GCP Montly Update: Joy oh joy!

As we find ourselves rushing towards the end of another year, I can't believe that the support that I have found in you. I am thankful. Christmas time is always one of reflection for me - and this year is no different, albeit I'll be reflecting in bits and pieces because of my schedule. For some reason I feel that I've misplaced a whole week of my life and now I'm spending some time running to catch up. Ever feel that way? It's the weirdest feeling ever. But, the calendar says December now and I don't have the wherewithall to figure out what happened to one week in November.

Christmas time is equated with shopping, mostly in this country generally because we shop for Christmas gifts and as consumers, what is Christmas without consumption? But seriously, I think the joy is in delighting people you care about. It makes me think about how God felt in giving us His son on Christmas day. If I delight so much in thinking about gifts for those that I love, how much more did God delight in creating this blessed gift for us through Christ? I've also learned that it's not just about giving, but it's about being a gracious receiver; and boy have I received a lot this year - particularly in the last few weeks! And I am humbled at just how much I've been given.

This year has certainly had its ups and downs, but I am amazed at how through it all, there has been one constant in my life and that is God and His faithfulness to what He has started in me. And with those ups and downs, there has been a certain joy -- a deeper joy that really cannot be shaken. This is not just simply a kind of happiness, but to me, it's more of a peace and steadfast reassurance that the sun will shine once again no matter what is going on or where I find myself. I'm sure there are those who face Christmas with a certain sadness, or stress, not just delight. Wherever you are, or whoever you are with or not with, I am praying that the joy of Christ will touch every one of you.

Just a few things I'd like to share with you:

1. There will be a Board Meeting on December 28th at L.A. Ye-Bon Church, at 4 p.m.
2. Many months ago, you voted for our proposal on the GiveMeaning.com website; the proposal has finally been activated into a project, so feel free to sign in and donate as well as spread the word about this project. The link to the project is here: http://www.givemeaning.com/project/communitymalawi
3. We are trying to figure out where to head next with our Malawi project, still connected to the community at King's Victory Academy so pray for us!
4. Our "Providing Change" campaign will still continue - so keep collecting all those coins and spare change that you end up finding under the couch cushions and weighing down your pockets. We are still working toward that soccer field for King's Victory Academy.
5. Eun-sil will be having a heck of a time tying together loose ends administratively for this year, so please pray that she can get her head together after her last final and paper (on December 23rd!).


Thanks again, for all your prayers, your donations, your partnership with me, and your encouragement throughout the year. I couldn't be here without all of you. May God bless your Christmas holidays and may He fill your hearts with joy and happiness, just as He has filled mine.

Happy Christmas!

GCP Montly Update: Transformations

I can't believe it's already November! I hope all of you who are eligible to vote in the United States are going out and voting. It's important! Ok. That's about as political as I can get in my capacity as a GCP person, according to the rules. Heh heh.

But seriously, as I think about the changes the U.S. faces, I contemplate what changes we so passionately believe in. What do you believe in? What changes do I believe in? I think about where we have come in the 2+ years I've begun my nonprofit (well, officially 2 years will be in January, but the seeds and efforts were sown about 6 months prior to that). We haven't exploded in growth or project-wise but to be honest, I never expected to be at this point really - having gone to Malawi, returned with many new ideas, connections, and finding direction in research that is somehow connected. And as the months go by, I find myself more and more passionate about social change, especially after having returned from Malawi. In some ways, Malawi seems like a distant memory as my days get filled up with papers, readings for class, and various administrative odds and ends that encompass my life here. But I can never forget the impressions left in my mind and heart during my visit to Africa. Conditions of life, the social welfare --or what we call the well-being--of people really depends on how we as a collective decide to actively participate, or just let the status quo be acceptable. And I am moved to find something to change, even if it is just myself and how I interact with my community and my world. I think of the quote by Gandhi that usually accompanies the end of my emails, "Be the change you wish to see in the world"; if I want to see change in the world, that change must begin with me. We've also often heard that quote that praying changes the pray-er. Transformation, or change, is a part of life - a natural part of life; and yet we sometimes want to just keep the same things, maintain the status quo, and not rock the boat. Isn't there a saying about how water that remains still turns bad (gosh that sounds like such a bad paraphrase of something so profound--sorry!!)? Paulo Freire -- a famous Brazilian educator -- talked about transformation of oppression from the bottom-up. And of course the Bible talks about transformation too. Ultimately, all of these lead me to believe that transformation is something worthy to be achieved, as is activity towards something worth attaining.

So I'd like to ask for your prayers and your support as we here at GCP turn our minds and efforts towards looking for some way to provide that sort of change beginning with one community in Malawi, and spreading that transformation to other communities. We are continuing our Providing Change campaign. I believe I already shared with you in a recent update that we were able to give $500 to the beginnings of a soccer field at a local high school (King's Victory Academy) in Blantyre, Malawi. But that is not enough, due to the cost of renting a bulldozer and the fact that the school is so far in from the main road. So keep collecting your spare change - pennies, nickels, dimes, we'll take 'em all! You have a lot of time now since I won't be going to Malawi until possibly next June, God-willing. For those of you in the Southern California area wanting to get the change off your hands sooner, I'll be in L.A. for the holidays so let me know!

Additionally, though it's been some time since we were collecting votes for our GiveMeaning proposal, it has not died. It has actually been going through some query paper-work and I've had to email back and forth with them in regards to this query form (which I had to send after I returned from Malawi due to the painfully slow internet there). It now looks like that will be cleared in order to begin the actual "project" phase, so I will send out more information on that when I find out. For those of you who are a bit puzzled because you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry; everything will come together when everything is finalized with GiveMeaning.org - a fundraising website. If you're curious, feel free to ask me!

And of course we are discussing and planning our continued project work in Malawi for next year. So please pray for wisdom and vision for us. And with that, let me just leave you with one more reminder of transformation - this is truly beautiful, and something other than my studies that helps me enjoy the fact that I'm here. This is from a retreat I just went to not long ago in upstate New York where fall was in full effect. Enjoy!!

GCP Update: Autumn Changes

Autumn has come to Long Island again, although sometimes the weather doesn't really feel like autumn as it goes up and down between chilly and warm. It contributes to the likelihood of people getting sick, such as myself. I cannot believe that it has been over a year since I've moved here, and we are now on another cycle of seasons. With all the changes of season and of time, it feels like there should be more changes with GCP.

Much has been happening around me, and with all the things I've experienced over the summer, I feel like I have to have a great update for all of you. But the truth is, I think this is simmering time. Aside from being sick, I spent the last month trying to adjust back to life in abundance and with distractions. I've also been trying to adjust to classes, and unfortunately (or fortunately, depending upon how you look at it) have had 2 weeks off of classes in the middle due to Jewish holidays, which really did not help as far as motivating me to get back into the routine of classes....

I think the changes that are happening, while not visible on the surface, are very evident in the inner workings of my life. God has brought me to a point of total surrender and humility before Him while reminding me of what makes me passionate about life and about my studies and how that intertwines with the work I do with GCP. It is not easy to realize that sometimes I lose sight of what is most important in life, but it is a truly humbling realization. I am trying to absorb all of the summer experiences into my life here and attempting to reconcile them with plans for our next steps. And it is overwhelming.

It is so easy to find things to jump into in Malawi - so many visible areas of need. But, these are only surface issues. The root cause is hardly addressed. We recently had a Board meeting, and in my report I stated that it is easy to fall into automatically working with the "desirable" populations, and doing what we think is the "right" thing to do or what is "needed". Many of the organizations there target certain people and have certain agendas; but the real test is actually living up to our vision and our desire for sustainable efforts that the communities we work with can take ownership of and continue after we are long gone, which ultimately means that we have no real agenda and we dialogue with the communities we build relationships with - one of which will be the community surrounding Kings Victory Academy (the high school I was at this past summer). I've shared before that there are many organizations who want to do work in that tiny country of Malawi - and are doing great work; but there must be something missing because the country is not much different from the one I left 21 years ago. In fact, I can venture to say that some things are worse, which is heart-breaking for me. But beyond that discouraging thought, there is more hope and an ardent desire to return to this country of mine, with endearing and warm people, and with less distractions than what we have here. And did I tell you about the utter joy these people have? I saw more joy expressed in a handful of people at morning chapel before school there than I have seen in a whole congregation at church here. It really made me wonder about my source of joy and how we express it.

As I get myself on track with school and with life here, I am also excited to be looking towards my dissertation because I am all the more determined to do something related to issues I've seen in southern Africa - specifically Malawi. I just hope that while I plan for those things, I can still get on track with things here on Long Island.

I appreciate your continued prayers for our organization and the work that we are contemplating over the next year. And if you have any questions, any comments, feel free to email me.

Back-tracking: A Reflection From Malawi

I had tried to post this blog entry in Malawi but failed....so I'm posting it here and now as a sort of retrospective introspection. :)

I am in Malawi—have been here for 5 days—and am currently in the city of Lilongwe which is the capital of Malawi. I have done some driving around—2.5 hours to the east to the lake (to a place called Salima), and 1 hour to the south to a place called Dedza. Much has changed in the city to where I have some difficulty recognizing where I am. And on the roadside, I can see what conditions people live in. I was able to see some of the villages from the road—the water pumps, the roadside shacks, the make-shift storefronts, the goods all piled neatly for sale right on the side of the road, and the bus-stops bustling with activity. I also saw a lot of “telephone bureaus” and little red stands labeled “CelTel”—these are places you can purchase airtime for your cell phone. A sign of the times? Or a time of the signs? I am not sure which it is for right now. I am amazed that there are people who can purchase airtime for their cell-phones but do not have enough money to survive for the next couple of days. But maybe that’s something I need to ask someone here; how does that work?

I had a conversation with one of the young people here—a 26 year-old. He was working part-time at the hotel at the lake. It was an interesting conversation but sometimes I wonder how much of it is to the tune of foreigners and how much of it is really what they think. Not that I doubt his honesty but I’m wondering how automatized language is to people who have been used to a certain way of life. I had to dig a little before I actually got any answers to what his thoughts were on NGOs. Here's his picture:


I am overwhelmed at what I see here. I am overwhelmed at the number of NGOs and joint-projects, initiatives, and whatnots that seems to be everywhere in this tiny country. I ask myself what can possibly be done that has not been done in the last quarter of a century, and actually succeed in distributing a long-lasting better quality of life for people who are struggling to survive....In light of all that, I try not to complain that my malaria meds (or something else) seem to be giving me all sorts of side effects; I have been saddled with a rash on my neck for almost a week now, and it does not appear to want to go away. . . .

GCP Update: Back from Malawi and Adjusting

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and your financial support!! They got me through what was an eventful time in Africa. I'm sorry it has taken me a while to get this update out, but I wanted to get all the pictures uploaded to an album and such as well so I could provide a link to the pictures with the update. I'm adjusting slowly to my life back in the U.S., even though I've been back for almost 2 weeks now. It was weird as I felt like a stranger in my own home and kept going to my suitcase for things because I had no idea where to find what I needed otherwise! Talk about disoriented! :) I guess that's what living out of a suitcase for 6 weeks does to me. So I unpacked and put away my suitcase in more of a hurry than I usually do, but I'm still at a loss for where to find certain things. It still is somewhat strange to be back in my own quiet apartment, with no one around, no animals around, and the lights only going out because I turned it off.

So let me begin by giving you some details of what I did after I sent you my last update, especially concerning the high school I was at. And then I'll share with you some thoughts.First of all, tracking down a bulldozer for the soccer field just was not possible; I just made some phone calls and talked to some people but all in all I just gave the missionary the $500 we had raised through our Providing Change campaign as a start. And I also gave them some numbers I had tracked down. I think I would need more time in Malawi to actually help them with this project as there is so much going on already; the issue is just time, and of course, money.

Second, I had gone with 2 workshops in mind - both only to last about an hour each. So my plan was to do one workshop one afternoon when I got there and then the 2nd one on another afternoon some time after I had gotten to know the teachers a bit. Well, you can imagine my surprise when the principal made an announcement to the entire school that classes would get out at 3 (as opposed to 3:20) for the entire week so that the teachers can attend "seminars". But rather than tell the principal that wasn't what I intended, I decided that I would go with his plan. I had brought some supporting materials for my workshop so I could just stretch it out, I thought. I managed to do it, with some bits of panicking the night before, but all in all I was so encouraged by the teachers' enthusiasm and participation that I wish I could have been there longer and had more material for them. We also made out certificates for them at the end because the missionary said that they (the teachers) would really enjoy that. So I made them, and they did indeed enjoy them immensely - almost as much as the snacks I brought to each workshop.

I had another surprise for me. I was asked to do a sort of group counseling type talk with the students - all 250 or so of them..... So for a few days, we broke it up by gender and by grade, and I tried to talk to these students about some basics of social support and feelings and things like that, feeling like it was such a pointless activity. But nonetheless I did it. And it turned out not to be so bad after all. :)

Other than that, I did a lot of observations of what the cities were like since I had not been there in over 20 years, and tried to talk to people about their lives there and also what they thought of the NGOs and what the government was doing as well as what they saw as glaring needs that just weren't being addressed. Of course I made my own observations, filtering Malawi through adult eyes now, and reliving my childhood as well. It was bittersweet at times, but after a few days of frustration, I knew I was where I needed to be for those weeks. And it surely did my heart good to be back home for a while, even if home had become somewhat different over the years.

I would have never thought, however, that I could get so frustrated with the frequent blackouts, lack of internet, and sometimes lack of running water (as well as lack of running hot water, or having to wait a couple of hours for the water to heat). For a few days I felt like a prisoner as I wasn't even allowed to walk around too much; I was told it was not that safe. I began to get restless and frustrated. My malaria medicine was giving me rashes and making me nauseated. I was overwhelmed by what I saw. And when I finally felt like I could be somehow connected back to the rest of the world through internet, blackouts would cut it off or the excruciatingly slow internet service would make me growl; one day I literally was on the verge of tears - being so frustrated I wanted to scream. I remember going back to the missionary's house and just staring at her wondering how on earth she did it. As I thought to the week ahead I told God I wasn't sure I could do this, let alone figure out how to come back to Malawi to live for 6 months doing research!! But then a few days later I realized that that was my human self speaking - the part of me that had taken so many things for granted living here in the U.S. with all the conveniences and the technology, and the part of me that lived with so many distractions that I so easily forgot what it meant to truly rely on God. I was pointed in the direction of seeing beyond that, and what I saw beyond that turned everything around. I saw the people who lived there: the teachers I worked with, the students who attended the school, the young people I'd talk to, and I saw their rejoicing hearts. When the students would sing at chapel, it was so spine-tinglingly amazing. I imagine this is a taste of what it would be like to hear truly angelic and pure voices praising God all day and night. And I wondered why we who have so much could not express that type of joy and happiness when we sang our praise songs and hymns at church.... But more than that, I saw why I wanted to be there; it was not because there's so much that I can do but rather because there is so much that I can learn.

So even with my moments of frustration, leaving was one of the hardest things to do. I was reluctant to leave behind people who had endeared themselves to me during my stay, and some who had become like family. My adventures and funny escapades simply added to the richness of my experience back in my homeland. And I knew I wanted to come back, without question. I refused to say goodbye, but rather said, I'll see you again - God-willing. And of course we do plan to go back because Malawi is the location for our first community work.

So please be in prayer for us as we begin to look at how to expand our work there. We will continue to maintain our relationship with Kings Victory Academy; I think this was just the beginning of a long-term relationship with them. We are still continuing our "Providing Change" campaign, so please continue to collect your coins. There seems to have been a misunderstanding as to how much it will actually cost to make the field. And I believe the total figure will be elusive for now because of the elusiveness of a bulldozer for leveling the field. But I will keep you updated.

Here is the link to my pictures from Malawi:

GCP Malawi Slide Show

Feel free to make your comments on them. If you have questions feel free to ask me. I will update the blog with more specific info on Kings Victory Academy as well, so you can check that out at a later date. So I hope you're just as excited as I am to see what we can do next!

Malawi Updates (or lack thereof)

I must apologize to those who were expecting I'd put up regular entries here. I myself was expecting to do just that, but I overestimated the availability of internet in Malawi. It exists, but to a very limited capacity. Blogging would have taken me hours to do and given me less hair by the time I was done.....Yes, that's how excruciatingly slow it can be. So, in order to preserve my hair, I decided not to attempt the blog entries. Now that I am back, I will try to catch you up on everything that transpired during my trip. And of course, I will be posting a monthly update as well either later today or tomorrow. Thanks!

Website back up!

Our official website is back up!!

Go visit at: www.globalcommunitypartners.org. Many many thanks to Jack Rizk and his wonderful friend at Clic-Lebanon!! You are awesome!!

Some details do need to be updated, so please bear with us as we bring everything up to speed with our current activities. Thanks!

GCP Montly Update: It is time

Happy July!!Summer is here and though it is hot, I am loving it! And the time has actually come to send all of you an update that I had hoped and prayed will come one day. It is time. It is time for actual tangible work to begin. While all the previous work was mostly prep, here we are looking at embarking on an actual project. Needless to say I am quite nervous, but also excited.

Preparations are almost done and now I just need to get some last minute stuff (like mosquito repellent). Got my shots and my malaria meds all squared away. I was a bit concerned about temporary employment permits (which apparently is needed according to the State Department website) in order to volunteer in Malawi; but having spoken to the Malawian Embassy that has become a non-issue, thankfully!! Progress has been made on fund-raising. I have posted updates on our blog: http://gcpwork.blogspot.com
There are updates on the Providing "Change" campaign as well as our proposal. We have a picture on one of our updates featuring our youngest "change-maker". Her name is Megan and she is 9 years old; and she collected $185. 91!! My parents were amazed at her collection, and inspired to find all their change and give it to me for the purposes of this campaign. Thanks Megan!!! We are still collecting change so if you have some change collecting for me, please let me know and we'll see how you can get it to us. L.A. folks - Sylvia will be at Ye-Bon next Sunday possibly (we will confirm with you in a separate email) to collect your change! Folks living in other areas - email me. :)

Our June yard sale was not very successful in that we only sold about $34 worth of items; we did receive a $100 donation to get the sale started, but alas, the heat reduced the amount of foot-traffic around the area. We donated the left-over items to the church we held the yard sale at as they are planning to hold one themselves.Thanks to all of you who gave us items; we really appreciated it!!

I have also received quite a bit of donations outside of the Providing "Change" campaign which I am very thankful for! I have raised enough to cover my flight from Johannesburg to Malawi and goodies for the teachers during my workshops. I am still short about $1000 for travel costs as well as anticipated costs during my time in Malawi conducting an assessment of resources and further partnership opportunities. If you feel so moved to partner with me in this project, we welcome your partnership! Checks can be made out to: Global Community Partners, and sent to 10329 Fernglen Avenue, Tujunga, CA 91042.

Lastly, we were successful in garnering 108 votes for the GiveMeaning proposal which is a website that allows us to fund-raise for a specific project/cause and is another vehicle for spreading the word and raising funds for the high school I will be at this August. This website allows people to browse through and donate to our project should they so desire. It is my first time doing this, and depending upon how successful it is, we will be doing other projects through this site in the future. So keep your eye out on that as well: http://www.givemeaning.com/proposal/communitymalawi

So these are all the fund-raising updates. I will be posting a prayer calendar in the next week and I'd appreciate your prayers while I'm on this trip. I am concerned about some things but I know that God is in control. Still I would appreciate your prayers. I don't know if I have shared this but I am also presenting at a conference in South Africa before I head to Malawi (which is why unfortunately I had to cut my trip to Malawi one week shorter than I had intended). But, the conference is a good opportunity for me to talk to other people who work and study in the area of social welfare and make connections. So all in all, I really need your prayers as this conference presentation is my first, and I'm very very nervous!! For those of you who are interested, my presentation will be on a paper that I wrote for a class called Fundamental Issues behind the Concepts Surrounding Foreign Aid: A Freirian Perspective.

Thanks, as always, for all your support, your encouragement, and your prayers!!! I am eternally grateful!!!

Providing "Change" - Update*

Our Providing "Change" campaign continues but here's an update. To date, we have collected $489 in change, which is just $111 short of our $600-goal!!! I am sincerely amazed and excited at this progress! My mother asked me just before we counted our change just how much do I think I'm going to collect through this because it's just pennies and nickels and such. But then she was inspired by Megan (see one of the earlier posts on this campaign) and added some of her change to the campaign! We will be continuing our collection, so feel free to add what you can! Check back frequently for updates and for information on when and where we will be collecting again. THANKS!!! (And yes, the above picture is the change - minus the quarters, half dollars, dollar coins, and dollar bills - we collected so far. The large Coke bottle was courtesy of Megan; we will be returning the bottle to her so she can collect again if she desires.)

*Please note that this campaign has nothing to do with Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign; nor did we take his idea for this campaign. Our "change" stems from the spare change that is being collected in order to "change" a harvested maize field into a soccer field at a high school in Africa. :)

PROPOSAL PASSED!!

THANKS to all of you who voted for our proposal on GiveMeaning.com!!!

The proposal has now passed stage 1 (the voting stage) and can now enter stage 2 (the actual fund-raising stage).

To see more go to the site here. There is more to come!!!! :)

Change Makers: Providing "Change" (One community at a time)

One of our fund-raising campaigns in the past several months has been collecting spare change--nickels and pennies mostly, but whatever that jangles in our pockets and coin-purses--and putting it in a jar (or ziplock for me) to contribute to our Providing "Change" campaign. This was what we put together and circulated for this campaign:

WHAT: Pennies and nickels (or all the change you can spare!)
WHO: Global Community Partners for Kings Victory High School
WHERE: Blantyre, Malawi (Africa)
WHY: To “change” a harvested maize field into a soccer field for the youth (many who are orphaned by the AIDS crisis)
HOW: By collecting as much change as possible to raise $600 – the cost for “changing” this field
WHEN: Deposit your change in jar/bag provided, or for collection information contact Eun-sil at: euneeq@gmail.com

So we have actually made our initial collection and I am amazed at the progress we have made towards our goal! There have been many change-makers who have contributed to this campaign; in no particular order, they are: Jeremy, Rana, Sylvia, Megan, Kay, Michelle, Yoon, Sung, Eunja, and a few other anonymous people. But in this entry, I just want to thank one particular change-maker: Megan, who is 9 years old. She collected $185.91 to contribute to this fund-raising campaign, and I am inspired by her! I know that I will not be the only one who is thankful for the change she has contributed, in more ways than one! And I will most certainly share this with the students at Kings Victory High School this August. We have collected a lot of change and will do a counting in a few days to see just how close we are to our goal. I am certain that we have at least $350 which is a bit over the halfway mark of our $600 goal. So if you are collecting, please continue! If you are not and you want to contribute, please begin!! You will always have an opportunity to be a change-maker, even if it's not with this particular goal!

And to share with you, this is our 9-year-old change-maker, Megan, who was happy to hear how much she had raised and also happy to see some pictures of the school where a soccer field will be created halfway around the world:

GCP Yard Sale in Los Angeles!

We are having a yard sale in the Los Angeles area to raise funds for my trip to and work in Malawi! If you would like to come and keep us company, or bring some stuff to donate to the sale, here's the pertinent info:


What: GCP Yard Sale
When: Saturday, June 21st, 2008
Time: 9 a.m. to mid-afternoon?
Where: Pyong Kang Church, 4949 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA (located in Eagle Rock near Occidental College; nearest cross street is Avenue 50)

We will be at L.A. Ye-Bon Church on June 15th (1:30 p.m. service) so you can bring stuff then, or you can bring it to the yard sale yourself if you plan to join us. :)

Can't come? No problem! Just pray for us! :)

GCP Monthly Update: June Bloom

It is already time for our June update. It has been spring here on Long Island and my first real lived-in Spring experience. It's amazing how trees that once looked dead and brown all of a sudden all spring to life again! Tiny little buds protruding from brown branches and flowers budding all around! Truly one of the most fascinating things for me to see I think. And as the trees put on new coats of soft green and pretty themselves up with blossoms, I was excited to be shedding my winter layers and putting on light clothes, basking in the sun again! But those rainy days sure were hard to take!! And even now, when I look at the forecast, I get a bit disappointed when I see rain in it.

But can you imagine the earth with no rain? I think that's why it's so green here in the summer on Long Island. There's so much rain during the winter and spring that the ground has soaked it up as have the plants, and all summer long, they remain so lushly green! It reminds me of how life is a lot of times - not always sunshine and happiness; the rains do come, and clouds move in with thunder and lightning. Yet without the periods of rain, I wouldn't appreciate the sun so much, and without the periods of rain, I wouldn't grow so much. And I know that there will be plenty of periods of rain ahead, with July looming largely on the horizon. But I know that once July comes and goes, I will be rolling right into everything in August; and I'll probably experience a lot of growth. So instead of the traditional "June gloom", I think it's time for June bloom. Yes, a bit corny, but I can't help it. :)

So what's new with us in June?

1. The workshop outlines I sent to Kings Victory Academy looked acceptable, according to the principal and the missionary who is my contact there. So my task this month is to continue to prepare for the workshops with activities, literature, and things that I can leave with the teachers as well as ways that they can teach me. I will share more about the workshops in my next update. :)

2. Last month, the proposal that I was trying to get going on the Give Meaning website failed to reach the needed 100 votes to advance to the next level. So, I'm doing it again. My motto is very quickly becoming "Try, try, and try again!" The website is: http://www.givemeaning.com/proposal/communitymalawi (click here to access it) . Please visit it and vote. When you go and vote, please remember to rate our proposal (the orange, blue, and grey box on the left hand side). You can rate it by moving your cursor over the box; it should show you an empty row of stars - you can select however many stars you want to give it and then click. As of today, I need 86 more votes by June 28th! For those of you who already voted, thank you!!! Spread the word to all your friends.

3. June 1st was supposed to be our first collection day at Ye-Bon church in Los Angeles for our Provide Change campaign as well as any donations for a yard sale we will be holding in June (most likely June 21st) if we have enough stuff to do a yard sale. I wasn't able to send out the announcement with too much advanced notice, so I apologize. We will have another collection date on June 15th at Ye-Bon church for the yard sale. If you have things to donate and intend to donate them (and you live in the greater Los Angeles area) please let me know, reply to this email, or let Pastor Newman know as soon as possible. The time and place for the yard sale will be announced by next weekend (give or take a few days) if we have enough stuff to sell.

4. Some change-makers have contributed to our Provide Change for Malawi campaign, but we are still collecting. Our goal is to reach $600 or as much as we can towards that to provide a soccer field for the youth and community at Kings Victory High School. So if you have any spare change jangling in your pockets, or have a jar sitting somewhere filled with those pennies and nickels that you really don't know what to do with, take them to the nearest coin-counting machine, redeem the receipt at the grocery store, and send us the $. Or bring your change to Ye-Bon church on the 15th of June, and we'll take them off your hands.

5. I'm trying to post more often on our blog (http://gcpwork.blogspot.com), so visit it from time to time! When I'm traveling, I will be posting entries on the blog to keep you up-to-date, so keep visiting! :) I will try to post as much as I can about my trip to Africa.

Thank you for your continued support in voting for my proposal, praying for us, and participating in our fund-raising efforts! Thanks for your donations as well! We are still accepting donations on an ongoing basis; all your donations are tax-deductible. Checks can be made payable to: Global Community Partners, and sent to: 10329 Fernglen Avenue, Tujunga, CA 91042, USA.

For those of you who are in the greater Los Angeles area, I will be at L.A. Ye-Bon church in Atwater Village on June 15th to give a short presentation about what I will be doing in Africa this summer. If you are interested in attending and need directions, please feel free to email me for directions! :)

I'm getting increasingly excited!

Proposal for Kings Victory Academy is back up!

Our proposal on the Give Meaning website is back up! Please vote!! It takes only a few minutes but each vote is important to me and the school community we are raising funds for! I need 93 votes by June 28th in order to go to the next level of actually raising the funds for this project! You can click on the title of this blog and it will take you directly to the site.

A brief synopsis of the project: Raising funds ($2500 total) to contribute to the completion/renovation of buildings at Kings Victory High School in Blantyre, Malawi, as well as contributing about half ($1260) of that to school fees for the youth that attend the school but may become orphaned or are orphaned through the misfortune of losing a parent or both parents to HIV/AIDS.

Some people may wonder why there are school fees for secondary school (junior high and high school). In countries like the U.S. public education is free all the way through high school because it is something the government has established and tax dollars go towards funding these schools. They also receive funding from the state as well as the federal level, under different budgets/funds/revenues. But countries like the U.S. generate a lot of revenue. In a country such as Malawi, in Sub-Saharan Africa, only an elementary school education is compulsory and free. Beyond that, students have to pay a fee to continue their education. Perhaps it seems that these countries are not placing education as a priority, but in countries like Malawi, everything is a priority - all basic needs. When a country is impoverished, although it is tragic, education cannot be free when the budget is spread so thin. Of course there are many other factors influencing this budget but I'll not get into that here. So, you see? School fees are a reality and a necessity in these countries in order to operate the schools, pay the staff, and provide an education for the children. And that is why I propose that we raise funds for those orphans and impoverished youth that have difficulty paying for their education and are faced with no option but to drop-out....

So please go and vote!! And tell all your friends to vote!! Thanks. :)

Fund-raising Progress

To all of you who voted for our proposal on Givemeaning.com, THANK YOU! Unfortunately we did not obtain the necessary number of votes in order to get to the next level of funding. BUT I will submit it again in the coming week, so please keep an eye out for it!! This time, as I have learned, we will be more active in spreading the word and obtaining the votes. :)

As for the Providing Change campaign, change has been coming in through the generous donations of several change-makers!

And plans for the Los Angeles yard sale will be posted next month.

And as always, donations are accepted at any time. All your donations are tax-deductible. Donations can be sent to: Global Community Partners, 10329 Fernglen Avenue, Tujunga, CA 91042.

And please keep praying!!!!

Cyclone in Burma, Earthquake in China, Fighting in Lebanon, Tornadoes in the U.S.

Our hearts and prayers go out to all those affected by the recent tragic events happening around the world.... There is so much more going on than just what I've listed in this title.... It reminds me that there is work to be done, in prayer and in compassionate action. I try to keep up with some things here. Hopefully it is of help to you in keeping up with some things and finding your own areas of interest.

May or May Not?

A May activities/news/event update:

We had a Board meeting in April to keep our Board members up-to-date on what is happening with summer plans, preps, and activities as well as fund-raising and some administrative issues. In attendance were all our Board members and Sylvia Chung, who serves currently as the link between Board and staff. Thanks Sylvia!

Our fund-raising is underway, with donations coming in as well as change being collected. As mentioned in previous entries, one of fund-raising effort is called Provide "change" for Malawi (one community at a time). We are asking that you collect all that change (pennies and nickels, and others if you would like to add them) that jingle and jangle in your pocket but never seem to really get used unless you make a real conscious effort. It may not be much but with everyone adding up their spare change, we are aiming to raise $600 to create a soccer field for high school youth at Kings Victory Academy in Blantyre, Malawi. This is a high school where I will be volunteering/facilitating a couple of workshops, and would like to leave them with something more tangible. Many of the high school students are orphans - losing family members/parents to HIV/AIDS.

For those of you who live in the greater Los Angeles area, we will be collecting the change the first Sunday in June (June 1st) at L.A. Ye-Bon Church in Atwater Village. If you cannot bring it then, I will be there again on either June 15th or 22nd (I will confirm next month) so you can give it to me then. For those of you who live elsewhere and still would like to contribute to this, you can take your change to the nearest supermarket (do they have these machines in supermarkets elsewhere? I know they do in Los Angeles....) or perhaps the bank, and get it counted. You can then either send the $ or a check for the $ to Global Community Partners at: 10329 Fernglen Avenue, Tujunga, CA 91042. If you are mailing your $, it must be received by July 4th. Thanks!!

Another fund-raising event we're having is a yard sale: We are planning a yard sale in the middle to late June in Los Angeles. If you have stuff you don't need any more but don't want to throw away, donate it to our yard sale! Sylvia will be collecting these things on June 1st as well (in addition to the change) at L.A. Ye-Bon church. Contact us if you need the address. If you don't live in the greater Los Angeles area but want to contribute, be creative - spread the word to your friends and family! Hold your own yard sale, bake sale, or anything else you can think of. :) All your help is truly appreciated!

I am also working on a new fund-raising proposal and avenue through this website here. Please visit and make sure you vote for our proposal as it requires 72 more votes to deem it "worthy" of actual fund-raising, and our deadline is May 19th! This is not a financial obligation; your vote simply indicates that you believe it is a worthwhile proposal. Once it receives the required number of votes(by May 19th!), then it can go into the actual fund-raising phase. This site is visited by numerous people so the proposal will come up in search results and then people can decide if they want to donate to this project or not. So, if you can go there and put in your vote please, I'd really really appreciate it!!! Again, this is fund-raising for the high school in Malawi, mentioned above. This proposal is actually for providing school fees for orphans and contributing to the costs of repairing/renovating/adding to the school buildings (classrooms, bathrooms, and such). There's more information on the site.

Sorry this all sounds a bit disjointed, but that's a bit like my past couple of weeks. Thanks for reading and voting though!!

Vote for our proposal!

Click here to vote for our proposal for our Malawi trip this summer. This proposal is simply to raise funds to contribute to the high school while I am there. I set a fund-raising goal of about $2000 just through this site alone. But before the actual fund-raising starts, the proposal needs to receive 100 votes before it can be counted as an actual fund-raising "project".

So please vote and spread the word! Thanks!!

Upcoming activities/events

There are several things that are coming up in the next few months.


• April Board Meeting
  
• Provide "change" for Malawi, one community at a time
  
• Yard sale
  
• Presentation of summer plans
  
• Eun-sil travels to Malawi in late July for almost 3 weeks
  

April Board Meeting: Our regularly scheduled Board meeting (meets 3 times a year) will be happening this month. The date has yet to be determined but will be the last weekend of April. Location: TBD - but in the greater Los Angeles area as usual.

Provide "change" for Malawi, one community at a time: Ever wonder what to do with all those pennies and nickels? It weighs down your pockets, fills up your change purse, and using them just takes too much time sometimes. Well, collect them in a jar or a bag for us! This is one of our fund-raising campaigns. All the change collected will be taken to a coin-counting machine (if you live in the L.A. area, we will be collecting them; if not, there is a coin-counting machine in most of your grocery stores) and the money raised will go towards the creation of a soccer field at Kings Victory Academy in Blantyre, Malawi. Any money that's collected over the amount needed for the soccer field will go towards the Orphan Fund at this high school (Kings Victory Academy).

Yard Sale: Do you have things you want to get rid of but not throw away? Things that have a lot of good use left in them, but just don't have any use for you? We will be doing a yard sale in June and the proceeds will go towards Eun-sil's trip to Malawi. Obviously this is more feasible for those who are in Los Angeles as the yard sale will be held in L.A. when Eun-sil goes back for about a week. However, if you are so inspired to do so, hold a yard sale in your area on your own - or gather some friends and do it together! Then forward the funds to: Global Community Partners, 10329 Fernglen Avenue, Tujunga, CA 91042.

Presentation of summer plans coincides with Eun-sil travels to Malawi late July for almost 3 weeks: I (I being Eun-sil) will be at Yebon Church in Los Angeles, CA this June to make a presentation of how I'll be spending my three weeks in Malawi. If you would like to attend, I will post the date, time, and location in June so you can drop by. As an overview, I am doing a few things in Malawi, one of which is related to Kings Victory Academy that I mentioned previously. I will be conducting a workshop with the high school teachers at Kings Victory Academy and learning more about that community in general. I also hope to be traveling around the country of Malawi to see what it is like there (I haven't been back in 21 years) now and to see if I can get to know the needs of the community and the people there before we launch into anything else.

So, as you see, we have much going on. If you would like to just send us a donation, we also accept those. All donations are tax-deductible; forms are in the process of being filled out and filed with the IRS. If you donated last year, your donations are tax-deductible regardless of the status of our forms as our total annual revenue did not exceed $5000 (in fact was a very small percentage of that). Our mailing address again is: Global Community Partners, 10329 Fernglen Avenue, Tujunga, California 91042, USA.

Thanks!!

Welcome to our news!

Hello and welcome to the news blog for Global Community Partners (or GCP as we like to call it)! While our website is down and we sort out the issues we're having, I thought that this would be most appropriate so that people can still feel like there is something they can click on, look at, and find out more info about us! Furthermore, since I'll be in Malawi this summer doing some initial work for GCP, this would be a handy way to keep you up-to-date as much as possible from abroad! At the bottom of the page is a box called "Snapshots". Here I will try to post pictures related to GCP work and people. And please feel free to leave comments and questions!! Thanks!!!