An Appeal

In Kwazulu-Natal, we've been touring some development projects sponsored by Comart, a foundation run by my Martin cousins. Here in Bergville, there's a centre called Philakahle, staffed by several dynamic locals and a woman from Alberta who decided to spend her life here. Using ABCD principles of building on existing community assets, they fund and encourage projects ranging from upgrading to higher value crops, developing better marketing, to supporting a collective of village women marketing their beadwork.
We got to visit that village, where they're also building rondevals to tap into the ecotourism market. It's obvious that Musa, the Philakahle contact, is a welcome and important source of advice. The work of these women is intricate and beautiful, but it's been difficult to sell their products for a decent price.
We also visited Woodford. Sounds like an Ontario town, but it's far from it, a Zulu village of several thousand, mud and simple block homes spread across a valley. Unemployment runs at 70 percent. They have a primary and secondary school, and the students proposed a library. They've raised money through grants and fundraisers; the steel structure and roof are in place, and the funds are committed for the blocks to finish the building, and the basics for equipping it as a functioning centre for the community.
However, the donated labour for finishing the building, combined with fundraised and donated dollars brings the total to just short of the 'go forward on the build' mark. The estimated cost to complete the build is about 5000 rand, or $600 dollars. That's where the appeal comes in: we're hoping our community of Canadian friends might help us support this small piece of a big picture. We're going to front the money, and hopefully some of you might be moved to help out. If you can, just fire us a quick email saying how much you'd like to contribute, and we'll collect when we're home in a month. We're also hoping to put on a celebratory dinner for donors, where we could show some pics of the excellent work here. I can assure you every penny will go to the project, and it's a chance to make a direct difference through enhancing education.  jcjmafrica@gmail.com.   Thanks!!!
Pics are of the Philakahle team at the building site, the village and some of its young residents who proposed the library project.