Maligayang Paslit 2008

On December 24th the Bambang Youth Organization held the 9th Annual Maligayang Paslit and it was a great success! This year, as the main sponsor
Isa Mundo Foundation hosted 500 children from the village of Bambang, Bulacan, Philippines. Despite the rain, the children enjoyed a day filled with games, food, ice cream, prizes, and other fun filled activities.

Trip to Cozumel and Isla Mujeres

Isa Mundo travelled to Isla Mujeres and Cozumel to visit potential projects.
The first project we visited is Ciudad de Ángeles, a children’s home located on the island of Cozumel, Mexico. The home provides for the needs of orphaned, abandoned, and abused children in a safe and healthy environment. Ciudad de Ángeles is developing a permanent campus which will provide residences for over 80 children. Up to now, it has build three homes and is housing 28 children. We would like to extend a special thank you to Dennis who gave us a tour of the campus and introduced us to the wonderful children. For more information on Ciudad de Ángeles, please visit their website at www.ciudaddeangeles.org.

The second project we visited is The Little Yellow School House located on the island of Isla Mujeres, Mexico. The main purpose of the school is to provide education and unique attention to children with special needs ranging from the ages of 3 to 17 years old. Currently there are 35 students, 5 teachers and 1 psychologist working on a part-time basis. Unfortunately, many of the children who attend the school come from abusive homes. In an effort to provide support for the parents, the school also offers group therapy sessions to help them better understand the special needs of the children. The school is supported solely by donations and receives no money from the Mexican government. For more information on the school or if you would like to donate to the school, please visit their website at http://www.isla-mujeres.net/school/home.htm. Please note that it is best to contact them in Spanish since none of their volunteers speak English.

Isa Mundo on the UN-Habitat website

Exciting news! Our Solar Powered LED Light to Bring Sunlight at Night project in La Providencia, Guatemala is featured as a best practice on improving the living environment on the UN-habitat website!

The Best Practices and Local Leadership Programme (BLP) is a global network of institutions dedicated to the identification and exchange of successful solutions for sustainable development. The BLP partners' network identifies initiatives in such areas as housing, urban development and governance, the environment, economic development, social inclusion, crime prevention, poverty reduction, women, youth, infrastructure and social services. We are proud that one of our projects is highlighted as a best practice on the BLP network.

Check out our featured project at http://www.unhabitat.org/bestpractices/2008/mainview04.asp?BPID=2112

Gawang Kalinga - Friends of Isa Mundo

Gawang Kalinga’s (GK) (to give care) aim is to reduce poverty in the world by providing shelter, education, health and livelihood. Their focus in the Philippines is for a slum-free, squatter-free nation through a simple strategy of providing land for the landless, homes for the homeless, food for the hungry and as a result providing dignity and peace for every Filipino. Since 1995 GK has reached over 900 communities all over the Philippines and in other developing countries. Isa Mundo is currently in discussion with GK for potential future partnership. Check out their website at http://www.gawadkalinga.org/

Friends of Isa Mundo

There are so many great organizations that Isa Mundo has encountered and been introduced to from which we learn of new and exciting projects everyday. We will regularly showcase these amazing organizations, which we hope to work with in the future. All of these have similar visions of collaborating and partnering with non-governmental and community organizations to improve the situation of families and communities around the world and in their community. Stay tuned for October’s focus organization!

The team is expanding

It’s official…Danielle Maheu has enthusiastically accepted our offer to join the foundation as our Communications Officer. Danielle will be working on our promotional material including brochures, business cards and other great products. Danielle recently completed professional photography studies at Spéos - Paris Photographic Institute in Paris, France. She is currently living in Toronto and is working on several portrait and documentary projects that she expects to complete in late 2008. Check our her website at www.daniellemaheu.com
Welcome Danielle!

Casa de Sion Update

We would like to update you on a situation regarding Casa de Sion Orphanage in Guatemala. The Director has recently informed us that she is currently resolving a situation between the orphanage and the Guatemalan government; she will keep us updated on the outcomes of this situation. This unfortunate event has put a hold on the construction of the new orphanage and other facilities including the construction of the service road, which Isa Mundo is funding. We are currently evaluating if we want to use the funds targeted for Casa de Sion for another Isa Mundo project.

Another successful campaign!

In June 2008 we launched a campaign to raise money to provide 2 water tanks, which will supply clean drinking water for the children, youth and families in the communities. We are proud to announce that we have successfully completed the fundraiser for this campaign. Engineers Without Borders will be purchasing the water tanks in December of this year.

A successful campaign!

In June 2008, Isa Mundo launched its Road to Success Campaign to fund a service road for an orphanage in Guatemala. Through all our fundraising efforts, we recently attained our goal for the service road. Thank you for all your support.

Second Ottawa Garage Sale

We held our second Ottawa summer garage sale and it was a great success. Thanks to donations from family and friends, we managed to raise enough money to complete our Clean Water project in El Salvador. Thanks to everyone for your support and kind donations!

Taking ITGlobal

We are expanding our network to reach out to more youth! We recently joined TakingITGlobal, an online community that connects youth to find inspiration, access information, get involved, and take action in their local and global communities. This network offers numerous opportunities for youth expression, connection to opportunities, and support for action. We have already learnt of great projects and are exploring various avenues for future projects and partnerships. Check out our link at http://groups.takingitglobal.org/isamundo

Oscar in Guatemala and El Salvador

In late August 2008, Isa Mundo sent a new member of the team, Oscar Aguilar to Central America in order to initiate awareness in areas where we can make an impact. His two week trip consisted of two parts, the first in Guatemala and the latter in El Salvador. In Guatemala, Oscar visited Casa de Sion in Panajachel, where he dropped off donations from family, friends, and the foundation for the orphanage. Casa de Sion is in the process of moving to the a new location, and thanks to Pedro (Director of CS), our volunteer came back with great news regarding the locale. At the new place, the children will have closer access to their schools, land to play "futbol", and will also have farming lands where they can learn to cultivate and fend for themselves, amongst other things.

The second leg of the journey was in a clinic in El Salvador founded by the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC) in a poor community called Las Delicias in San Juan Opico, near San Salvador. Here,
Oscar got the opportunity to work directly with the community of Las Delicias, with FIMRC manager, Meredith, and clinic physician, Dr. Hector. The work being done is here is wonderful because the clinic serves as a means to healthcare and education, many of these children would not have this priviledge. The staff works hard to encourage social activities within the community and are leaders for the families of la colonia. It would be an honour to work with the clinic and we are doing just that. Currently, we are in the process of synthesizing a project from a holistic approach where it will be self-sustainable and reproducible, environmentally friendly, but still aimed at tackling a key health issue, malnutrition.

Vancouver garage sale

On July 26th, Isa Mundo held its second garage sale,
this time in Vancouver. Thanks to the many items
donated by family and friends, we raised a total of $550.
All proceeds will go to the funding of a service
road for an orphanage in Panajachel, Guatemala.
With the money received from our garage sale, we
only have a few more hundred dollars to go to
complete our Road To Success Campaign. If you
would like to contribute to this cause, or to any
other of our projects, please visit our donate page
at http://www.isamundo.org/donate.htm

Ottawa garage sale

We are pleased to announce that we held our first
Isa Mundo Garage Sale on June 21st in Ottawa.
All proceeds went to our Clean Water in El Salvador
Campaign - a campaign which aims to contribute
two water tanks to the villages of Las Mercedes and
El Naranjito in El Salvador. The garage sale
helped us raise almost half the funds needed
to complete this Campaign.

Party Favours for Isa Mundo

On June 7th, Isa Mundo Foundation attended and celebrated a wedding of one of its friend and keen supporter. The bride & groom decided to pay tribute to the Foundation by donating the budget intended for party favours to a worthy cause. Their donation will be going towards our newly launched Road to Success Campaign - a project to help build a service road for an orphanage in Guatemala.

We would like to thank the newlyweds for their support and for including Isa Mundo Foundation on their special day. We wish them all the best in their new adventure!

Two New Campaigns

Isa Mundo Foundation launched two campaigns to help two communities.

The first is Casa de Sion, a small orphanage in Panajachel, Guatemala, near the shores of Lake Atitlan. The orphanage needs a service road that will connect it to the main highway, therefore improving the delivery of water, medicine, food, school and other much needed supplies.

The second campaign is for the villages of Las Mercedes and El Naranjito in El Salvador. This project is with Engineers Without Border Oregon State University Chapter. The group has designed an efficient, locally sustainable and environmentally friendly gravity fed water system in order to provide these communities with a reliable access to clean drinking water.

Please visit the Isa Mundo Foundation website for more information about the communities and the current campaigns.

"Mighty Lights" A Huge Success

We would like to announce the completion of the Light Up A Home project in La Providencia, Guatemala. In partnership with Engineers Without Borders (EWB) - Marquette University Chapter, the Mighty Lights were installed in all 35 homes in the village. EWB Project Lead, Tom Zalewski stated that the "villagers were excited and truly appreciative of the lights".

We are a attaching a formal letter of 'THANKS' from EWB and also pics of the Mighty Light in two of the community homes.

We would like to thank everyone who contributed and sponsored to Light Up A Home in La Providencia.

To see additional photos of the project, click on: Mighty Lights

School of Champions - Children of the Dump

The Isa Mundo Foundation visited the School of Champions and the Children of the Dump organization near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We sent 30 boxes of school supplies to the School of Champions in May 2006, becoming the first official project of Isa Mundo. We learned from this current visit that the School has accomplished incredible things and have provided education to many children in the area.

In the past 10 years, the organization has not detached itself to its mission of helping children realize the promise of a better life. In addition to providing education, the organization serves breakfast, lunch and hot meals to 2,300 children each school day. It has created an after school classes for 130 to 150 children from grades 3 to 6 and operate 9 day care centers, each with a capacity of 25 children ages 3 ½ months to 3 ½ years.

Isa Mundo was able to bring donations to the School with the help of Mrs. Tiggy Winkle's toy store. We have committed to donate much needed educational games and language learning tools to the school in the near future.

To learn more about the organization, please visit: www.childrenofthedump.org

The World of Diaper Pins

Isa Mundo is learning many things about the world of diaper pins through their work with the Mi bébé y yo Project in Lake Chapala, Mexico. After having visited the Project in December of 2007, Isa Mundo learned how rare diaper pins are in the area which is needed to complete the gift baskets that the project donates to mothers and new born babies in Guadalajara. Isa Mundo started looking for a supplier willing to donate diaper pins and after countless emails and phone calls we finally received an answer from April MacKinnon, owner of Nurtured Products for Parenting, a mother operated online business. April felt very moved by the work of the Foundation and agreed to form a partnership with Isa Mundo and donate the much needed diaper pins, as she mentioned, “I stand with your foundation that children are our future, regardless of where they live on the planet, and it is our job as parents to help those less fortunate.”

For all the parents out there looking for environmentally sustainable products provided by a Canadian based company please visit their website at www.nurtured.ca

Mrs. Tiggy Winkle's

Great news! Mrs. Tiggle Winkle’s, an Ottawa based toy store full of creative and innovative playthings, is donating educational games to Isa Mundo. We will be bringing the supplies to the Children of the Dump's School of Champions in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. This school is located a few steps away from the main garbage dump of Puerto Vallarta. The school is doing wonderful things for the children and the surrounding communities - it is a place where children can find refuge instead of having to work in the dump picking up garbage and whatever else they need for their survival. The school's main goal is to empower children through education in order to have an opportunity for a better future.

Thank you Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s!

Aandolan - Turn Your World Around

Isa Mundo has formed a partnership with a non for profit organization called Aandolan, which is Hindi for 'movement for change' and headed by 16 year old Tara Suri. We learned of Tara's work after seeing her CNN profile for Young People Who Rock and spoke of her work to implement social-change initiatives and provides youth with the tools to become changemakers. Aandolan is entirely run by teens and sees youth as a powerful force capable of effecting global change. Tara was also named Cosmo Girl 2007 for developing H.O.P.E (Helping Orphans Pursue Education) and her tireless work for the Turn Your World Around initiative.

Tara and Aandolan have agreed to form a partnership with Isa Mundo on orphanage projects in Guatemala and the Philippines. Stay tuned ...

To see Tara's CNN interview:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/03/30/ypwr.suri/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

To learn more about Aandolan, visit their website at: www.aandolan.org

Launch of the Light Up A Home Campaign

April fools day! We are launching our first ever campaign called Light Up A Home Campaign! In partnership with Engineers Without Borders, Isa Mundo Foundation is hoping to Light Up all 35 homes in the village of La Nueva Providencia, Guatemala; a new Mayan village, which has a sustainable water source but lacks electricity. For only $45 you can provide a home with an LED light and a solar panel used for charging. These LED MightyLights’ are one-of-a-kind long-life, low-cost, maintenance-free, environmentally-friendly light, that can last up to 30 years. To donate, please visit our donate page at http://www.isamundo.org/donate.htm

Pick up of Isa Mundo Smart bags

We got the goods! We are very excited to have received our Isa Mundo shopping bags and they are very bright! So please buy one and you can start shopping in style and play a part in creating more environmentally sustainable communities.

Toward a brighter future

Isa Mundo is pleased to announce that the computers for Casa Guatemala (CG) and Casa de Sion (CS) finally arrived in Guatemala. With the help of the Emmanuel Foundation, CG managed to set-up the computers as soon as they arrived. And, thanks to Pedro (CS director) – who drove many hours to pick up the computers - CS will soon have their own small computer educational center.

GeeGen joins the team

We would like to welcome Geegen to the Isa Mundo team. Geegen has done a great job responding to our endless request of updating and maintaining our website. Check out her website for funky photos, designs, drawings and much more - www.geegen.com.

Sunlight at Night

Isa Mundo is pleased to announce a major donation by Cosmos Ignite Inc to complete our project in La Nueva Providencia in Guatemala. Isa Mundo has been working closely with Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Marquette University Chapter to complete a hydro electric project that will bring electricity to village for the first time. One of the most needed materials is light. In order to save electricity in the village, EWB determined that small solar powered LED lights can be used for each of the 35 homes in the village. Cosmos Ignite, the creator of the ' Mighty Lights ' kindly cut the cost of their solar panel and LED lights in half, allowing Isa Mundo to purchase the lights at a much cheaper cost.

Cosmos Ignite’s goal is to bring disruptive technology through innovative products delivered through a sustainable model. The Mighty Lights truly are MIGHTY. They have a very long life and can last up to 30 years and will provide light for education and increase income generation potential through livelihoods such as sewing, weaving, handicrafts, etc.. More importantly, it will eliminate dangerous flames and pollution smoke from indoor light sources, thus improving air quality in the home. The Mighty Lights will also reduce deforestation caused by dependence on wood or charcoal thus become non polluting and environmentally friendly.

How good is that! We are launching the Light Up a Home Campaign to raise funds and ensure that every home in La Providencia gets their "sunlight at night".

The innovation of the Mighty Lights can be witnessed at: www.cosmosignite.com

Networking leads us to Rotary International

After various emails to the Philippine Embassy, Philippines Chamber of Commerce and other Filipino cultural centres, Isa Mundo was eventually led to Rotary International and we are now exploring a partnership with them to ship our computers to Bambang, Bulacan, Philippines. Rotary International is the world's first club organization and has more than 1.5 million members and over 32,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries worldwide. Their vision aligns well with Isa Mundo's children and youth, health, education and environmental projects. We learned that Bambang is geographically covered by one of many Rotary clubs in the Philippines and we are now discussing how they can use their funds to help ship our computers in order to complete the Isa Mundo Education Centre in Bambang. Stay tuned...

Visit the Rotary International website to see their past and current activities at: http://www.rotary.org

Schools Without Borders

Isa Mundo is exploring a partnership with Schools Without Borders (SWB) and have been in contact with its Executive Director, Christopher Kang. SWB is a youth run organization supporting socially excluded youth to build communities they want to live in. They work to engage, train and support youth by channeling the creativity and energy of young people foster social entrepreneurialism and community development by using film, art, music and photography workshops. They have completed projects in Canada, Kenya, Cuba, Brazil, India, Thailand and Tibet. SWB is looking to expand into other countries where Isa Mundo is currently present.

Check out SWB at: www.swb.ca

Corporate Social Responsibility Solutions

Isa Mundo was contacted by Sherry Prenevost of Green Solutions which is a group providing new and exciting Corporate Social Responsibility Solutions (CSR) to major corporations and organizations across Europe and from February this year, across Canada and North America. In the process of doing this, Green Solutions provide very positive and creative Public Relations for the companies involved. We do this by managing the disposal of end of life corporate assets, IT, furniture, in fact all items that are no longer needed Green Solutions turns "Waste into Wonder" by building schools and medical centers in less advantaged parts of the world from items that were destined to become waste.

This is a great opportunity for Isa Mundo to make a difference by bridging the gap between the large corporate companies who have a need to employ "best environmental practice" and the charities who struggle. In this process they both win and the environment truly benefits by reduced landfill. We have agreed to collaborate with them and are discussing future projects ... we will keep you updated!!

To learn more about Green Solutions, visit their website at: http://www.gsnai.com/