See It: The Community being helped

MySchool-Studios ( www.myschool-studios.com )builds connections between schools and students worldwide promoting international cultural awareness through a multi-media sharing social network.

See It: The Community being helped

Talisman is a group of singers dedicated to the sharing of stories through song. With a repertoire rooted in the musical traditions of the African Diaspora, we strive to reack across the many borders that fracture the cartography of today’s world and sing the living spirit of human struggle and celebration. This year, Talisman will embark on a project connecting young artists in Cape Town, South Africa and East Palo Alto, California. In conjunction with the Amy Biehl Foundation and the East Palo Alto Mural Arts Project, Talisman will use ‘eXchange’ to explore common circumstances affecting youth _ communities in both America and South Africa. In February of 2008, adolescent kwaito dancers enrolled in a Biehl foundation intramural dance class and 12-18 year old emcees in the EPAMAP History Through Hip Hop program will agree upon a theme relevant to both of their neighborhoods. Talisman will then engage the History Through Hip Hop students in a creative process to produce a song about this theme. The music will then be sent to the Biehl foundation, where the kwaito students will choreograph a routine to this music. Finally, during the month of March and then in Talisman’s Spring Break tour to South Africa, we will culminate the project by filming a music video with the children in both East Palo Alto and Cape Town. Moreover, in May 2008, students from East Palo Alto will have the opportunity to perform with visiting dancers from the Dance For All Company in Gugulethu, South Africa. By drawing on the experiences of these students everyday lives and cultures, our hope is to facilitate mutual understanding that will be culturally enriching and help to develop their artistic abilities and self-expression.

See It: The Community being helped

The Nwagni Project is a student-run organization at Albion College in Albion, MI that has spent the last two academic years raising funds to build an elementary school and supply basic school necessities in Batchingou, Cameroon. This project started from a first-year class that travels to Cameroon every year with a professor who was raised in Batchingou. The trip to this village has left such an impact on some of these students that they have dedicated a lot of their time to raising funds to help them build a school. Together we have raised just over $11,000 in funds to go towards the building of the school by holding African themed dinners, spaghetti dinners sponsored by a local restaurant, films and other event that not only raise funds for the school, but also raises awareness about global poverty, African culture and the effort for equal access to education throughout the world.

Our goals now are to get a group of our members to travel there in January of 2008 to help build the school and build a relationship with the village for further building and assistance. Some of our members, such as myself can not afford such a trip and we are looking for sponsors or grants to help support our travel expenses which are expected to be around $2,500 to $2,800 for flight and accomodations. Hopefully through dosomething.org we can gain financial assistance to support our service on the other side of the world! We are a recognized 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization through Albion College with the tax-identification number 38-1359081. For further information please check out our website at: http://people05.albion.edu/anh10/dp/nwagni_project.htm

See It: The Community being helped

The YCC is an independent, nongovernmental, nonpartisan, and nonprofit youth organization that works to create opportunities for young people to get involved in their community through volunteer placements, participation in cultural events, and the development of civil society.

Among our activities is the annual International Art Festival – Bitola Open City, a festival that provides young artists from Macedonia, the Balkans, and greater Europe a forum to present their talents. The goal of the festival is to promote multiculturalism through art and music. We also host several smaller events throughout the year.

We are currently developing a national volunteer service so that young people can get involved in the development of their own communities. This program includes workcamps and numerous other opportunities to participate in volunteer activities, including a volunteer placement program.

Finally, the YCC is involved in social activism projects in Macedonia. We have, over the past few years, organized activities to promote the importance of voting and the creation of employment opportunities in Macedonia without political connections. We also participate in the monitoring of elections.

We would like to invite you to find out more about our organization. In the future, we would like to build closer contacts with our friends abroad, and we are hoping that young members of the Macedonian diaspora, or other interested individuals, would like to participate in our activities through volunteer exchanges.

You may contact us through our website: http://www.mkcbt.org.mk/en/main_en.html