EcoAfrica Social Ventures

A FUN EVENT FOR A SERIOUS CAUSE is coming up on 12th November on Central Park West in NYC to raise money to provide food for crafting artisans (mainly women and children) in Zimbabwe. Leila Straus has chosen Eco Africa Social Ventures as her holiday season cause.

Her home will be open for New Yorkers who are keen to make a difference in the lives of hundreds of crafting women in Zimbabwe. The unimaginable 150 million per cent inflation rate has caused food to disappear completely from the shelves of shops in the areas where poor people live and fuel prices have made travel to shops that cater to the rich elite an impossible dream.

Even if the women could be magically transported to a well stocked supermarket, they would find a 2 liter bottle of cooking oil costs $66.00 USD. These almost obscenely overstocked stores are patronized by people who have access to foreign currency only. The vast majority of the population are scrabbling to survive.

Funds raised at this event will be used to purchase food supplies by sending a truck across the borders to neighboring countries where food is plentiful and relatively inexpensive. The food will be distributed to the women crafting artisans who come to the campus each day and are part of the craft training programs that have empowered them with the income-producing skills of Paper-making and Paper-crafting.

There are great opportunities to bid at silent auctions featuring a fabulous ten day African safari, a magnificent large format art image of Wildlife by a famous photographer, and huge gift baskets of fab Papercraft products lovingly crafted by the women artisans in Zimbabwe.

RSVP to janice@ecoafricasocialventures.org