Changing lives through training

Sango is an orphan in the Congo, Africa, whose life could have turned out very differently. Without parents to support him, Sango missed out on school entirely. He never learnt to read or write, or do more than the basic maths he picked up on the streets of his town.

Congo_2A local NGO gave Sango the opportunity to enroll in their programs, and even having missed out on a primary and secondary education, he trained in carpentry and soon became a qualified carpenter. The NGO gave him the carpentry equipment he needed to start a small business, and today Sango is married, and earning an income to support his family.The NGO’s most successful programs is a training centre for widows, young adult orphans and other vulnerable people, where they teach job skills and equip trainees with the things they need to start earning a living.
To support their work against poverty, Crossroads is shipping a container of things like furniture, household and electrical goods, clothing to distribute to the poorest in the community, school and sports supplies for their work with children and youth, and much more. Helping change lives through training!


 


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Mrs Makiwa, was poor and vulnerable, but for a different reason. Mrs Makiwa’s husband died, leaving her without the means to earn more than a tiny subsistence income, and terrified for her children’s future.Mrs Makiwa trained in the NGO’s programs and was given a sewing machine to begin a tailoring business. Now, instead of living a hand-to-mouth existence as a poor widow, Mrs Makiwa is able to earn enough to take care of her children’s education and health needs, living together as a family.

This shipment will include furniture, to continue to train widows like Mrs Makiwa a chance to earn for her family and overcome poverty in DR Congo.

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DR Congo Snapshot

Population: 77.43 million
Capital: Kinshasa

DR Congo is located in central sub-Saharan Africa, straddling the equator. It experiences the highest frequency of thunderstorms in the world with a tropical climate.

Although, one of the most resource rich nations in the world,  74% of people in DR Congo live below the international poverty line of US$1.25/day, one of the highest rates in the world.

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West Africa is a hot-spot for chocolate slavery. Children as young as 8 can be found putting in back-breaking days wielding sharp machetes or handling hazardous pesticides. Few children on chocolate farms attend school.

Where Divine’s cocoa is grown, things are different. The women who work with their supplier in Ghana, cocoa cooperative Kuapa Kokoo, care as much about investing their communities as they do about the cocoa they produce. The extra income generated by fair trade operations benefits not just the farmers, but the area’s children, like Jennifer (below).

When Jennifer was younger, she had to make a difficult choice: to live with her family or to go to school. Even though the closest school was 2 hours away, education was important to Jennifer and her family, so she left home and attended school far away, knowing it was the only way to reach her dream of becoming a nurse.

Today, though, Jennifer no longer has to make that choice. Her area is home to Divine chocolate’s cocoa supplier Kuapa Kokoo. With fair trade premiums invested by the women of Kuapa, new schools have now been built in Jennifer’s village. She can live with her family again, as well as get the education she needs to become a nurse and care for people in her community.

Global Handicrafts sells a wide range of Divine’s chocolates, including our larger 100g blocks and powdered drinking chocolate, as well as the snack-sized 50g bars available in-store!

* Story and photos courtesy of Divine chocolate.

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It might not look like a treasure chest. But the 40 foot shipping container outside the only school in Kamwokya slum is filled with valuables that are changing Ugandan futures, one child at a time. Children in the densely packed, dangerous Kamwokya slum once had nowhere to go to school, while their parents went to work in surrounding neighbourhoods. Now, this school is a beacon of hope, educating 2,000 pupils, not just in academic subjects but in life skills, job training and children’s rights.

FABBAs container provides valuable storage space at Ugandan slum school ...

They struggle with very few resources, though. We responded with the shipment sent by Fund Managers, Asian Bankers and Brokers Awards (FABBAs). As a result, the school library in Kamwokya is now filled with text books, the boys’ soccer team wears uniforms, the students sit at new desks and chairs, and some of the poorest students, who previously slept on the floor, now have soft new mattresses and warm blankets. All have a new zeal to attend school each day.

 

It’s FABBAs – our largest single donor in 13 years – who made this possible. At their 2013 banquet, FABBAs raised a staggering HK$1.5 million for Crossroads’ operations and international shipments.

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Uganda Snapshot

Population: 37.58 million
Capital: Kampala

Uganda is a fertile, land-locked country in East Africa, in the Africa Great Lakes region, with a tropical climate.

Great progress has been made in fighting HIV in Uganda, but 1.5 million people still live with the disease, and there are 1 million children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

39% of girls are married by the age of 18. 37.7% of people in Uganda live below the international poverty line of US$1.25/day.

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Fiji village schoolchildren are ready to learn but struggle with few resources.

Fiji village schoolchildren are ready to learn but struggle with few resources.

Behind the perfect beaches and five star resorts, much of Fiji’s rural population lives in poverty, with many unable to meet the basic needs of their families. Village life can be idyllic, but people here, like anywhere, want to see their children able to learn, thrive and stay in school.

One Hong Kong school in Shatin has been working with a community in Fiji for some years to revitalise and refurbish their local school, to help more children stay in school longer.

Crossroads' shipment includes more than 100 school desks to help upgrade classrooms.

Crossroads’ shipment includes more than 100 school desks to help upgrade classrooms.

“Parents there want their children to succeed and get into high school,” said the project’s coordinator, a teacher at the Shatin school, but, he said, the ageing buildings and lack of resources place the children at a constant disadvantage. Only one school building has electricity, there are very few books, or basic supplies such as chalk and they don’t have enough school furniture to cater for all their students. “Half of the classes are held on the floor,” the teacher said.

Crossroads is shipping bathroom fittings like basins and toilet bowls to upgrade school facilities.

Basins, toilet bowls and other bathroom fittings from Hong Kong will upgrade school facilities.

Teams from the school have visited Fiji as part of their community service curriculum and have helped to renovate and refurbish parts of the school, but there were supplies and equipment that they didn’t have, which they knew could make an even greater difference. They asked Crossroads to help put together a container of goods, and, joyfully, the Hong Kong teachers themselves came to Crossroads to load the shipment! It is, however, the community members in Fiji themselves who are the greatest drive behind the school’s revitalisation. “Despite everything, these are the happiest people you will ever meet,” staff wrote.  “All four villages around the school are so excited about the container and fixing the school up.”

We’re thankful to the school for making this shipment happen, and to countless other schools around Hong Kong who’ve been equally generous with their hands, hearts and pockets, partnering on other shipments. If your school would like to work with Crossroads on an international shipment, or on a project right here in Hong Kong, we’d love to talk. Email partnerships@crossroads.org.hk

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Donate to a shipment like this one.

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DONATE GOODS

Fiji Snapshot

Population: around 850,000
Capital: Suva
Population living below the national poverty line of US$3.3 per day: 45%

Compared to its neighbours, Fiji is relatively well developed, though it is the 61st poorest country in the world, comparable with the Philippines.

Fiji consists of 332 islands, of which 110 are inhabited.

Fiji’s main island is known as Viti Levu and it is from this that the name “Fiji” is derived.

S3906 Fiji Project Profile_EDITED-11

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“The majority of schools in rural Nepal are inadequately resourced,” says the NGO, First Steps Himalaya. “Children often have to sit on dirty floors without a teacher present.” This group is building early childhood centres in Nepal that use vibrant educational materials to give little ones a healthy start for their school career. When Morgan Stanley wanted staff to volunteer their time as part of their CSR programme, we partnered with Global Equity Brokers to link them with First Steps Himalaya.

The Morgan Stanley staff designed and created English flash cards that are now in use in Nepalese kindergarten classrooms. They also created more than 500 back-toschool kits to transform educational life for children who have never seen a pen before. Educational investment always pays dividends. Giving a child a fair start in life can be transformative in ways impossible to measure.

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The boys and girls at Aplichau Kaifong Primary School  face more challenges than most. Many of their families rely on welfare and the kids, often, don’t have the same computer advantages as their Hong Kong peers.

The Rotary Club of Hong Kong South approached Crossroads, wanting to help upgrade AKPS’s computer systems. Like students everywhere, the kids pick up IT skills at lightning speed, but their computers had not been supporting the needed software, their Principal, Fung Pik Yee, told us.

 Aplichau computers (2)

Crossroads was delighted to partner with Rotary and AKPS to supply refurbished, up-to-date sets of computers and monitors, network equipment and a new firewall for security.  “The children use them for reading programs and exercises,” Principal Fung. As soon as the computers were installed, the eager students began working them to the maximum.

If you are upgrading your computers, at home or at work, please let Crossroads know. We may well be able to use your older computers, if they are still relevant to current usage, to help change the learning experience for more students like these.

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Life’s brighter for Hong Kong’s visually impaired kids, thanks to the rich education they can access  at Ebenezer School for the Visually Impaired. Crossroads was delighted to partner with the school and to bring a smile to scores of little faces, by donating toys for their 2012 Christmas party.

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The United Nations’ Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, tells a poignant story of his childhood. “I grew up in a society ravaged by war and mired in poverty. Schools had been destroyed. My classes were held in the open under a tree. We had no desks, chairs or other basic necessities. The Republic of Korea was on its knees, but education enabled the country to stand tall again.”

“Even in the worst circumstances, education helps to give children confidence to face the future… I want every child, without exception, to have the same opportunity that I had. The power of education to transform lives is universal.”

In 2012, Ban Ki-moon called together a coalition of UN personnel, NGOs, politicians and corporations to fight together for the educational needs of the planet. The UN approached our Global Hand team, asking if we could  support this by tailoring the software we developed for business.un.org so that all these groups could make formally commit to seeing education reach children around the world.

Cambodia: Bullet shells to Peace Doves

Decades ago, bombshells ripped through Cambodia, scarring the land and its people. Young Heang was a little toddler when his family...

read more ...

Ukraine: losing everything

“Everything broke in my head, soul and body. You are alive but you don’t feel alive.”  A Ukrainian military leader spoke...

read more ...

Hong Kong: Once in a Century Storm

The furious downpour was the longest recorded in Hong Kong's history, leading to severe flooding and massive damage.  Affected families were...

read more ...

The Philippines: Under the Shadow of a Volcano

Living beside an active volcano is not for the faint of heart. It's true that there are many advantages, if little...

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Established in 1977, Gospel House Handicrafts produces quality wooden educational aids and recreational toys under fair trade conditions. Its mission is to raise the standard of living of employees, producers and their relevant communities in Sri Lanka, many of whom have few opportunities for training and employment. Gospel House also aims to add value to the country’s sustainable resources. By purchasing these products, you are helping improve the quality of life of these individuals in Sri Lanka.

Cambodia: Bullet shells to Peace Doves

Decades ago, bombshells ripped through Cambodia, scarring the land and its people. Young Heang was a little toddler when his family...

read more ...

Ukraine: losing everything

“Everything broke in my head, soul and body. You are alive but you don’t feel alive.”  A Ukrainian military leader spoke...

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The furious downpour was the longest recorded in Hong Kong's history, leading to severe flooding and massive damage.  Affected families were...

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