Check out City Shine’s second newsletter!

Didn’t receive it in your email? Sign up now!

A new translation button has been added to the website so that everbody in the world can read and understand what City Shine is all about.
You can find the translate button on the bottom of every page and looks like this:

When you click on the button it shows you 52 different languages to choose from and it will translate the website instantly.

If it doesn’t work or you have any questions, please contact us!

In the news bulletin of the American School of the Hague:

City Shine is the name of the primary and secondary school in a slum area of Nairobi, Kenya. The proceeds from ASH student planned and managed events support some of City Shine’s initiatives including the following:

• The purchase of land to build a new school
• A safe and adequate facility with a kitchen for healthy meals
• Feminine hygiene program

Most recently, ASH (American School of the Hague) students raised just over €1000 by organizing an event
(MTV Night) where students made their own video clips and performed for 160 people!

“we are delighted to share the first City Shine electronic newsletter with you, featuring our very own ASH group of City Shine supporters”.

Thanks to all those involved in the MTV night and all of the initiatives for City Shine!

Source: ASH News bulletin

Sunday 15 April we will have 4 market stalls on a flea market in Voorburg! (Prins Bernhardlaan >> next to Forum Sport) Last year was a great success! Same as last year, we’re selling used stuff and as always 100% of all proceeds goes to our projects!

Wanna do a Spring closet cleanup? And help out a good cause while you’re at it?

Please donate your old clothes, cd’s, dvd’s, books, shoes, etc to help us reach our goals!

We will pick up all your stuff so no need to worry about transportation! Please let us know if you wanna help! Thanks so much in advance!

Please spread the word!! Hopefully we get to see you at the market on the 15th.
You can recognize us by a bunch of volunteers that love to help kids that don’t take going to school for granted!

To get an impression of last year’s market day:

 

Read City Shine’s first newsletter! Didn’t receive it in your email? Sign up now!

Thanks to Steve Plantholt we managed to get create our first promo video!

Check it out and spread the word!

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYuYTlc7j00″ title=”City%20Shine%20Community%20Foundation%27s%20first%20promo%20video” width=”420″ height=”315″ theme=”light” modestbranding=”1″ autohide=”1″ autoplay=”0″ hd=”1″]

Do you want to support City Shine as well?

Contact us for more information !

ASH (American School of the Hague) students raised just over €1000 last night by organizing an event (MTV Night) where students made their own video clips and performed for 160 people! Thanks so much!!

[youtube_sc url=”http://youtu.be/FhhmkPrnaiw” title=”ASH%20students%20performing%20%22Circle%20of%20Life%22%20by%20Elton%20John” modestbranding=”1″ autoplay=”0″ fs=”1″ hd=”1″]
Firstly we would to like to thank everyone who helped us with our mission to outfit City Shine school!
With your help we were able to raise $5000 !! We were able to turn these generous donations into school supplies, furnishings and unforgettable memories for 145 needy children.
Both the primary and secondary schools were supplied with text books for all subjects. Instead of only the teacher having an old ripped copy, now every child can read from their own brand new copy. All students have notebooks for all the subjects and their homework. Everything you think should be in a classroom , we bought. Pens, pencils, erasers, world maps, we were even able to purchase some simple lab equipment so the kids can now conduct experiments. The baby and nursery classes were having their afternoon naps on the cold damp dirt floor, they now have roll up mats. Our largest purchase was to contract with a local carpenter to build 42 desks, 8 chalkboards and 2- 6ft. locking cabinets where all the books can be stored . We had a metal worker build 2 steel doors with locks for the openings of the school as well as securing a staircase that leads to the open roof.
Many of the children are affected by worms due to the lack of clean water and a functional sanitation system. Although not immediately life threatening, if gone without treatment it can have a significant negative impact on development. They can now treat every affected child with proper medication for one year. Your generosity also helped with many other health issues. The female secondary students miss one week a month due directly to the lack of feminine hygiene products. Every female student as well as the teachers were given a nine month supply of sanitary napkins so they no longer have to miss class. We would like to turn this into an ongoing program because this shouldn’t be a reason for a young girl to miss out on school.
During my first trip in 2008 I met a boy named Joshua, he is still attending City Shine School. He was still wearing the same old cracked glasses that he had when I first met him. His prescription is so strong, there was no way he could properly see through the damaged lenses. We took Joshua and Sheila ( who has an allergy to the sun and to dust, which causes her eyes to be constantly itchy, red and running) to the optician for new glasses. The joy on their faces after being fit with their new glasses was heart warming.
After we had everything bought for the school we thought that since most of these kids and teachers have never left the slum area, it would be a great idea to plan a field trip, we called it ‘A Day of Fun’. We rented 2 buses so all 145 students and 10 teachers could come. We first went to the Elephant Orphanage where the kids learned about and got to touch the baby elephants. After that we went to the Giraffe Center. The kids could feed and pet the giraffes and also learn all about them. There we were able to arrange for the primary student’s to get their faces painted. We asked the secondary students as well, but they were too cool, of course! From the Giraffe Center we headed to a field to have a picnic and to play around. The night before the two of us made 200 sandwiches, we had 200 chapati made (Kenyan flat bread) 300 bananas and juice. We had a feast! After we ate the secondary students couldn’t wait to play with their new footballs. They formed a game while everyone else was skipping, blowing bubbles, playing frisbee, volleyball or just running around being kids! It was truly an unforgettable Day of Fun! We took pictures throughout the whole trip and had 200 pictures developed. These will be hung in the school once the carpenter finishes the custom made picture boxes we had made, so the students can continue seeing themselves enjoying life.
The pen pal program that we started was also a huge success. The students loved receiving the letters, drawings and especially the photos of other kids around the world. They also really enjoyed replying to their pen pals. They didn’t have pictures of themselves, so we took individual pictures of every student in front of the school sign, so they could include it with their replying letter.
Near the end of our trip the staff of the school was so appreciative that they had a special ceremony for Jeroen and I. They dressed us in traditional clothing and named us Mama and Papa of the school, showering us with handmade gifts and trinkets. I was totally blown away when it was announced the primary school would be renamed after me. This is such an honour and responsibility. My new mission will be to improve the structure of the building.
Without everyone’s help we would never have been able to accomplish all that we were able to do. I would especially like to thank the management at SWIFT who’s generous contribution put us over the top and allowed us to achieve all our goals and more. This trip not only changed the lives of the City Shine students but ours as well!
With the overwhelming success of this year’s endeavor, we are planning on expanding our efforts in the Soweto Slums. Our primary mission is to purchase a piece of land on which can be built a much needed primary school. Our goal is to supply the community with a sustainable education system and one of the first steps will be to supply a permanent location for the primary school children.
Another project we are excited about getting off the ground is a sponsorship program for the senior students. Once these children complete their high school studies there is no chance of furthering their education without some sort of external funding. We made some inquiries while in Africa and a student can be sponsored for as little a $250US/per year. Think about that for a while, most of us spend more than that on morning coffee in a year.
As we get more information on these projects we will be updating the site. We hope we can depend on all of you for further support. A little goes a long way!
I
f you would like to have more information or have any questions/comments please contact us.
Please have a look at the pictures we took during our trip by clicking here.
From the bottom of our hearts we thank you all for your support!
Jeroen and Reannon