Sunday, December 18, 2011

Program Enhancements and Other Exciting Changes at GKEF



Program Enhancements
I'm really excited about what is happening with our program in Guinea right now. The "Guinea Kids" are being provided the opportunities to broaden their educational experience through field trips to learn about their greater community. They will travel to see downtown Conakry, Medina - the largest market in Conakry, and perhaps even a museum! All of which most of the children have never seen or experienced. Many of the children have never left their neighborhood of Enco-Cinq.

Karim Koumbassa, GKEF board member and family/community member in Enco-Cinq, came to me with this brilliant idea several weeks before he left Seattle to travel back home to Guinea for a few months. He will also take the children to visit some farm land where they will learn about where their food comes from while helping tend rice fields and fruit trees. "I want them to learn about all the things a person needs to know in life," said Karim.

We are fortunate to have Karim in Guinea once again this year to make sure the program in running smoothly, to meet with the parents of the students, and to make any needed adjustments. Karim truly has a passion for and dedication to helping all of these children.

GKEF has also added a new tutor, Mousa, who is helping Soumah give the students more specialized attention. Soumah focuses on the younger students and Mousa, the older ones.



New Fiscal Sponsor
We now have a new fiscal sponsor! Transformation of Education is an organization committed to creating a breakthrough in education where learning has no boundaries and no limits, where people learn to think big, adapt to their environment, and ultimately live a life actively engaged in fulfilling their dreams, driven by educators around the world who are passionate about making a difference. GKEF is proud to be associated with these ideals!

And...we have a new online donation page with Firstgiving.


New Website Coming Soon!....
We have been working hard to create a beautiful website with more information about who we are and more stories about the children in Guinea. Board member, Greg Evans, has volunteered countless hours toward building us this website. Please take a look when it launches and let us know what you think!




Thursday, December 15, 2011

And the winner (of our first Cake Design Contest) is...

Here's his cake design: Congratulations, Liam! This means that Baked will be baking Liam's cake and, after giving him a free slice, will then sell the rest to customers until its gone. Its bound to go fast! YUM. The date of this event event is TBD- stay posted.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Cake Contest 2011:Contestants


Kentler celebrated its Birthday this year with lots and lots of cake!  Our neighbors at Baked (an award winning bakery) made gorgeous cakes and we ate it with glee, joy and multi-generational-sugar-heaven spirit.

The kids drew pictures of their ideal cakes as part of our first ever cake design contest for kids.  The winning cake design will have their cake baked by Baked and the winning designer will get a free slice.  You can have a slice too but you have to check in here to find out when it will be made and then you have get on down to Red Hook.  Oh, and unless you're the winning designer, you'll have to pay for your slice (or two-Baked cakes are DELICIOUS).  

These are the contestants.  Which one would you vote for?