Koinoina Foundation

Announcing Koinonia Foundation’s first annual fundraiser!

A lot of behind the scenes work goes into planning a fundraiser, and that is definitely true when you’re trying to plan the first one.

We are so grateful to the Grand Rapids community for embracing Koinonia Foundation in the ways that they have. Here’s a great example: the owner of Bar Divani has graciously offered to be an in-kind sponsor for our fundraiser, and we are excited to announce that “Experience Rwanda” will be held Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Photography Room at Bar Divani. The event location is 15 Ionia Ave. SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503. Bar Divani is a fantastic place, and if you’re a Grand Rapidian who hasn’t been there, I suggest that you go and check it out.

Proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit the purchase and installation of a solar power system with computers for a secondary school in Rwanda’s Eastern Province. In a country where less than 10% of the population has electricity, a solar install will provide more than 500 Rwandan students with a safe and technologically advanced learning environment. Every child needs and deserves a quality education – can you imagine if your child went to school without electricity or computers? That’s an incredible disadvantage that we can help overcome.

Hopefully you’ll soon be seeing posters for the event at local businesses around town. Sponsorship opportunities are also available, and they are very reasonably priced because we know that every donation helps.

We are doing our best to put on a fun event where people around Grand Rapids can come, enjoy Rwandan food, music, art, photography, information about the country, and a gift bag with items from Rwanda. Tickets are $40 and include all of the above, plus 2 drink tickets for the bar. We promise to tell you a little bit about ourselves, but to also keep it short so that you can enjoy “experiencing” Rwanda.

To become a sponsor, request an event poster for your business, to make a donation, or to register, contact me at ashley@kfaid.com or 616-742-9101. And check out who’s already RSVP’d at our Facebook page.

Ashley

P.S. Here are screen shots of our new brochure. Click to enlarge them. Thanks to Greystone Print Solutions for their great printing work!

Great news: 20 more women have joined the Beacon Program! Through the Beacon Program, unemployed women start small businesses selling the K-Light solar lantern in their communities. The women work together in a cooperative to run the business, and the addition of this new group marks the opening of the second branch of Ingenzi za Rwezamenyo Cooperative (the first branch being in districts of Kigali).

Last week, these 20 women received business training to enable them to run their business effectively. Koinonia Foundation benefitted from a University of Michigan MBA student named Dale, who was working on the K-Light project in Rwanda. He agreed to set aside a portion of his time to impart some Ross School of Business knowledge to the women in the program. (For future training, we will be using Rwandese business students.)

One of the things Dale did during the training was to get all the women together and teach them some marketing strategies. Then he broke them up into groups for a mock competition to pitch a marketing plan. The women had some great suggestions on how to expand the business and on additional products they could sell. I suspect that some of the ideas they had will become part of their business!

After the 5-day training program, each of the women received a grant of 6 K-Lights as the capital to begin the business. Good luck to the women of the Ingenzi za Rwezamenyo – Ngoma Branch. We’re looking forward to supporting you on this journey.

Here are a few snapshots from the experience. Thanks to Dale, for sharing his knowledge and his pictures. Enjoy your chicken!

We’ve started spreading the word that Koinonia Foundation will host its first fundraiser this fall in Grand Rapids. (Side note: If you’d like to assist in some capacity, contact ashley@kfaid.com.) Proceeds from the event will help fund the cost and installation of a solar power system at a school in Rwamagana, Rwanda.

The install is a Koinonia Foundation partnership with The Rwanda School Project. The Rwanda School Project is a funding partner of The Rwamagana Lutheran School, which will be where the system is installed. What I really like about this school is its focus on sustainability. Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa – there are nearly 10 million people in a country roughly the size of Maryland. That can be quite a squeeze on the environment and natural resources. In recognition of this, the school is creating itself as a working demonstration facility with solar power (that’s where we come in), bio-gas digesters, water catchment, farming and gardening techniques (drip irrigation, zero-grazing, and erosion protection), and low-fuel ovens. Students and staff participate in building and maintaining these systems, as well as overseeing their evolution.

Another great thing about the school is that they work hard to serve a significant number of economically disadvantaged students and to attract (and retain) girls. They also hire the majority of their teachers from the Kigali Institute of Education.

The school will open its new facilities in January 2011. Eventually, it will serve about 540 students in grades Secondary 1-6 (U.S. grades 7-12).

Here are some pics forwarded from Andrew Williams, when he checked in last week on the construction.

Our founder, Dr. Dale Williams, was recently named a Thought Leader in Energy by Business Review West Michigan. As promised in my earlier blog, here’s the link to the full story: “A Light in the Dark.”

From the article…

What sparked your interest in alternative energy?

In 1996, following the genocide in Rwanda, I worked at a refugee camp in Zaire, now Congo. After I left, I wanted to continue work in Rwanda. Several years later, I did that by helping build schools and clinics in Rwanda. I wanted to install computers in schools, but there was no electricity.

I turned to solar power, and, out of that, we created the Koinonia Foundation. The foundation’s focus is on education. We do that through modernizing education, implementing clean and renewable energy sources, and creating strong communities that promote a safe and healthy standard of living. We do most of our work in Rwanda currently…

See more of the interview at the source.

On January 12, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, causing great tragedy for the people of an already beleaguered country.

PiSAT, the company that developed the K-Light, was contacted by a customer who felt that PiSAT and Koinonia could do something for people in Haiti. What we were able to do was only a very small drop in the bucket. We commend everyone who donated to the relief effort in Haiti.

Thank you to Harvest International for sharing your photos with us.

Ashley

Koinonia Foundation is pleased to announce that our founder and chairman, Dr. Dale Williams, has been named a Thought Leader in Energy by Business Review West Michigan.

The past month has been a month of applications. Applications for grants, awards, and competitions.

Applications we have recently completed or are in the process of completing include:

• UNESCO’s “Ten Ideas for Africa’s Tomorrow”
• The Tech Awards
• Gates Foundation’s “Grand Challenges Explorations”
• West Michigan Business Review’s “2010 Innovation West Michigan”
• Dining for Women
• U.S. Department of State’s ”Secretary’s Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls”
• Ashoka’s Changemakers “Leveraging Business for Social Change”

Phew!

Things got off to a good start with the news last week that Dale had been named a Thought Leader in Energy by Business Review West Michigan. He was nominated for his role in bringing solar power to schools in Rwanda, creating a renewable energy business in both Grand Rapids and Rwanda, and developing the Koinonia Foundation’s Beacon Program. Business Review West Michigan thought Dale met the standards and notified him of his winning nomination last week.

We should also say that none of this would be possible without the work of electrical engineer Bill Greenhoe. Dale saw the need to make a jump into solar energy, but without Bill’s knowledge and work to carry it out, it would not have been possible. Congratulations to both of you.

7 other individuals were also chosen as Thought Leaders in Energy. Check out the full list here. I’ll link to the article in the Business Review when it runs on May 13.

Ashley

So, this is my last week interning at Koinonia, and I can’t believe it!

As a business student, and one with a pretty limited work history, over the last four years at Grand Valley I had formed a very one track, cynical outlook on what a company’s goals, tactics, and aspirations should be.  In my mind, a company was to be cutthroat and out to make the most profit as possible, while making certain to only look out for itself.  I was content with this outlook of the corporate world and ready to enter into it.

Something that no ethics course or pep talk from a friendly professor could ever offer me came in the form of my internship with Koinonia.  It was such a new experience for me to work and be around people who not only want to run a successful business, but at the same time help others around the world become empowered.

Although the highlight of my internship was definitely the trip to Rwanda, I also gained a lot from spending time at the Grand Rapids office.  A lot of time and effort is being spent trying to get the name Koinonia out into the public.  Being able to help promote and advertise what Koinonia is all about has opened my eyes to how much hard work it is.  It was interesting to be involved in what the PR team has planned for Koinonia in the future.

During a business lesson with the Beacon women.

This Saturday I will be walking in graudation, proudly sporting my Rwandan Flag sash (all students who travel or study abroad for credit get to wear the country’s flag) and knowing that I have a much more rounded and fulfilling attitude and prospect to offer out to the world.

Koinonia Foundation has a YouTube channel! We’ve been busily uploading our videos and plan to upload some more soon. These FlipCams we’ve got have proven to be very popular – and very useful. We’re even filming some of our informational video on them. Check out a video we uploaded of the training session last month in Kigali for the Beacon Program. It’s after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

Dale and I were interviewed by Wood Radio earlier this month. They put up the podcast, so have a listen! We thought that it went pretty well.

Ashley