The Ruweng Association for Reconstruction and Orphan Support will be holding its Annual General Meeting on June 4th, 2011, from 10:00am to 12:00pm. It will be at St. Luke's Church, located at the corner of Northland Drive and Northmount Drive NW here in Calgary, Alberta. Please see the Google Maps location below for further directions.

Unfortunately, we have to postpone our upcoming symposium on South Sudan that was planned for March 26th at the University of Calgary, until further notice. Please keep checking back for updates, as we have not yet settled on a new date!

In other news, I want to continue to urge you to use our http://avillagefuture.good-click.com search engine as your homepage. The more you use it and share it with your friends, the more that you are directly helping us build the Biemnom Education Centre in South Sudan! Share it with your friends, post it to Facebook, e-mail it out!

Until next time,

Hello, all!

I hope life finds you in good spirits. First, remember to e-mail info@avillagefuture.com if you're interested in participating in our Symposium on South Sudan taking place at the University of Calgary on March 26th, 2011.

I'm happy to share the video below which was made by my son, Jonathan, from when we travelled to Biemnom in December 2009. Please share this with your friends, family, and colleagues!

Also, another reminder to use the http://avillagefuture.good-click.com search engine regularly! Every cent raised counts!

Until next time,

Sorry for the lack of updates, everyone! However, lots of progress has happened over this past month and I’m very happy to be sharing it with you all.

First and foremost, we must congratulate the people of South Sudan for their victory in January’s referendum, with over 98% of the Southern Sudanese supporting independence. We look forward to helping build the soon-to-be independent South Sudan and

As a result of the referendum, our website will be going through a process of updates as we reflect the changes that have happened and will continue to happen from now through to July, when South Sudan’s official independence will take place. Please use the ‘Contact Us’ form on the right side of the web page to report any issues you encounter on the website or if you have any suggestions.

Our University of Calgary student group has been very active this semester. We are pleased to announce that on March 26th, 2011, we will be hosting a Symposium on South Sudan in MacEwan Hall at the University of Calgary. This will be an all day event (starting at 9:00am and continuing until roughly 5:00pm) and will feature some notable speakers and discussions for individuals and groups working, researching, or volunteering in South Sudan. Please contact us at info@avillagefuture.com for more information or to register. Please note that registration is limited, but we are looking into the possibility of a webcast for those who are out of town or otherwise unable to attend.

For more information about the University of Calgary student group, please see the The Gauntlet's article from earlier this month.

Lastly, we would like to direct you to an important tool that you can use to help us reach our fundraising goal – and all you have to do is search! Please go to http://avillagefuture.good-click.com and use this as your main search engine. Every time you search the web, you will raise between two and five cents for the construction of the Biemnom Education Centre. Please share this link on Facebook and ask everyone you know to start using it as their default search engine!

Thank you everyone for your continued support and please check back for more updates soon.

Okay everyone after months of wrangling with the powers that be the DONATE button has been fixed. Please consider the children of Biemnom when you think of Christmas this year. Perhaps instead of another toy under the tree for one child you can help construct a school for many children. Our heartfelt thanks go out to all of you who have contributed. We are working hard to make this become a reality.

As we proceed into a new school year we have decided to focus on awareness for the next twelve months. This means plenty of presentations to tell as many people as possible about the situation in South Sudan and, in particular, Biemnom. As you know a major referendum is to happen in January 2011. The decision the people are making revolves the possibility of seceding from the north and creating the first new country in Africa in 20 years!

At this time things are precarious in the country as everyone wonders what will happen. However we should not sit back and wait for an outcome. We must move forward with our plans to build the schools so the people of Biemnom can move forward regardless of the outcome in January.

All our volunteers are busy arranging presentations within the universities, elementary and high schools. If you or your group or class wish to have someone come to talk to you about Biemnom and our project please do not hesitate to contact us. We also ask that you make a comment below. We'd love to hear from you.

On a further note – you will find our donation button stuck on hold. Please be patient as we figure out the problem. Should you wish to donate in the meantime please use our snail mail address located in our Contact Us section. Thank you.

July 17th  – Dr. Dawn Ambler is speaking 11:30-3:30 at Horizonte Instruction and Training Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.