Support Our Projects - The Trust

The GVI Charitable Trust was set up in 2005 to help with disaster relief following the devastation caused by Hurricane Stan in Guatemala. After an overwhelming response from past volunteers the GVI Charitable Trust has gone on to manage and fundraise projects with many of GVI's Partners overseas.

What are our goals?

• To promote for the benefit of the public the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment
• To advance education and research for the benefit of the public in the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment
• To relieve sickness and preserve and promote the good health of persons
• To relieve poverty, financial hardship and distress

The GVI Charitable Trust is successfully achieving these goals in many countries, with aid available to grass roots organisations to make a difference in their own environments or communities in over 40 countries globally.

Visit our Charitable Trust web site at www.gvi.org to find out more.

How are we doing?

Through the generous donations and support of volunteers, corporations, trusts and foundations, here are some of the successes that have been made possible through the GVI Charitable Trust since its inception:

Wasini Island Development Fund, Kenya

The village of Mkwiro on the island of Wasini in south-east Kenya is the home of an orphanage for poor and parentless boys from across south-eastern Kenya. This fund was initially set up to transform the orphanage from a barren, bed-less, orphanage into a bright, vibrant and stimulating place for the orphans to live. Beds and mosquito nets have greatly increased the health and vigour of the children and along with concrete floors, water storage and murals on the walls have greatly increased their quality of life. This has been so successful that the building of a second orphanage is currently being funded for the girls of the region. On top of this vital work, the GVI Charitable Trust is funding the running and staffing of a pharmacy on the island that has been stocked by DANIDA funding. Finally, the fund is helping reform the water collection and storage on the island. This vital resource is in short supply on the island and working with an international engineering firm, we are bringing this to the attention of the World Health Organisation.

Plan Ancianos, Guatemala

In Guatemala the GVI Charitable Trust are piloting a program to increase awareness of age issues and health of the elderly. At present this section of the community is neglected, undernourished and suffering increasingly from chronic health problems that are badly understood at present amongst the aging population in Latin America. This issue is becoming more prominent with predictions that by 2025 1 in 7 Latin American people (98 million) will be over 60. Also many of the elderly women in Guatemala have no one to look after them having lost sons, husbands, brothers etc. in the civil war. This program is now being rolled out across Honduras, Peru and Ecuador due to its success.

Carbon Emission Reduction, Guatemala and Honduras

In Honduras and Guatemala, the GVI Charitable Trust is aiming to expand a program of building sustainable stoves. The building of low emission, high-efficiency stoves helps families in many ways. 1) Indoor wood smoke is a greater health issue than malaria, these stoves therefore have direct health benefits. 2) By burning fuel in a much more efficient manner they reduce carbon dioxide emissions. 3) By using less fuel they in turn become an indirect income generation tool as villagers have to buy less fuel. 4) They are also a tool for reduced cutting of forests for the same reason. The success of these stoves has been ensured through local indigenous leaders acting as examples for the stoves so that other families can see the effects they are having.

Indigenous Education, Ecuador

At present GVI volunteers teach and fund the primary education and nutrition of hundreds of indigenous children in the rural villages of Urcusiqui, Muenala, Huayrapungo and Larcacunga. Through this partnership they are able to receive an education rather than working in the fields from a very young age, with average household incomes below $1US per day. The GVI Charitable Trust is now raising funds to secure Secondary education for all the children over the coming years. Not only are the costs prohibitive to the local families, often the children feel that they are not ready, so with GVI's primary school program, the children are better equipped mentally to move onto Secondary school, and with the help of the GVI Charitable Trust, the economic constraints are removed.