Uniting Distant Stars made its debut in the Big Apple with the well-organized efforts of Adam Pederson, Board Secretary. He worked with a friend to host a fundraiser on October 19 from 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM in Manhattan’s East Village. He found donated items such as African Art and modern abstract paintings for the silent auction. There was also a raffle draw for prizes of wine and champagne. The event offered free wine and hors d’oeuvres.
These photos show the various donated items for the silent auction. Photos by Adam Pederson
The goal of this fundraiser was $5,000 for our solar power initiative. Adam secured an anonymous $2,500 matching the gift to encourage people to donate and double their impact. This event was a huge success by raising $5,292…an exceeded goal! There were about 30 people who participated in this event and who brought more awareness to our vocational training program in Liberia.
We will continue working with solar professionals in both Liberia and Minnesota to coordinate the next steps. The goal is not only to install solar panels but to have our electrician students help with the installation. All of UDS is overjoyed with making this strategic goal a reality.
Many Thanks to our new and continued supporters that contributed to helping Liberian Youth obtain marketable and valuable skills in trade careers!!!
Your investment in Liberian Youth teaches them marketable skills and prepares them to be ready for any opportunity that comes their way. As you have witnessed, our students work diligently in perfecting their craft, and through your continued support, they are able to advance their skills with real experience.
One of our sustaining supporters, Joel Decker of Starland Charities in Minnesota, donated $350 to purchase the advanced learning materials for our electrician students and four ceiling fans for our center to help improve the learning environment.
Joel fulfilled a wish expressed by our electrician students during the general meeting on September 29, when they requested supplies to learn how to install three-phase power for commercial buildings. The instructor, Boakai Dillon, started working with the students the day the supplies were purchased. Our students practiced how to connect three-phase and how to add the different type of breakers to the control box. This simple act of kindness by Joel helps our electrician students take their skill training to a higher level.
Your electrician students learning how to install three-phase power
Our students also received the opportunity to install the our ceiling fans in the great room of our center and connecting them to the breaker. The electrician students received real experience, and all students will benefit from a comfortable learning environment with the onset of hotter temperatures from the dry season.
Your electrician students installing ceiling fans to provide a cooler climate at their training center
Your commitment to young men and women allows them to hit the ground running after graduation. They are prepared to adapt to any type of work environment with the foundation of skills in their given trade. Your support is essential to their future success.
Thank you, Joel, for fulfilling the wishes of our electrician students!
Enoch Daniel Tarr wrote the song, “Education is Better Than Silver & Gold” for UDS.
One of our computer students, Enoch Daniel Tarr, from 2016 wrote a song to promote Uniting Distant Stars Vocational Training Center. Enoch is 16 years old and wanted to express his gratitude for our programs through music.
Our creative and talented board member, Anna Bertch, created a music video of Enoch’s song with photos of all our courses. Please enjoy listening to this uplifting song that will get you moving with the music.
January has been busy preparing for yet another exciting year. As we look ahead to our plans for 2014, we also reflect back on what we accomplished since our beginnings in 2012. It was reassuring to see that our humble organization is making progress that is small-small (an expression used in Liberia).
This post highlights some project milestones and features photographs taken by Heather during her first year of residency in Liberia, a beautiful tropical nation along the coast of West Africa.
This image was created in 2007, filling the map outline of Liberia with photos of Coconut trees in Bong County and the pre-sunset ocean view along beach in Congo Town.
What compelled us to start Uniting Distant Stars? The co-founders Heather Cannon-Winkelman and Kelvin Fomba had an idea to start a vocational training center that balanced the job skills with the job-keeping skills. The latter component is often lacking in training programs to where many of the graduates emerged ill-prepared for such workplace expectations as punctuality and appropriate behavior. In our attempt to make this dream a reality we applied for a fellowship in 2010 and 2011 for start-up funding.
June 2007 – Kpatawee (“K” is silent) Waterfall in Bong County.
Both attempts failed to move us to the next level. As we reassessed the application process and the finalists, we noticed a pattern. Those making through each “gate’ had projects or programs that were producing results. This is when we realized that we needed to start a program that showed we were walking our talk.
November 2007 – Heading east through Grand Bassa County.
By July 2012, we transformed the essence of Uniting Distant Stars. Besides being a blog it was a bona fide organization serving disadvantaged youth through education. We provided primary and secondary school scholarships, vocational training tuition assistance, and a school supply drive for Russ Wood Christian Academy.
November 2007 – Nature’s funny way to ask “Why” – Grand Bassa County
It was the school supply drive that attracted the most interest and we slowly increased our circle of supporters. This momentum got us thinking about what we should do next and we started off 2013 with many ambitious goals. We met most, including:
Published our first annual report, listing 2012activities and 2013 goals.
Formed our U.S. based board of directors.
Registered Uniting Distant Stars, Inc as a Minnesota Non-Profit Corporation.
Secured our fiscal sponsor, Ebenezer Community Church in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.
Organized three successful fundraisers focused on programs in Liberia.
Shipped four 14-cubic-foot boxes for Russ Wood Christian Academy.
Developed working partnerships with organizations in both Minnesota and Liberia.
Held first annual youth leadership workshop in Liberia on “creative and innovative thinking”
2007 – Sunset along Golden Beach in Monrovia
In summary, 2013 was an amazing year. It opened new pathways for us to expand our network of donors, followers and partners. That success is the driving force to continue developing and growing our programs in the coming year. Learn more about what we achieved in 2013 and what is in store for 2014 in our next annual report, to be published in April. Uniting Distant Stars exists because of the passion and dedication of all who have generously supported us. Thank you!
Since our return from Liberia in September, we have been reviewing the data we gathered from the young men and women who participated in our two-day workshop. One of the documents that our young participants completed was a pre-workshop information form. This form listed ten questions focusing on problem solving, helping others, character building and much more. The purpose of this form was to better understand these young mindsets before they were challenged by the two-day creative and innovative thinking workshop.
One of the questions asked on this form was “what are three qualities you find important in a leader?” When reviewing these forms a few days before the workshop, we were quite impressed by their responses. Clearly, they can visualize what makes a good leader despite being confronted examples of corrupt leadership. So, it seems fitting that their thoughtful effort be shared with a greater audience.
How does one best convey what these young Liberian men and women named are important leadership attributes? Well, it was not going to be easy, because there were 54 respondents and some of the qualities were mentioned more than once. Of course the obvious option would be to publish a simple list that would start with the most important trait at the top. However, it would do little to symbolize what they saw as the ideal leader.
So, the next option was to illustrate their ideas in what is known as a word cloud (i.e. tag cloud) as shown below.
This graphic has many layers to its design. The leadership qualities that were mentioned more than once were carefully laid out within the national borders of Liberia. The green background with the brown edging represents Liberia’s lush rain forest and fertile ground, which is ready to be planted with the purposeful seeds of these emerging leaders. The color and size of each word represents the number of times a particular quality was mentioned.
Here are the most commonly named qualities:
Patient: selected 9 times
Respectful: selected 7 times
Innovative and Visionary: selected 6 times each
Committed, Compassionate, Good Listener, Humble & Open: selected 5 times each
Green qualities: selected 4 times each
Yellow qualities: selected 3 times each
Red qualities: selected 2 times each
This word cloud was not able to accommodate all the qualities that were chosen. Therefore, the illustration below shows the “The Honorable Mentions” for the leadership traits that were only selected once.
Both visuals will be included in our workshop next October when we return to Liberia. As we prepare for next year, we want to continue to find creative and thoughtful ways to capture what these young people expressed before, during and after the workshop. There is much to be gained from their insights and perspectives about the world. Let’s face it…our young men and women around the world are the next leaders in business, government, academia and so forth. This is why we value their input and inspire them to become the next great leaders of the 21st century.
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