Blog

IT HAS BEEN BUSY

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:30:00 -0500

Well things came to a standstill for a while while I recovered from a fractured pelvis,elbow and bad bang on the head but we are up and running again and I am really grateful for all the care I received from my friends and family over here.

So, where is the money going and what am I doing?

Well we just bought the Chappa (metal roofing) for a Comador (soup kitchen) in Florencia Varella - next district to Quilmes and a very poor area. We are curently discussing future projects with this Cooperative - more to come on this as and when.

We have also bought all the materials to replace and repair the very dangerous wiring at the "Miricle for Children" project in El Monte. We are delighted to have formed a partnership with the Development Department of the local council here and they are providing the Mano de Obra - work men to do the necessary. so shortly the 2 industrial sewing machine that we provided for this project to assist single mother;s to learn a trade and get work will be safely up and running and the kindergarten that we provided materials for will be able to proceed without electrical danger to the children.

We have recently received a grant from Exotex Ltd - London for $30,000 dollars to begin our new project - see new project funding page on this site, at Villa Lujan.

We are also forming a new relationship with an organisation called APAER who work with rural schools in very poor and remote areas.

Tonight to encourge an awareness over here of the threat of Climate Change we have organised a Candle light vigel for 1 hour outside the Cathederal and are one of 2900 small groups all over the world in 130 countries who are doing the same. The photos and videos of the events will be made into a film and numbers of attendees will be gathered and taken to the Summit meeting in Copenhagen by Desmond Tutu. Asking for a real deal to be made and concrete action to be taken at the summit.

Thanks for your interest and support.

alll the best from Ros

'A Miricle For Children' Villa El Monte

Fri, 15 May 2009 22:02:00 -0400

Well, things are really getting cracking at Villa El Monte now.:)

We have bought a new Industrial sewing machine and all sorts of materials and items necessary to set up the sewing workshop which will teach single mother's living on the Villa a new trade and they will be able to sell the items they make to increase their small incomes.

I have spoken to a couple of the mothers and they are really excited to be doing something so positive.

We have also bought 20 tiny chairs and all the equipement necessary to start the young children's 'Jardin' or kindergarten. - see below for example.

Schools Packs delivered

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 11:39:00 -0500

Yesterday 28 February 2009 we took 30 schools packs to two different community centres. Phew! there were small hands everywhere all wanting pencils and paper as though it was gold dust. I so wish we could have provided more, but the need is just too great and the demand too large!

Sonia who has been reading and doing drawing with the children will not be able to read until the winter holidays as she works most evenings during the school term as a teacher. But we think we have a found a suitable new reader to take over for a while, so all is well!

to celebrate the relationship Sonia has built in so short a time she provided cakes.

No photos of Ros handing out school materials as she was too busy!

Schools Packs for the new Term 2nd March 2009

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:45:00 -0500

This week CDUK have bought 30 Schools Packs to be distributed to some of the children who love in Villa El Monte in Quilmes.

The packs are made up of a note book, folder, pencil, rubber, pencil sharpener ruler and crayons - and pencil cases for the younger children. We are presenting the packs inside back packs for them to keep things together and for their homework.

We had heard that some children wont start school on time - if at all, because they had not got the necessary equipment.

We will be taking the new packs to the Villa today together with several large bags of clothes, shoes and other useful items

Global Ethics

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 12:38:00 -0500

I have just read an article in the Buenos Aires Herald that I wanted to share with you all, well part of it anyway.

It was written by Hans Kung, President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic and he is discussing what an ethical framework should entail, quoting some paragraphs from a meeting in Chicago in 1993.

"In the great ancient ethical and religious traditions of humankind we find the directive: You shall not steal! or Deal honestly and fairly!.....no one has the right to use her or his possessions without concern for the needs of society and Earth.... and ethical traditions mean the following:

1. We must utilise economic and political power for service to humanity instead of misusing it in ruthless battles for domination.

2. We must develop a spirt of compassion with those who suffer, with special care for the children, the aged, the poor, the disabled, the refugees and the lonely.

3.We must cultivate mutual respect and consideration, so as to reach a reasonable balance of interests, instead of thinking only of unlimited power and unavoidable competative struggles.

4., We must value a sense of moderation and modesty instead of an unquenchable greed for money, prestige and consumption. In greed humans loose their 'souls', their freedom, their composure, thier inner peace and that which makes them human".

A global Ethic amounts to one of values and he asks, "do we assign a value only to wealth or to the work which creats it?".... "at this time a Global Ethic is needed more urgently than ever before".

Qulmes Group help "Luz del Alma" CDUK Supported Project

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:04:00 -0500

You may remember that one of the aims of CDUK was to encourage local volunteer groups in areas where we began to support projects? One such Group in Quilmes is "Ayduar" meaning to help!

This Group has been going for a couple of years now and their way of working with their local community is a good one! They hold at least one Grand Event each year and the PR they receive helps to provde the things that are needed by the Comador Luz Del Alma that the Group support.

Below is a list of all the items that have been donated since they began to spread the word about the good work that Luz del Alma was doing and their requirements. Below the list is a further list of the things that the Group have bought with the money they have raised.

Donations to the Group for Luz Del Alma :)

19 boxes of books

147 boxes of clothing

7 sewing machines

2 printers

1 scanner

1 portable typewritter

1 fire

1 sun blind / awning

2 electric overns

1 Christmas Tree and bag of decorations

1 bag of children's toys

1 Colour TV and stand

1 Video Cassette Player

2 PC's & 1 monitor

22 children's videos

1 galvanised pipe - 4 m

1 Juego de bano

1 porton entrada

1 artefacto de illuinacion

Items the Group have bought with the3money they have raised from fundraising

2007:)

1 complete window

32 childrens chairs

8 childrens tables

1 desk and chair

1 coat rack

2 cupoboards

2 light tubes

Juegos didacticos: various

2 shelves

7 meters of curtain material

1 set of folding steps

2008:)

5 shelves and supports for the library

2 Flourescent lights

1 wooden table 2m

2 benches 2m

Over the past couple of years CDUK have refurbished a computer/homework room and provided a food store with shelves - now to be used as a Library. We have provided security gates for the front of the project and are in the process of the building of a community room which will be useful for many activities that the Project is currently unable to fulfill. More news on this later after I have had a chat with the Project Leader Isabel. See Project page on this website for more information on CDUK Projects.

Donations to CDUK from Grant making Trusts and Charities

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:37:00 -0500

Our Wind Turbine project for mountain schools has captured the imagination of volunteers and funders alike.

We would like to thank everyone who is raising money for this project - see web page.

However here I would like to thank particularly the generous donations of varing sizes that we have received from the following grant making trusts and charities:

Our grateful thanks go to

The Clara E. Burgess Charity

The Ashworth Charitable Trust

the Al Fyad Charitable Foundation

The Bisgood Charitable Trust

The Jomps Trust

Thank you for helping with our work and for your confidence in our organisation.

Villas Miserias or Informal cities

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:23:00 -0500

I was amazed to read this new name "Informal cities", for the slums or Villas Miserias recently.

Some of you may have read about Villa 31 in Buenos Aires with plans by the municipal government to cap growth and probably expel thousands of residents of this Villa so that they are able to use the area for commercial development. Villa 31 is right in the centre of Buenos Aires, it is an eye sore and an embaressment to the city and the land that was claimed by the homeless is worth millions of Pesos to developers!

Nonformal Cities -an other new way of saying it, in Buenos Aires alone constitute upwards of 250,000 'housing units' in 750 communities that over one million people call home!

Visiting Projects in Argentina

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:21:22 -0500

Hi guys

Well despite a few ups and downs things are getting cracking over here and many of you will have received my Round Robin - to be added to the list send me an email to rosinargentina@yahoo.co.uk.

Below is a picture of one of the industrial sewing machines we bought earlier this year for the young persons leather workshop in Villa Lujan. I am going to see if we can send leather work to the UK. This project is now preparing to run a pilot project to see if they can attract more workers for carpentry and ceramics workshops.

The Comador at Luz Del Alma is growing slowly and they have completed all the building work that we funded earlier this year. As you can see there is some way to go yet, we need more cash, can you help?

I shall be meeting with the Quilmes Group to discuss the way forward here.

I was to have visited Villa Del Monte today to discuss how we could help but we have had such heavy storms that the person I was to meet there rang and said that the paths were impassable mud so we have had to postpone that meeting. I shall be going up river to Entre Rios to visit a project which is also supported by St, George's College in December.

The Windmills for Salta Schools continues slowly to proceed!

While I am away the Trustees are having an informal meeting to discuss the future and we have discussions over the Skype phone (with pictures) wonderful technology.

more news as and when

Ros

CDUK's new image : money to South America.. Other news...

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:07:56 -0400

NEW LOGO

We were so lucky to have a web site designer create a logo for us and everyone seems to like it, so thanks Dave we really appreciate your gift.

NEW COLLECTING BOX WRAP ROUND

One thing leads to an other.... Len Jenkins in Wales designed our collecting box labels for us some time ago now and he has kindly agreed to redesign them using the new logo and colours, so watch this space!!

We are fortunate in our friends?

FRIENDS OF CDUK - Something to aspire to!

The trustees agreed that we wanted to recognise certain people who work consistantly in the background to help out and achieve our objectives. We decided to create the special category of Friend of CDUK.

We are delighted to announce that our first FRIEND is Margaret Challoner - who was asked to send a photo but wouldn't!! Too modest!

Margaret has developed the Facebook account for CDUK and is the Face bookPR officer; she held a Christmas fundraising event last year for us and she was our top Stroll fundraiser this year. Margaret has put us in touch with many people who support us and who have joined the organisation and often send really useful ideas for us to develop.

Thank you Margaret you are appreciated and we think you are wonderful.

MORE MONEY TO ARGENTINA

Ros is off to Argentina again on the 11th October and is delighted to be taking three times as much money as last year for existing and new projects. The bad news is that due to the current economic crisis the value of the pound is lower than it was but we are still sending more money than ever before thanks to everyones hard work and donations. Talking of money, for those of you who wish to know more about the nitty gritty of CDUK you can find out more about us on the charity commission website.

STROLL FOR STREET CHILDREN

This year we raised over �1600 - including Gift Aid donations, our grateful thanks to everyone who worked hard to get sponsors and who walked on ther day and to the Kineton Volunteer Group who work with Ros to do the organisation to make it run smoothly.

CDUK QUILMES VOLUNTEER GROUP IN BUENOS AIRES

I have just heard that their last event attracted 120 people to raise money for Luz Del Alma - a soup kitchen in Ezpeleta and our first supported project. As a result of the event someone donated a computer to the project for the homework room that CDUK refurbished last year.

THELMA We have had a marvellous donation from Thelma, one of our supporters, who has given us a high quality gazebo - which we used for the Stroll, she also gave us a set of display boards,covered in pictures which she took from the web site.

Thanks so much Thelma your donations will help us to grow and expand our work.

Thelma above.

Kineton volunteers waiting for walkers under the new gazebo, below

NEWSLETTER OR NO NEWSLETTER

Please remember to sign up to this website to read the BLOG so that you can easily be notified when there is news. While Ros is in Argentina their will not be a biannual news letter as several members who returned their recent questionnaires said that they would be happy to be kept up to date via email. When Ros returns we will review the news letter.

We will be updating the Blog regularly and will occasionally notify you of updates, BUT we would also like news, ideas, comments from you, so please participate.

Looking forward to hearing from you

Ros