STRATEGY
OUR FOUNDATION'S GOAL
Our goal for the Foundation is to financially support projects, the people and the teams developing the projects. We personally visit the projects such as The School of St Jude, The Ruben Centre in Nairobi, Plaster House Arusha, Kick-start and One Acre Farms projects in Kenya, Andrew Browning's projects in Ethiopia and the Selian Hospital Arusha. We expected to be the 'helpers' however the emotional impact on us was simply amazing. It was inspirational meeting the teams of volunteers and their enthusiasm that drives the development that allows these amazing projects to thrive.
We are not seeking contributions for our foundation, rather we are hoping that our commitment and contribution may encourage you to seek your own way of helping the people in the world that you have empathy with and need help. We are more than happy to tell you of our journey, even encourage you to support the same project we do, but more importantly we wish to see more people doing more. To introduce friends to the projects, we have shared visits to some of the projects with our sons, friends Julianne, Keith, Margo, Tina, Elisha, Arthur and Athena in Nov 2012 and recently our neighbours and friends George and Rita.
In 2013 we had a joint visit with four of our nieces and Margo and Tina to Kenya and Tanzania. Later in February 2014 we visited Laos, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. We continue to sponsor students who completed their primary study at Ruben's Primary School in the Mukuru . Their future was to live in the Mukuru slums of Nairobi in Kenya, separated from their parents who live in rural areas outside Nairobi. The payment of secondary school fees is a significant financial burden, which the families cannot afford.
Even though most parents work hard and do not smoke or drink, their income is insufficient to pay secondary school fees. Quite often the father will have to move around for work as permanent, stable jobs are a rarity for uneducated rural people and the mother may be lucky enough to work as a domestic servant, probably treated more like a slave. Stealing, beatings for financial gain and stand-over tactics are common.
With a secondary education these students will be able secure a better future not only for themselves but for their parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunties and even their neighbours. To maintain our support they need to, as they have promised, keep gaining good grades as they progress with their education.


OUR FOCUS ON MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Having visited and observed so much poverty, read many books and attended so many functions, we believe the School of St Jude slogan says it all, "Fighting Poverty Through Education, Helping the Kids to a Better Future".
With incomes of just $2 per week in the third world is often difficult for families to survive. We felt with our ability to make a difference that we would focus initially on third world countries and we are now reviewing several Australian projects, especially those that are rural based.
Our family visited Tanzania and the School of St Jude along with two of our special friends, the emotions experienced on that trip will be with us forever. Gemma (founder of the School of St Jude) and her team are having a major impact on education in Tanzania.
Some of the people we know are now having similar experiences and have decide to visit projects and help in their own way. We are very grateful for their actions and we expect that they will grow in number and diversity as more people decide to 'make their own difference'.

OUR INSPIRATION
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We have been fortunate, as our Foundation has developed, to meet many inspiring and passionate people in the philanthropic area. Among these inspiring and passionate people:
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Mark and Amanda Cubit
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Dave and Kerry Rickards
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Ewa Wojkowska — Kopernik Foundation
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John Wood, founder of Room to Read (R2R) and Manisone and Bounkorn of the Laos R2R team
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Gemma Sisal (Founder), Kim Saville and Angela Bailey all of the School of St Jude
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Brothers Frank O'Shea and Bill Wilding — Ruben Centre in Nairobi
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Tony Kalms and the Kenyan team of the One Acre fund
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Patrick O'Brien The 500 Supporters' Club
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Board of Directors & Kick Start Managers — helping local entrepreneurs establish new small businesses
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Michael Brosowski — Blue Dragon Children's Foundation Hanoi
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Plaster House, Andrew Browning all in Tanzania and other projects
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Sasha — Big Brother Mouse in Laos
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Annabelle and Dave — School for Life Uganda
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Wangu Kanja, Founder/Executive Director — Wangu Kanja Foundation
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Valerie Browning — Queen of the Desert the AFAR region of Ethiopia
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Rosie Batty, Never Alone — Luke Batty Foundation
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Denise and Bruce Morcombe — Daniel Morcombe Foundation
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Indigenous Affairs Broome a project with Dillon Andrews in the Fitzroy River region