May 9, 2013
Below is a list of all donations received between November 21, 2012 and April 28, 2013, as well as tributes, mitzvah projects and fundraisers from this time period, and the sponsors of the 2013 Kulanu-Lemba Speaking Tour.
TODAH RABAH to all of our supporters for helping Kulanu (Hebrew for “all of us”)
assist isolated and emerging Jewish communities around the world.
Please let us know if we have missed your name or contribution (go to www.kulanu.org/contact and choose “Ask about a Donation”) and we will list you in the next issue. Thank you!
$15,000+
Anonymous
Thanks to the Coexist Foundation for their gift of $15,000 to the Abayudaya and $4,000 to Kulanu, and to Louis Weider for $15,000 in memory of his father, Ben Weider and in honor of his mother, Huguette Weider.
$10,000
The Werner and Phoebe Frank Family Foundation
The Estelle Friedman Gervis Family Foundation.
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Did you know Harriet Bograd turned 70 this past Saturday? This milestone birthday is an inspiration to those of us who already admire Harriet for her practical yet compassionate approach to her work, and to all aspects of her life.
Did you also know you can send birthday greetings and support Kulanu, Inc – the organization she has been volunteering with full-time for the past 10 years – all at once through Kulanu’s 2013 Tribute Journal fundraiser? This year we’re honoring Harriet for her leadership and her service to Jews everywhere, so you can show your admiration and/or gratitude for Harriet with a contribution to an online “ad book” that we’ll publish online this summer.
Visit www.kulanu.org/tribute for more about honoring Harriet…
Make a donation today (see www.kulanu.org/donate)! Be sure to include “Bograd Tribute” as well as a message you’d like to share in the Journal.
Already donated? Unable to give? Share your support by passing this on to your friends on Facebook:
Honor global Jewish leader Harriet Bograd and support Kulanu (“All of Us”)! Donate now: kulanu.org/tribute
Click here for more ways to support Kulanu and Harriet. I look forward to seeing how “all of us” come together to honor a great woman, for a great cause.
P.S. You may be aware that Harriet Bograd is a breast cancer survivor: Click here to read the journal entry Harriet posted on her cancer blog on her birthday, celebrating her good health sixteen years after her diagnosis…
The first Kulanu-Lemba Speaking Tour, which started with a fantastic opening event at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan on February 7, concluded in Maryland on March 3. Modreck Maeresera, our impressive speaker, has returned to Harare so he can be with his family in Zimbabwe in time to prepare for Passover.
The speaking tour introduced the Lemba Jews of Zimbabwe to Jewish communities in the U.S. and Toronto, and fascinated audiences everywhere. People were especially moved by hearing about Modreck’s personal experiences as a Lemba Jew, as well as the community’s desire to build their own synagogue in Zimbabwe (click here to open a PDF of the community’s “Great Zimbabwe Synagogue” proposal).
Click here for photos from a few of the places Modreck visited on his tour!
If you took photos at one of Modreck’s events, I’d love for you to share them with us. Go to kulanu.phanfare.com and click on the small icon for the Drop Box in the top right corner (it looks like an arrow pointing down into an open box). Please include your name and the date/location the photos were taken; if they are to be shared publicly please let us know, and provide proper photo credit for us to publish. Thanks so much!
We’d also love to hear your thoughts and impressions about the Kulanu-Lemba event you attended – join the conversation on our page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/kulanu to share what inspired you most.
Read more about our first Kulanu-Lemba Speaking Tour, which ran February 7 to March 2, here. For background on the historic Jews of Zimbabwe, including illuminating articles written by Mr. Maeresera himself, please visit www.kulanu.org/lemba
Photo: Modreck Maeresera after his conversion. Taken by Harriet Bograd, February 2012.
Congratulations to last year’s seventh graders at the Abayudaya Elementary School in Uganda, who got wonderful grades on the national Primary Leaving Exams! Of the 26 students who were completing primary school, 8 got First Level scores, and the remaining 18 got Second Level. No students got grades of Third or Fourth Level. Until this year, only one student had ever earned a First Level grade.
We honor the students for their hard work, and Headmaster Aaron Kintu Moses and the teachers for their contribution to this great success.
MAZAL TOV!
Photo: Children in the Abayudaya community of Uganda.
Copyright Lisa Pleskow Kassow (photojournalist), January 2012.
In addition to our long-time relationships with communities in Uganda, Zimbabwe, El Salvador, and other places, we continue to make new relationships with communities in Bialystok, 
Poland; Guatemala City, Guatemala; Granada, Nicaragua; and additional communities in El Salvador!
Watch for articles in the upcoming KulanuNews about some of these new connections!
Photo: Sharing challah at Beit Bialystock in Poland, November 2012.
Courtesy Beit Bialystock
I am thrilled to report that Kulanu has partnered with the Coexist Foundation to support the Abayudaya schools in Uganda. For 2013, they have pledged to donate $40,000 to the schools!
This foundation, started in the United Kingdom in 2006 and now also based in Washington, DC, works to create understanding across divides in a sustainable manner. Coexist is excited about the interfaith cooperation at the two Abayudaya schools, and is planning to raise funds to support the schools by selling Coexist brand coffee from the Delicious Peace interfaith coffee coop that Kulanu helped launch. They will be relying on Kulanu to serve as advisors as they work to support the schools.
It has been a joy for me to collaborate with Tarek Elgawhary, Chief Executive Officer, and Lance McPherson, Chief Operating Officer of the Coexist Foundation. Our first step was to help facilitate a January visit to Uganda by Lance McPherson and his London-based colleague, Michael Wakelin. Lance and Michael were delighted with the welcome they received and the peaceful coexistence that they witnessed there
Harriet Bograd tries out local dances at the grain mill dedication ceremony in the Namutumba village of the Abayudaya community in Uganda, January 2012.
March 28, 2013
2013 is a special year for Kulanu and our annual tribute journal. This year we are honoring our esteemed colleague and friend, Harriet Bograd, the president of Kulanu since 2008. In this year of her seventieth birthday, we are privileged to show our love, respect, and admiration for an extraordinarily talented woman whose organizational abilities, visionary thinking, and personal qualities of caring and warmth have earned Kulanu the trust and friendship of isolated Jewish communities and their supporters around the globe.
Thanks to Harriet’s tireless leadership and dedication, emerging communities in Africa, India, China, El Salvador and other far corners of the world have been given the chance to grow religiously and economically in partnership with Kulanu. We agree with one supporter who has called Harriet “one of the most remarkable individuals in today’s worldwide Jewish community.”
Click here now or scroll down to find out how to honor Harriet!
A tribute dinner in Harriet’s honor would no doubt have attracted hundreds of fans to her home-base in New York City. But so many people from far-off places would not have been able to attend that once again we have decided to create a virtual on-line journal in which you can express your thoughts. The journal will look like a booklet you would receive at a dinner you attended in person, but in this case, you will see the pages on-line. The journal will display your sentiments and those of others, along with pictures of Harriet in her roles inside and outside Kulanu. By communicating your good wishes to Harriet, you will be helping to support Kulanu’s work on five continents.
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Kulanu is delighted to introduce Modreck Zvakavapano Maeresera and the Lemba Jews of Zimbabwe to Jewish communities in the U.S., with public talks scheduled in nine cities from February 7 to March 2, 2013, and live broadcasts to six other sites. See list below to find a Kulanu-Lemba event near you! Be sure to check the tour calendar for registration details.
Modreck Maeresera, a rising leader among the Lemba, will be speaking about the fascinating history and traditions of his Jewish community at synagogues and other venues in New York, Illinois, Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, and Maryland; his first presentation will also be broadcast live at locations in Arizona, Illinois, New Jersey, and Ontario (see below, click on “read more” or click here for more).
We hope you’ll attend one of these events – and tell your family and friends if Mr Maeresera is coming to their community!
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Because of all of you who responded to our year-end appeal in December, Kulanu raised $54,000 in four weeks – what a great way to start the new year! Thanks so much for helping us kick off 2013 on such a positive note.
Quite a few of you were inspired by the Abayudaya Jewish community of Uganda and their multi-faithprimary and secondary schools: 41 donors contributed toward our programs with the Abayudaya, including close to $21,000 for the Kulanu-Abayudaya Education Fund which supports these two schools.
The story of the quickly-growing Jewish community in El Salvador and the Jewish renaissance of the Lemba in Zimbabwe appealed to others, while 187 donors gave $20,063.92 in unrestricted funds, to help us take advantage of the coming year’s opportunities to support Jewish lives around the world.
Thank you, again, for your support of – and confidence in – the work Kulanu does in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. We look forward to updating you on how your generosity makes a difference for “all of us”.
It’s not too late to support our programs and projects coming up in 2013 - click here to make a donation to Kulanu today!
Photo: “Feliz Janucá” (“Happy Chanukah” in Spanish) – Young girl in El Salvador. Photo by Kimberly Dueñas, December 2012.
January 28, 2013
It’s always such a pleasure to see the support come in at this time of year, with many gifts accompanied by heart-warming notes that remind us why we do this work. Of course, it’s not just the donors who make things happen here at Kulanu – in our grassroots organization, many of our projects are carried out by volunteers whose dedication to global Jewry is an inspiration to me. 
These board members, regional coordinators, project leaders, fundraisers, speakers, and other active volunteers are the core of Kulanu’s success. Not to mention all the folks who travel far and wide to spend time with isolated Jewish communities, either as visitors who build relationships across borders, or as volunteers who contribute their skills and energy in addition to helping strengthen our connections with each other.
And much credit is due to the individuals who help their own communities gain a connection with the worldwide Jewish community as well as a Jewish education. These community members also serve as “on-the-ground” liaisons to Kulanu, ensuring that projects are supervised and goals are met. The dedication of these leaders, educators, and organizers is incredible — we are constantly amazed at how many people are committed to living Jewishly despite the challenges of accessing resources, literature and information, Judaica items and other materials. There are too many of these community members to name, since every person contributes to their community’s success, but we are listing a select few to represent each of the groups we work with around the world.
Meet the Kulanu community members who made 2012 such a dynamic and rewarding year… (more…)
