Welcome to another Living Foundation newsletter! Louise—There is so much to tell you about that we hope you may be able to come to one of our fundraising events and hear first hand about all that is happening. We want to try to keep our newsletters a bit shorter!

Five volunteers spent the first 3 weeks of September in Zimbabwe—our first volunteer team! We had so many questions we wanted answers to and so many things we wanted to see to help with planning for our projects. We managed to do everything we’d hoped to do and yet we still came home thinking of yet more that we wish we’d investigated. One of the things we have realized is that there are now many things available at cheap prices eg lovely African fabric for sewing. It is often more cost effective and supports the local business people if we are able to buy supplies there rather than taking things.

One thing that has become very clear is the need for a water supply at Fort Rixon. In the last couple of weeks the people have prepared a large area and planted maize. This is a fantastic start to the community garden but at the moment we are relying on the seasonal rain. We have a number of options that we are giving serious consideration to for where and how to provide water.

Newsletter Edition 004 November 2013

Suzanne—Our trip to Zimbabwe in September cemented in our hearts the real passion we have for helping the people we are involved with, to become better equipped to improve their lives. We managed to reach out to an entire primary school at Fort Rixon, providing them with a day’s fun and entertainment, reading stories, playing games and singing Aussie songs. All day long these children aged 3 to 12 had a lot of fun, a lollipop each (not excluding the teachers!) and each managed to clutch a precious gift (ruler or crayons) to take home or use at school. Here you can see Grade 3 kids being read Max Lucado’s “You are Special” and proudly wearing their new paper hats, which were not taken off all day! I’m sure our visit would have left treasured memories and the teachers begged us to come back next year! The Grade 5’s loved the egg and spoon races, and you can see the joy on volunteer Lorraine’s face as she organises and has fun with the kids’ games! Volunteer Trish is the champion kookaburra sound imitator, and really loved her interaction with the Grade 2 class. The feeling was mutual as you can see by their faces as these at first shy little kids became involved in the story and in the singing later! These children will have no secondary education as it stands right now, and are potential students for the Enkanyisweni Learning Centre established by Living Foundation. We managed to assist many people, and also spent time with our secondary students, providing sporting equipment and joining in the fun and games with them. The stories we have to tell can soon be found on our brand new website! Have a sneak preview and then, as we fill in the spaces, have another look and see what we have been up to! I wish you all a joyous and holy Christmas!

Helping individuals and working with other organisations As well as the projects we are involved in we have found there is often a need to help individuals. Sometimes this is an urgent need that we need to respond to quickly eg someone needing to be able to get to hospital. The community really appreciates it when we are able to help in this way. We were able to buy two second hand wheelchairs, provide “comfort bags” for mothers in hospital with sick or premature babies, supply food or seed for planting and help a young physically disabled woman about to have a baby. We distributed various things that we had been given to take with us—beanies, bras and knickers and we were able to supply first aid kits and sewing kits. We worked in with a number of different organisations, each doing different things but complementing each other. We visited quite a few places doing terrific work and it is inspiring to see what people are doing and how we are able to support each other.

We have a Living Foundation Website!

Please check us out! Although we have to be careful what information we put on the website, we know you’ll love the

photos. There will be updates on projects and news of fundraising activities.

www.livingfoundationaustralia.org

Sisonke Groups “Sisonke” means “we are together”. We now have sewing and craft groups in three different locations out of Bulawayo—Fort Rixon, Trenance and Mazwi. Conditions at Mazwi are difficult as the meeting place is a rough shelter with tarpaulin over it and a soft dirt floor. It was so hot! While there we took a couple of school desks there to use but we would love to have some bigger folding tables so that we can keep the sewing clean. Fort Rixon has about 40 regular ladies and we brought home some lovely things they had made to sell. The group at Trenance has a hall to meet in. All the groups will work together under the direction of local volunteers, Celia and Hellen. They will all be making different things to each other.

We have a wonderful Calendar for

sale. Our thanks go to Lucia from Word of Mouth Country Living in Nannup for offering to donate all profits to Living Foundation. The

calendar has beautiful pictures from the shop and includes photos from Zimbabwe telling about our work

there. A bonus is an extra month—January 2015 which is so handy to have at the end of the year. They are $12 each plus postage if you would like them posted. Contact

Kay at kaysavory@westnet.com.au or ring 0429 159926 to place

your order.

Handcrafts for Sale some from our Sisonke groups and some from

craftspeople in Zimbabwe. We will be displaying these on our website soon.

Beautiful Nativity set and many different African animals, singly ($4) and in

families ($15). Aprons $10, Placemats $2 and more!

Below: Hippo Family in Rapoko Stone $15

Left: Nativity Set—11 pieces in Serpentine Stone $70

Membership At the beginning of the new year we will be asking if you will support us by becoming or renewing membership of Living Foundation. Becoming a member of Living Foundation helps us to organize our efforts and enables us to maintain our charitable status. The membership fee is $10 per year . There is a form on our website or you can email your details to Suzanne at cleomacsr@gmail.com. When you become a member you go onto our contact list for our quarterly email newsletters and also our update list for extra news or for news when we are in Zimbabwe. Our Bank Account Details are Living Foundation Australia Ltd BSB 086565 Account 944010935. $10 helps cover the cost of printing newsletters for people who don't have access to email newsletters. If you would like a newsletter posted could we please ask you to include an extra $10 to cover postage and envelope. We want to be able to use donations for the purpose they are intended.

The Eclectic Fashion Fair was held in Busselton on 5th October. With

gorgeous models and an enthusiastic audience it was a great night that we have been encouraged to repeat. One lady who attended wrote a lovely letter to the local paper saying "My friends felt inspired to support this group of enterprising, practical and hands-on local people who are working hard to give help where it is sorely needed." Thank you Judy! Louise Raffle Winners: 1st Hannah Wilkins from Hilton 2nd Elsy Leatemia from Parkwood 3rd Bev DeMorton from Busselton 4th Trish Wintergreene from Nannup

BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS Living Foundation Australia Ltd

BSB: 086 565 ACCOUNT: 944010935

Please send an email to Suzanne at

cleomacsr@gmail.com

to let us know of your deposit so we can provide you with a receipt and

thank you personally for your donation.

If you require further information or do not wish to receive these newsletters, please contact:

Louise Furniss—furniss5@bigpond.com Suzanne Reynolds—cleomacsr@gmail.com Kay Savory—kaysavory@westnet.com.au