united sorry

You might think what has this photo to do with the email you find under here, don’t know so well too. Maybe because it is cold but the bus is running on time and we have clothes to warm us and we love our child and we want her to grow up in a better world…

So, here the email I received from Benjamin Vandewalle. I really like what he is doing there and I hope you will support him too.

Dear Family and Friends,

I’d like to ask you to give me 10 minutes of your time and read this email carefully. Please, please read it right to the end!

As most of you know, I’m in South Africa for a while, to be exact in Soweto, the biggest township here, half an hour by car from Johannesburg. It was here that the uprising against apartheid, led among others by Nelson Mandela, started. In 1994 “the System” was finally abolished after many years of resistance to it.
Democracy has been in place for 14 years now and everyone has the same rights. But, after all those years, there is still a huge amount of poverty and criminality. A lot has improved compared with a few years ago but there is still much to be done.

When you walk through some neighbourhoods in the centre of Soweto it is incredible how much rubbish there is lying around in the streets. Every 5 minutes you come across an illegal rubbish dump, which means that what would otherwise be a small park has become a stinking no-go area, ideal for illegal activities. And if you go somewhere by bus you can drive through absolutely beautiful countryside but every so often a window is opened and a plastic bag thrown out. A number of small rivers flow through Soweto. Very beautiful from a distance but from close by the water is cloudy and dirty and there is rubbish along the banks.

The biggest cause of this environmental pollution is simply a lack of ecological knowledge and awareness. There is a huge lack of awareness of the consequences of all this environmental pollution, both locally and on a global scale. An unawareness that is very dangerous but which it is easy to do something about.
This is why I have decided, together with SOMOHO, to start the Garbage Snake project. It is an educational, ecological programme that will take place in three stages in collaboration with 5 different junior schools and a group of 50 volunteers. The organisation together with which I will work, SOMOHO (Soweto Mountain of Hope), is a community project that, for about 20 years, has used volunteers to, in various ways, make the neighbourhood a safer and pleasanter place in which to live. Ecology is their greatest concern. Their biggest project is the conversion, together with people from the neighbourhood, of a large rubbish tip, that used to be a place where a huge amount of criminal activity occurred, into an ecological park where all kinds of activities are organised for the locals.

The first step is, together with a team of guest teachers, to go along the schools and, by means of all kinds of workshops, provide them with information about the ecological problems on a global scale and then take a look at local problems. During these workshops they will also be taught “the Garbage Snake Dance”. This is a choreography created with the intention of, with a group of 60 to 100 children, walking and dancing along the streets, picking up and collecting all the rubbish they come across. During the workshops we will also make costumes and instruments from rubbish for the Snake together with them.
The second step is that, on 10th March, a huge “Garbage Snake Day” will be held whereby all the schools, leaving from 5 different spots, will “Snake dance” through the streets, dressed in all kinds of costumes and accompanied by live music, to then come together at a location where a mini festival will be held. Prizes will be awarded to the school that has collected the most rubbish. First prize is 100 trees, second prize 75 trees and third prize 50 trees, etc.
The third step is that, afterwards, all the rubbish will be taken back to the schools where, during waste-into-art workshops (something for which SOMOHO is known), it will be converted into works of arts. The planting of the trees will be supervised and adoptive parents appointed.

The plans for the project don’t stop here. This project is something that SOMOHO wants to become provincial and then national. Everything from step one to the end will be recorded and turned into a manual that can then be sent to schools.
In addition to the fact that we are working to improve ecological awareness and the streets round here will be cleaner and tidier, the schools which, as you can imagine, do not have much in the way of resources, are provided with additional activities for the children which will give them a chance to develop their creativity. In addition, there is the fact that lots of the volunteers taking part are people who are unemployed (unemployment is very high here, as in many Third World countries). It is not that we provide them with employment but we do give them something to do, something they can work on, something they can grow towards, and we give them the chance to gain experience. A large cultural activity will be organised (the Day of the Snake), whereby we want to ask artists to create something around the theme of ecology. Trees will also be planted.

It is also a project that is more than just tidying the streets, it is about taking care of and having respect for the neighbourhood and the environment but also about having respect for and taking care of yourself and others. And it gives the people and the neighbourhood a sense of satisfaction that they have done something themselves, that have achieved something and can be proud of themselves. It is a project that helps to heal the wounds left by colonialism and apartheid.

But now… the reason why I’m sending you this e-mail and have explained the project to you.

In order to give the project a chance of success we need a mini budget to give the project visibility and to be able to provide the volunteers with food and drink. The latter is a golden rule here in South Africa. It doesn’t matter what you organise. A meeting, a birthday, whatever… if you want people to come you have to ensure that there is food and drink because otherwise half of the people don’t come. The food is kept till last because once it is gone everyone leaves.
We will work together with about 80 children per school plus a group of 50 volunteers. That is a total of 450 people. We estimate 4 euros per person, which covers two meals and a T-shirt. In total this is a budget of 2050 euro plus another 450 euro for extra costs such as publicity, transportation and communication.

We are busy looking for sponsors here, it looks as if we may get something here and there, but up till now we have nothing. As you can imagine, South Africa is not one of the richest countries in the world.

Like all voluntary projects, we depend totally on external support. The success or failure of the project depends largely on the sponsorship. It would be such a shame if a project like this, which has so much to offer, so many trump cards, and a huge potential to evolve even further, were to fall through.

Which is why I want to ask you whether you would like to sponsor the project. It doesn’t need to be much. Every little helps!!!!!

Our desire and determination to realise this project is immeasurable and nothing will stop us. But with your help everything will be so much easier and the chance of success so much greater.

If you want to give the people here in South Africa a cleaner and therefore safer and pleasanter place to live, if you want to help fight the destruction of the countryside, to inform the people about ecological problems that are becoming increasingly serious here in a place where it is not to easy to obtain that information, to give people the chance to be creative instead of hanging around in the streets and ending up involved in crime, to give them the chance to be proud of themselves and have a feeling of self-worth, a feeling that they can achieve something, then PLEASE support this project!!!!

What I would like to suggest is using a system whereby you sponsor one or more children from one of the schools, with a donation of 4 euro per child.
For every 4 euro I guarantee that a child will be given two meals and a T-shirt plus, in addition, a day he or she will never forget!!!

I will also keep everyone informed of the progress of the project with text and photos!

Please pay the amount decided by you with the reference “Garbage Snake” into the bank account below and, at the same time, send me an e-mail telling me the number of children that you have sponsored. plekie3248@yahoo.com

I hope I can count on your support…

Thank you for reading this e-mail.

Regards from an extremely hot South Africa

Benjamin Vandewalle
Fortis Bank
Bank account number: 001-3413456-05
IBAN number: BE 96 00 13 41 34 56 05
SWIFT code: GEBABEBB