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Loscarasucias Children's Home Global Colors board member Joy Haynes went to Argentina and while there decided to do a little Guerrilla Aid. In a short amount of time she met every immediate need of a children's home outside of Buenos Aires. |
Women Fuelwood Carriers Just outside of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, there are women who hike roughly 18 miles a day collecting wood to be sold in the market. The weight of the packs they carry can be up to 70 lbs. - close to the weight of some of the women - and they do it all for about $2. |
Development in Gardening We partnered with an amazing organization, Development in Gardening (DIG), to create vegetable gardens next to hospitals in Africa.
We worked at Hospital Fann in Dakar, Senegal, and created something so unique it brought First Lady Laura Bush to visit.
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Cows for the Massai After the September 11 attacks, the very poor people of the Maasai banded together and raised enough money to buy fourteen cows - their most prized possession -to give as a gift to America to help us heal.We decided to go over and thank them by repaying the gesture... |
UCLA at Angkor Thom While in Cambodia in 2005, we met a group of children being taken care of by the monks near Temple Bayon in Angkor Thom just north of Siem Reap, and they eventually became the inspiration to start Global Colors.It was only fitting that our first project was to go back and thank them. |
CAA Envirotrade Creative Artists Agency (CAA) selected Global Colors to launch their International Volunteer Vacation Program, having us take CAA employees to Mozambique and South Africa for a reforestation and outreach project. |
Jeff Scott We were contacted by the friends and family of Jeff Scott to see if we could do any sort of project in his memory, and so we set out to get to know the man Jeff had become, and create a project work in his honor. |
Bonfil Orphanage Just outside Cancun, Mexico, there is a small orphanage called "Casa Hogar Esperanza". This "House of Hope and Faith" is run by Asencio and Esther Mancilla who started this home nearly 20 years ago when someone left an infant on their doorstep. |
Back to School Inspired by Jeff Scott, our Cambodian Back to school program was able to expand to become a resounding success. 120 children are now in school, families are becoming self-sustaining, and we were lucky enough to facilitate it. |
| Cows for the Massai |
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After the September 11 attacks, the very poor people of the Maasai banded together and raised enough money to buy fourteen cows - their most prized possession -to give as a gift to America to help us heal.
While planning for this, we learned about the plight of the Kenyan widow where the tribal custom is that when a man dies, all of their property goes back to his family, leaving her with nothing. Many men in the region have died from HIV, snake bites, and other accidents, so our program focussed solely on their widows. We wanted to make it a continual gift for the region, so for the women who received cows - they in turn would be required to give their first born calf to someone else in need in the village.
We gave only heifers, so each woman could use the morning milking for nourishment, and then sell the evening milking for flour or other necessities.
It was one of the most incredible experiences of our lives, herding nearly 100 cows to a village in Kenya with the GC logo around their necks, and then hiding them behind a hill to wait for the ceremony. As the women streamed in, they had no idea what was in store, only that they would be getting a present from some Americans. Hundreds of people gathered, humming, singing, dressed in traditional Maasai red, their faces painted, and they looked like the most regal and beautiful people we’d ever seen. The equivalent of the Secretary of the Interior for Kenya (cabinet member) came all the way from Nairobi to see the ceremony, made us honorary Kenyan Citizens, and then the villagers dressed us up in traditional Maasai robes and adopted us into their tribe. Then the ceremony began…
After some music and speeches, Barton (newly named "Lekishon - The One Who Brings Wealth") stood in the middle of the field as each woman came up to draw a number out of a hat - the number corresponding to a cow she would receive. When they all had their numbers we walked to the field and when they saw the cows, everyone went crazy! There were tears, shouts, laughter and singing, each woman began ululating, as they had no idea the wealth that they would get that day.
One women in particular came up and through an interpreter said, “You have answered my prayer to God. I never dreamed I’d be this wealthy”. We found out later her husband died only a few years after they were married - about the same time her mother died, leaving her 24 years old with four younger siblings to take care of, along with three of her own in a mud house and no income.
We spent the rest of the day with them, and while walking in the village with them we were all in a complete daze. Women with the stretched earlobes, their faces painted red and covered in beads would chant, ululate, bring their children to touch us, hugging us so tightly, rubbing their cheeks along ours - it was all just completely beautiful and surreal.
It was one of the most incredible experiences of our lives, and we can’t thank everyone enough for helping make it happen. For those of you who contributed a cow, thank you. You truly changed the entire life of a family that day, and the cow you provided will be a source of wealth for years to come. The Importance of Cattle: TheMaasai are semi-nomadic pastoralists. The cattle are fundamental to the tribe's survival and this has led to an almost mystical relationship. The Maasai believe that their (Rain) God Ngai granted all cattle to them for safekeeping when the earth and sky split, and now cattle are central to Maasai economy. They serve many purposes: their milk and blood is used for food; their hide is used for mattresses, shoes and other accessories; their dung is used for plastering hut walls; their (sterile) urine has some medicinal and cleansingqualities; their meat is rarely taken for food (but may be used during ceremonies and in times of famine). Blood is obtained by creating a small wound, howeverthe wound is not fatal and is patched up afterwards. Cattle are a major sign of wealth and exchanged during marriage (to pay for brides). The quantity of cattle is more important than the quality although the Maasai have well over a hundred words to describe the cow. The cows serve as the lifeline among the tribe…without cows they are not Maasai. GalleryThis project contains one gallery with 21 images -- click on the image to view that gallery. |
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We work to create self-sustaining grassroots projects for the common good of each community we serve.
Just go somewhere and do something, and then teach others how to do the same.
