of their families. Apart from the obvious fallout of malnutrition, other problems relate to increased demands and the problems arising from being orphaned. Numbers of orphaned and vulnerable children are likely to increase, posing serious threats to socio-economic structures. Through Off the Mat's South Africa Seva Challenge, we will be developing support through numerous projects that will provide services for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS or other factors.
The Bare Witness Humanitarian Tour this year will begin with a deep exploration of some of the root causes of the HIV/AIDS proliferation in South Africa including Apartheid and its subsequent economic consequences. We will be doing extensive educational seminars and fieldwork with YouthAIDS, we will be funding programs and facilities for babies and young orphans, working with Earthchild, we will be turning an organic garden into a self sustainable training and resource center, in collaboration with GOLD, we will providing resources for peer educators to develop and implement projects that directly serve the needs of their local community, finally, we will be providing funds for construction of a halfway house offering vocational training and life skills for orphans who will be transitioning into society at large.
The following is information and links to connect you to our partners for Seva Challenge South Africa:
YOUTHAIDS
YouthAIDS is an HIV/AIDS education and prevention initiative that raises much needed funding for HIV AIDS awareness programs across the globe. YouthAIDS programs offer creative interventions that are appropriate to the specific health needs and cultural settings of each country in which it works.
IN THE FIELD
The OTM group will be hosted by Peer Educators and will observe Interpersonal Communication discussion. This will give a broad overview of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and how it affects the youth and how the youth are responding to the challenge. We will be part of a street campaign showing cases how YouthAIDS reaches youth that are out of school and how they mobilize community members to get tested for HIV. Then the OTM group will observe and participate in a clinic talk campaign targeting sexually active youth particularly females. We will travel to the YouthAIDS door to door condom distribution campaign site. Individuals will be paired with the Peer Educations then go door to door distributing condoms and IEC information. We will also be able to observe YouthAIDS radio talk show at radio Zibonele, Khayelistsha.
FUNDING
$50K
EARTHCHILD PROJECT
The Earthchild Project focuses on the holistic development of children, teachers, schools and communities. Their aim is to create meaningful and sustainable change by providing practical skills in how to live a more balanced and fulfilling life with a focus on self-awareness, health and wellness, and the environment.
IN THE FIELD
We will work with Earthchild Project visiting one of their schools and participate in the Children’s Yoga Club. They also have a large organic vegetable garden and worm farms which are maintained by the children. Alongside the children, we will be working in the gardens and transforming them into a self sustainable training and resource center. We will be accompanied by other local yogis.
FUNDING
$25K (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
SOUTH AFRICAN WHOLE GRAIN BREAD PROJECT
The South African Whole Grain Bread Project aims to establish community-based micro bakeries to produce fresh, high quality, whole grain bread to improve the nutrition of health-compromised and malnourished adults and children. The bread will help satisfy the dietary needs of malnourished HIV/AIDS positive individuals who need to improve their health in order to allow retroviral drugs to work effectively. In addition to the health objectives, the baking initiative has been designed as a small business/ social development project that will encourage income generation opportunities for South Africans living with HIV/AIDS.
IN THE FIELD
We will be funding the construction of the OTM Bakery that will be built prior to our arrival. During the trip, we will have a number of opportunities to work alongside members of the local community, baking and distributing bread to the local townships.
FUNDING
$50K
GOLD PEER EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
GOLD is a dynamic not-for-profit organization playing an important role in the transformation of under-served communities in South Africa, Botswana and Zambia. GOLD (Generation of Leaders Discovered) is rolling out a strategic long-term youth peer education model that focuses on equipping youth to help education in difficult circumstances and to promote the holistic well being of their peers and ultimately their communities in a structured and sustainable manner.
IN THE FIELD
We will be working closely with select peer educators and providing them with the resources to develop and implement one community based project in the course of 2011 that responds to identified needs of the community. Each community is different and the peer educators will tackle their chosen issue through a contextually relevant project. The types of projects they might initiate include the following:
Planting a food garden to feed local orphans and vulnerable children. This will address food insecurity, which is a root cause of many youth risk factors and a primary reason for under performance at school and is in turn fuelling HIV and AIDS.
Painting/renovating a local service centre like a clinic, school or community hall.
Setting up homework clubs for younger children where peer educators do homework with the younger learners and feed them.
Regularly creating food parcels – buying food and making up food parcels to give to the poorest of the poor in their communities, especially those with HIV/AIDS.
Starting support groups for teenage moms – for this you need a venue.
Sanitary products distribution - Starting a girls-in-school outreach where the peer educators buy sanitary products and hand these out regularly to girls in schools. Recent research has shown that poor girls can miss up to 5 days a month on school because they can not afford sanitary products and are embarrassed to go to school.
FUNDING
$50K
LINAWO CHILDRENS HOME
Linawo Children’s Home is a residential home that cares for abandoned, neglected and orphaned children as a result of substance abuse, poverty and/or HIV/AIDS. Included in this group are children with disabilities and HIV. Linawo Children’s Home is currently situated in Khayelitsha, Cape Town although they are trying to purchase property so at to provide the children a stable and secure home.
The Home was started in 2002 by Ivy Konisi who was involved in her church’s outreach ministry to the community and discovered that there were children who were abandoned and lacked proper care in their homes. Some parents were abusing alcohol and gave no attention to their children's welfare. While other parents needed a haven for their children because they were either suffering from illnesses or their circumstances were not suitable for raising children.
Linawo currently provides temporary and permanent residential, physical and emotional care for 15 children between the ages of 1 and 12 years. Care will continue until the children are 18 years of age when we hope to further support them through tertiary/higher education. Education funds have been started for this purpose. The long term mission of the home is not merely to provide food and shelter for children but to rehabilitate their lives and develop good and honest characters so that they can become adults how make an effective contribution to our society. Their vision is to have a number of satellite homes in different communities around the country where not more than 20 children are cared for on one premises so as to maintain a family environment.
IN THE FIELD
In addition to providing funding for the acquisition of a new home, we will be spending quality time with the children doing yoga, art and music, skill sharing and other activities.
FUNDING
$25K (SUBJECT TO CHANGE )
WENDE RABO (WILL OF GOD) HALFWAY HOUSE
The Wende Rabo project will construct a recovery house that will allow young people to begin the process of reintegration with society, whilst providing monitoring and support, creating livelihood opportunities by providing education as well improving capacities for young people. Creation of a farm residence will assist youth who have left highly structured institutions to adjust to and reenter society and live within its accepted norms and standards as well being capable of independence. 18 and 21 year olds who are at risk may be released to facilities of this kind located within the community and usually with no security other than supervised regimen of sign-in, sign-out, and curfew rules. The halfway house provides a supervised and restricted environment in which to ascertain the young Adults/youth’s ability to form a productive life in society.
IN THE FIELD
We will provide funding for the recovery house and visit with the occupants for two days of intense interaction and skill sharing.
FUNDING
$50K