Gecko effort continues to grow
A heartfelt effort to help widows and orphaned children in Zimbabwe is growing.
Since first appealing for donations in exchange for handmade beaded-wire ornaments, the Zimbabwe Gecko Society has collected more than $45,000 for the cause –nearly $5,000 of that from a garage sale held May 15 at White Rock Baptist Church.
“We are tired and a little weary ... but so very thankful with the knowledge of what joy these funds will bring,” Susan Janetti, a founder of the society, said in an email following the fundraiser.
“To all who came to shop, eat lunch and offer your support with your presence or donations – thank you.”
Proceeds from the garage sale topped the total from a similar event held the year before by $1,700.
Janetti, a South Surrey resident who emigrated from Africa, launched the society formally in January 2009, after starting the Zimbabwe Gecko Project a year before.
The effort first caught the attention of Peninsula residents when Janetti appealed for donations in exchange for 600 of the beaded-wire ornaments.
In Zimbabwe, children fashion and sell the trinkets in order to buy food.
Here, funds raised with the ornaments do that and more.
The society feeds 200 children every week. With $1,000, it can start support of an entire village, providing the villagers with basic items – such as goats, seed and fertilizer – and guidance, with an aim to helping them become self-sufficient.
Recently, bee-keeping was introduced, a venture that provides both a revenue source as well as a product that can be used to heal wounds.
Reflecting on all that has been accomplished, Janetti is confident prayer has played a role, and points to a fundraising dinner held in April as example.
Due to challenges in her personal life, including her husband’s fight with cancer, Janetti – who hosted a successful dinner a year ago, raising $12,000 – had all but determined a second such fundraiser wasn’t to be. She had too much on her plate.
But she couldn’t ignore the fact that no dinner would also mean more children in Zimbabwe would go without.
And so she prayed.
“I was sitting there thinking, what can I do? God loves these kids more than me. I literally said, ‘they’re yours,’” Janetti said.
Shortly after, a cursory search to determine if catering a dinner was possible – Janetti had cooked the previous year’s fare herself – linked Janetti with staff at the Surrey Golf Course. To her surprise, an email to enquire about price was met with an excited response. She was even more surprised when she met with the facility’s event co-ordinator and was greeted with a warm hug and the words, “I’ve been praying for you to come here.”
In no time, everything that was needed to make the dinner a reality was organized – a hall, food, flowers, silent auction items, music and more; the majority of it donated.
The dinner raised more than $12,600.
Now, Janetti is hoping a new initiative will enable the society to do even more. It encourages people to sign up to donate $5 per month – an amount, she notes, many spend on their daily coffee fix. For every 200 people that sign on, ZGS can start supporting a village, Janetti said.
“It’s very exciting what can be done by giving up one cup of coffee,” she said.
“It’s about us working together and doing our part to relieve suffering in the world. We all can make a difference.”
For more information on the Zimbabwe Gecko Society, visit zimbabwegecko.com
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