Yoga In Action

• Sponsoring a Child in Ethiopia
• Building a Women's and Children's Healthcare Clinic in Mali
• Sponsoring a Refugee Family in RI

Motion Center works yearly to fundraise for three organizations with which we have a personal connection. We will host various fundraising drives throughout the year, so check back occasionally to see what we are up to and lend a hand.

In addition to supporting our work, we encourage you to volunteer with or donate to the many wonderful local, national and international non-profits that are making a difference in the state, country, and world. Their names and links to their websites can be found in the righthand sidebar.

Current Fundraisers:
Cash donations in any amount greatly appreciated.

SPONSORING A CHILD IN ETHIOPIA

We have chosen a little boy to sponsor each year through Children's Home Society and Family Services (CHSFS). His photo and information will be up soon, so check back. If you are interested in sponsoring a child yourself ($365/year), email us and we can provide you with information and photos.

When Motion Center co-director Naama Gidron was in Ethiopia adopting her son Samuel, she was amazed to see the scope of SHSFS-Ethiopia's humanitarian efforts. She visited the Sipara Mother and Child Health Center in the capital Addis Ababa which in 2008 alone served over 16,000 patients. In the Southern region, she visited one of the bakeries opened as part of the Family Development Program. This program has helped over 200 vulnderable families become economically self sufficient by providing educational and vocational training. Fianlly, she visited a beautiful new school in Hossana, one out of the three schools opened by CHSFS. Along with the children benefitting from an education, the nearby communities now have access to drinkable water, elecricity, and healthcare.

CHSFS was established in the US in 1989. It has been working in Ethiopia since April 2004. CHSFS-Ethiopia's mission is to empower families and communities in their effort to create favorable conditions for children through diverse socio-economic intervention. Please help us in our effort to sponsor a child.

In addition to cash donations, we are selling the following items which can be purchased at the studio (cash only, please) during the following hours:

• 12:30-1pm Wednesdays-Fridays, and from
• 5-5:30pm & 7-7:30pm Monday through Thursday evenings

Silk-Screened Baby Clothing ($15-$20)
By local mother and artist Amanda Muttulingam

Organic Chai Mixes ($12-$28)
Made by MC directors, Kaeli & Naama.  All organic cardamom, cinnamon, star anise, coriander, black peppercorns, ginger, cloves and orange pekoe Indian black tea (added separately for the caffeinated version).

SUPPORTING WOMEN'S & CHILDREN'S ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE

We are raising funds to support the completion of Cabinet de Soins Monique, "Clinique Monique," a clinic in rural Mali created to provide prenatal consultations, minor surgeries, and obstetrical and gynecological care to the women of southern Mali. Infant and maternal mortality rates in Mali and much of West Africa are the worst in the world, with one out of every 12 birthing women dying. Much of this has the capacity to be changed through education and access to pre and postnatal care.

Motion Center co-director Kaeli Sutton lived in Senegal, West Africa, a neighboring country to Mali, from 1995-1996, and again for a 3 month visit in 1998. Her time there was intense and educational, and has continued to impact and inform her life all these years later. She continues to communicate with her friends and family members in Senegal, and hopes to one day return to work there. The Senegalese culture is beautiful, gracious, generous and full of zest. At the same time, the place of women within the partrilineal society is not one of full rights and freedom, and there is much work to be done in this domain, as in most of the world, to support women's existence free of oppression, abuse and over-work. Kaeli is deeply committed to empowerment work with birthing families here in the US, and has been searching for an organization in Senegal working toward the same goal. Having recently read Monique and the Mango Rains, which she highly reccommends, she has chosen Clinique Monique in neighboring Mali as one of the organizations Motion Center will fundraise for.

Clinique Monique was founded in 2004 by Mazime Dembele, a village healthcare worker, to honor his cousin Monique Dembele. Monique was a profoundly courageous Malian midwife, healthcare worker and champion of women's rights. She worked tirelessly and often against strong cultural obstacles, from the time she was 22 until her own premature death in childbirth, to provide care and education to thousands of women and children. To learn more about her story, as told through the eyes of an American Peace Corps worker who became her dear friend, read Monique and the Mango Rains. Proceeds from the purchase of the book go to support Monique's children and the completion of the clinic.

Example of what your money can do:

$5,000 – Furnishes one surgical room
$1,000 – pays for one solar generator and back-up battery
$300 – pays for one year of midwifery training
$100 – sends a child to school for one year
$50 – pays for a set of medical instruments

SPONSORING A REFUGEE FAMILY IN RHODE ISLAND

We will be working with the International Institute of Rhode Island to sponsor a local immigrant family. Check back for details.