Dirty Wall Project

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Dirty Wall Project has teamed up with Burlesque photographer and promoter Keith Williams (Sonicshoots.com) once again for another amazing evening of Burlesque.

Friday Sept 10th at Victoria Events Centre  local burlesque performers will rock the house for a good cause! This will be the third time this year DWP and Burlesque have teamed up to offer Victoria a great night out while raisng funds for DWP! The last Burlesque evening back in Febuary was a sellout, packing more than 200 guests into the event centre and raising enough money for DWP to build a school and community centre in the Saki Naka pipeline slum in Mumbai, India.

The evening will feature singing, comedy and dancing with all new numbers and fresh new performers debuting as well as Victoria’s Burlesque stars such as Miss Rosie Bitts!

Tickets are available online via clubzone.com or in person at Garden of Eden 1483 Douglas st, Victoria B.C.

The last two fundraising events for DWP held here in Victoria have        sold out including last weeks 1st Anniversary Dinner which helped raise over $ 10,000 for DWP projects in India.

Info:

Friday Sept 10th, Victoria Event Centre,

1415 Broad st. Victoria B.C.

Doors at 8 pm.

Tickets: $15 in advance or $18 at the door.

Available on line at clubzone.com

or

Garden of Eden Boutique 1483 Douglas st.

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More photos of the event will be added later today, by Snap Magazine photographer Leona Fowler.

August 29th, 2010, Victoria B.C.

To all of the wonderfully generous people that attended the Dirty Wall Project 1st Anniversary Dinner on Sunday, you made it an incredible success.

Originally the dinner was to accommodate 180 people,  but by 6:30 p.m.,  210 people filled every seat and space at the Ambrosia Centre.

The event was an eclectic mix of people from every conceivable background which made the night a truly wonderful time. For the past two weeks the entire Ryan family has been working hard to make this night possible. It was amazing for me to stand on the stage looking at 200 + people showing their support for DWP and the communities it helps on the other side of the world.

The event raised over $10,000  CAD or  464,501 Indian Rupees!

To put that in perspective,

• the school/ community centre DWP funded and built in the Saki Naka slum -  cost  $4650
• over 2400 people received free medicine/health care in DWP health camps ($2 per person) – cost $4800

I don’t know how to put in  words how amazing it is to know that people care and are willing to support the projects that DWP funds and works on in India. I’m constantly humbled by the trust you all invest in me and feel privileged to be the voice and face of all of our hard work. Together we are making amazing things happen for the people who’s lives are stuck in poverty.

Sunday’s dinner was made possible by the many people who donated their time and expertise to make the night successful.

Very generous local businesses from Victoria, Sidney and Vancouver donated auction items for the event.

The auction alone raised over $ 5000 for DWP.

Every item sold and many items sold for much more than the retail value. During the middle of the auction, a guest donated a surprise item which turned out to be the big ticket item of the night.  A three night stay on a canal barge in France, including wine & cheese. This item went for $1100!  Thanks Marc and Mary for donating this wonderful trip!

• Thanks, Roshan for your incredible support before the event, and during the evening. They laughed, they cried, they bid!
• Thank you Frances (Chronicles of Crime bookstore) for answering questions about DWP as if you had nothing better to do and for selling tickets during your busy day!!
• Thanks Joanne for contributing the Swim Club debit/credit machine which made it easier for people be a part of the auction.

Volunteers:

• Frances Thorsen
• Dr. Surinder Kumar
• Eric ” VJ Photon”
• Randy “Loungerino” & his amazing band
• Roshan Vickery
• Rick Kool
• Wendy Crowther
• Rosie Bitts
• Leona Fowler (snap magazine)
• Conor Welch
• Ray Welch
• Anthony Cormier
• Andrea Ray
• Mari Monkman
• Kevin Monkman
• Taylor Daly
• Sarah Weisz
• Roo Forsyth
• Joanne Forsythe
• Eryn Sylvester
• Jordan Brubacher
• Todd Ryan
• Cindy Ryan
• Evann Ryan
• Jennifer
• Kelly (Kilshaw Auction)
• Sharon

Businesses & individuals who donated items for the auction:

Thrifty Foods                               Roshan Vickery

Westin Bayshore                        Fort St. Cycle

Pacific Coastal Airlines          Dirty Wall Project

Langham Court Theater         Alex Naubert Designs

Not Just Pretty                             Victoria Transmission

Grand Pacific Hotel                   Dial a Geek

BC Ferries                                      Bold Moves Gym

Metchosin Eco Spa                    Helene Cyr Photography

Rad Juli Designs                         Phi Massage & Well Centre

Plenty Epicurean Pantry        Health Within

Lab Hair Salon                            Cranial sacral Therapy

Canterbury Coffee                      Sidney Natural Foods

Grant Leier (artist)                   Amber Murnane (artist)

Riplee’s  Ranch                            Shawn Shephard (artist)

Canoe Club                                    Joan Athey

Bikram Yoga Sidney                Marc Pakenham &

Dish Restaurant                        Mary Koyl (barge trip)

Room by Room                             Keith Williams (Sonicshoots)

Please continue to support these  local businesses by “thinking globally and shopping locally”.

Dirty Wall Project has two more events planned for Victoria over the next 3 weeks, info on the website tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Kane Ryan

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With only a month left in Canada before flying back to Mumbai,  I have started to formulate the fist major project for DWP in the Saki Naka slum community.

DWP’s biggest project to date was the funding and completed construction of the free school and community centre in Saki Naka slum.

I have been in close contact with Ashley of Janvi Trust, the local Mumbaikar that makes DWP’s work in Saki Naka possible. The new school is already having a great impact on the community. Several new classes are offered in the new space, including free-spoken English classes taught by Vignesh of Discover Urjaa, and a new dance class that will begin soon called “Dance Saki Naka Dance”. This class will be for older children with a passion for dance and will be taught by a profesional a few times a week to give the children the attributes to become a dancer.

After completing the school, at the end of June,  BMC officers (local government office in charge of the pipeline that runs through the slum) offered DWP and Janvi unused land in the slum to continue to clean and improve the community. The first patch of land is to the left of the stairs as you descend into the slum from the main road. This land is currently useless and is covered in broken glass and garbage. During the monsoon, water flows over this area creating sanitation issues for the community. The second area of land is 100 mtrs to the right of the school. It’s a long narrow piece of land that is covered in garbage and human waste and remains unused by the community.

While the BMC and other government bodies forbid us to build any buildings on this land, they have given us permission to clean, beautify and relcaim this land for the community. DWP plans on not only cleaning these ares  but to make them useable green spaces, creating parks for the area’s children and gathering spots for the people of the community. For those of you that have not been to Mumbai, green space is hard to come by and rarely looked after. In a city of over 18 million people space is a premium. Slum dwellers live in tiny, cramped, hot  homes and the ability to get out of their small spaces and to sit in a clean, green space would greatly enhance the quality of living. It will also give the hundreds and hundreds of children a safe, clean place to play, instead of muddy, cramped laneways.

While helping the community gain useable land it will also help Janvi and DWP expand our sphere of influence throughout the community. Being a pipeline slum, the slum is approx 20 yards wide by a few kilometres long in either direction. Due to this long, narrow, shape there are many families that remain unaware of our projects and are unable to take advantage of our free services. By cleaning and using land farther away from the school, we will be able to hold medical camps and programs in other areas of the slum, bringing the community together.

This is no small project and may take months to complete but will create jobs and raise the standard of living for a few thousand people who live in and outside the slum.

Below, I’ve attached the e-mail sent to me by Ashley of Janvi Charitable Trust in Mumbai, outlining the cost/benefits of the project.  DWP’s upcoming Dinner Fundraiser will be raising money for this project and I hope to see you all there…P.S. During my last trip to Saki Naka, I taught many of the local kids how to use my camera. They love taking photos and are excited by the results. If anyone has an old digital camera you would like to donate to the kids of Saki Naka, or old prescription eyeglasses (much needed) please bring them to the August 29th Fundraiser in Victoria, at the Ambrosia Event Centre.

Ashley’s e-mail:

The land left to the stair-case: The work that will involve in it:

1. Clearing the heaps of Garbage and Muck.
2. Creating alternative drainage for the sewage water from the roadside shops who just leave the dirty water on the land.
3. Leveling the land and filling it with atleast 2 feet soil.
4. Building a small boundry wall on the periphery.
5. Decorative Painting of the Walls etc.
6. Plantations of Plants and Trees.
7. Installation of Fence to prevent the plants from getting damaged.
8. Installation of Benches.
9. Installation of Swings and Slides.
10. Providing a Water Tap facility and Tube-Lights.
11. Installation of a Water Purifier to provide Pure, Safe Drinking Water.
12. Building a small open study center at one end so the children can gather and study over there.
13. Providing a Facility of a Free Daily News-Paper Stand for the Community.

How will the Slum Dwellers benefit from this project?

1. Freedom from their cramped and tiny congested houses, they can relax  and rest under the spacious green cover of the Garden.
2. Children get an opportunity to play in a clean environment and get access of using Swings and Slides.
3. The elderly and weak have an easliy accessable space to unwind.
4. Residents can use the newly created Garden for their small functions and meetings.
5. A clean environment is provided to the residents, free of all the garbage and stench.
6. Diseases and illness will get reduced. Medical expenses minimised.
7. Creative workshops for Children, Women and Adults can be arranged for their benefits.
8. It will help them to change their attitude for the better towards Cleanliness, Sanitation and Environment.

The estimated cost for this Project would be around 1.8 Lakhs.

The longer patch would cost less if the BMC fixes the Broken Grills and builds the broken walls. It would then cost us around One Lakh. But if BMC does not do it then it would cost us around Two Lakhs.

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