Providing safe environments and educational opportunities

Autumn 2012
Donate Online!
Visit our updated website at www.dreamsfororphans.org

Our holiday fundraising campaign begins now!

There are over 53 million orphans in Sub-Sahara Africa, with more than 1.1 million in Ghana alone. Dreams for Orphans is a Seattle-based 501(c)(3) and a Ghana NGO that works year round to provide safe environments and educational opportunities for those that need them most. With your help we've helped hundreds of orphans live a better life. Our goal is to continue supporting infants and children who have been abandoned, abused, whose mothers are incarcerated, require long-term hospitalization or are suffering from HIV/AIDS. We are working with Osu Children's Home to improve living conditions and bring a warm, nurturing environment to the children who live there. Today, we're more than half way to our goal of building a new nursery full of fresh, clean supplies and healthy opportunities.

Help us make a difference in the lives of orphans in Accra, Ghana

Every donation made to this campaign will be matched! Thanks to a generous donor, your dollars will go further than ever before. Your support has a direct impact on the infants and children we help - please consider donating today. Every size donation counts! You can make a onetime, tax deductible donation, or a recurring monthly gift at www.dreamsfororphans.org or by mailing directly to our ofce.

$50 provides construction supplies for the new nursery $100 provides a crib and bedding for the new nursery $250 provides books, uniforms or tutoring for school $500 provides one year of vocational training

Secure your VIP invitation to the holiday thank you party at the home of co-founder Kary Doerer with a donation of $250 per person.

Autumn 2012

Orphans are in need of advocates. Like all children, they must live and grow in a safe environment, and have a right to education. What we have set out to do is provide the most basic needs for the worlds most vulnerable children.
Paola Womac, Founder

DREAMS FOR ORPHANS

Founders Note
By Kary Doerer

It Started With a Smile

The board of directors of DFO unanimously agrees to graduated from high school this year and I have very high hopes for his future. sponsor Moses to attend Seattle Central Community College beginning Fall 2012. I began to work on applications to get a student visa for Moses. How do I describe where this whole journey began? I would He helped ll out the applications and was involved in the say it started with a smile. Moses has the most amazing smile entire process. Before we knew it we were at the US Embassy in and has an outgoing positive look on life. In spite of all he has Ghana at the student visa interview. It was one of the most exciting, yet nerve wracking days of my life. Moses seemed been through, he continues to be kind, loving and carefree. cool and controlled. I kept preparing him for the possibility it Moses came to the home when he was four years old. He was may not happen yet didnt want him to be to disappointed. All with his twin brother, Daniel, and his cousin Joseph. The the advice I had been given by the US embassy employees I midwife who assisted in their birth saved them from a had met over the years on my ights had told me that for an desperate, impoverished situation in hopes of them having a orphan it was out of reach. better life. Moses prefers to be like any other teen and would prefer not to talk about the past but is very curious about life Moses beat all the odds. He was interviewed alone and then I was called forward to verify numbers on the application. The and his future. interviewer then told us to come back to pick up the visa in the His future changed when a staff member told me that the only afternoon. Often in Ghana there is plenty to cry about and I request for Moses on his Christmas list was to be sponsored to decided this was not one of them. We controlled ourselves go to a better school. I was new to the home, but knew I until we walked out the door and Moses let out a scream. wanted to help him and his brother receive a better education. On the ground in Ghana there are many disappointmentsand I naively took him to a private school that had sponsored other struggles and you often feel helpless. When a success story Osu children thinking they would include the twin brothers. comes along it is wonderful to relish in it. Thanks to all of you This was not the case, and I became the new sponsor. Moses and your support that this was nancially possible as well. We all dared to DREAM.

Autumn 2012

Safe Environments

United Way Ghana Affiliation

Dreams for Orphans is proud to announce our afliation with United Way, Ghana. We have been working on this for many months and we are certain that with their support the Nursery project will swiftly move forward. UWGs mission is to build community capacity for sustainable development in the areas of health, education and income generation through collaborative efforts of all stakeholders. We are excited to work side by side with such a reputable organization in order to execute our mission of improving the lives of orphans through building a safe environment and education. United Way will help to nd partners among the local businesses in Ghana to assist with the remaining phases of the Nursery. United Way Executive Director, Jonathon Akuamoah stated Through our work in communities over the past years, United Way has learned that fundamental change cannot happen unless individuals and institutions alike, from businesses, to NGOs, to government, come together and are willing to consider not only programmatic responses, but also changes in community conditions, systems and policies that may stand in the way of opportunity This is a unique situation where an important piece is that Dreams for Orphans (an NGO in Ghana) has a signicant amount of funding already, that alone will surely attract new partners in the Nursery Project Dr. Juliette Tuakli, President of UWG and a prominent pediatrician in Ghana, was pivotal in bringing United Way and Dreams for Orphans together. Kary Doerer, cofounder, had met Dr. Juliette on many ights to and from Ghana. In discussing the needs of the infants Kary realized Dr. Juliette had worked directly with the children in the home and has rst hand experience of the necessity and hope a new Nursery would bring to OSU. They both quickly realized the future benet of a connection between United Way and DFO. DFO has chosen to delay the ground breaking phase in order to allow additional time for forthcoming partners to participate. We look forward in the coming months to working with UWG and hope to share news of the developments, along with potential partners that may evolve.

DREAMS FOR ORPHANS

Educational Opportunities

Sara Jacobs Experience in Ghana

I rst met Joseph while I was studying abroad at Ashesi University. I walked by Osu Childrens Home every day on my walk to and from school. Our program offered to help us nd volunteer opportunities, and they connected me with Lauren and Kary. I began volunteering at Osu, helping set up the After-School tutoring program using Ashesi students as tutors. I ended up spending most days at the orphanage, and got to know many of the kids really well. Because Joseph was new to the orphanage he was not in school, and I got to know him during the day when almost all of the other kids were away. He was a good reader and always eager to learn more. One day, he told me that he really wanted to go to school. I asked around, and found out that you cant start in a public school mid-term. So I asked him which private school he wanted to go to (Soul Clinic), and we studied for the entrance test together and he got in and almost two years later is still there and doing well! I receive his report card every term and have visited him twice since moving back to America. We talk regularly and I have my Ghanaian friends check on him for me. I love him so much!

Left Juliet Tuakli with a United Way Ghana representative Right Sara Jacobs and Joseph

DREAMS FOR ORPHANS

Autumn 2012

WERE GOING DIGITAL visit our updated website at www.dreamsfororphans.org

Can you believe this is our last printed newsletter? Were moving full-speed into the digital age! Please sign up for future issues on our website or email us at info@dreamsfororphans.org. Were so grateful for our past and future donors and volunteers - without your help we could not have accomplished what we have over the last ve years. We will continue to work hard to make every dollar count in a positive and impactful way through 2013 and beyond.

Jewelry by Juliet Roger

the jewelry you love to own Queen Anne private studio - by appointment 206-282-3300 | Juliet@julietroger.com

DREAMS FOR ORPHANS

P.O. Box 9983 Seattle, WA 98109