Home 
Archive 2009 Quarterly Report January until March - Empowering the Organisation for an efficient 2010
This year started with reviewing the previous twelve months. Beside the annual financial statement and the updating of the accountancy we also completed a number of reports on the projects which were sent to our donors. Our aim was to create transparency about the past year's activities, leaving us free to complete existing projects as efficiently as possible and push on with new ones.
At our annual general meeting on February 21st 2010, the financial report as well as the schedule for 2010 were presented and approved. At this meeting a staff member of our partner organisation Sebrae presented the new project FOFA. FOFA is the Brazilian term of the SWOT analysis, which is a strategic planning method used in the field of strategic management. By means of this method the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of our apiculture project were evaluated within three further meetings. Hence tangible activities and goals for the upcoming six till twelve months are defined for our 25 apiarists. The apiarists shall be enabled to sustainably optimize their honey production and consequently enhance the opportunity to sufficiently care for their families by selling the honey. Altogether the aim of the project FOFA is to evaluate integrated strategies for our activities so that we can improve the coordination of these activities and therefore work more efficiently. In the future this technique can also be used in our other projects.
Furthermore we could successfully complete the restoration of a well in the urban quarter Seape. This quarter is one of Araruna's poorest. Here, more than 100 families suffer from water shortage. Due to the repairing of the well all residents gained access to potable and process water again.
"Thanks to the donators of the well"
Our water project in Gonçalo, which is sponsored by the Stefan-Rahl school in Obereschach, is also developing well. We are currently building a capacious water reservoir for the supply of water for the 20 families which live in this secluded surrounding community. The laborious cleaning of the natural rock formation is now finished. Masses of soil needed to be removed manually. In order to finish the project we now need to plaster the already bricked walls.
"motivated people do a great job!"
Furthermore we had a one-day event with our partner organisation Alpargatas in our educational centre. More than 50 people attended this course on employment law. The training was conducted by a member of the CNTI, a labour union for the textile industry based in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.
"The workers of the Alpargatas are very interested in the topics"
Our tree nursery project works out well: On our new premises that we could acquire thanks to a generous donation of the grammar school St. Michaels-Gymnasium in Metten currently sprout about 22.000 seedlings. We will distribute these Cashew-, Guava-, Graviola-, Pinha- and Mango-plantlets in the surrounding communities of Araruna before the rainy season will start. Hereby we want to enable the region's poor farmers to enhance their income by selling the plant's fruits and furthermore provide an important dietary supplement for them and their families.
"Beds of our tree nursery on our new premises"
Likewise our water projects in Pernambuco keep going on and also our visits for poor and sick people take place regularly. Meanwhile our preparations for a four-week language course in Portuguese in our educational centre enter its final stretch.
Currently we are planning the reconstruction of a blind man's house in Mata Velha, a surrounding community. The unemployed man lives there together with his wife and his nine children - their environment is very poor and cramped without any sanitary facilities. To help this family we will build two new rooms, a lavatory and rebuild the leaky roof.
"House of the 11-headed family of the blind man in Mata Velha"
Finally we would like to thank you. Due to your continual support our organisation was able to expand to a remarkable size. The voluntary helpers on site always contribute new suggestions for new projects, so that we hardly have the ability to implement all our ideas.
It is, therefore, all the more welcome that two new voluntary colleagues have joined our team in mid-February. From now on there are four German contact persons in Brazil. Sabine Damerow and Nils Theophile, the new volunteers, have already settled into the new environment here and could already support the projects.
"The german team: Alexander, Lukas, Sabine und Nils"
We are looking forward to meeting all the challenges of the upcoming months and to efficiently pushing forward all our projects on site with our team.
Thank you for your support and your trust! We wish you a Happy Easter!
