[Stoves] Humanitarian goods from ETHOS to the PCIA conference

[ken goyer]

Are you going to the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air Conference in 
Kampala this March? Or, are you going to Uganda sometime in 2009?

  <>You can help Aid Africa.

Aid Africa works in IDP or refugee camps in Northern Uganda where two 
million people live under the direst of conditions. We also support an 
orphanage in Jinja.

Our organization's mission is to bring poor people out of poverty. Most 
of these refugees have nothing, so the incidental things you have lying 
around the house can be put to good use. You can help a lot of people 
very easily if you will just fill a second suitcase with your leftovers. 
Our Aid Africa staff will distribute your donations to very needy people.

  <>A great way to get things donated is to ask your friends, or ask at 
meetings that you attend, like the Rotary Club, Kiwanis, or your church. 
Even try asking organized charities such as the Goodwill, the Salvation 
Army, or St. Vincent DePaul to donate things for this cause. Maybe other 
stores will make donations of useful items.

   What Should You Bring?

<>

       Bedding, such as sheets and blankets. Imagine having a malaria 
chill and not having a blanket. Thousands of people sleep on the ground 
without even a blanky.

        Towels and wash clothes

        Infants clothing and accessories such as cloth diapers and blankets

        Children's clothing, especially girl's dresses.

        Cloth and sewing supplies. If you have some cloth you intended 
to sew into something and never got around to it, now is a good time to 
donate it for a good             cause. Cloth can and will be sewn into 
many useful items. Yarn is also useful.

 Hand tools. Carpentry tools and mechanics tools, any kind of non 
electric tools. I have taken my duplicate carpentry tools to Uganda and 
have given them to some people living in an IDP camp. This enabled them 
to start a business making furniture. People living in camps have fled 
their homes with nothing. There is no Red Cross to help them restart 
their lives. (I am about to take the rest of my tools over there too).

 Microscopes. The main hospital and medical school in Gulu with 150 
medical students have only five microscopes. Do you know where we can 
get some more?

Does anyone have a connection with a medical school here that might be 
replacing their student microscopes and would like to donate their old 
ones to a worthy cause?

 Prosthetic hands. These need to be transported to Gulu from the Give 
Hope Give a Hand Foundation. If we can take them it will save them a 
lot. If you will bring them to the PCIA conference, we will take them to 
Gulu.

 Other useful things that you might have or that you can think of.

  <>Use big suitcases or shipping boxes not exceeding 62 linear inches 
when you total the length, width and depth. They're pretty cheap at Good 
Will and other second hand stores.  <>
Money is more dear than the items. It is probably best not to go out and 
buy things. We can buy many things in Uganda if we have the money. Since 
we don't have the money, we take the things. There are some things that 
just aren't available in Uganda though, so there are exceptions. Ask us.  <>
Aid Africa as Matchmaker

 If you are not attending the PCIA conference or going to Uganda you can 
still help us by collecting these things. If you are going to the PCIA 
conference and you lack things to take we will help you get some. Aid 
Africa will try to match you all up. Keep in mind that is probably 
unwise to pay for shipping things to us. We'll need you to bring things 
directly to us or be close enough that we can make a pick up.

<>  <>A great place for this transfer of goods is at the ETHOS Stove 
conference in Seattle at the end of January. <> 

Are you attending both the ETHOS Conference and the PCIA Conference? 
Please contact Ken or Peter for details on how you can use your discards 
to help refugees in Uganda.  <>
You should take these things as your second suitcase. The airlines are 
charging a lot of money for the third suitcase.  Also, you should check 
with you airlines to be sure that you won't be charged for the second 
suitcase. The times they are a changing. If it costs a lot of money, 
don't do it. <> 
AidAfrica is  a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and can give tax 
receipts for donated goods or money. <> 
Thanks for your help. We hope to hear from you.

 Ken Goyer

Executive Director

AidAfrica

Telephone: 541-689-7170

Email: mail at aidafrica.net <mailto:mail at aidafrica.net>

285 Maple Street

Eugene, Oregon 97402

 

Also Contact

Peter Keller

President

AidAfrica

Telephone 818-249-2398

Email: ugandapeter at yahoo.com <mailto:ugandapeter at yahoo.com>

Peter is in the Los Angeles area