[P2P-F] Fwd: South African M.A.N. Pilot Site in Bergnek, Limpopo

Tue Dec 15 16:57:13 CET 2015

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Warren Te Brugge <warren.tebrugge at manzimvula.com>
Date: Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 7:39 AM
Subject: South African M.A.N. Pilot Site in Bergnek, Limpopo

The approach we are taking is to start the education process in the
community working with IEEE <http://www.ieee.org/index.html> in December
and January and then work with them on internet connectivity and
collaborate to development and implement the SENSORICA moisture sensors
project into the agricultural aspects of the overarching project. IEEE will
be working in the community to help the youth learn about the fundamentals
of technology before we actually introduce any physical hardware or
software into the mix. The ‘second step’ will be to work with the community
tribal council and other community leaders to introduce, learn about and
create the road map for the MAN pilot as a part of the My World in a
Garden, GirlStuff, and water access and distribution projects so that
people who otherwise feel they can’t really contribute can contribute in
these projects at the levels they are comfortable with and earn some time
banking hours whether it be helping workers locate specific markers in the
community, teaching children parts of the projects, cooking, carrying
water, or what ever is needed. You get my point. A critical part of this
will also be to start building out the NRP, which Keith and I have been
working on at a granular level. We will be sharing it with you all as soon
as we can. We are excited about this.

During that same time frame we will be introducing the Wealth Stewardship
Circles Model to the community and starting to talk about how the community
really come together and are each seen as having value for the community
and themselves. Everyone is important and every contribution is valuable.

With gratitude,

Warren

http://myarmswideopen.org/blog/item/131-south-african-m-a-n-pilot-site-in-bergnek-limpopo.html

BERGNEK, SOUTH AFRICA HAS BEEN SELECTED TO BE AMONG THE FIRST EIGHT PILOT
SITES OF A NEW WORLDWIDE GROUP OF MUTUAL AID NETWORKS (MANS)

Warren Te Brugge, founder of MAWO, says, “We are extremely grateful to MAN
for recognizing and supporting this important project. The project will
support wealth creation within the village of Bergnek and bring multiple
initiatives, including water access, education, employment, food security,
health services and sanitation, in Bergnek under an umbrella that all
residents and contributors can participate in. More importantly with the
implementation of WOMAN, every resident can contribute  and participate
doing the work they are drawn to."

Keith Mosumane, General Manager of Bergnek Community Projects Cooperative,
says, “This is a big step for the community as we introduce the tools and
knowledge to enable our community to create value from within. This is an
important step in ultimately making the community self-sustainable.”

*Organized in 2010, the Bergnek MAN Pilot Site - a collaboration with My
Arms Wide Open and Bergnek Community Projects - is a community development
initiative to empower and support women and youth through sustainable
business ventures. This initiative provides access to food, clean water,
and reproductive health care for girls and women. It currently involves
more than 300 people, mainly women, in the rural village of Bergnek in
South Africa’s Northeast. Its newest effort is the creation of a health
care center for community wellness and brick manufacturing to combat the
unemployment in the community at a larger scale.*

According to Warren Te Brugge, the affiliation with the worldwide Mutual
Aid Network offers a unique opportunity to attract resources and share
ideas with urban and rural innovators around the world. In addition to
Bergnek, the first cohort of MAN pilot sites includes Allentown,
Pennsylvania; ; Hull, U.K.]; Lansing, Michigan; Madison, Wisconsin;
Providence, Rhode Island; St. Louis, Missouri; and Waterville, Kansas.

“The beauty of the Mutual Aid Network is that it focuses on social,
spiritual, cultural, educational and economic assets, instead of just
“needs” and problems that divide us,“ says Warren Te Brugge. “We recognize
that poverty, social isolation, ill health and injustice exist,” he says.
”And, the approach of a Mutual Aid Network is to harness the energy of
participants so that individuals, families, organizations and the community
can benefit.”

MAN pilot programs range from community-owned groceries, restorative
justice youth courts and wellness cooperatives to TimeBanks, where members
share skills, talents and service with others who request them. Some
programs focus on local foods and gardens. Others build networks around the
arts, personal care or non-monetary exchanges. “What brings us together is
the desire to test new ways to enhance the quality of life for everyone in
a community.  We want to learn and share what we learn”, adds Te Brugge.

In Bergnek, South Africa, the  MAN pilot site is already working with the
community to provide  a 2500-plant  vertical garden that helps provide food
to the underprivileged in the community. They also manufacture and supply
reusable cloth sanitary pads, which are washable, last up to a year, are
cost-effective and environmentally-friendly. This replaced the primitive
alternatives, such as newspapers, cloth rags and banana leaves, which are
both ineffective and unhygienic, leading to long-term health risk, such as
reproductive tract Infections, Toxic Shock Syndrome or cervical cancer.
Research shows that girls miss up to 50 school days annually due to
menstruation. In most rural communities, a shocking 300 million girls and
women are under house arrest monthly during menstruation. In regards to
clean water, we have supplied and installed a diesel water pump that meets
some of the water needs of the Bergnek community. We have collaborated with
Engineers without Borders from the USA to install two bigger solar-powered
electrical pumps that will help in making sure we have sufficient water for
the community.

Our newest effort is the creation of a health care center for community
wellness initiatives to combat the unemployment in the community at a
larger scale. We encourage anyone who shares our interests and wants to
participate to contact on the web through our contact page
<http:///contact.html> or on our Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/MyArmsWideOpen/> page. No matter what your age or
background, we welcome participation.” As part of the announcement we are
raising the seed funding for the Bergnek W.O.M.A.N. project using
Generosity by INDIEGOGO. You can find out more and participate here
<https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/bergnek-mutual-aid-network-pilot-project>,
or
copy this link into your browser
https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/bergnek-mutual-aid-network-pilot-project

###

*About Mutual Aid Networks:* The mission of MANs is “To create means for
everyone to discover and succeed in work they want to do, with the support
of their community.”

We are The MAN: Mutual Aid Networks  - A crowdfunding campaign to support
the first eight pilot sites of Mutual Aid Networks, and the umbrella that
supports and disseminates our model for cooperative work redesign and
supports an economy that values, rewards, and catalyzes abundance.

This crowdfunding campaign will provide us with the money we need to
develop our infrastructure via software, communications tools, training and
travel, outreach and more. And because we manage our wealth in innovative
ways and connect it with cooperative tools and practices, it goes much much
farther than it would in a traditional charity model.

Mutual Aid Networks <http://www.mutualaidnetwork.org> are a new type of
cooperative, designed to connect us in a network of mutual support that
creates means for us to do exactly what we want to do with our lives, from
solving hard problems to taking care of loved ones and neighbors to making
art.

The aim of Mutual Aid Networks is to redesign how we work, and to apply
what we know about economic and community building tools to create a new
vision for work. Instead of getting jobs so we can afford to live, we
decide how we want to live and create community supports for each other to
do what we want to do. We want everyone to become the inventors,
freelancers, entrepreneurs, homemakers, artists, and caregivers they want
to be, with some material security because we choose to provide that to
each other. The Main MAN meta-cooperative now links the pilots together to
create comprehensive budgeting tools that track all forms of capital –
TimeBank hours, mutual credit, and shared resources, and community savings
and lending pools. These online tools connect individuals, organizations,
and projects. Please support us in creating the new economy, one that works
for the 100%!

*ABOUT My Arms Wide Open <http://myarmswideopen.org>®
<http://manzimvula.com>:*

The My Arms Wide Open® Foundation provides support for mothers, children,
and youth in South Africa, as well as in indigenous and aboriginal
communities in other parts of the world, to create and manifest
sustainable, autonomous and responsible businesses and economic activity
within their communities.

My Arms Wide Open works directly with community members, who identify
priorities for community development. We help them improve their skills and
knowledge in areas such as entrepreneurship, leadership, policy and
governance, mentoring, education, food security, infrastructure and
personal development.

Our work is focused in five key areas <http:///causes.html> that respond to
indigenous needs and benefit the community as a whole. Supported by a
network of partners <http:///about/our-partners.html>, My Arms Wide Open is
committed to helping communities be vibrant, sustainable and
environmentally attractive.

*VIDEO:* The My World In a Garden, Bergnek Vertical Food Wall in Bergnek,
Limpopo, South Africa taking shape: *Watch the video here
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWie43k8h7o>*

*VIDEO:* The My World, My Garden Vertical Food Wall ground breaking at the
Ray-Cam, courtesy of Global TV BC: *Watch the broadcast here
<http://www.globaltvbc.com/video/unique+vertical+garden+will+provide+dtes+with+produce/video.html?v=2349924958&p=1&s=dd#stories>*

*MEDIA CONTACT:*

*MAWO:*

Warren Te Brugge

(604) 601-8500

info at myarmswideopen.org

*M.A.N.*

Stephanie Rearick

(608) 663-0400

steph at stephanierearick.com

*M.A.N.*

Chris Petit

(773) 318-4329

petit.chris at gmail.com

*~ Warren*

*Warren Te Brugge | **CEO & Founder | Manzimvula Ventures, Inc.
<http://manzimvula.com/>*

*✆ Vancouver:+1(604) 601-8500*

*✆ Arizona:+1(480) 656-7988*
*BLOG <http://www.manzimvula.com/our-ideas.html> - Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/Manzimvula?v=app_106171216118819> - Twitter
<http://twitter.com/#!/Manzimvula> - LinkedIn
<http://www.linkedin.com/company/manzimvula-ventures-inc.> - eNews
<http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?llr=aig6xvgab&p=oi&m=1106683795712>*
------------------------------
This communication contains confidential and/or privileged information
intended only for the addressee. Please DO NOT read, copy or disseminate
this communication unless you are the intended addressee.  If you have
received this communication in error, please call us immediately at (480)
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notify the sender immediately that you have received the communication in
error.
------------------------------

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