Uniting Communities, Tackle Global Issues

Dear Supporter,

Now we are into the second half of 2015, it's a great time to reflect on how 2015 has been going so far!

This year we launched our Women's Empowerment Programs in Nepal, Fiji, India and South Africa. We have seen a lot of interest in this initiative from our volunteers. Most notably is our Nepal project, where it has gone from strength to strength with English lessons, female business development, and art classes. We were also fortunate enough to have a female Hindi speaking gynecologist join us who did a fantastic job delivering women’s health seminars to local women and mothers of Nepal.

In India, our construction project had recently a substantial donation from the Anna Cross Trust. Anna was a former GVI volunteer who passed away 2 years after volunteering with us in India and her parents set up this trust to donate to a project that affected her very strongly. The donation is going towards building houses and a playground in a local slum - construction has already started so stay tuned!

In February, our Silana. Fiji base was buzzing with excitement when we received a visit from The Minister of Youth and Sports. While speaking to members of the community in Dawasamu, the Minister said:

“It was a pleasure to witness the progress of the youth groups in the area especially in Silana as a direct result of working in partnership with GVI.The relationship between GVI and Silana youth is a unique one and it is good to see the hard work paying off for all stakeholders in the community,”

Fiji also recently had students from Stelly's School, who have been busy assisting with a variety of construction projects at three local schools. Their extensive to-do list includes: building a new kindergarten classroom walkway; repainting classrooms and school buildings; fixing tables and chairs; building a new boat playground for the children as well new composting toilets. It's great to know that thanks to Stelly's hard work, the children at all three schools now have beautiful classrooms and an infrastructure conducive to a positive learning environment.

Thank you all for your fundraising efforts and donations and we look forward to reporting continued success in the coming months.

All the best

GVI Charitable Trust

Links:

• www.gvi.org

Dear Supporter,

Happy New Year! We hope 2015 is full of love and happiness for you, your family and friends.

With the first month of the year almost done (where has the time gone?!), now is a good time to reflect our past achievements and establish our goals for 2015.

2014 was a year of great highs and lows, from the panic of Ebola that was felt worldwide, to The Climate March having it's biggest turn out ever, showing that there is an increase in global consciousness about the future of our planet. The Charitable Trust was fortunate enough to see an increase in donor support which lead to us winning Global Giving’s “Most Popular” by having the most number of unique donors! A huge thank you to everyone that supported us last year and made this achievement possible!

Another highlight for us, was the success of our various in-field challenges as well as the Global Giving End of Year Campaign. The project we chose for the campaign was our Protect the Threatened White Rhino project in Limpopo, South Africa with the aim to assist cash-strapped game reserves with rangers and equipment they need to effectively protect the rhinos. Although we did not get to first place, we managed to climb all the up to 11^th position out of 308 projects and received a $500 bonus on top to the $7,091 raised!

Our in-field challenges surpassed our expectations with Chiang Mai smashing their target, followed closely by Nepal, Cape Town, Seychelles and Playa del Carmen! Our team in Chiang Mai hosted a 48 hour Wilderness Sleep-out in order to raise money to keep our elephants in the forest and out of tourist camps as well as funds going to help bring more of the camp elephants back into the forest. We managed to raise an amazing £2,832.29 113% above the set target! 

Going into 2015, our teams are becoming increasingly creative in their ways to raise money for their projects. Our team in India is in full swing planning their “Sweaty Bums for Slums” challenge, where the crew will be cycling from West to East India, (over 1000km!!) starting at Kerala on the Arabian Sea and finishing in Chennai. The funds raised from this challenge will go towards building new houses for families living in shacks in the Santhom slum. To find more about this crazy challenge, head on over to the team page over here.

One of our goals for 2014 was centered on our animal welfare projects which were just launched at the end of 2013. We are proud to announce that our partner VIDAS in Playa del Carmen, broke their record in 2014 by spaying and neutering 1,613 domestic animals in 6 days! In 2015, we hope to keep up with this incredible momentum and continue raising awareness on good pet practices and animal care.

One of our new projects that we are looking forward to seeing grow in 2015 is our Whale Shark Program in Thailand in conjunction with our partners Shark Guardian. We have already kicked the year off to a good start by writing and printing a code of conduct to change the diving practices of southern Thailand dive shops. The posters have the Shark Guardian certification and will let potential divers know that they are choosing an ethical company, committed to the protection of these incredible creatures. This is a big first step in the journey to a brighter future for our whale sharks!

Thank you for continuing to support the GVI Charitable Trust, we could not have achieved such incredible results without you! Here’s to another amazing year, brimming with potential to change the world.

All the best

The Chartiable Trust

Links:

• www.gvi.org