One of the best parts of my job is getting to hear from people who are putting change into action through their ideas, leadership skills, and open attitude.

And often the skills and ideas they have can also be useful for someone else who is working to improve things in another community. Making connections and matchings people’s questions and answers – fostering dynamic networks – is a vibrant part of the SIA model for change.

Recently I wrote a blog post for Amazon Partnerships, a blog collecting stories and new perspectives on community development, about two such Spirit in Action connections. I invite you to read the full post here.

Bringing together SIA Small Business Fund Coordinators from Malawi, Nigeria, Kenya, & Uganda in 2011 resulted in a lot of new connections, and some constructive dialog about how to make our programs better.

I love the new 50 second video from Oxfam America. It’s message is clear and to-the-point, “Aid is not the solution to poverty, people are.”

It’s not the big structures that help people out of poverty. Or the governments talking to governments….

Rather, we know that it’s the dedicated people, passionate for change, that make a difference. It’s the people, working with their families and organizing with others in their communities, that move step by step towards something better. It’s people supporting each other that bring hope.

If you need any convincing, consider these people who are solutions in their communities:

Women’s Self-Help Group with CIFORD Kenya:
Women in groups of 10-25 encouraging others;
sharing their challenges and solutions; combining
savings to help pay for school uniforms for their children and grandchildren.

Leaders of one of the self-help groups in rural Meru, Kenya

Nalu Prossy, SIA Small Business Fund Coordinator, Uganda:
Nalu works all day at a tailor’s shop; after work and on weekends
she trains and mentors new business groups to help them succeed.
She’s a good employee, so her boss sometimes lets her leave early to do this work for SIA.

Nalu and Tanya

Canaan Gondwe, Manyamula Village Savings and Loans, Malawi:
Canaan is the tireless leader of the successful savings and loans
group MAVISALO, which helps community members access low-interest loans;
he has been elected to the national board of cooperative groups in Malawi;
in June he’ll travel to Zambia to train another community to start their own local savings and loans cooperative.

Canaan (in blue) with members of the MAVISALO executive committee

Oxfam calls for us to “Support citizens’ efforts to determine and lead their own development.” And that’s just what Spirit in Action is going to continue doing!

Seven years after a Spirit in Action Small Business Fund grant, Paulos and Skekiwe Lungu are thankful for the Luso Shoe Repair business and for their new home.

Paulos discusses his business with us during our visit to Malawi in 2011.

Paulos and Skekiwe have a story to share with you today. Before learning about Spirit in Action the couple and their two sons were living in very poor conditions. Without a home, the family had to stay at other people’s homes, moving from house to house, and they often only had enough food for meal each day. The parents could not begin to think of sending their sons to school because, although the elementary education is free, uniforms and other school supplies were too expensive for their budget.

When Canaan Gondwe, Spirit in Action Small Business Fund Coordinator in Malawi, first visited the family in 2006, he sat a long time listening to Paulos and Skekiwe and discussing an opportunity for the family to change their situation with a little help from SIA and a lot of work on their part.

In considering the family for a $150 grant, Canaan recalls, “The family had a land for cultivation and the husband had a skill of repairing worn out shoes. I began to explain about God and his purpose for giving us life. I talked at length about the potential held by all created beings. I listened to Paulos and helped him to remove all misdirected attitudes and begin to reorganize himself. I invited Paulos and Skekiwe to the Small Business Fund training that was coming forth.”

Things Start to Change

Paulos shoes at the market.

During the first training, Canaan discussed with the ten gathered families about forming business groups, communication, listening prayer and consensus agreements, and attitude change. “The training had impacted Paulos with knowledge on how to get established. His attitude changed and began to see himself as someone that had the power to change his situation,” remembers Canaan.

Business was good! Paulos devoted a lot of time to repairing shoes in the market, and selling rubber souls to people whose shoes needed reinforcing.

In 2008 Paulos bought a female pig, which soon gave birth to four piglets. The piglets act as an investment – one that keep growing with each new litter. For now, the piglets help pay for the books and uniforms needed to keep the two boys in school!

Also, the Lungus have been able to build their very own home. In 2011, they bought the 8,000 bricks (fired, for longevity) necessary to build a permanent place to live. The home was finally finished last year, topped with a thatched roof.

The Lungu Family in front of their new home!

Life continues to be a challenge though and recently both Paulos and Skekiwe fell sick and they were diagnosed with HIV.

Paulos and Skekiwe in front of their bumper maize crop.

The silver lining? Canaan reports, “The good news is that they can afford to go to private clinics and get treatment, and as I write they are both on antiretroviral therapy treatment.”

I admit that this last part of the family story really let the wind out of my sails. But Canaan finished his letter with an enthusiastic “WHAT A TURN AROUND OF THINGS ON A FAMILY!” referring to the home, the boys’ education, and the thriving maize field.

Following their lead, today I am celebrating with the Lungu family as they live with their newfound success, achieved with a small $150 grant and seven years of dedication.

Building community is central to Spirit in Action’s vision of empowerment and change. Our grants are about bringing people together – to plant a community garden, start a micro-savings group, educate girls – encouraging people to learn, work, and live together to improve a community.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about how the Small Business Fund grants spark families to work and achieve together. Similarly, and not surprisingly, at the core of our Community Grants program is a desire to bring people together in larger communities.

I Was a Stranger

CIFORD Kenya engages support from the whole community to support education for girls.

For the last 40 days, Sojourners Magazine’s devotional emails have followed the “I Was a Stranger” Challenge, which used Bible verses about welcoming the stranger to highlight the need for just immigration reform in the U.S.

It surprised me just how much is in the Bible about the stranger. For example, “When immigrants live in your land with you, you must not cheat them. Any immigrant who lives with you must be treated as if they were one of your citizens. You must love them as yourself, because you were immigrants in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:33-34). Over and over again, the Bible makes it pretty clear: treat people fairly, no matter where they come from; welcome them, because you never know when you might find yourself in need of hospitality.

Hospitality builds community, in part, because it is a gift to both the giver and receiver. “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2). Both the host and the hosted have the opportunity to meet angels.

Eight months ago I came to Canada – an immigrant – and I’ve received so much of the generous hospitality to newcomers. But just last week I was able to help a woman in the grocery store find what she needed, “I’m new in town,” she said by way of explanation. And so, I helped her, because I once was the newest newcomer. Plus, who knows, she might be an angel.

A very full community hall in Manyamula -
all are gathered for a presentation about financial literacy.

It’s Good For You

Welcoming all people as citizens is community-building. In our culture, we are used to focusing on the individual and we can forget the fact that most people are seeking connections and appreciate invitations to join community. Also, research shows that people in spiritual communities live longer and be in better health. This is not only because people are encouraged by their faith, but also because people in community – churches, meditation groups, prayer groups – are taken care of; people in community look after each other.

Spirit in Action grants are ways to build this community. The Manyamula Village Savings and Loans group established a social fund, along with their other business and lending activities. The cooperative, which now has 150 members, waives the initial fee for a number of widows and other poor in their community, so that they can join the group. This small act of generosity brings in the outsider, widens the community, and increases diversity all of which are crucial steps towards our goal of community and empowerment.

Related Posts:

• Who’s Afraid of Diversity?
• Family Matters – At Home and in Malawi
• There is Power in Community

The question “what does Spirit in Action do?” has many different answers. The thing is, Spirit in Action has two distinct approaches to empowering others.

Small Business Fund

Hastings and Ruth started a brick-making business in Malawi.

On one hand is the Small Business Fund (SBF). Started in 2005, the Small Business Fund is a SIA-specific program where all grantees, whether they are in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, or Nigeria, go through the same training program of business and communication skill development. The local coordinators work closely with me and consult with each other as they implement this program in their communities.

In the SBF, we are directly giving $150 to families to help them take on a new livelihood and improve their lives. (For more about how the SBF works, see these FAQs.)

Community Grants

On the other hand, Spirit in Action is also a traditional grant-maker, like a community foundation or a family foundation, giving grants to grassroots organizations throughout the world that will implement their own programs.

These grassroots organizations (also called “community-based organizations”) are already working to eliminate poverty, grow more food, or stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, etc. in their community. Think of these groups as similar to your local PTA, community gardening association, local health clinic, or save the shore kind of group. They are concerned citizens who want to make things better for their neighbors and for the community as a whole.

Tanya and student volunteers at SIA poultry project house in Kitale, Kenya.

The small grants, ranging from $500-4,000, support a wide variety of local solutions for the challenges that each community faces. Past SIA grants have start community gardens and collaborative farming efforts, poultry projects, bio-intensive garden trainings, girl’s empowerment workshops, and a savings and loans cooperative.

Why don’t we just fund one type of project, like building wells? Because we’ve seen that 1) solutions brought forth from the community are more effective and quickly gain community buy-in; and 2) empowerment is about trusting communities to know what will best address their problems.

Sometimes a well might be the answer, other times the answer might be water tanks to catch rainwater.

Of course, we don’t just fund every proposal that comes in; I take time to review proposals, develop relationships, give feedback, ask questions, and pray for guidance. (Read more about choosing partners here.)

Common Principle

Sharing the Gift of a pig in Uganda.

Even though we have two methods of serving communities in Africa, one principle brings the two techniques together, and that is Sharing the Gift. This pay-it-forward initiative is key to both the Small Business Fund and community grants. It’s implemented in different ways: for example, tithing business profits in the Small Business Fund, or creating an emergency relief fund by a Community Grant group. In both, the idea of blessing others as we have been blessed and giving generously to others is central to SIA’s vision of change.

If you have more questions about what we do or how we do it, leave a comment or email me (Tanya) at admin@godsspiritinaction.org!