Want to change the world? Improve Education!

Education wins!  Better education will lead to better govenment, better technology, better food, and longer life expectancies.  WINS all around!

Want more good news?  Money donated for scholarships goes to pay teachers in the country and not donations of goods that can ruin markets in those countries.   More WINS!

More good news?  Better education is sustainable and expanding.  Better educated parents teach their children more.  Even more WINS!

Here is an example from a recent applicant to the HaitiScholarships program (we partner with HaitiScholarships on many many projects).

In Liberia, for about $40 a year a young child can go to school (remember these are the orphans whose parents have died from Ebola).  In Haiti, the costs are a bit higher, but for less than a dollar a day ($200 for primary, $350 for High School, $800 for College)

Don't think if it as a donation (although it is a taxable donation), think of it as an investment in a better world!

INTERNATIONAL SERVICE DAY

BonaResponds is sponsoring an International Service Weekend this year which will take place Saturday April 9th and Sunday April 10th. A whole weekend of good deeds and volunteering! International Service Weekend is when we ask people locally and around the world to go make the world a better place AND to share what they did.

Help those who need the help (we are all in need of help in some way), to show that problems are not insurmountable (together we can solve them), to remind everyone that we all have some skills that can be used to help others, and most importantly, to have fun.

Here are some examples of easy ways you can participate in International Service Weekend:

1. Clean up a local park
2. Read to students in a local school/community center
3. Pick up trash along a trail
4. Volunteer at or Donate to a food pantry
5. Help clean up an elderly neighbor’s yard
6. Visit someone in a nursing home
7. Help someone you know who needs a helping hand
8. Invite a lonely neighbor over for dinner
9. Etc., etc.

It is really that simple. Do a good deed and share it!

You can participate alone or with any sized group. We are open to anyone and willing to work with everyone. So go get involved; volunteer and change the world!   

Feel free to sign up or read more information about this event on our webpage:  http://bonaresponds.org/isd.html Watch for updates via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and our website: www.bonaresponds.org. Please tag us using #BonaReponds on your social media updates, reflections, photos, etc. or email us at BonaResponds@gmail.com. Thank You!!!

Christmas time...in Liberia

Let's take a virtual mind-tour today. As you read this, think of what it would be like to be in the shoes of the poor at our port of call.

Today we will be going to Liberia on the Western shores of Africa. As you now it was at the epicenter of the 2014 Ebola outbreak. It was also the location of two brutal civil wars in the decades before that.

It is a country where we can make a big difference in people’s lives for not too large of investment.

our virtual tour will be via:

https://helpified.com/paths/liberia

Which brings us to this AM. Bishop Nelson who we have worked with since the Ebola Crisis (and whom I learned of before the crisis via Pete at CYC) emailed the following this AM:

"As we reach the Christmas season in Liberia, the Christian Youth Corps - Africa celebrate the yearly youth camp right after the Christmas with street kids from market places, street kids from street corner and get-to the place gang.

Last Year 2014 the youth camp was celebrated with 118 Ebola victim orphans in Dolo Town, Maigibi County closed to the Robert International airport.

I teach finance, so let’s do the math.  

158 children at camp.  (98 from Orphanage + 10 Street Children + 50 from local churches)

4 days of camp

632 person camp days.

That is 54 cents per child per day.  

No, it will not solve all the world’s problems.  But it will give these children some structure, some learning, some food, and some hope.  That seems like a good investment to me.  Who agrees? Who is in?

Related articles

• UN in Liberia plans to hand over security next year to govt
• Liberian guests share documentary

Some good news from Haiti and Liberia!

From our FB wall:

Yesterday we got the great news on the composting toilets being installed in Lascahobas Haiti. That will play a great role in reducing disease and more (see the picture I added to comments below). Just thrilled by it! Great job Occeant Jean and Cherline Noel Oc!!!

In Cherline's words: we will teach children how to make compost........ they will help themselves in the future

It will have a GREAT IMPACT IN CANNOT 'S COMMUNITY
COMPOST CAN CHANGE OUR CHILDREN LIFE
CHILDREN IN CANNOT WILL BE ABLE TO BENEFIt:
1. DIGNIFIED SANITATION
2. TRANSFORM WASTE
3. GROWING AGRICULTURE

Then jumping over to Liberia, Bishop Nelson Sampson Boegbah sent his great news! The solar unit we purchased for their orphanage is now up and running!

BonaResponds would LOVE to get a few more of these projects off the ground and can with your help! Some of this will happen once the Bona Simm give away of $6,000 occurs n November 13 (we are currently in second place) and the money ($2000 for 2nd place) we get will be devoted to projects presented during ‪#‎BonasandBeyond‬.

But we also want to help some of the groups and schools who could not come to SBU earlier this month.

Rough costs (they vary):

1. Cost of a large solar electric system $3000USD
2. Cost of smaller solar electric system $1000-$1500
3. Cost of a three stall composting toilet $450
4. Cost of a student's partial scholarship in Haiti $200 per year
5. Cost of shipping a barrel of supplies to Haiti $140
6. Cost of planting 50 trees to combat deforestation $50
7. Cost of 2 soccer balls $25
8. Cost of an irrigation kit that last 7 years and a few packages of seeds $15

Let's make there be many more Good news days in the future! You can donate at http://BonaResponds.org as well as at @Haitischolarships.org(for #4)

Related articles

• Rural Improved Sanitation Facilities of Population by Country

Many of you don't know about the podcast

With school starting, I think it is a good time to remind everyone about the BonaResponds' Podcast.  It is a collection of interviews done over the past year or so.  It is available online at https://soundcloud.com/jim-mahar-1soundcloud and on iTunes.

Topics include BonaResponds' History, memorable trips, discussions with key volunteers (past and present), groups we work with, updates, and  conversations about how we can make the world a little better.  I am having a great time doing them (and listening to them!).  They are really fun and informative.

The most recent one (maybe not the best quality due to a poor connection) is with the leaders of CYC-Liberia.  A group we have worked with over the past year since the Ebola crisis of 2014.


Here is the iTunes link--please subscribe and listen! :)  you will like it

Related articles

• Japan, Liberia to improve health system after Ebola
• Last Known Ebola Patient in Sierra Leone Discharges From Hospital
• The toll of a tragedy

Notice Board Announcement

BonaResponds'  "Let's Go Viral to Fight Ebola" meeting

Super excited to announce a plan to help the many thousands of people affected by Ebola.  We will be launching a program where people across the country can help raise money for groups working on the front lines in the war on Ebola.

We are teaming up with local schools and CYC (the Christian Youth Corps) from Machias and Bradford to rake leaves for people.  In return, we will request a donation made to one of the organizations working in West Africa.

* Doctors Without Borders* Doctors Without Borders
* Partners in Health 
* Catholic Relief Services
* Kids for Christ / Christian Youth Corp - Monrovia Liberia (an orphanage/children's camp)

We think this could (and should) go viral.  Challenge your friends to raise $100 or else donate $5 themselves!

But we need help.

1. Leaders to help make a new website ASAP. (needs to be up and running by late Wednesday)
2. People to spread the idea to their local schools, churches, friends, etc.  (think Ice Bucket Challenge for cool autumn weather!)
3. People to volunteer to help rake leaves and more
4. People to be leaders!
5. Did I mention people to spread the word?   :)

Why? Simply because it is the right thing to do.  The heroes fighting this battle need our support.  The suffering must end.  The children who have lost their parents and all the people who are losing loved ones, need our support.  We can't go there.  But we can help.  And launching a viral attack on a killer virus just seems right!

There will be two immediate meetings:

9 pm (yes it is late and yes there is MNF, but come anyways) on Monday in the Swan Atrium.
and 5:15 PM on Tuesday again in the Swan Atrium (the 5:15 Tuesday is subject to change: follow BonaResponds on Twitter for updates.

See BonaResponds.orgSee BonaResponds.org for more info

Related articles

• Can U.S. soldiers fight Ebola spread?
• Ebola: US troops battle invisible enemy in Liberia - CNN