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Issue 009, February 2014: Nice Surprises and Getting Help to Where it's Needed

Nice Surprises

Our director Arman holding our letter from Mr.Gates

It’s been an exciting month here, particularly in financial terms. At the end of January, Global Giving transferred the funds to us that were raised during our successful Changemaker fundraising campaign last year. However, this being Central Asia, there were a few complications relating to the paperwork, which meant that it took a little while for our bank to release that money to us.
 
Although this was a frustrating delay, it turned out rather well. Whilst we waited, Kazakhstan’s currency (Tenge) was suddenly devalued by about 20% against foreign currencies. When we were finally able to convert the money from the transferred Dollars into Tenge, it was worth about 20% more than it would have been in January! Needless to say, we will put the money to good use.

Another venture last month was our attempt to get some free software from Microsoft. As a company, they pride themselves on helping NGOs around the world by giving away software worth millions of dollars each year – so we thought we’d try and get in on some of it! Of course, being Microsoft the process got a little complicated at times, and there wasn’t always an option to select for Kazakhstan.
 
We also had to try and select a reasonable array of products to request – enough that if we only received some they would still be useful, but not too much that we might appear greedy. Anyway, after a short wait we were very surprised and delighted to be told we had been given everything that we asked for! See «Village by Numbers» for the value – quite a donation. This puts us in a very good position to be able to continue our work here with the resources that we need – thanks Microsoft!!!

This month, our featured number is:



Find out why below in Village by Numbers.

Village People
 
 
Name: Phil
From: Tasmania
Time on the team:
5 years
Role: Distribution Manager «Keeper of the boxes»

Interesting Fact: He spent his university holidays working as a bee keeper


Village by

Numbers



The value in US Dollars of the software donation from Microsoft! Wow!
Getting Help to Where It’s Needed

Since we became Salem last April we have made 64 Shipments to charity organizations, that's 168 cubic metres of goods! The organizations that we have shipped to include orphanages, prisons, rehabilitation centres, women's refuges, soup kitchens, youth organizations, organizations working with people who have disabilities and many more. 

One of the most exciting projects that we have been able to help with lately was started not long ago in Shymkent. It began with a few friends who wanted to help the homeless in the city by providing them with meals, but as many needs were recognized it quickly grew into something bigger. They started getting people off the streets and into a safe place, saving many lives during this unusually cold winter.

This group is now renting a house in Shymkent to shelter homeless people from the cold of winter and to help them get on their feet again. That is where we come in. They needed to furnish an entire house, not to mention clothing and other practical needs, and we were able to help with some vital items.

Our warehouse is now nearly empty after many recent outbound shipments and we await two 40 foot containers that are sitting in Hong Kong packed full of quality donated items for Central Asia. However, Crossroads has not yet found funding to ship them to us and so they cannot be sent until we get sponsors for them. If you would like to consider helping to sponsor these containers so that we can continue to supply wonderful organizations such as this with goods, please get in touch.



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Global Giving UK have announced that they will add a 50% bonus to all donations made to us through our Global Giving page next week (between 12:01am on 3rd March and 11:59am on 10th March), up to a maximum of £600 per donation. So, for example, if you make a £100 donation, they will add on an extra donation of £50 to make it worth £150 - and that doesn't include gift aid! If you have been considering supporting us, don't miss this window of opportunity to make your gift go even further! Click here to donate - but not until Monday!

The Salem Social Village in Shymkent, Kazakhstan is run by Salem Union, a local non-profit non-religious charity organisation which works to care for the needy and influence a generation of future leaders

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