Greetings!

In 2009, FFF expanded its mission to support the mothers, widows, and guardians who take care of the orphans and vulnerable children that we support. We provide training skills to these struggling mothers, with the goal of empowering them to become self-reliant.

We selected four communities to roll out our skills training programs. Let me tell you about one of these communities – Bread & Fishes Feeding Ministry. The organization was founded by Mukuka Malama and is set deep in a compound called Kamanga. Despite the lack of resources in this community, the women are very entrepreneurial.

In April 2010, we provided the group (about 12 women) with their first sewing machine. Upon returning to the site a week later, we were very impressed by the progress they had made. The room was a beehive of activity, with women making pillows, clothing, tablecloths, and tablemats. Some had even begun to sell their goods! Due to their success, we decided to provide them with a second sewing machine, fabric and other tailoring supplies to further kick-start their new venture. This presentation was met by gleeful song and dance.

Thank you for taking the time to read my update. Please continue to visit our website for more information about our work.

Shira Rohde, PhD
Founder & Executive Director
Flip Flop Foundation

Bread & Fishes Feeding Ministry

Greetings from Zambia!

Well, we made it through the rainy season, and we’re coming up to the season that I love most in Zambia when it starts becoming dry and cooler. Apparently, this past season was the worst rain season in two decades, making our malaria project timelier than ever.

A big focus the past few months has been our mosquito net installation project. While in 2009, we focused our work in orphanages in Lusaka, our work in 2010 is focused around a door-to-door campaign in the community. After meeting with health officials, we decided to target Chawama, a community hard-hit by flooding and malaria. Tiyanjane Theatre Organization, one of our education partners, is based in and well-connected to the Chawama community. They’ve been very valuable in assisting us with the one-on-one education we’re doing with mothers and caretakers. To date, we have installed 155 mosquito nets and 75 net curtains in 91 homes in the Chawama community.

I’ve attached a photo that shows two of our favorite recipients, both of whom have benefited from our distribution and education programs. Shinizi (on the left) is 6 years old and Georgina is 3 years old. Both live in Chawama with their sister, brother and grandmother (they are what are referred to as “double orphans”). We first met them in 2007 during one of our community education sessions, and their family was the first to receive a mosquito net distribution in our Chawama-based program.

I’m signing off now but want to thank you for reading this message and for believing in our work. I can assure you that all of the girls and boys we help greatly appreciate your support and we hope to continue to count on you as a partner in our outreach!

Shira Rohde, PhD
Founder & Executive Director
Flip Flop Foundation

Shinizi & Georgina (Feb 2010)

I am excited to welcome you to our new website. The Flip Flop Foundation has grown so much in the past three years, and we wanted to revise our website to show you our progress, and where we are today. I first conceived the idea of the Flip Flop Foundation in July 2006. At the time, I was an employee at Pfizer Inc completing a six-month Global Health Fellowship in Zambia. While the HIV/AIDS project I was supporting was rewarding work, I was interested in the story of the orphans – what happens to all the children left behind by this crisis? I knew that I wanted to create a new organization that would focus on the needs of Zambian orphans & vulnerable children, and that the best way to build a successful organization would be to form a partnership with Zambians helping Zambians.

So what does the Flip Flop Foundation do? Yes, our initial work focused on the distribution of flip flops, but we do so much more than that. Over the years, our distributions have grown to include food, clothing, school supplies, hygiene supplies, mosquito nets, sporting equipment, toys, and more. We also expanded our mission to support sports programs & community education projects – using community drama to educate children and adults alike about key health & social issues. More recently, we began supporting skills training programs for women, typically widows or single mothers caring for six or more children.

We try to emphasize the positive in our website and promotional materials, and we never want to exploit the people we work with. But the things I see every day are truly devastating, and bring tears to my eyes. Your support for our mission and the beautiful people of Zambia is very much appreciated.
Over the course of the last three years, I travelled to Zambia eight times but each time, even before I boarded the airplane back to NY, I was already planning my next trip back. In June 2009 I decided to take an extended leave of absence from Pfizer Inc. It was a very big decision for me to make, but my heart was in Zambia. And today I am proud to call Zambia home.

Thank you so much for checking out our website, and please visit us again soon!

Shira Rohde, PhD
Founder & Executive Director
Flip Flop Foundation
Lusaka, Zambia

The Flip Flop Foundation invites you to attend a holiday charity happy-hour at Bar Nine in New York City from 6 – 9PM on Tuesday, December 15th.  Your suggested donation of $10 will provide 40 Zambian orphans with footwear and will entitle you to a number of drink specials that night!  A number of raffle prizes including restaurant gift certificates, theater tickets and gaming systems have also been donated from business such as Joe’s Pub, Running Subway Productions, and Village Bistro East.  Join good friends for a great cause at what is sure to be a night to remember.

Bar Nine is located at 807 Ninth Avenue, between 53rd and 54th streets.

Two of our Board Members, Andrea Guzman and Keith LaScalea hosted the event in the home of one of our most active supporters.  We were able to draw nearly sixty guests who drank reds and whites with names like Ravenswood, Sutter Home, Beringer and The Seven Deadly Zins!  Guests were treated to a slideshow from the field and received an update on our future outreach plans.  Through generous donations, we were able to raise an impressive sum on this one night!

Special thanks goes out to Dr. Adam Stracher for opening up his home to all of us, Mike Aronis of Nations Cafe for donating the wonderful finger foods we all enjoyed, and Tom Choethen of Cork & Bottle wine shop for extending a generous discount to us.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PTUXaq9yF0