RAJO: Hope for the Somali Community
Donation protected
THE CRISIS
"The world has only three to four months to save millions of people in Yemen and Somalia from starvation, as war and drought wreck crops and block deliveries of food and medical care..." - The International Committee of the Red Cross (March, 2017)
Since moving to Somaliland ten months ago, I can count on two hands the number of times it has sufficiently rained. Already a hot arid climate, in recent years East Africa has been assaulted by drought and famine, leaving its inhabitants struggling and in desperate need of basic resources. The unimaginable is happening: people are dying from lack of water.
Lots of people.
Abaarso, the local village near the school where I teach, has become more reliant upon goods imported from U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia. And although we are fortunate enough to be located near the region’s capital city of Hargeisa, villages more removed from imported goods and nomadic peoples living between villages have seen the structure of what was once a sustainable lifestyle crumble.
(PC: Andrew Neal)
Over 60 percent of Somalia’s population is nomadic.
Since 2014, Somalia has experienced severe drought as a result of the weather phenomenon “El Niño.” While violent storms and natural catastrophes damaged other parts of the world, the slow creep of a near half-decade long drought and famine has devastated this region. Between the months of March through May, the rainy season, it has rained fewer than a dozen times.
The rest of the world, focusing only on terrorism and conflict within the region, has forgotten these people: working to survive, now plagued by drought and famine of mammoth proportion.
THE CAMPAIGN
In the attempt to put a dent in an ongoing national catastrophe, I have teamed up with a young Somali woman, Ubah Ali, to raise funds and awareness on behalf of the local Abaarso Village community and Ms. Abdi’s hometown of Burao, six hours north of Hargeisa.
The fund, RAJO: Hope for the Somali Community, will serve as both a mechanism for hand-delivered aid to unreachable communities, and also as a platform for awareness through a powerful vehicle:
ART.
(Cabdiasis Maxamuud Daud, 7th Grade, showing his literary project about the drought in Somalia.)
(Nada Ahmed Mohamed (left) and Kafiya Rushiid Guled (right), 8th grade, holding their winning logo for the campaign.)
“Rajo,” which means “hope” in Somali, represents the hope that the community still maintains.
Many of the students I teach come from a lower socio-economic background. Though their desire to help their community is hindered by economic restraints, they have contributed to the cause through modes of self-expression:
Drawing
Painting
Poetry
Essays / storytelling
Photography/cinematography
Other forms of three-dimensional or multi-media artwork
“The situation is like [sic] tragedy so, we have to get up [and] help each other, if we aren’t hungry there will be a day [when] we will be hungry.” –Excerpt from an essay written by 8th grade student, Cabdifatah Abdilahi Mohamed
In June, each piece of art will be moved from Somaliland to New York for an Art Fundraiser on behalf of the artists’s communities. Each piece of artwork will be sold, funding on-the-ground efforts in Burao and Abaarso.
FUNDRAISING GOAL
*NOTE: ALL CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS DONATED AT THE EVENT WILL GO DIRECTLY TO ON-THE-GROUND RELIEF.
Right now, our fundraising goal is $12,000, though I personally believe that, with the right demographic, a much larger impact can be made.
This campaign serves two main purposes:
(right)
1. To raise immediate money for on-the ground- dispersion to the local communities, Abaarso Village & Burao.
2. To raise money for the creation of a successful fundraising event for RAJO: Hope for the Somali Community.
THE EVENT
The NYC Art Auction will be (tentatively) held on June 23, 2017, location TBD. Because there is no Somaliland postal system, all artwork generated will be packed in a suitcase and brought IN PERSON to New York.
Attendees will bid on the artwork, the highest bid receiving the artwork.
The winning bidder will receive:
The artwork
Opportunity to speak to artist about his/her work
Opportunity for contact with members of the community receiving aid contribution
THE IMPACT
Areas of dispersion:
- Abaarso village
- The city of Burao
- Eastern villages outside of Burao
The money raised, both from the online campaign and the art auction, will be allocated to purchase the following items:
Water (distributed by water trucks)
Sugar
Flour
Rice
Pasta
Porridge
Dates
Dry tea
Cooking oil
Potatoes
Vegetables
THANK YOU’S
At the following giving levels, donors will receive “thank you’s” for paying it forward!
Kaalinta shanaad
($50 Giving Level)
Green RAJO: Hope for the Somali Community wristband
Kaalinta afaraad
($100 Giving level)
~ In addition to above
Event program recognition
Kaalinta sudexaad
($250 Giving level)
~ In addition to above
Small glass pitcher - engraved with RAJO logo, designed by Somali students
Kaaltina labaad
($500 Giving level)
~ In addition to above
Small glass pitcher - engraved with RAJO logo, designed by Somali students
Skype call with Ubax Abdi and members of the Somali community
Kaalinta koowaad
($1000 Giving level)
~ In addition to above
Large serving tray- engraved with RAJO logo, designed by Somali students
Want to know exactly who receives your money, and how it directly impacts the Somali community? After the money is collected from the June 23rd auction, the on-the-ground dispersion process will begin, with feedback from the beneficiaries.
Donation distribution
To provide transparency in the logistics of your donation and how it goes to providing relief to Somali victims of the drought and famine, please read the following.
Your donations will first go to a personal account of Lizzie Nora Harless, as there are no international banking institutions in Somalia that Ubah Ali can easily have access to.
These funds will be withdrawn by Harless in sizeable amounts to then transfer to Ali on the ground in Somalia using an international money transfer service, such as Western Union.
The funds received by Ali will then be used to purchase necessary items (i.e. water, rice, etc.) for victims of the drought and famine in the Burao area. Ali will then distribute these to those victims.
Feel free to contact me through this campaign page, should you have any questions about our distribution process.
"The world has only three to four months to save millions of people in Yemen and Somalia from starvation, as war and drought wreck crops and block deliveries of food and medical care..." - The International Committee of the Red Cross (March, 2017)
Since moving to Somaliland ten months ago, I can count on two hands the number of times it has sufficiently rained. Already a hot arid climate, in recent years East Africa has been assaulted by drought and famine, leaving its inhabitants struggling and in desperate need of basic resources. The unimaginable is happening: people are dying from lack of water.
Lots of people.
Abaarso, the local village near the school where I teach, has become more reliant upon goods imported from U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia. And although we are fortunate enough to be located near the region’s capital city of Hargeisa, villages more removed from imported goods and nomadic peoples living between villages have seen the structure of what was once a sustainable lifestyle crumble.
(PC: Andrew Neal)Over 60 percent of Somalia’s population is nomadic.
Since 2014, Somalia has experienced severe drought as a result of the weather phenomenon “El Niño.” While violent storms and natural catastrophes damaged other parts of the world, the slow creep of a near half-decade long drought and famine has devastated this region. Between the months of March through May, the rainy season, it has rained fewer than a dozen times.
The rest of the world, focusing only on terrorism and conflict within the region, has forgotten these people: working to survive, now plagued by drought and famine of mammoth proportion.
THE CAMPAIGN
In the attempt to put a dent in an ongoing national catastrophe, I have teamed up with a young Somali woman, Ubah Ali, to raise funds and awareness on behalf of the local Abaarso Village community and Ms. Abdi’s hometown of Burao, six hours north of Hargeisa.
The fund, RAJO: Hope for the Somali Community, will serve as both a mechanism for hand-delivered aid to unreachable communities, and also as a platform for awareness through a powerful vehicle:
ART.
(Cabdiasis Maxamuud Daud, 7th Grade, showing his literary project about the drought in Somalia.)
(Nada Ahmed Mohamed (left) and Kafiya Rushiid Guled (right), 8th grade, holding their winning logo for the campaign.) “Rajo,” which means “hope” in Somali, represents the hope that the community still maintains.
Many of the students I teach come from a lower socio-economic background. Though their desire to help their community is hindered by economic restraints, they have contributed to the cause through modes of self-expression:
Drawing
Painting
Poetry
Essays / storytelling
Photography/cinematography
Other forms of three-dimensional or multi-media artwork
“The situation is like [sic] tragedy so, we have to get up [and] help each other, if we aren’t hungry there will be a day [when] we will be hungry.” –Excerpt from an essay written by 8th grade student, Cabdifatah Abdilahi Mohamed
In June, each piece of art will be moved from Somaliland to New York for an Art Fundraiser on behalf of the artists’s communities. Each piece of artwork will be sold, funding on-the-ground efforts in Burao and Abaarso.
FUNDRAISING GOAL
*NOTE: ALL CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS DONATED AT THE EVENT WILL GO DIRECTLY TO ON-THE-GROUND RELIEF.
Right now, our fundraising goal is $12,000, though I personally believe that, with the right demographic, a much larger impact can be made.
This campaign serves two main purposes:
(right)
1. To raise immediate money for on-the ground- dispersion to the local communities, Abaarso Village & Burao.
2. To raise money for the creation of a successful fundraising event for RAJO: Hope for the Somali Community.
THE EVENT
The NYC Art Auction will be (tentatively) held on June 23, 2017, location TBD. Because there is no Somaliland postal system, all artwork generated will be packed in a suitcase and brought IN PERSON to New York.
Attendees will bid on the artwork, the highest bid receiving the artwork.
The winning bidder will receive:
The artwork
Opportunity to speak to artist about his/her work
Opportunity for contact with members of the community receiving aid contribution
THE IMPACT
Areas of dispersion:
- Abaarso village
- The city of Burao
- Eastern villages outside of Burao
The money raised, both from the online campaign and the art auction, will be allocated to purchase the following items:
Water (distributed by water trucks)
Sugar
Flour
Rice
Pasta
Porridge
Dates
Dry tea
Cooking oil
Potatoes
Vegetables
THANK YOU’S
At the following giving levels, donors will receive “thank you’s” for paying it forward!
Kaalinta shanaad
($50 Giving Level)
Green RAJO: Hope for the Somali Community wristband
Kaalinta afaraad
($100 Giving level)
~ In addition to above
Event program recognition
Kaalinta sudexaad
($250 Giving level)
~ In addition to above
Small glass pitcher - engraved with RAJO logo, designed by Somali students
Kaaltina labaad
($500 Giving level)
~ In addition to above
Small glass pitcher - engraved with RAJO logo, designed by Somali students
Skype call with Ubax Abdi and members of the Somali community
Kaalinta koowaad
($1000 Giving level)
~ In addition to above
Large serving tray- engraved with RAJO logo, designed by Somali students
Want to know exactly who receives your money, and how it directly impacts the Somali community? After the money is collected from the June 23rd auction, the on-the-ground dispersion process will begin, with feedback from the beneficiaries.
Donation distribution
To provide transparency in the logistics of your donation and how it goes to providing relief to Somali victims of the drought and famine, please read the following.
Your donations will first go to a personal account of Lizzie Nora Harless, as there are no international banking institutions in Somalia that Ubah Ali can easily have access to.
These funds will be withdrawn by Harless in sizeable amounts to then transfer to Ali on the ground in Somalia using an international money transfer service, such as Western Union.
The funds received by Ali will then be used to purchase necessary items (i.e. water, rice, etc.) for victims of the drought and famine in the Burao area. Ali will then distribute these to those victims.
Feel free to contact me through this campaign page, should you have any questions about our distribution process.
Organizer
Lizzie Nora Harless
Organizer
New York, NY
