Saving lives in South Africa
Welcome to "Friends of the Peace Train" website. The purpose of this website is have a place on the internet for Friends of the Peace Train to share information, post fund-raising events/activities and to share pictures related to the projects and/or activities of Friends of the Peace Train for our guests. Thank you for stopping by. Please visit often to view our calendar of events and new updates to our website. Your comments are valuable to us. Please feel free to leave any comments in our Comments section on the website.
Become a Friend of the Peace Train. The projects described on our website are supported through your contributions.Your contribution is Tax-Deductible.
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Be sure to check back soon for exciting photos and news about Sharon Katz and The Peace Train's Sold-out Benefit Concert with Pete Seeger in New York City, held on Thursday, May 28, 2009!
Changing Lives – forever
We are breaking ground this year – literally! In one of the previously war-torn areas of KwaZulu-Natal, we have begun an empowerment project with rural women who are determined to give their children a better chance in life.
Since the 1990’s, more than 1000 children have walked 1½ hours over steep hills to attend school – most of them on near-empty stomachs. Now thanks to contributions from Friends of The Peace Train, land has been cleared for the building of a new school in Ngcolosi (pronounced like naw-law-see, with a Zulu click).
What makes this project even more exciting and far-reaching is that a small business has been started to make the cinderblocks that will be used in building the school. It’s the ideal community development project that combines local initiative with job creation for young adults and a quality education for children.
In October 2008, Friends of The Peace Train provided the start-up grant to clear the land and buy the cinderblock-making supplies. The goal is to make enough blocks for construction to begin in 2009, with the opportunity for Friends to lend their help during our summer 2009 tour to South Africa.
The first phase of the project involves building 3 classrooms, an office, and toilets at a projected cost of $9,000. Almost $2,000 was already raised at the project’s first fundraiser organized by Friend Jane Konrad in White Plains, NY.
For a contribution of $100 or more, your name will appear on a foundation brick. For $500, a wall will be named in your honor.
Tax-deductible contributions can be made payable to Friends of The Peace Train, 606 Kater Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147.
Friends of The Peace Train are proud to present as our Featured Friend:
Paula Mandel
Ms. Mandel has truly been a Godsend to the Friends of the Peace Train as a generous contributor and vocal supporter for the Friends of the Peace Train's various projects.
Many of Paula's family and friends have also responded positively, offering financial donations to keep the Friends of the Peace Train projects viable.
Paula visited South Africa with Sharon Katz and a group of others in 2003. During the tour, Paula expressed interest in volunteering to work with youth upon her return to Philadelphia. Sharon encouraged Paula to approach Barbara Mitchell, the academic director for the First United Methodist Church of Germantown (FUMCOG) After School Program for Germantown High School students. Paula and Barbara agreed upon a very unique idea: A Stained Glass making project with the students of the FUMCOG After School Program!
In 2008, Sharon Katz, who was by now also practicing music therapy and having great impact with the FUMCOG after school students, introduced her friends and fans to a new initiative of Friends Of The Peace Train: Building an elementary school in a very impoverished part of South Africa near Durban, where children live so far away from the nearest school that they have to walk three hours daily to get an education.
When Paula Mandel heard about this, she had the idea that the students in FUMCOG’s After School Program could make stained glass windows for the future school that is planned to be built in Ngcolosi, South Africa! The Stained Glass making project is very successful in both engaging inner city American students in a hands on dynamic activity, it is also helping to link the students of the After School Program with South African children who face serious issues in South Africa. Not only do the South African children face hunger on a daily basis, but many of them are losing their parents to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Thanks so much Paula, for all that you do and for being the phenomenal woman you are!
An Excerpt from a Personal Appeal from one of our Friends of the Peace Train, Joan Myerson Shrager, (via E-mail)
The following is what I just sent to many friends...
Sharon's current project which I am hoping we can help her with is to build a school near Durban. I know she will lift a shovel with the people living there who will all work on this. All she needs now is another $10,000. to make this happen, to put the roof on. Of course if we get that, we'll need to supply seating, desks, and school supplies. But so much can be purchased with much less money than it would cost here. The residual effects of apartheid are stunning and the government does not have enough money to fix what is left from that devastating time. People in this country were instrumental in bringing pressure to end apartheid. Now let's help build a school!
Last night a group of us met to brainstorm about how we could raise funds and we came up with the idea of asking folks for $365., just a dollar a day to build that school. I wrote a check last night. I am hoping you will help us too with whatever you can. I hope there are some on this list who can give more and of course we will be thrilled with less. Know this is a wonderful cause and that Sharon Katz is an extraordinary person, honest and that she gives so much more than she ever can receive except in the love and appreciation we all have for her.
I am asking you to send me a check made out to FRIENDS OF THE PEACE TRAIN, a 501C3 charity and therefore totally tax deductible. You will receive a letter from them confirming your contribution. Let me end with my thanks and tell you that when Sharon came to our class, she sang a wonderful new song she has written, Obama, Mandela and we and our kids cried. There wasn't a sound as she played and sang. Art and music can change the world!!!
Please feel free to pass this on. I would be happy to talk to anyone as would Sharon. The school is small now but it will start overcrowded(1000 kids in a small structure) so the more we get, the more the more rooms we can build.
Read about Sharon and the Peace Train--http://www.sharonkatz.com/
On Saturday, October 11, 2008, Sharon Katz & The Peace Train performed at the Walkabout Clearwater Coffeehouse in White Plains, New York. Following the concert, Jane Konrad, a Friend of the Peace Train, received a small group of friends at the beautiful home of Lois & Steve Fendlers. Sharon Katz and Marilyn Cohen shared information about the ongoing Friends of the Peace Train projects in South Africa and the latest developments for the building of the Peace Train School/Community Center. Jane recently visited South Africa in July, 2008 with Sharon Katz & The Peace Train's 2008 FAN-tastic Tour to South Africa. She was able to personally visit the Ngcolosi Project site during the tour. Jane's guests generously contributed. We sincerely thank each one of them! A huge thank you to Jane Konrad for being a Great Friend of the Peace Train!
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2008 Tour Group Finishes Home for Homeless Children
In July 2008 A group of 20, Ameri- cans & Canadians traveled to South Africa, with Friends of The Peace Train, to see the country and learn more about our work. After meeting Mama Mary who has been housing over 200 orphans in her own small home, they dug into their pockets and helped us complete the floors on the new "Good Hope Home For Children". The Home is located in Mabopane, several hours outside of Johannesburg. |
Thank you for visiting the Friends Of The Peace Train website. This is where you can make a difference in the lives of many children and families whose lives are enriched by your support and friendship. The hope that you offer with small acts of kindness stretches a long way in the lives of people who have not benefitted from simple necessities of life. Thank you for visiting and thank you for helping. You are special because you are a Friend Of The Peace Train and we hope to meet each and every one of you at one of our performances or better still, on one of our trips to visit our projects at home in South Africa.
Yours truly,
Sharon Katz
Founder & Director
