Future Events
Throughout the school year, if you are entertaining guests and would like to have a delicious South African meal completely prepared for you, contact me at bowden.jessica@yahoo.com. I will be happy to cook African "boboti" and provide all the condiments, as well as two desserts and a variety of side dishes. The cost will vary depending on how many guests you plan to invite, but all the proceeds will go directly to improving conditions for the children of Ivory Park.
Stay tuned for a 5K race in the spring!
Past Events
On Monday the 11th of August, a benefits concert for the children of Ivory Park, was held at Jammin' Java, a small concert and drinks place in Vienna. Titled "Rock for Life," the concert featured preformances by Luke Brindley, Swagger and Skank, the Noxious Band, the Shel Silversteins, Annie Long, and Moon Hostage Rebellion. The night was a huge success, and more than $1500 was raised in proceeds for the children.
Later that August, my cousin Sara Allen and I hosted another South African dinner in Montgomery County similar to the one I hosted last October. My Aunt Micheline, who lives in South Africa and works directly with the children, was in town, and she gave a beautiful and informative speach about what is currently happening in Ivory Park. She brought to my attention the pressing need for new plumbing systems in the preschools. The government had become aware that the plumbing systems in place were not sanatary enough for use by the children, and if they were not fixed the schools were in danger of losing their monthly governmental stipends- and thus possibly shutting down. Thanks to generous donations by the Montgomery County guests, my cousin and I raised another $1500 for the children that night.
I combined the proceeds from the Rock for Life concert and the South African Dinner to send over $3,000 to the organization in Ivory Park who works on the ground with the children. They say that this will be enough to cover the costs of setting up new plumbing systems for the children, and keeping the schools running. They are currently digging trenches and putting in cement slabs for the facilities at three of the preschools, and hope to complete the project as fast as possible.
In August and September, I organized a school supply drive for the children, and collected three large boxes of pens, pencils, paper, and other supplies from around the neighborhood. Thank you to everyone who donated! The items were shipped in early September, and I will post pictures of the children using them shortly. I was told in particular that the scissors were a huge hit!
On the 21st of October, 2008, more than 60 people showed up to my first big fund raising event: a South African dinner to raise money to buy enough heaters to keep the children warm in their schools during the winter. It gets very cold in Ivory Park in the winter months, due to its high altitude, and the children do not have many clothes or other ways to keep warm. My goal was to buy three heaters for each of the five schools - an effort that would cost $1500 total to achieve.
In preparation for the event, I made a powerpoint and speech to deliver to my guests, and cooked a full South African dinner: boboti and salad, complete with milk tart and mulva pudding for dessert. My uncle who lives in South Africa was in town for business, and he stopped by as well to give a speech about the lives of the residents of Ivory Park. At the end I asked for donations for the children, and the generosity shown by the guests simply blew me away. Together, we had raised over $1500, which is enough to buy all of the heaters. I set up a separate bank account specifically for TABY, and deposited all of the money into the account. While I was in this process, another act of kindness and generosity - by a complete stranger, no less - touched me greatly. The lady who was helping me set up the account asked me what I was raising money for, and when I told her, she waived the checking fee, and made her own generous donation on top of that. Everybody here is so kind and wonderful - I want to thank all who donated from the bottom of my heart.
It is now winter in South Africa, and the heaters have finally been purchased and installed! To see pictures, look at the photo gallery part of this website.