Lynda and Christopher founded and ran Thursday Plantation, the company which took Tea Tree Oil to the world, recently selling the business after 27 years.

Lynda was awarded the Order of Australia in 1999 for services to the community and the Tea Tree Industry.  She is a yoga teacher and a marriage celebrant.

Christopher was born and grew up in Kenya so the couple feel a strong connection to African LEAF. Lynda is inspired by the opportunity to be directly involved in a locally run project and fell in love with all of our African LEAF children on a visit in 2011.

The complete list of African LEAF Directors now comprises:  Paul Kelly (Secretary), Michael McAuley (Treasurer), Eva Schaefer, Ed Ahern, John Adam, Susan Perrow and Lynda Dean.

After some initial worries that the weather would let us down, it turned out to be a perfect, sunny day and attendees enjoyed a delicious lunch in the beautiful golf club surroundings.

Following the lunch, guests enjoyed a fabulous fashion show featuring designs and hats from local fashion outlets, all professionally presented by glamorous local models.  There were  prizes for best dressed woman, best dressed man and best hat.  The fabulous first prize in the raffle : a double 5-day pass to the 2012 Blues Festival, valued at $900  was won by Julie Mashford.

The celebrations continued with local band The Feramones featuring a guest set by Australian Music legend, Brian Cadd, which attracted many additional revellers after the race.

Once again it was a very successful day and African Leaf would like to thank Byron Bay Golf Club, The Deck at Byron, Heather Fenn who created the event, The designers and models, The Feramones, Brian Cadd and all who contributed to the day which raised after costs, $6,700.

The past year has been a good one for African Leaf. While it has generally been a period of consolidation in which we have managed to continue to shore up our overall financial position after consecutive years of losses through 2008/2009 and an approximate ‘break even’ in 2010, in addition to that we’ve made several notable accomplishments as mentioned below.

As well as continuing to support our 17 children at the Mbagathi Rudolf Steiner Farm School and providing a full-time carer for little Lucky Moses through our sponsorship program, we have:

• constructed a new and much improved website, with the generous assistance of BCreative Pty Ltd who did the work for us at a very significantly reduced rate
• successfully assisted our first sponsored child, Sheila, to make the transition from the Farm School to a new High School,
• welcomed nine (9) new members and child sponsors to our organisation,
• arranged sponsorship for one new orphaned child, Winnie, to attend the Farm School,
• continued our significant financial support for the Saints of Hope Children’s Centre in the Kawangware Slum, and through the generosity of member and sponsor, Mike Egan, maintained the new food program introduced in Term 2 last year so the 50+ pre-school children on average who now attend each day receive 2 meals a day,
• through the generosity of supporter Wendy Edlund, arranged for the children of Saints of Hope to go on their first ever excursion to visit the local safari park and experience their country’s native animals for the first time,
• slightly increased the funding we make available to the relatives and other carers who we’ve organised to take our sponsored children during school holiday periods,
• streamlined our financial arrangements with the Farm School, both to maintain a credit balance with the School for the inevitable unexpected financial demands that arise from time to time and to take advantage of recent favourable exchange rates,
• initiated two new major fundraising events which are hoped to become annual fixtures, namely the African Leaf Charity Golf Day and our African Leaf Melbourne Cup Lunch at the Byron Bay Golf Club,
• successfully launched our Giver of Hope Campaign, which to date has resulted in an additional $4,400 of ongoing annual donations and is hoped to increase to at least $20,000 per annum over the coming year; and
• run our first general ‘Information Night’ at the home of Lynda and Christopher Dean, which was well attended and resulted in several one-off donations and is planned to become a more regular event
• continued publication of our half-yearly newsletter, ‘Sasa’

As mentioned above, our financial position improved significantly over the last financial year to 30 June 2011. The audited financial statements, which we will be asked to formally adopt at this meeting, report a profit of almost $13,000 this year, which compares with a small profit of around $2,000 last year and losses of approximately $36,000 in 2009 and $2,000 in 2008. While much of this year’s profit seems to result from a period of historically high exchange rates (which have increased from around KSh65/- to KSh92/- to the dollar over the financial year), it has also been partly due to increased revenues (both from fundraising and sponsorship fees)  and from some savings in expenditures – notably insurance and audit fees – which have all been achieved over the past 2 years. I am grateful to our new auditor, Mr Graham Mathews, for making himself available to be in attendance at the meeting to speak to the accounts and to answer any questions that members may have.

Unfortunately our progress towards Deductible Gift Recipient Status over the past year has not been great, and more needs to be done to establish a partnership with a registered NGO in Kenya before we have any hope of achieving this.

On a personal note, it was a pleasure for Eva and I to have the pleasure of the company of our new member and sponsor Lynda Dean and her husband Christopher during our visit to Kenya in June/July this year. Lynda and Christopher had the opportunity of visiting both the Farm School and Sts of Hope Centre and met all of the African Leaf children, as well as their sponsored child Diana, and have become quite passionate about the work we are doing in Nairobi. So much so that Lynda has kindly agreed to become an additional Director of African Leaf at this year’s meeting, and I welcome her involvement and know that both of them will continue to be hugely supportive and valuable contributors to our future development.

I would like to acknowledge the ongoing generous support of DHL, who continue to provide us with 4 x 50kg free shipments to Kenya each year, which are invaluable in helping us to provide much needed clothing and other supplies for the children. I would also like to acknowledge the enormous personal contributions that are made towards our fundraising efforts by Heather Fenn, for the Melbourne Cup Lunch in particular but also for her help as a willing volunteer at many other concerts and events. I would also like to thank her husband Rick, his band The Feramones, and our friend Brian Cadd for the significant assistance they have given us by agreeing to provide entertainment at several major fundraisers.

Finally, I would like to thank all our sponsors and our members for their continued support, and especially to recognise the major contribution made by Alice McAuley in looking after our book-keeping. I also wish to acknowledge and thank Susan Hayward for her invaluable administrative and secretarial support, as well as my fellow directors – especially Susan Perrow for her assistance with meetings and with resolving various issues in Nairobi and my wife Eva for the countless hours she spends in collecting, counting and banking money from our collection tins; collecting, sorting, packing and arranging delivery of shipments of childrens clothing to Nairobi through DHL and her general help and support in all our fundraising.

Paul Kelly

Chairman

25^th October 2011

Byron Bay charity African LEAF this month launched a fundraising appeal in an effort to raise much needed funds to continue their work in helping some of the poorest and most disadvantaged young children in Africa reach their adult years and have the opportunity for a fulfilling life.

Director Paul Kelly said that, as with most charities, LEAF’s fundraising has become increasingly difficult over recent years – particularly since the ‘GFC’.

Over the past 7 years, African LEAF has provided individual sponsorships for 18 orphaned and vulnerable Kenyan children to enable them to attend the Rudolf Steiner Farm School at Mbagathi where they also board, giving them a safe, loving environment in which to grow to their full potential,

In addition, LEAF also provides the majority of the financial support for ‘Saints of Hope’, a Children’s Day Care Centre they helped establish in the huge Kawangware slum on the outskirts of Nairobi, which is currently attended by over 50 pre-school aged children every day.

“The funds provided by the African Leaf sponsors cover most of the costs associated with caring for the 18 sponsored children”, Paul said.  “However we still rely heavily on our general fundraising activities each year to cover the expenses of Saints of Hope – and also for the unavoidable general administration costs and government fees imposed on us. These kids we are helping are mostly orphans, they are living way below the poverty line and most of them would be going hungry and/or would be living on the streets if it was not for our support”.

Called the “Giver of Hope” Appeal, the idea came out of a general email to supporters in which LEAF asked for ideas for fundraising.   Local supporter Dave Dane came up with the suggestion that a small regular contribution of say $10 a week from a sufficiently large number of people would be a much more effective way of raising necessary funds rather than the more conventional charity event fundraising activities that have been used in the past.

Becoming a ‘Giver of Hope’ means that by making a regular $10 a week ($40 a month) you will not only make a real difference to the lives of many severely underprivileged young children, but you can also be assured that your money is going directly to the children with minimal administration costs.  ‘Givers of Hope’ will receive regular updates on African LEAF’s work

To become an African Leaf Giver of Hope, please contact admin@africanleaf.org.au to obtain bank account details to make automatic bank transfers, or visit their website http://www.africanleaf.org.au/donate-today/ where you can commit securely to a Recurring Monthly Donation from your chosen credit card or bank account via PayPal.

Dear Supporters and Friends

Welcome to our Easter Report 2011. We are pleased to give you news of the happenings and developments that have taken place during the past year.

The school was successful, with its third application to the German Government, in obtaining funding to build four kindergarten classrooms – which is wonderful.  This was possible due to Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners e.V, who prepared the application.  They also carry the risk of repayment of this sum should the kindergarten fail to run for the next fifteen years.  We are eagerly awaiting the completion of these classrooms which are expected to be finished by the end of May.  Thank you to Jurgen Bartzsch for his efforts in preparing the project application in such a short period of time and to Mattias Schneider for the overall management.

As the school has been growing, more staff are required to help carry out the increasing volume of work.  To help this process, teachers ready to carry this responsibility need to live closer to the school.  After years of planning it is now possible to build two staff houses on the compound in the coming year.

A house will also be built to accommodate the teacher trainers for the next five years, and on a long-term basis could serve as an extra guest house for the school.  Peter van Alphen and Ann Sharfman will spend more time in East Africa in order to develop the training further, and work more with the teachers in the classrooms.  They are also starting a new course for teachers wishing to become teacher trainers; this will run for two weeks every August.

The above building developments have been supported by: Vidar Foundation in Sweden, Acacia – Kanton of Basel Stadt and Karrer Foundation in Switzerland, Zukunftsstiftung Entwicklungshilfe and Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners e.V in Germany, Sanduko from Denmark as well as friends from abroad.

We are at present exploring new ways to run our farm; this process is going ahead with the help of Anne and Rolf Bucher – gardeners from Wala.  We need to build up a structure so as to produce the required vegetables economically with a regular supply to our school kitchen.

In February this year our teachers travelled to the Hekima Waldorf School in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.  The latter hosted the East African Conference on Waldorf Education – ‘Inspire Children to Learn’.  The teachers travelled the long distance in our school bus.  Teachers, parents and friends attended from the different Waldorf Schools in East Africa.  There was a variety of lectures and workshops, people met and shared experiences – it was a fruitful and rewarding Conference.

The school is aware of the shortage of adequate training for our school leavers for their future careers; it wishes to support the needs of these young people in the future, with vocational training as a possibility.  As the land prices in this area have been rising rapidly, the school decided to try to secure land for its future.  We are presently buying a 17 acre plot of land through a loan from Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners e.V, and a 7 acre plot neighbouring the National Park has just been bought by a friend of the school, who is holding the land until the school is able to buy it.  The school needs to raise money to buy these plots or sell one to buy the other.  Then we can develop a project for young people in the future.

The loss of two close friends.

We wish to remember Peter Cook who passed away on the 8^th July 2010.  Peter, with devotion and generosity, helped us with our building programme over many years.  He was well loved by the children and staff of the school; we will miss him.

We also wish to remember Miriam Kahiga, our long time parent, trustee and friend.  She passed away on 6^th November 2010.  She promoted and supported the school for many years; she, too, will be greatly missed.

The teachers, their classes, and the number of children at the end of term 1, 2011 were as follows:

Sarah Munyua             kindergarten teacher   22 children

Jackline Juma             kindergarten assistant

Tarasila Kimani          kindergarten teacher    19 children

Idah Nyambura         kindergarten teacher    19 children

Christine Ingada        class 1                                  21 children

Augustus Mutua         class 2                                  28 children

Philisia Shake            class 3                                  28 children

Joyce Wanjagua         class 4                                  30 children

Michelle Otieno          class 5                                  28 children

Manasses Kamoro       class 6                                 29 children

Teresia Gachiri           class 7                                 28 children

Amos Macharia           class 8                                 29 children

Patrick Njoroge           exam class                           20 children

Total                                                                  301 children

We have nineteen permanent teachers; eighteen are Kenyans and one British.  In addition to the class teachers we have the following specialist teachers: Mwakai Shake teaches Kiswahili and art, Rose Ingala teaches handwork and gardening, Judith Brown – Mathematics and flutes, Lawrence Agira – English language, Komora Wayu – Kiswahili, games and traditional dance, Naomi Wambui – computers and art.

The number of boarding children has increased, close to its full capacity of 94 children.  We have four full time boarding parents: Ndinda Mutisya, Agnes Wambua, Peter Karaja and Pamela Simiyu, with Didier Habanabakize helping with the weekend boarding.  With the kindergarten groups moving out from the main building, this will give much needed boarding space for the boys.

Our non-teaching staff are as follows:

Secretary:    Zilda Mwawai

Office/Bookkeeper:   Dainah Hiuko

Maintenance Man:   Boaz Otieno

Farmers:   Henry Wambua, Abednego Ngwala

Chief Cook:  Mehta Makotsi

Cooks:   Scolastica Buke, Kibet Ngetich, Judith Achieng

Cleaners:   Sila Kathambi, Grace Manyasi

Drivers:    Patrick Maika Opicho, Peter Mutuku Mbete

Watchmen:    Mohammed Galgalo, George Kilungu, Francis Mugambi, Partungas Ole Pertet

Groundsman:    Gift Mwatabu

Bus Escorts:       Warda Mwarabu, Catherine Gachoki

Boarding Parents:  Ndinda Mutisya, Agnes Wambua, Peter Karaja, Pamela Simiyu, Didier Habanabakize

We welcome Dainah Hiuko to our office staff, and Judith Achieng as our new boarding cook.

We said goodbye to our boarding cook Kennedy Otieno Ogiambo, who was on a short term contract.

We had no choice but to dismiss Kingsley Mwatati, our office accountant for misappropriation of funds.  David Wambua was also asked to leave due to poor work practices.

Kenyan Exam Class

There are twenty children sitting the Kenyan National Exam (KCPE) this year.  Children who choose to go into government secondary schools need this exam to continue studying within the Kenyan system after primary school.  Although our children had a range of grades last year, overall our children passed well.

Co-workers and Visitors

Our experienced co-workers who visit us regularly are extremely important in the continuing development and growth of our Steiner school.  They are as follows:

Troels and Clara Ussing from Sanduko in Denmark, came in October 2010 and in February 2011.  Peer, also from Sanduko, came in September 2010, in January/February and April 2011.  Troels Ussing and Peer Joeker visit us at least twice a year.  Troels works with the College of Teachers and the larger teachers’ group as a whole, giving us lectures/workshops and helping us to develop a consciousness for the social side of the school.  He runs self-development work-shops and study groups.  Peer works with our financial and legal matters.

Annette Massmann from Zukunftsstiftung Entwicklungshilfe, visited us with her group in September 2010.  The majority of our individual sponsors come through this organization.

Mattias Schneider, our builder/landscaper, came in December 2010 to supervise the BMZ building project.  He left in February but returned again in April 2011. We look forward to a further visit in May.

We had our annual visit from Claus and Christel Metzler in January/February 2011.  Claus was mentoring several of our teachers and Christel helped with the children in innumerable ways.

Susan Cook from the USA visited us in January 2011; she mentored and worked with teachers.  Simon Shirley from England mentors teachers when requested; he has been assisting too on the teacher training modules.

Mara Kayser from Germany joined us in September 2009 from the volunteer programme of Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners e.V. and left in September 2010.   A new volunteer called Carolin Bein from Germany joined us in Janury 2011 from the same organization.

We also had Regine Meyer zu Strohe who came with her two boys Jannik and Benedict in July, Irmgard Wutte with her two children Emmanuel and Katharina, and Karin Hedrich with her son Rafael who came in February – all from Germany and giving their time for the Nyendo Trade Project.

Teacher Training

Our teacher training modular course continues to attract and inspire teachers from East Africa.  The course is run by Peter van Alphen (Primary) and Ann Sharfman (Kindergarten) from Cape Town, South Africa.  The fourth teacher training course began in April 2009 with module 1.  Students are required to complete 10 modules; the latter are run for two weeks three times a year during holidays.  Those having completed the modules and passed their mentorship receive a Diploma recognized by the Goetheanum, Switzerland.  Alongside Peter and Ann, Catherine van Alphen taught on the teacher training modules in August 2010, Simon Shirley on the modules in December 2010 and April 2011 and Susan Perrow on the module in April 2011.  Rose Ingala ran handwork classes in the December 2010 module.

Training the Teachers

A new course will be started by Peter van Alphen and Ann Sharfman this August 2011.  Modules will be run for two weeks every August.  This course will deepen Waldorf Education and enable teachers to become teacher trainers.

Anthroposophical Study Group

An Anthroposophical study group was formed with Troels Ussing.  The group worked with ‘Self development’, and will meet again when Troels Ussing visits us – also at other times of their choice.

Nyendo – Trade

Nyendo is the trade project based at the Rudolf Steiner School in Ismaning, close to Munich.  Nyendo buy African goods which are sold on Open days/markets at some Waldorf Schools in Germany.  The annual income from this is a welcome contribution.  Students running the programme have the opportunity of visiting our school.  Regine Meyer zu Strohe came to buy African goods in 2010 and Mara Kraysler will buy the goods for the year 2011.  Karin Hedrich, came also to seek ways of developing the trade.

Adult Education

During term-time two of our teachers – Philisia Shake and Amos Macharia – continue to take classes in reading and writing for Masai women at Kitengela Glass.

Financial situation

We are fortunate that Peer Jøker from Sanduko is able to continue to support us in the organization of our finances.  Peer, a chartered accountant, advises us on all financial matters.  The school has grown and naturally there is ever-increasing administration work.  Costs have risen throughout the country and this puts pressure on us to find more regular sponsors.  Since Kingsley has left the office in April 2011 the school is looking for a qualified person to take his place; this opens the door for more controls and developments.  We are constantly upgrading the efficiency of our office.

Sponsorship

We have a small sponsorship group consisting of Sarah Munyua, Judith Brown and Clara Ussing.  We are looking at new ways of sponsoring children or sponsoring the school in general.  New ideas are welcome and further avenues explored in order to increase our income.

Co-ordinators

The positions of co-ordinators created in January 2007 are proving beneficial to the running of the school.  The post of office co-ordinator is held by Mwakai Shake and the finance coordinator by Judith Brown.  These positions carry the responsibility for the daily running of the school.  Since January 2011 both Mwakai and Judith have reduced their teaching loads further to spend more time on administration matters.

The College of Teachers

The College of Teachers is responsible for the educational quality and the well-being of the school.  The members are presently: Amos Macharia (Chairperson), Serah Munyua, Mwakai Shake, Rose Ingala, Judith Brown, Tarasila Kimani, Teresia Gachiri, and Philisia Shake.

Trust

Our present trustees are: Nani Croze (chairperson), Eric Krystall, Anne Daykin, Nana Göbel for Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners, Rasmus Precht representative for Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners, Sanduko (Peer Joeker, Troels and Clara Ussing), and Judith Brown.

The group meets approximately three times a year.

Development Meeting

The Development Meeting, which takes place every October, was set up to support the College of Teachers in planning ahead for the school’s future.  Members are those working regularly in or for the school.  The permanent members are: the College of Teachers, Troels and Clara Ussing and Peer Joeker from Sanduko (who visit the school twice a year).  This meeting reviews the events/happenings of the past year and sets the goals for the following year and the years to come.

Physical development during the past year

• New toilet block completed
• Four new kindergarten classrooms in progress.

Tasks planned for the year 2011

• To build two staff houses
• To build a teacher training house
• Farm development

The Foreseeable Plan for projects after 2011

To plan for:

• Sports field
• Pottery room
• Bio-gas production
• Purchase land for future projects (in progress)
• Toilets and Showers for huts/guests

Suggestions for those who wish to give smaller gifts to the school

• Stockmar block or stick colour crayons
• Coloured pencils
• Coloured chalks
• Stockmar water colours (crimson red, lemon yellow and light and dark blue)

APPEAL

Should you know of anyone who wishes to make a regular contribution to the school – that is sponsor the school, please contact us at The Rudolf Steiner School, Mbagathi Nairobi

Email address: rssmn@kenyaweb.com

Website: rudolfsteiner.co.ke

or contact Annette Massmann on:

Email address: Annette.massmann@gls.de

or write to us at:

The Rudolf Steiner School,

P.O. Box 15609,

00503, Mbagathi

Nairobi, Kenya

THANK YOU

We wish to give a big thank you to all our friends, supporters and co-workers from around the world, all of whom make this school possible.  Without the support from friends the school could not be here.  We cannot mention all names but each one is important to us through the variety of ways assistance is given.  When one sees the children happily playing, eating good meals and making progress in school, one realizes the enormity of your gifts in bringing about such changes in the lives of our children.  Our supporters come from diverse areas of the world – Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, England, Scotland, Holland, Australia, the USA, Ethiopia and Kenya.

For this year’s physical developments we wish to give a special ‘thank-you’ to the German Government, Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners e.V through Nana Göbel and Jurgen Bartzsch in Germany.  Vidar Foundation through Anders Kumlander and Ursula Flatters   from Sweden, Zukunftsstiftung Entwicklungshilfe through Annette Massmann from Germany, Acacia through Jules Ackermann, Kanton of Basel Stadt and Karrer Foundation from Switzerland, Sanduko through Troels and Clara Ussing and Peer Joeker also Jan Precht from Germany and WOW students.

There are a number of initiatives and organizations that co-ordinate sponsorship in different countries whom we wish to thank:

• Annettte Massmann of Zukunftsstiftung Entwicklungshilfe, with Astrid Blei.
• Nana Göbel and Holger Niederhausen from Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners in Germany.        – Jurgen Bartzsch who prepared our building application to the German Government.
• Troels and Clara Ussing and Peer Jøker from Sanduko in Denmark.
• Pedagogical section of the School of Spiritual Science, the Goetheanum in Dornach.
• Jules Ackermann from Acacia in Switzerland
• Truus Warrink from the Internationaal Hulps Fund in the Netherlands.
• Flora Fremantle from England
• African LEAF.  (love. educate. acknowledge. feed) from Australia.
• The Vidar Foundation through Anders Kumlander from Sweden.
• African Circle from Schwäbisch Gemünd our sister school through the African Circle.
• Susan Cook and her friends in San Francisco.

Thank you to Peter van Alphen and Ann Sharfman, who have continued without fail to run a quality teacher-training course, allowing our school to maintain a high standard of education.  Thank you to the Nyendo for organizing the buying and selling of goods in Christmas markets in Germany and to Irmgard Wutte for her work in the trade.   Thank you to the young people of Germany for their efforts with WOW; their donations are greatly valued.  Thank you to all around the world for your special donations/gifts, regular or intermittent.  These are greatly appreciated.  Thank you to our friends who came and worked with us.

There have been many improvements within the school this year, encouraging exam results and perhaps most important of all – the sight of joyful and happy children giving the teachers ongoing encouragement and enthusiasm for their work.

Finally we wish to express our sincere thanks for ALL your gifts, in whatever form.  We shall continue our efforts to give the children a safe and sound education, in preparation for their future tasks.

Judith Brown

on behalf of the Rudolf Steiner School Mbagathi Community.

April 2011

Melbourne Cup Lunch

The second Tuesday in November 2010 saw our first Melbourne Cup Lunch fundraiser in association with Byron Bay Golf Club.

Held in the newly renovated Deck at Byron restaurant on a perfect, sunny day, attendees enjoyed a delicious lunch in the beautiful golf club surroundings.  Festivities included a fabulous fashion show organised by local designer Galit Massuri featuring talented local designers, incredible hats by local milliner Julie Casey, all professionally presented by glamorous local models.  Prizes were won for best dressed woman; best dressed man and best hat and a lucky winner won the raffle prize – a Pioneer surround sound system.

After the race, more revellers arrived to join in the celebrations which continued with local band The Feramones,  who generously performed for free in aid of African LEAF.  All agreed that the day was a great success and it seems set to be a future annual event.  A hundred and sixty-eight revellers attended the lunch which raised over $5,000.

Our thanks, to Byron Bay Golf Club, The Deck at Byron restaurant, Galit Massuri and her fabulous designers and models, The Feramones, Geoff Howard for providing the sound system and all who contributed to the day.   A special thanks to Heather Fenn, one of our regular supporters and volunteers who came up with the idea and whose hard work and vision made day the success it was.

Photo:  One of the glamorous models showing the fabulous local fashions and millinery at the Melbourne Cup Lunch Fundraiser.

CHARITY GOLF DAY

27th February 2011 saw us back at Byron Bay Golf Club  for a charity golf day.  Once again the weather was perfect and 19 teams of 4 signed up for a great day of golf followed by a sausage sizzle and a fun-filled prize giving ceremony.  Thanks to many generous local businesses, there were prizes for the best to the worst scores.  Over $2,500 was raised on the day and this too looks set to be a regular event.

Thanks to all the businesses who contributed prizes, particularly Byron At Byron Resort, Frangipani Cottages and Byron Blues Festival.  And once again, out thanks to Byron Bay Golf Club for their support.

For the Love of Kids has been a joyful project for Tamsin who says that she just loves being around kids. Tamsin says that her seven year old son Finnian is the inspiration
for much of her work but she also wants to help other children.

‘The African LEAF project is a local charity that arranges sponsorship for orphaned and vulnerable children in Africa,’ says Tamsin. ‘They also support a kindergarten in the area and in October I will travel to Nairobi to visit the project in person. I will also go to Uganda to visit my long-time sponsored child through World Vision. I am very excited to have this opportunity and hope to be able to direct my help in the most practical way, after having witnessed the situation first hand.’

Anyone wishing to buy a copy of the CD can purchase it through the website www.fortheloveofkids.com.au.

Managed by the  African LEAF team, we now have secure online PayPal Donations for your peace of mind.

We hope you enjoy our more vibrant online content, and we are thankful of your continued support. For those businesses who give to African LEAF, we will continue to promote you when and wherever possible, in our appreciation. Visit our Supporters here.

If you are a business owner, and would like to assist, simply contact us at admin@africanleaf.org.au

If you have any feedback, feel free to contact us at admin@africanleaf.org.au. We’d love to hear from you.

Worldwide courier company DHL has shown that large organisations really can make a difference after it offered its services free of charge to Byron Bay based charity African LEAF.

LEAF supports orphaned and vulnerable children from the slums of Nairobi, and DHL has agreed to send up to 50kg of consignments to Nairobi, four times a year, free of charge. African LEAF has already taken advantage of the offer and has shipped three boxes of toys to the Mbagathi Steiner School in Nairobi where they sponsor 16 orphaned children.

The clothing was donated through Nga Nguyen, who collected it from members of her Linh SonVietnamese Temple community at Darra in Brisbane.

It will be given to the LEAF children, as well as any other children at the school in need of clothing.

Some baby clothes also included in the shipment will go to babies via the health clinic in the local slum.

LEAF director, Eva Schaefer said that DHL’s offer was a god-send.

“I know that the LEAF children will be absolutely delighted to receive these clothes and shoes,” Ms Schaefer said.

“Some friends of mine had donated clothing and we didn’t know how we were going to be able to send it.”

“We occasionally receive similar donations which we’ve had to refuse in the past because overseas shipments were unaffordable for us.”

Ed Ahern from African LEAF (centre) presents thank you certificates to Dave Garsed from the Buddha Bar (left) and music legend Brian Cadd.

More than $5000 was raised for African LEAF at a fundraiser at the Buddha Bar in Byron Bay which featured Australian music legend Brian Cadd.

A large crowd turned out for the event to see Brian perform along with Rick Fenn (guitar), Greg Lyon (bass), Alan Park (keyboard) and Jesse Balfour (drums).

It was an unforgettable night featuring music from Brian’s amazing music career which has spanned more than 40 years.