We fight for the right to a bright future
After publishing a story about SlumFighters on their website, among other NGO’s, Goodwings collected funds on behalf of all of us. On their mission to provide sustainable travel, they never forgot about contributing with a broader horizon. Thank you for the donation, Goodwings!
Our friend and contact in Paraispolis, Acacio, is an active member of the community, but above all a gifted musician. A connection was made by Slumfighters with a Dutch architect, Maarten Nieuwenhuize, who also doubles as a member of a samba collective Boombasstic. Not long after Boombasstic made a collective effort with two other samba bands from Utrecht and formed the Brazilian Flavor Collective. Together they wrote a programme for sambaworkshops by Acacio, collected funding and enabled Acacio to travel to Utrecht and share his real Brazilian flavor. As a commemoration this certificate was given. Obrigado!
Does this look like some good vibes to you?
We can now officially announce that SLUMFIGHTERS international has been designated by the Dutch Tax Office as a Public Benefit Organisation (in Dutch: Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling, or ANBI)!
The most important conditions are:
Continue reading “Registered as ANBI (Public Benefit Organisation)”
We held the last of the four sessions of the Dream House project at the Trajectum College in Utrecht for this school year. This session was lively as always, and the boys and girls eager to show their ideas, stories and art.
This time they experimented with perspective drawing techniques and drawing floor plans to scale. It is really amazing to see hidden talents uncovered, because some designs show remarkable maturity.
We had extra guests: the class mentor and the new school director. Ofcourse they joined in the traditional ‘Vote for your favorite’ competition. And somehow they and Kria voted for the same house…
Next year we are looking to develop the course further, involving job orientation in technology and construction, together with the municipality of Utrecht.
Thanks to the research and contacts of Chloe Charreton, Kria was introduced to Papa Diakhate. Born in St Louis in the north, he and his parents moved to the big city of Dakar, like so many in the neighborhood.
Especially during the drought of the 1980s rural immigrants sought refuge in the city. And they found open areas they could build their houses. They did not know this used to be the bottoms of a series of lakes in the dunes of Dakar. The location is reasonably close to the city and all the employment opportunities, so more people kept coming in.
But when the rain and the water returned, the neighborhood simply floods. And this happens basically every year. Papa Diakhate mobilized the neighborhood to safe what they can and reinforce houses. And if all fails people are evacuated to the local school.
Is there a way to sustainably and structurally improve the situation?
Today Gibson Maina from MLAHRA (Mathare Legal Aid and Human Rights Advocacy) is meeting with builders from Mathare who will calculate the costs for the renovation plans of the Undugu Oasis!
The design for phase 1 of the Undugu Oasis has been finished. Above is an impression of the end result, of the renovation of one of the community halls. This step was the favorite of the workshop sessions. Why is this so important?
Slumfighter Kria doubles as an architect in Studio ROSA and was hired to assist the NGO Mama Alice in Peru.
The NGO Mama Alice is established in 2005 by Frederique Kallen. This passionate woman from Limburg, the Netherlands, is dedicating to support more or less 500 children and youngsters with psychology, education and health care in Ayacucho. Ayacucho is a beautiful, historic city in the Andes Mountains. However it is a poor city with many social problems.
To give the children a better future, Mama Alice also offers vocational trainings to young people who have no access to the labour market and who come from a difficult situation with domestic violence and poverty. Every year between 50 and 100 pupils, in the age of 16 to 24 years old, take part in the vocational training courses of Mama Alice. Those trainings will improve their self-image, their position in the labour market and develop themselves personally and socially.
The restaurant will offer relaxing weekends in a beautiful and peaceful environment and will give the opportunity to enjoy meals prepared with honest and local ingredients, partly grown in our own vegetable and fruit garden. Besides that the water for all sanitary facilities will be filtered, cleaned and reused and all materials used within the Ecolodge will be sustainable.
NGO Mama Alice Peru will become less dependent from funds from third parties and becomes more self-sufficient: a social enterprise thus as a big step towards a financially sustainable future. Profits from the restaurant will be partly reinvested into the business itself and partly will flow back to the NGO Mama Alice Peru.
With this support Mama Alice will offer educational and psychosocial programs to yearly 500 children. We hope that you want to help realizing the dream of hundreds of young people by donating for this beautiful project.
May we serve you a delicious meal? – Mama Alice Studio Rosa QuinuaQ – YouTube
In the final report of the Dutch Undugu Society, the Undugu-Slumfighters collaboration was mentioned. We are happy by this formal recognition of our trajectory together so far. And we will keep you updated on progress!
http://undugu.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Undugu-Nieuwsbrief-najaar-2017.pdf
We are part of a nice selection of pioneers in slum upgrading that is gathering at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam. We are going to discuss what modern cities of today can learn from the infamous, unplanned and challenging chaos that is a slum; and what citizens can learn from the resourceful communities that inhabit these informal settlements.
Tickets(free) available for 26 June 2017:
https://dezwijger.nl/programma/lessons-from-the-slums