Check us out at our new location

Dear friends and supporters,

We moved!

Our blog is now integrated into our new website, making it a little more user-friendly for you to stay abreast of what's happening with The Niapele Project!

You can subscribe to the blog via RSS feed at its new location.

Please note that we will no longer be using this blog to post updates about news & events, so update your bookmarks!

Looking forward to being in touch with all of you in the coming weeks and months,

Cheers - The Niapele Project team

June 20 is World Refugee Day!

You're invited to come join The Niapele Project honor more than 30 million refugees and displaced people worldwide at 2 locations : Los Angeles & Paris!

Click on photos below for event details.

questions? megan@theniapeleproject.org

The Niapele Project Goes CarbonFree!

Press Release

The Niapele Project is proud to announce a step forward in our commitment to environmentally responsible initiatives by offsetting our carbon emissions with Carbonfund.org, one of the country’s leading carbon offset organizations. As a CarbonFree™ Small Business Partner, we offset carbon emissions from our business operations and travel through the support of Carbonfund.org’s renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects.

Our mission to promote sustainable strategies for the empowerment of vulnerable refugee children, through the development of community-based initiatives compels us to be accountable for our impact on the planet.

"Each member of The Niapele Project staff has witnessed the effects of limited access to clean drinking water and a lack of sanitation in West Africa. Whether we work in the field or from our home offices, we remain aware of our personal and professional impact on the planet. We believe that the success of our empowerment strategies is intrinsically connected to a commitment to social and environmental sustainability,” said Celina Guich, co-founder and director of The Niapele Project.

“To this end, The Niapele Project has begun a partnership with Carbonfund.org to offset our carbon footprint and neutralize our impact on the environment. This is a natural extension of our work on behalf of refugee children and our imperative to promote sustainable development.”

View The Niapele Project & CarbonFund.org's joint press release on CSR newswire!

Sneak Preview!

PSA premiering on World Refugee Day, Friday June 20, 2008 in Los Angeles, Paris & Buffalo - stay tuned for details!

Thank You

The ARCH family thanks YOU for your continued support!

The 30 Hour Famine

Taking a break from reporting news from Buduburam to bring you a video of the 30 hour Famine, an awareness and fund raising event that was held in Los Angeles, CA, on March 7th-8th 2008.

We would like to thank Bruce and Tanya Fleenor; Christ's Church and of course the wonderful kids who participated in this event

600 refugee women and children facing deportation - action required

Following the recent events, a group of NGOs and individuals who work and have worked in the Buduburam refugee settlement have come together to call on the international community to insure that the rights of all refugees in Ghana are upheld.

We are gravely concerned for the fate of the 600 detained refugee women and children, who are facing imminent deportation - we humbly ask for your support in order to press authorities to respect the rights of refugees.

Please click here to sign the petition calling on authorities to uphold the rights of refugees in Ghana

We will pass it on to authorities very shortly.

On behalf of the Liberian refugees in Ghana, thank you for your support.

The Niapele Project Team

Help us make our voice louder!

Dear friends,

We are working hard to find a way to produce a promotional video for The Niapele Project - this would be an amazing tool for us, and allow us to reach so many more potential supporters!

Ayoka Productions, a young non-profit which provides video production services to grass roots organization, has agreed to produce this for us, but we need to raise $1,500 to cover the costs.

Read here how film is a vital tool for non-profits today

Donations of every size make a true difference - chip in today!

With sincere thanks - The Niapele Project Team and Ayoka Prod.

Donate your old laptop to The Niapele Project!

Our nutrition consulant in Buduburam, Adam Sandow, performs critical work for us - he is in charge of collecting quantitative data to assess the impact of the School Feeding Program on the 550+ elementary school students who benefit from it.

Adam Sandow, performing the clinical eval for the School Feeding Program

He currently uses a shared computer at the camp clinic, but he could REALLY use a laptop, so he can bring it with him when he performs data collection, work from home, etc. He is a really amazing Ghanaian guy - extremely well educated and dedicated to helping those in need. We are truly honored to have him as part of our team.

**If you have an old laptop that you don't know what to do with - send it our way!**

Celina and Penelope will be returning to Ghana for the month of April, and we hope to be able to give him his laptop then.

Thank you for your help!

Peace,

The Niapele Project Team

Moving forward with the water/sanitation project for ARCH!

Kevin Hill visited Buduburam for the first time in October 2007 on a field mission for a fabulous organization called Journalists for Human Rights. He published a story and made a short documentary about ARCH, highlighting the difficulties of a community based project of attaining sustainability. You can watch the movie here, or read the story here.

Kevin just donated a 1800 liter polytank (water tank), which is a huge step forward in implementing the water/sanitation project for ARCH. On behalf of ARCH and The Niapele Project, we wish to thank Kevin for his generosity and continued involvement.

His donation will allow the ARCH family to have a constant supply of clean water, which will make cooking, cleaning and washing much easier - and safer tasks.

Big cheers to Kevin from all of us at Niapele!

Thank yous and good luck!

Ben with the ARCH Family

The Niapele Project wishes to express its most sincere thanks to Ben Molland, who acted as our field coordinator from December 2007 through February 2008. Ben was our first field representative, and he did a fantastic job laying the groundwork for future Niapele field coordinators.

Ben worked with our partners with a great spirit - he was proactive, efficient and made a huge difference for Niapele initiatives in Buduburam.

So, dearest Ben, while we know you suffered from heat, lack of electricity and constant email harassment from Celina and I, we cannot overstate how deeply thankful we are for your work. We hope that you will remain connected to the Niapele family!

Our new field coordinator, Jessica Leombruno, will be arriving at the refugee settlement on February 13th - while Jessica has big shoes to fill, we are confident that she will be just as fabulous as Ben. Best of luck Jess, and most of all, enjoy yourself!

The School Feeding Program - in pictures

Make a true difference - $60 per year to feed a child every day!