It has been a year since we had our silent auction fundraiser in aid of Global Mamas.
Once again, we would like to share our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to all of our family, friends, and acquaintances for your tremendous generosity and support at our special event on June 6, 2015. It was a wonderful evening and, as all of you know, we raised upwards of $25,000.00 for Global Mamas with the hope that Melanie's dream, to build a Fair Trade Zone, could be realized some day.
We would like to update you on what has happened with our initiative.
The money from the silent auction remains untouched, in Canada. Renae, Kristin and our family thought it best not to transfer the funds to Ghana with the devalued Canadian dollar.
Recently, this news from Renae:
"I met employees in Ashaiman to hear their ideas on how to consolidate batiking/sewing (with Mamas living in Ashaiman and Prampram) and bead assembly/weaving (with Mamas in Krobo) into one big facility THE FTZ in New Akrandey in the area of Kpadorm (“paa-dome”).
Kristin and I will look at the land in New Akrandey during the first week of July. If the land meets our expectations, the next steps include:
- Checking into the land zoning,
- Buying the land
- Building a temporary fence
- Getting a family to farm and keep the land safe
- Getting the District Assembly Planning Department to sign off on building plans
- Informing all parties about what is happening (DSW, District Assembly, Chiefs, villages around)
- Looking for synergies with other surrounding businesses.
Assuming all goes well and the land is purchased, we can then begin planning for the building."
This is progress and we are delighted to share the good news with all of you!
Nothing will happen quickly, however, we are very pleased with the 'one step at a time' approach because it aligns with our family motto, which is to TRY.
We wish all of you a wonderful and happy summer!