Things are coming along in preparation for Tanzania.  The construction itself is debuting on May 10th 2010 and we hope to have the project finished by July 29th, 2010.  A couple of more fundraisers are scheduled to take place in Dublin, Ireland and Montreal, Quebec in the upcoming months.  We are still looking for volunteers if anyone is interested please see our Tanzania Project page.

ROTH is the happy recipient of the Carrying out projects – here and abroad grant provided by Sanofi-Aventis’ Humanitarian Partnership programme.  This 5,000 Euro grant will allow our partners SWAK (Society for Women and AIDS in Kenya) to train an additional 100 community based health care workers to continue their care of over 400 Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) through out the Nakuru district.

We are happy to report that things are very well at the Hijos de Manana Day Care Center!  The Peruvian government closed all schools for five weeks in July and August as a precaution against H1N1 but the children happily resumed class afterwards.  Many thanks again to our volunteers, partners, donors, and workers for providing these children with an education they would have otherwise missed out on!

Often deprived of a secondary education, Maasai girls are frequently obliged to discontinue their education after grade 5.  For our Summer 2010 project ROTH will be venturing to Arusha, Tanzania to build the Maasai Women's Education Centre in partnership with MWEDO (Maasai Women Education and Development Organisation).  

ROTH is happy to announce that over 115 children are now attending the Hijos de Luya Daycare Centre!  Thanks to the hard work of volunteers and the generosity of donors these children will now receive 2 healthy meals a day, vaccinations and a basic education that will ensure their enrolment into the local Primary School.  On behalf of all of us at ROTH, thank you to all those who helped make this project possible!

In January, ROTH Volunteers Thomas and Sashana spent a week volunteering at Tierra Hermana.  A ROTH partner, Tierra Hermana is a centre catering to the needs of 19 boys with troubled pasts.  While in Lima, they visited the Hijos de Luya Day Centre and ran various workshops with the children.  Here's what they had to say about their experience: 

It’s hard to believe it’s all over.  On the morning of December 8th, joined by all those whose paths we had had the opportunity to cross over the past three months, we officially inaugurated the “Guarderia Infantil Hijos de Luya”. 

This week we watched various loose ends come together; yielding something that is starting to resemble more and more of a finished product.  We have started to get into the routine of gradually bringing down the existing furniture from the temporary school to receive a new paint job.