On the Queen’s Day (on April 30 or celebrated on April 29¬†if the 30th is Sunday) is a national holiday¬† in the Netherlands, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. It started as a celebration of the Dutch monarchy. It is mainly known for the ‘vrijmarkt’ (literally ‘freemarket’), the one day in the year that anyone is allowed to sell anything in the streets. The night before is celebrated as ‘Koninginnenacht’ (queen’s night).

The night before is celebrated as ‘Koninginnenacht’ (Queen’s night). Also this year, the foundation Siva for Kids was taking part to this celebration.

So the volunteers Claire, Claudia, Juliette, Kees and Nathalie took part to the Auction4Kids activity organized by the founder (U.K. Sivanathan) together with Emmanuel Olivier (Market Development) and Domenico La Ferla (P.R.). to inform about S4K charity organization and fundraising mainly for the ongoing projects in South America for the current moment with¬†items, like¬†second hand laptops, books, cd’s, dvd’s,¬†usb-memory sticks, harmonia, football, tennis balls,¬†clothes, shoes etc. etc. which are donated by friends and volunteers of Siva for Kids Foundation. View the gallery of this acitivity. Read the article of Hotdog4Charity of the activity on the Queensday 2006.

The message was clear, a banner “United we help” was behind the stand. The people did not hesitate to buy the items and to donate for charity. For sure the bargain was the funniest part of the auction to haggle the prices, but the good purposes triumphed in the end.

The Music4Kids CD was played during the night (available at the stand with the other S4K merchandising items) and sometimes people stepped by just to have a talk about coming projects. The status of the ongoing projects in South America is almost defined, and the Auction4kids gave another little help to increase the funds needed for these two projects (rebuilding a pre-school and building up a PC room).

Afterwards, the funds raised, the fun, and the nice and friendly atmosphere around Siva4Kids had generated a new creative idea: Auction4Kids all year long. Based on this enthusiastic experience, S4K board invites everybody to partecipate to this charity action just giving some old stuff and second hand items. The items will be available for sale through an ebay account and through our stand4charity will take part in the future to other flea markets in the Netherlands. All the money fundraised will be donated 100% for charity purposes.

If you want to contribute please write an email with subject “secondhand” to¬†info@siva4kids.org

Saturday 17th of February was celebration day for Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Here in the Netherlands, the tradition involves a lot of people in Limburg region, mainly celebrated in the towns of Maastricht, Den Bosch and Tilburg. Past Saturday, Utrecht wanted to do it the same way as Brazilian people does. The goal of the party was to unite multicultural community of the Netherlands in one roof in the spirit of Carnival and it was an amazing party with a lots of Brazilian and Afriacan inputs from Capoeira till Samba.

“A FESTA!“ was the party hold in the Trianon (Oudegracht) organised by Domenicodellefeste.com and Talent Talen BV (language school in Ambachtstraat 2 – Utrecht).
This event, that coincides with the 30000 unique visitors in the website, was organized with the purpose of collecting money for the charity foundation Siva for Kids Foundation.

The great success of this event has showed the altruism of the people, that joined the party to celebrate Carnival.

Domenico La Ferla,¬†(PR world wide of S4K and one of the organizers of A FESTA!),¬†talks about the party: “Our idea was to bring in the Netherlands a little bit of Brazil and Africa. People assisted to presentations of Samba Reggae, Zouk and Capoeira, and danced until the end of the party. Our goal was accomplished: having fun and doing charity“.

Same feelings for Gisa Muniz (Director of the school Talent Talen): “A great party, people enjoyed in the Brazilian way, a lot of Dutch people mixed with the Brazilian community of the Netherlands. A successful Carnival Party for a good charity purpose“.

U.K. Sivanathan (Ceo and founder), who joined the first A FESTA! in Utrecht,¬†says “A wonderful party with multi-cultural party people enjoying the atmosphere of Carnival and same time¬†supporting a charity organization is just making this party to a very unique¬†event.¬†Personally I¬†enjoyed every¬†moment of it.¬†Well done and keep up the¬†Afesta spirit alive!“¬†

In their words and in the pictures, everybody could feel the mix of people coming from Brazil, Africa, Netherlands and other countries.

Special mention and thanks to the artists of this event: Angolese Zouk, Samba de Bakere, Capoeira.

Domenico La Ferla (PR world wide for S4K) says “A FESTA! in Utrecht is just the beginning of a new way of celebrating the Life and at the same time contributing to help the children in the third world countries. All had a good time knowing that some of the money they spend during the party do get to help children through Siva for Kids Foundation. Yes, I am sure there will be more A FESTA in the future. You can check out the next happenings of A FESTA activities on www.afesta.nl“.

Siva for Kids Foundation is happy to announce an activity which is organized by it’s supporting organization in the Netherlands. An organization, a group of fun loving Europeans friends, who are partying to support the children in third world country through SIVa4KIDS.org. In 2005 this org “Domenicodellefeste.com” organized a party in Florence, in 2006 they were again active in Hotdog4Charity during the Queens day.

In 2007 there are more then ready to make a different through this Carnival4Charity activity in the center of Holland (Utrecht). SIVA4KIDS.org is one of the few sponsors for this activity which brings different nationalities and cultures together. During the Carnival4charity activity a small presentation about Siva4Kids.org and the projects which has been achieved the part and the projects which are waiting to be realized in the future.

The organizer of Carnival4Charity, Domenico la Ferla, who is also the PR & Communications world wide of SIVA4KIDS.org, is looking forward hold a great Carnival4Charity.

Name: Festival A FESTA (Carnival4Charity)
Place: Trianon (Oudegracht 252) in the heart of Utrecht
Date: Saturday 17th of February
Time: Starting from 10 PM
Entry: E10
Dress code: Fancy dressing is obligatory
Main activities are: Samba, Zouk, Axé, Batucada, Pagode etc.  

Reservations: afesta@domenicodellefeste.com