News
Newsletter | Volunteers | Charitable Status | Africa Phytotrade
Highlights From 2011 and Looking Forward to 2012
- The SAM Project is continuing our partnership with Rotary International: by then end of 2011, we will have established 7 new boreholes with five community gardens adjacent to the new wells
- We have provided training and resources to implement a crop production scheme amongst the members of the Lubemba Cooperative: the 21 participants are growing high-value vegetables for the commercial market
- Our implementation of the childhood nutrition training in association with the American Academy of Pediatrics continues, with the full-time involvement of two Canadian volunteers
Read our Spring 2012 Update Newsletter <to come> for further news and reports from this year's Student Volunteers, Kylie Saso, Leanna Polsinelli, Ian Mackay, and Richard Groves
Volunteers Wanted!!!
2012 SAM Community Awareness Program (SCAP)
The SAM Project is once again accepting applications for the SAM Community Awareness Program, our annual SCAP trip to Zambia.
In 2011, four young people from North America came to Zambia to participate in the SAM Project and learn about the conditions and challenges of the impoverished 3rd World. This year, we increased the duration of volunteer visits, so volunteers were better able to understand the challenges of Third World Development work, and really get involved with the implementation of our projects. We are now planning our 2012 SCAP trip to Zambia. If you are a resident of B.C., under the age of 25, and have a passion to help the disadvantaged people of the world, we would love to hear from you. Contact us by email at info@thesamproject.ca by December 31, 2011 and tell us about yourself. We will be interviewing candidates in January 2012.
Long-Term Volunteers and Interns
We are also accepting applications from longer-term volunteers who have the skills and the desire to help with our rural development projects in Africa. If you are interested in working for a month or longer in Zambia, and have agricultural, forestry, business, or other skills that you think might assist in our work, please drop us a line!
The SAM Project Granted Charitable Status by Canada Revenue
We are very pleased to report that we have been granted status as a Charitable Organization by Canada Revenue. That means that we will now be able to issue tax receipts to Canadian donors, which can be used when filing income tax returns. We will be sending out receipts to everyone who donated retroactive to January 1, 2008, the date from which Canada Revenue has recognized The SAM Project as a charity.
The SAM Project Joins Africa Phytotrade
PhytoTrade Africa is a non-profit trade association that works to create economic opportunities for poor rural communities in the arid and marginal areas of the region by linking them to markets for plant products, mainly essential oils, that are derived from wild fruit and seeds from common woodlands.
The SAM Project will help rural communities organize the harvest and processing of indigenous plants, which is an ideal enterprise for many rural villages as it requires no external inputs. Phytotrade conducts the research on appropriate species, and then aids in the development of markets and sales channels for the products harvested.