Follow Marc, a schoolteacher from San Francisco, as he travels around the world.... helping the world's poorest get on their feet and make a living. Using donations provided by people like you, in most cases the funds are given as micro loans, to be repaid over time. The needy prefer it, knowing that the funds can then be given to another in need, and then another. From July through December this year, Marc's journey takes him to Istanbul, Cambodia, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marc's Latest Letter

 

So far, 2008 has been an excellent year for the project, which has been expanding and growing rapidly and is now involved in more activities than ever before. We have launched a new website, www.100friends.org where you can follow project activities. Here are just a few of the projects I have been working on in the last year:

 

100 Friends 2007 Achievements Financed the construction of a new school in Afghanistan for 1,000 boys and girls. Raised $10,000 to assist Iraqi street children by offering services in a number of drop-in centers. Organized a mission to Kham in Eastern Tibet. I brought $10,000 worth of supplies to help out individual families and local orphanages. You can view a short documentary of my experiences here. I donated $3,000 towards treating sick children in Indonesia whose families couldn’t afford to pay their medical expenses. Many children were able to have life changing surgical procedures and other medical treatments. Provided funds for 10 families living in deprived conditions in rural Vietnam. Your donations improved services in drop-in centers for street kids & paid for the food & education costs for victims of child trafficking. We now sponsor 12 children rescued from the dump in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. They now live at the Center for Children’s Happiness. I also provide money for food, education and medical care to the Peace Orphanage. Provided support to an organization called Setu Nepal which helps to re-integrate women who have been recently released from prison, many of whom were victims of domestic violence and were not given fair trials. I also purchased supplies to improve conditions in an orphanage called Jeewan Utthan. At home, I’ve been developing a ‘sister school’ program, where children in the US are linked to orphanages and schools in poor countries. They raise funds to benefit less fortunate counterparts in poor countries & write letters to each other to learn more about their respective cultures. Seven schools in the US are in this program. At Mae La Refugee Camp (near the Thailand-Myanmar border) 100 Friends is supporting 80 Burmese refugee children with food, clothing, sports equipment and school supplies. Support is also being given to a group of unaccompanied elderly refugees. I distributed mosquito nets to families living in areas with a high risk of malaria and dengue fever in Cambodia. I plan to continue and extend this program on my next mission. Read the 2008 Newsletter here!

 

 

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 Things are a little different here.....says Marc! 

 Greetings from Thailand 

This is a report from the field demonstrating how your donations are being put to work. I am currently in Bangkok, Thailand and the project is going really well. In this year’s mission, support has been given to many poverty-stricken families and small organizations in Cambodia, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan. As you will see, the funds for the project supplied by YOU are being put to VERY good use!

I will be going to Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and parts of Thailand to help the poor before heading back to the USA in January, 2007. Vietnam's poorest are typically engaged in agriculture, poorly educated and live in remote, inaccessible locations with few services. Indonesia has endemic poverty and the shocks of tsunamis, earthquakes, bird flu and other problems. I have good contacts that will provide access to all these communities. Thanks again for all of your kind support!

The little girls sit in their mother's lap and shyly play with the balls we have brought while we talk to their mom. Marc asks Ayse what some of her biggest problems are, she says "what can we do?" She talks about how much help neighbors and friends give her family; friends bring pillows, food from the market, milk and food for the baby. During the winter there is a man who has coal from the government and brings her coal once a week. All the things she has (i.e. furniture, clothes, dishes) she gets from the garbage or from people who volunteer their help. She says "these things break my honor, how can I be happy? We can not stand on our own feet. When asked if she has enough food for the children she asks "how?" For dinner last night and for breakfast this morning they had rice, the same rice. She will often take food from the garbage to give to her children.

Marc asks if her religious faith helps her get through. She says she always touches her hand to Allah and prays that one day Allah will support them, open a door for them, and change all these things about their life: where they live, their situation. She says that her children give her strength.

Marc tells her 100 Friends will give her $165; $35 of this she will give to someone else who needs it—she should tell this person that the money is from Allah—and also ask this person about his or her life, problems, etc. and this story will get passed back to Marc through our connection of friends. Ayse is happy with this, and shares lots of hugs and smiles before we go.

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