Volunteer Newsletter of 2010

Dear All

Welcome to the last Volunteer Newsletter of 2010, at the end of an exciting and busy year. A lot done, more to do! Year End Summary

So as we approach the end of 2010, its a good time to reflect on what has been achieved. Camara Education has been in something of transition this year with a number of additions in personnel and also a number of new Education Hubs coming online. The year has been challenging including refurbished computer importation bans impacting operations in Uganda and Rwanda. So how did we do? Well, if you could round up all the students that have had a better education this year alone from the work of Camara Education, what sort of venue would you need? The Olympia Theatre? The O2? The shiny Aviva Stadium? No, Camara Education students could fill our national stadium, Croke Park. This year 1,600 teachers have been trained by Camara Education who have gone on the provide a better education for 82,000 students. All this achieved by an organisation that is operated primarily on the goodwill and support of our volunteers. Without our volunteers this would not have happened, so on behalf of each Camara student, go raibh mile maith agat or should that be, go raibh ochto mile maith agat? Oh, and did we mention we want to fill three Crokers next year? Hope to see you at the Christmas Party and have a safe and peaceful Christmas. John Fitzsimons, General Manager


The Learning Shop is Open

Our Christmas Learning shop is open again. Last year we raised €8,000 through it and we're trying to beat that this year. We would really appreciate your support, and would welcome if you could pass on the details to friends and family. A very stress-free way to shop.


Shop HereWork Placement Opportunity

We are pleased to announce we have two Work Placement positions available under the FAS WPP2 Scheme. Candidates must be unemployed and registered with FAS to apply.

Our positions are on the FAS website, and have reference numbers 579800 and 579165. Go to http://jobseeker.fas.ie/

Christmas Party Reminder

Don't forget, Thursday 17th December is the Big Bash, the 2010 Camara Volunteer Party. Come along and have a few drinks and maybe a cocktail or two (sausage, that is) and meet a few old or new friends. It's on in Messers Maguires, on Burgh Quay, just beside O'Connell bridge, and we hope many current and former Volunteers can come along and let's put a smile on our faces!

Hot News from Rwanda.

Camara Rwanda have reached the Finals of the Global Development Awards, a hugely prestigious worldwide competition. Eddie will travel to Colombia in January to present his case to the judges at a conference of five hundred participants. We wish him the best of luck. For other good news stories, see the Camara Rwanda website at http://rwanda.camara.ie/ including an interview with Simeon, who was a big help to the Rwanda 10 Team, and who has now set up his own company, based on his training with

Africa Calling...

Africa 10 is now history, and thanks to everyone who contributed in any way to the success.

Africa 11 planning has now begun for a volunteer trip to Africa during July / August 2011. If you are interested in more information or discussing how your skill set suits please contact africa11@camara.ie

If you can read this, thank a teacher.

Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone so we are taking this opportunity to thank all of the volunteers who contributed to our efforts this year at the Camara Dublin Hub. Thank you Ita and Christy for labouring over laptops and bearing the cold this Winter. They have been very busy this year refurbishing laptops from donors such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bord Gáis, Danone, FDC and Zurich Insurance.


Thanks to Chris, Dave and Paul, who tweaked the Servers and kept the show on the road in the IT and Tea Drinking Dept. and to Liam for the advice and patience during the year, and to Declan for the cold-calling of potential customers, which is always a tricky job.

Camara at IKEA

We had a very busy weekend in IKEA on 20th & 21st November. 2,000 leaflets were handed out promoting a bring day on the 8th January 2011 and our Christmas Learning Shop. The bring day is giving people the opportunity to bring their old computers back to IKEA for reuse with Camara. We extend a big Thank You to all the volunteers who helped us out on that weekend. Thanks to Monica Gaynor, Mary Earl, Alex Bacik, Niall Maguire, Elaine Clarke, Ann Pidgeon and Christine Maynard.

Another Important Milestone

A big Thank you to Nicholas Matemba, a regular volunteer in the workshop who kindly allowed his children to take part in a photo-shoot to promote the Learning Shop and Camara's 20,000th computer ready for shipping. This is a huge milestone, as we packed the 10,000th computer just over a year ago. Here is Donnell (4) and Kudzai (8) who were fab. on a very cold day in Dublin City Centre. Thanks so much to them for their help. Also Thanks to Racheal Kalaba, former Zambian Hub CEO for taking part. She is completing her Masters in Ireland and also braved the elements to help us out

Working off-site for Camara

Have to mention Christy Creely, John Kennedy, Paul Eustace for their excellent work in recent months in wiping hard drives in AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Rabobank and Topaz Energy. These are all key new corporate clients and feedback on the customer service they have provided has been excellent. The hard drives that have been wiped are mainly SATA and cost €50 to replace. These drives would have been otherwise crushed rendering the computers useless for reuse but for the intervention of skilled Camara volunteers

Irish Schools Project

Camara Ireland has been busy the last month. By the end of this year we will have sent out a nearly 500 computers to schools and other educational bodies in Dublin. The most exciting thing is that we are now starting to see our reputation grow among teachers and principals. We've even had a fantastic statement of support from Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan!

To keep up to date with all the news and musings of the Camara Ireland team follow us on Twitter @CamaraIreland and watch the blog http://camaraireland.ie/about-2/blog/

So that's all the news, and we can sign off 2010 as a success for Camara, with a lot to look forward to in 2011, but only with your continued support. Happy Christmas, and see you in 2011.

Camara Volunteer Update March

Happy Easter!!!

Well ok, it's a little early but not long now. We've been busy bunnies at Camara and since the last update two 40ft containers have been loaded up and over 900 computers are now on their way to the Camara hubs in Kenya and Lesotho. Thanks to everyone involved!

Here are some more updates for what's happening at Camara this month.....

Volunteer Positions Needed

Camara are currently recruiting for the positions of:

• Sales Assistant
• Marketing Assistant
• Web Developer

For more information about these positions and how to apply please click here.

Ladies Mini-Marathon (men in wigs welcome to apply)

It's that time of year again. Camara's Women's Mini-marathon campaign has started. The Mini-marathon is on 7th June 2010. Please consider running/ walking/jogging it for us.

When you run for Camara you:

• Get a race pack - t-shirt, cards, etc
• Have training sessions available - Wed. evening St Stephen's Grn, Sun am Sandymount.
• Automatic entry to the Camara 10K run, which will happen on 30/5 in Sandymount (it's an optional opportunity for runners to get a time over 10K)
• Gain entry into a draw for a trip to Kenya by raising over 250 Euros.

And you are helping the Camara cause.

DCU DRAMA Presents "HAIR at The Helix" in association with Camara

Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, James Rado and Gerome Ragni’s tale of beads, flowers, freedom, happiness, and the Vietnam War is back with a bang and coming to The Helix in early April!

After over twenty hugely successful professional productions worldwide, including a four-year run on Broadway, and a Tony Award-winning Broadway revival in 2009, Ireland’s Biggest Professional Venue Performance Ever will take place at The Helix on the 6^th, 7^th, 8^th and 9^th of April for five performances.

HAIR will be performed in association with CAMARA, with a percentage of all profits being donated to CAMARA to help develop technology in third-world countries.

Tickets are on sale now, priced at €20 and €15 for students, and available from: http://cts.vresp.com/c/?CAMARA/8fdc11446e/81a293988b/b549631cdc

Special Rate for Wednesday 3.30pm Matinee: All €20 tickets are Buy One, Get one FREE, all student tickets are just €10!

Let your HAIR down, and book now!

Many thanks to all the volunteers who continue to offer their support and hardwork to Camara.

Camara January Updates

2009 was an eventful year for Camara. 6546 computers were shipped to 7 countries, over 80 volunteers travelled to Africa to give IT training to African teachers and over 400 volunteers helped us in our workshop refurbishing computers, fixing up our website and designing the Camara image!

Thanks to everybody who helped out. Here's what to expect in 2010....

Africa 2o10

Over 50 volunteers will travel out to Africa to train teachers in IT skills. More info at http://camara.ie/web/get-involved/volunteering-in-africa/

Closing date for applications is Monday Feb 22nd

Fund-raising Campaig Ideas-We need your help!

As with any not-for-profit organisation, sourcing revenue provides a constant challenge, especially in these tough, economic times. In the past year we have had a number of very successful events organised both centrally and by volunteers. We are very Thankful to you, for this support.

For the coming year we wish to consolidate our approach to fund raising events and campaigns. To this end we wish to pull together an annual events calendar. We are asking for your help on two fronts. If you were interested in running a fund-raiser,during the coming year, however small, we would really appreciate it. We will provide any support you may need. Let us know about it so we can include it in our calendar, and ensure it gets promoted throughout the organisation. If you are not in a position to run your own fund-raiser, but have some good ideas for a suggested event or campaign, Please pass these on to us, we may be able to organise them centrally. All ideas are welcome! Ideas or queries to marieamullally@camara.ie . Thanks.

Learning Shop - Valentine's Day Campaing

We are currently launching another campaign on our Learning Shop to tie in with Valentine's day. We are asking for a donation of 10 Euro to send a computer to Africa. A card with a unique PC tracking code is issued for every donation, which the donor, or their family can use to track the PC's journey to Africa. Could be that present with a difference! We would appreciate if you could pass the word, among your family and friends.