February 11, 2008
Students Aim High, Help Build Integrated Water and Education Development in Ethiopia
In 2007 thirteen year old Josh Hagar was exposed to the message of A Glimmer of Hope Foundation. He was touched and decided to act as part of a solution to the lack of clean water in Africa. Playing for Glimmer was born. In 2007, Josh and his Austin Tennis Academy teammates raised over $37,000, money that funds the creation of 14 hand-dug wells, serving 6770 people in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.
The 2008 Playing for Glimmer Campaign kicked off this past Thursday. Founder of A Glimmer of Hope, Donna Berber spoke to ATA students and parents and brought with her Scott Harrison, Founder of CharityIS and photo journalist. Mr. Harrison brought still and video images of the wells built by the ATA community, taken on a recent trip to Ethiopia. He gave a stirring presentation about the positive impact of the wells ATA families have built and the continued potential for positive change.
The Playing for Glimmer Board of Directors (made up entirely of ATA students) met this past week to set goals for the 2008 campaign. Their goal is to make an even bigger impact in 2008. Clean water, education and health are the basic requirements of an integrated project. At the request of the Playing for Glimmer group, A Glimmer of Hope put forth a proposal to build a school complex of 8 classrooms and 11 water wells. The Playing for Glimmer Board decided to add a health post to the project to maximize the integrated impact of the project. Total cost for this project to be built in the Tahtay Maichew district, near the historical city of Axum, will be $150,000. This district has 19 villages with a total population of approximately 110,000 people. There exists a grave shortage of educational facilities in the district-38 primary schools and one secondary school serves approximately 27,000 students, and clean water coverage is only 41% in this district.
ATA students will be forming 10 fundraising teams, each team's goal is to raise $10,000. In addition, ATA parent John Spencer has agreed to help the students find matching funds groups. The team has already secured a $25,000 matching grant from local businessmen and will be looking to land another for a total of $50,000 in matching funds. With each team of 10 students raising $10,000 and $50,000 in matching grants, the ATA Playing for Glimmer team expects to be able to present funds of $150,000 raised in October at the Austin Tennis Academy Shootout, a fundraising Calcutta held each year.
The Playing for Glimmer group will begin forming fundraising teams in the next few weeks with the campaign to kick off in later spring or early summer.
By the end of May 2008, 28 ATA wells will operate, serving 12,300 beneficiaries.
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