By Mary Goldsmith-Mahoney | Founder & CEO
February 2021
Subject: Women Light the World---The Year in review with Gratitude and Thankfulness Update:
The Pandemic of 2020 has caused pain, and loss throughout the world, yet WLTW has been blessed by the generous time and resources of individuals that have supported us in our endeavor to light households, educate and empower women of the Humla region of Nepal. We thank our Board Members and each and every one of you for your continued support.
WLTW started out the year 2020, with a visit to Kathmandu, to resolve issues related to duty placed on the first delivery of home lighting systems from India, and meeting with local NGO’s attempting to resolve all related tax issues. We met with and added additional team members to our ground partnership, they have been instrumental in assisting us through various roadblocks, some of which are still in place at this time.
By mid-September we were able to place an order with Barefoot College in Rajasthan for 30 home lighting systems, but due to the Covid-19 lock down a decision was made to postpone the delivery until the spring of 2021. Unfortunately, much depends on the distribution of the various vaccines and a safer opening for world travel.
Regarding our fund-raising efforts, we partnered with GlobalGiving in September, and within two weeks we were able to raise more than $10,000 US dollars. We are grateful and continue to benefit from your generosity.
In addition to the above, Women Light the World received a grant from the New Zealand Embassy in India, for $25,000 NZ dollars. The latest update, we applied to the UNDP in Kathmandu for a sizeable grant and anxiously waiting for a final approval. These funds will enable WLTW to expand its efforts, purchase additional home lighting systems, and add an additional 80 households in the village of Bargaun to our program.
Our goal for 2021, is to place the order for the additional 80 households, reinstate the original order for the 30 households by the end of Mach 2021, and if all goes as planned the team will travel to Nepal in early June to install the solar home lighting systems in two villages constituting approximately 110 individual households.
As we entered into the first quarter of 2021 and continued to deal with the effects of COVID-19 in the rural communities of Humla, we worked with our local team to purchase and distribute over 500 masks to the population in the villages; this is an obvious first step to most of us containing the virus, but in this very isolated part of the world, the necessity to wear masks had eluded the population. We have also initiated an education campaign on the importance of handwashing, thorough sanitizing, and social distancing. We are presently evaluating the purchase of sewing machines for the solar mamas, who can sew and sell masks to the local communities and at the same time set up a social enterprise, allowing the mamas to earn a living from sewing.
And finally, we have gratitude for the self-sacrificing efforts of a group of women who have given their time and talents to Women Light the World. They have been involved with social media exposure and have demonstrated their talents in exploring ways to present WLTW to the public at large. I thank Whitney Gregg-USA, Jennifer McMillen-USA, Tashi Cheozum Lama-US, Aarya Shah-Nepal and Saisha Puri-USA for their time and talents.
We wish to acknowledge the support of the following individuals. All are fellow souls in the global world of caring for the common good of others and have assisted WLTW from its mission.
Australia:
Barefoot College:
India:
Nepal:
Nepal- Project Team:
USA Board Members:
USA Supporters:
We are again most appreciative of you time, financial support and caring for those of us who are less fortunate.
With Gratitude, I remain.
Very Truly Yours,
Mary L Goldsmith-Mahoney – Founder and CEO
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