We may have gone silent over the holidays, but there's been plenty more shit happening!

What do you get when you mix school-children, rabbits and tree saplings?
You get our newest launch - One Child, One Tree.

With help from G Adventures and the Planterra Foundation, TSSH is providing rabbits & fruit & mixed-tree saplings to 500 elementary school students in southern Rwanda who will learn to compost the rabbit manure to feed their trees once planted.
The children from Kamatsira Primary school will work with our friend Claver who is an ornithologist and arborist, as well as a Nyungwe National Park Guide.
In fact, Claver has developed the entire project. A copy of his proposal is available upon request.
The aim is to establish tree nurseries, encouraging long-term thinking & environmental awareness, and re-forestation.
Rabbit reproduction also creates an income source to cover school-related expenses.
So it started with sheep & goats…and continues with rabbits!

Claver Ntoyinkima, forest guru and yet another 'man with a plan' we are excited and humbled to be able to be working with!

 

Yes indeed, there is a Santa Claus!
Our sincere thanks go out to Suzanne for 2 sheep,
And thanks Michelle for 4 sheep,
Jeremy for 2 sheep,
and Irene for 1 sheep,
and Joe for 2 sheep,
And remember, thanks to our wonderful anonymous donor, 11 sheep becomes 22!

 

we are so pleased to say that more sincere thanks go out today, to Ed for 2 sheep,
yet another Shari with 5 more sheep,
and Pat for 1 sheep,
and another Ed for 1sheep,
and steve for 2 more sheep.
that's 11 more sheep closer to our target!

Or 22 more...thanks anonymous!

Wow! So much thoughtful generosity!
Thanks go out to Andrea for 3 sheep.
And thanks to Lisa & Erik for 2 sheep!
And that 5 becomes 10!
We're in the home stretch!
Thanks to our amazing anonymous, only 22 more sheep to go!

...and this thoughtful, generosity just keeps on coming!
Thanks go out to Sharon for 2 sheep.
And thanks to Catherine for 1 sheep.
And thanks go to Richard for 2 sheep.
And, of course, with anonymous on bord, that 5 is 10!

Len & Natalie for 2 sheep,
Spencer for 2 sheep
And the Tora Foundation for 4 sheep.
Thanks to anonymous...
Can we get a drum roll...
Only 9 sheep needed to reach our target!
Feel the love...

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year!"
-Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

With 1 day still to go, we are oh so very happy to report that we are sending out thanks to yet another Steve for 5 sheep
thanks to Brendan for 1 sheep
thanking Sheri for 2
And thanking Maddy & Co. for 1 sheep...

And because Michael & Judy have so very generously matched all the donations with an INCREDIBLY GENEROUS donation of their own

WE'VE REACHED OUR TARGET!
We are a love story that is full of shit and now so many more have made it their story too!

Thanks to all this wonderful wave of compassionate generosity from so many...
we have all the funds in place to source 120 sheep for our newest expansion into North Kivu, in Eastern D.R. Congo!

We are returning in March, assisting the first of 5 farming cooperatives living along a 45km stretch of the border of Virunga National Park, home to the world’s only Mountain Gorillas.

If you haven't already, please consider watching a very special documentary called VIRUNGA.
It tells the haunting story of the National Park, the mountain gorillas who live there and the incredible rangers and farmers who live and work inside and beside this stunningly beautiful piece of our Earth.

Best wishes from us this holiday season. We are proud to honour so much generosity and compassion for others.

Peace.
Rita & Jeff

   

From now until Christmas Eve, an incredibly generous anonymous donor has agreed to match any donations that come in to TSSH.
Imagine, for ever sheep that one of you buys, he’ll double it.

We’ll include a letter that says something sweet about you, gives an overview of our project and where specifically the money is going.
We enclose the letter inside a card you can personalize.
Card options will be emailed to you to choose.

We are hoping to facilitate 120 sheep and goats before December 24th.
Our art show last week netted us 27.
So 93 more sheep and goats to go.

But wait, Freddie just bought a sheep yesterday, a Christmas gift to his mother Pauline.
Matched by anonymous, that’s 2 sheep.
Thank you Freddie.
Thank you anonymous.
And Shari & family just bought 6 goats.
Matched by anonymous, that’s 12 goats.
Thanks Shari & family!
Thanks anonymous!

So 85 to go, or should we say 43 (can’t thank anonymous enough)…

Please consider doing your gifting differently this year.

Making a small but significant and LASTING change in a family's life is sooo much more meaningful than candles, those baskets of cheese/chocolate/coffee, another sweater or hat/scarf combo, or...

Stirring The Sh*t…

Even though we postponed our trip, we just launched a month ago in Togo, West Africa, with thanks to our newest 'boots on the ground' and newest TSSH family member 

Prosper Papillon Nyanu, 

to our recent donors and for the logistical assistance of TransAfrica Tours.

A little shitter ready to head home

 And we’re exploring expanding in the D.R.Congo- both North and South Kivu, thanks to interest from The Dian Fossy Fund International and a fortuitous meeting with Innocente and Wenzi, only two of the brave rangers who work to improve the lives of the community that borders the Virunga National Park forest they protect.

And we’ve received word from Gilbert that lots of little shitters, twins in many cases, are already being born on Idjwi Island in Eastern D.R.C!

Meanwhile in Rwanda, Paul informs us that 2 more cooperatives are getting ready to pay forward.
That’s roughly 400 Rwandan families helping other Rwandan families with a hand up!

And in Northern Uganda Solomon reports that the first cooperative is ready as well! That’s an additional 100 farming families also receiving a hand up from their neighbour!

And as long as they continue the PAY FORWARD component, all these communities are ensured continued growth.

Sensitization sessions encourage sustainable, organic fertilizer production instead of using nasty chemical fertilizers.

distribution of goats in Kuma region, Togo. Our army of little shitters keeps growing and expanding!

A different kind of tagging from our usual method. We'll provide the permanent ones when we visit in February.

And we once again begin the logistics of co-ordinating all the initiative visits coming up in February/March 2015.