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Posted by Niels Jansen on 5 November 2012, 12:33 pm
We all have heroes, someone who has done something selfless and noble. In Kenya, Mashujaa day is a public holiday set aside to celebrate Kenyans that have achieved great feats. A group of hikers decided to be heroes to mother nature.
Kwea Milele, who had a project on the 1%CLUB to raise funds for the reforestation of the burnt Arbadares Forest boasted 67 heroes. The group joined other groups and at the end of the day, 15,000 tree seedlings had been planted. What followed thereafter was a game drive at the Mt. Kenya forest and an overnight camping.
Interestingly, the activity took place near the Treetop Lodge where the current English Queen Elizabeh II ascended to the throne in 1952. The group plans to make the event annual or seasonal and incorporate other organization to make sure more trees are planted in each season and each year.
Here are some fun photos from this exercise. Congratulations Kwea Milele on this accomplishment. As their motto goes, “Kilele Milele”
Did you know, a simple retweet on twitter, or a comment on a Facebook post can simply Make It Work?
Imagine this, Safaricom Foundation, a registered charity funded by Safaricom Limited and the Vodafone Group Foundation have been requesting the Twitter and Facebook community to nominate a charity they would love to see win Ksh. 100,000 that is up for grabs. The Foundation provides a formal process for charitable contributions to communities, community groups and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Kenya who are key partners in responding to social and economic development issues in the country.
Two projects currently under the My1PC campaign from the 1%CLUB relied on their online friends, one on Twitter and the other on Facebook, and each won Ksh. 100,000. All it took was to get their friends talking about the initiative online.
The first project is the Maisha Mapya initiative which is raising funds to set up a factory to reproduce re-usable sanitary towels was the first to win via Twitter. All people had to do was to nominate the project representative on twitter @Kamaitha and tag the Safaricom Foundation, and it went trending. We appreciate all the retweets and nominations! You Made it Work with a retweet!
The second project was initiated by Kwea Milele, a group of hikers that is fundraising funds to go plant trees at Mt. Kenya. They decided to replicate Kamaitha’s efforts on Facebook, and immediately Safaricom Foundation put their Facebook post up. Kwea Milele friends decided to dominate the post, and Kwea Milele stood out on the comments sections. Their efforts were rewarded 24 hours later, when they were announced winners, a perfect closure of the week.
With fundraising Friday happening this Friday, these two significant wins will indeed boost the efforts made by the project owners. A third project, Fanya Mambo which works with over 300 school going children is looking forward to keep the fundraising bar moving. Fanya Mambo helps to recycle plastic waste by collecting empty plastic bottles and building structures at the school where these children learn. They are fundraising, not only to buy materials for these structures, but also to drive a clean-up exercise and provide mentorship to these children, converting them to brand ambassadors at a tender age. They are counting on you to Make It Work!
All these three projects will on this Friday looking forward to your 1% support. Why 1%? Picture how much impact 1% of your income has on your lifestyle and spending patterns. Now take that same 1% and combine it with 1% from a friend, and another friend and their friends. Picture how much impact that 1% from you and your friends will have on a community project. It makes a world of difference.
You can learn more of how your 1% works via this link, and remember, the projects are open for donation from any person, yes, YOU make it work!
How about getting 10 friends, to each get 5 other friends and donate towards a project via MPESA? It’s as simple as ABC. Below are instructions on how to do it.
Start by choosing the project you would like to support
Last weekend was a grrrrreeeaaat one, we can now affirm. From getting a boost from Accenture to being hosted on both a Kenya’s preferred national television network KTN and the number one radio station for local and urban hits 1FM’s breakfast radio show. From an online fundraiser, to an entire day of brainstorming crowd-funding strategies. To top it all off it culminated in a rather interesting photo-shoot….and the best part is, YOU and I Made It Work!
KTN Interview
If you watched Friday’s edition Sunrise Entertainment on KTN, you may have noticed two people, a gentleman and a lady explaining how 1% of your time, skill or money can go a long way helping a project be realized. Wandia (the lady) is from Kwea Milele, a group of hikers that is fundraising funds to go plant trees at Mt. Kenya. They want to go green, and they know you can Make It Work! Their project has passed the half-way mark in terms of the funds needed and they believe if you and 99 other friends get 20 friends each to donate a minimum Ksh. 300 then the project will be realized!!!
The online fundraising went well, with Kwea Milele team closing on the gap to cross over the middle point. Ksh 17,700 was raised, thanks to you and many others. Kenyan celebrities took some time off to chip in 1% of their time and appreciated project supporters by hosting lunch at the 4-Star Sarova Panafric. They also donated status updates for these noble initiatives. That was the second fundraising Friday. The next one is scheduled for 6th July 2012… round up your friends, we making it BIG this time round. We are MAKING IT WORK!!!!
My1pc Workshop
Saturday and all the project owners converged at Nailab, where there was a review of the fundraising and strategizing on ways to raise more funds. Kwea Milele will be having an excursion and Maisha Mapya and Fanya Mambo plan to hold concerts to raise funds. Interested in knowing more? Email us for the details.
So interesting was the social media workshop that Joe Mucheru, Country Manager Kenya for Google Inc. dropped by and got to learn about the initiatives with a promise of joining the Kwea Milele team on their next hike to Mount Kenya as they go green.
A photo-shoot with one Kenya’s creative photographers wrapped up the weekend. Ever figured out you can use photos to sell a story, an idea? Check out how we use them on our 1%CLUB website…and a photo booth as well. The more people see the 1%CLUB “You Made It Work”, the more the story gets shared. Go ahead; it’s free, fun and interactive.
A massive thank you the Accenture team for their donation towards the three projects, a donation that placed the projects on a wonderful phase. To Kwea Milele, Fanya Mambo and Maisha Mapya initiatives…kazi kwenu! Our donation channels are open, feel free to donate via MPesa anytime.
Let’s do this!
Remember to join Florence Kamaitha from the Maisha Mapya initiative this coming Sunday on ntv’s crossover101 show as she gets hosted by Nancy Kihenia. Get to know why she would like to make sure girls never miss a class.
It’s always a wonderful thing to see the online community come together and help bring some positive changes to the society, be it through fundraising or even advocating for something good. That is what took place on Friday, 11th May 2012 which was our first Fundraising Friday. The Fundraising Friday was set aside to help realize three community projects currently running on the One Percent Club platform. A complete list of well-wishers that came out to be counted is available via this link
Girls at the Maisha Mapya Programme sewing re-usable sanitary towels.
On twitter, we had the hash tag #FundraisingFriday and #my1pc trending in support of the ‘No Missing Periods coz of Periods’ initiative by the Maisha Mapya Foundation which aims at making sure no girl misses class during her menses. Their cause is raise funds to set up a factory to reproduce re-usable sanitary towels. Trust the interactive and active twitter community from Kenya to trend anything, be it funny or serious. You ask me and I will affirm to you that such a ‘gift’ is what most fundraisers would want on their team. A trend will get the world asking, “what are they talking about”….they click and see the conversation their next question is “how do I donate/become part of it”. A retweet can work wonders.
We say a massive THANK YOU to the Kenyan twitter community, and you too can help keep a girl in school by clicking on this link.
Let's go GREEN!
On Facebook, we had the Kwea Milele harnessing their energies and network to help meet their target. The Kwea Milele group plans to raise funds to buy tree seedlings for the Mt. Kenya forest, whose cover was destroyed by fire early this year. They have a great network of hikers and people that love the outdoors and their slogan is Going Green!
Fanya Mambo Foundation: Fanya Mambo means ‘Do Something’ in Swahili language is a group that educates school children on the importance of recycling plastics by having them collect them and take them to school for recycling. To date, Fanya Mambo works closely with over 300 school children to Make It Work! They plan to raise funds to use for the training of the school children.
Click on this link to see how you can support them.
Our next Fundraising Friday will take place on 8th June 2012 , and this time we shall make it BIGGER and BETTER… thanks to giveaways from well-wishers that have given their 1%,,,watch this space…
Ps: do you know, just by sharing this blog you have started giving your 1%? Hit the SHARE button, sharing is caring!
Kwea Milele is a group of friends who met online whilst they shared the same passion – hiking! They have scaled almost all the peak points in Kenya, from Ngong hills to conquering Mt. Kilimanjaro. Last month while on a hike to Mt. Kenya they passed through the Mt. Kenya forest whose cover was destroyed by fire, and being people who also take care of nature decided to do something. Here they go!
What is the name of your project: Kwea Miti Initiative
Why did you choose the project:We are a nature-loving group. Most of our excursions are in heavily forested places and therefore we strongly felt the need to give back and make Mount Kenya greener notably after the fire destroyed forest cover worth. In addition, Our group is known as Kwea (means hike) and since we are on a tree planting mission, the name Kwea Miti Initiative fit in perfectly.
How many people are in your team: We have five people who will be working together to fundraise, co-ordinate activities and bring the whole project to completion. But as a whole we shall be working with everyone who is willing to contribute their time, skills and money to the project.
How do you plan to Make It Work: Making the project known to everyone and anyone. This project in not only about us, as Kwea Milele group, but about all the nature lovers out there. We are giving people an opportunity to give back to nature in a big way. So we plan on spreading the word for people to help us fundraise. Read on…
