Sunday, September 14, 2014

The Beginning

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Edmonton, my new home. This is a personal e-mail and not related to my artwork. I apologize if this is an inconvenience to anyone receiving this newsletter.

I have recently returned from Paraguay and I never imagined I'd have to go back to the home of my childhood under such sad circumstances. On July 27th, my father, Michael Rudolph, was killed after being hit by a drunk driver while riding his bike on a Sunday morning, despite perfect safety precautions. He was 62 years old. He still had so many plans and there were so many things he still wanted to do.
Dad was born in Germany, but spent the past 33 years in Paraguay working as a dedicated teacher and educator in Paraguay. In addition to the classroom teaching for which he always prepared with much thoroughness, he loved theatre and he greatly extended the school's library. He also enjoyed mentoring young teachers. He loved travelling and hiking, he sang in the church choir and he played the oboe in the community orchestra. But most of all, he was the best Dad in the world. He was a most wonderful, smart, curious, patient, and generous person.
For the past three years he changed his career direction and he started working for an NGO (Pro Comunidades Indígenas) for which he'd been volunteering for the previous 15 years. In short, the NGO's mission is the empowerment and strengthening of indigenous communities, to educate them about their rights, to aid them in claiming their rights, and to ultimately help them become more independent and self-sufficient.

The Idea
I wish for my Dad's work to go on in some way, and after discussing this with my family and friends, we have decided to set up an endowment fund in Dad's name. We believe that education is a fundamental right and the foundation of a stronger society. Therefore, the endowment fund will be set up to pay tuition for underprivileged indigenous students, so Dad's legacy in education and his work with the indigenous communities in Paraguay will continue. Education in Paraguay is not free, yet at approximately 175$ per year comparatively cheap. To set up the endowment fund, I am asking you for donations. Some of you knew my Dad personally, some of you didn't, but any small amount will help us to create a well-functioning fund. The endowment fund will be set up to generate interest with currently high interest rates in Paraguay. The registration costs for a foundation in Paraguay are approximately 2000$. To ensure the sustainability of the foundation, the capital fund created by the donations will not be touched after the start-up costs have been covered, and the scholarships will be paid solely from the interest payouts.

The Goal
We have decided to start on a somewhat informal scale. Once we know how many donations we have received, we will be better able to gauge the scale of this foundation. The goal is to then form a board to manage the funds and outline the scope of the project. There are several interested members already, such as my mother, myself, and family friends who live in Paraguay. Until the formation of the board, my mother and I will be responsible for the collected funds. We are planning on registering the fund as a charity in Paraguay. Since we are currently not registered yet and we expect the process to take up to two years, we are unable to issue donation tax receipts at this point. For all donors, we'll send periodic updates about the fund and the foundation.

How to donate
You can easily donate via paypal by clicking on the button below, which will re-direct you to a webpage from which you can safely make the donation. If you would rather pay by money wire or by cheque, please write me an e-mail (contact@miriamrudolph.com) and I will send you my bank information or mailing address. I will collect donations from North America and Europe in a Canadian donations account and then transfer the sum to our donations account in Paraguay, which we have already set up. I thank you kindly for your support.

Warm regards,
Miriam Rudolph

Donate

You can easily donate via paypal by clicking on the button below, which will re-direct you to a webpage from which you can safely make the donation.