Are you one of the 500-odd bronies who read our last announcement, tuned in to our livestream, and thus got to enjoy half an hour with our suprise guest Lauren Faust? Congratulations!
Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and hail Eris!
Pick whichever greeting is most meaningful to you, because a heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone who has donated to the Seeds of Kindness 2 fundraiser or supported it in any other way: You have managed to fund the building that will soon be home to fifty or more orphans!
Some of you were especially generous, and while these donors may choose to remain anonymous, we can reveal that their contributions went as high as €3000. These donors have been contacted by email and can now choose from our list of Christmas presents. There were fewer top donors than prizes, so we will, with the permission of the prize donors, save the extra prizes for our next fundraiser.
Although the prizes are now gone, the Seeds of Kindness 2 fundraiser will remain open!
Your Siblings and Engineers Without Borders
Largely thanks to our December 22 livestream—where we were joined by
Amy Keating Rogers, Cindy Morrow, Sabrina Alberghetti, and Lauren Faust—we have not only fully funded the
orphanage in Uganda but have already raised several thousand euros towards the Engineers Without Borders project that aims to establish better water supply and sanitation for an orphanage and school in Manya, Uganda.
In the first phase of the project, the German branch of Engineers Without Borders wants to raise money for a thorough evaluation of possible solutions to the problems that plague that project. For years, a well at the site provided fresh water for the 25 orphans and the countless students from surrounding villages, but in 2009 the well collapsed, forcing the children to walk several miles every day to a spring to obtain barely drinkable water that has to be boiled to make it potable. The sanitary situation is also precarious, as liquid wastes from their dry well might contaminate the groundwater. Solutions that Engineers Without Borders considers include the restoration of the well and the building of a cistern. They also consider setting up composting toilets to thwart the contamination problem.
When we have fully funded that project, all further Seeds of Kindness 2 donations will go toward
the building of rainwater harvesting tanks in the Karagwe District in Tanzania. Below an excerpt from the official project description.
The inhabitants of Karagwe usually live in communities of four families widely scattered between their fields without any access to clean water.
Traditionally the children are responsible for fetching water and this has to happen at least three times a day. That’s why due to time shortage many of them have no chance to go to school.
The goal of this project is to support the water supply in the region by building water tanks with a cap that will collect the rainwater of the rainy season and store it for the dry season.
Please keep the donations coming!
Safe Project – Proposed Change in Strategy
Your Siblings has recently published a press release asking for your feedback on a proposed change to the general strategy of the latest project we supported. The orphanage originally planned to ensure its self-sufficiency through a chicken farming business, but changes in the economic situation in the country have made it necessary to rethink these plans.
New budget projections show that due to corporate competitors’ driving down egg prices and increasing prices for vitamins and vaccines, the chicken farm would barely be profitable anymore. However, the organizers of the project have recognized the situation and developed new plans for their self-sufficiency: A guest house, they found, would be at least three times as profitable, with additional chances to promising partnerships in the region.
The orphanage building itself—which we funded—is of course unaffected by these proposed changes.
PMV: Warbalist – Faithful and Strong (That’s What I Want to Be)
Finally, to celebrate the funding of the orphanage, here a PMV by OmaliAI for Warbalist’s song Faithful and Strong from our eponymous charity album. Enjoy!
