To all our supporters and friends,

Thank you once again for another terrific year of fundraising for WOMA.

WOMA PARTY – SEPTEMBER ’09

We were delighted to see so many of you at our party at the Sugar Lounge in North London in September. Many of you commented on the terrific atmosphere there, and it really was a very special night for us – we made nearly £1,000 thanks to your generous contributions.

Our parties are always enhanced by the entertainment provided by musicians and singers who volunteer their services in support of WOMA.

At this party we enjoyed a splendid selection of differing cross-cultural mix of musical styles – covering acapella singing, West African Kora playing, and South African soul (delivered by the inimitable Doreen Thobekile, who had launched her album “London Zulu” at WOMA’s first party back in 2005).

WOMA has excellent ties with its musicians, and we would like to pay tribute to all of them for continuing to support our events.

A special thanks too must go to Jessica Rwami, whose powerful speech explaining her own personal experiences really brought home the challenges for HIV-affected women in East Africa.

You can relive some of the memories by viewing the photos in our WOMA Galleries page.

Also you can see a WOMA video on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I2ChOYb7a8

So much has happened since our first WOMA event and the charity has grown from strength to strength, and we couldn’t have done it without you.

CURRENT TRAINING PROGRAMMES

We’ve now got a dozen women finishing off their tailoring course in Uganda, with another batch of new recruits being taken on as we write this.

In Kenya, our pilot project at Buru Buru School of Arts continues, training women from Korogocho – one of Nairobi’s poorest slums. Karen will be going there shortly to assess how the women are getting on.

FUND-RAISING

We’ve got to the stage in the development of our charity where we can’t rely on ad hoc donations any more. We really need to establish more regular sources of funds. We need to have a steadier stream of money coming in, so that we can plan our activities on a year-by-year basis, and ensure that we can provide funds for both the regular stream of women who are attending the training programmes and the equipment they need to set up their own businesses – sewing machines etc!

With this in mind, we would like to invite you to make regular monthly contributions –either by setting up a standing order to our bank account :

WOMA

Barclays Bank, Islington Branch
Sort Code 20 44 86
Account Number 50128678

or setting up a regular monthly payment via the Justgiving website :www.justgiving.com/woma

You can still of course make individual payments to the above accounts or just send a cheque payable to WOMA at :

WOMA, PO Box 857, Richmond, Surrey TW9 9BH

Charity events/ activities

We know that there are plenty of demands on your time and your wallet, but please do consider hosting or taking part in a charity event to raise funds for WOMA.

Sponsored runs and bike rides etc are very effective ways of raising funds!

WOMA Christmas cards + Notelets

You can also assist by buying some of the WOMA charity Christmas cards or notelets that we are selling. All of the profits from these cards are being donated to our charity, thanks to the generosity of the talented artists who support our work.

To order cards at £1 each, please contact Nora either by email at: nora.dennehy@btinternet.com or on her mobile : 0770 3314 903.

It’s been a difficult year for everybody, but we hope that 2010 proves to be a better year for all of us!

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and health and happiness in the year ahead.

Lots of love from The WOMA Team

• Nora
• Debbie
• Karen