Today’s post is by Jerry Elmer, a long-time friend of Spirit in Action.*

Glory Tembo, who received a SIA grant in 2006, sells boiled fish in the Manyamula market (Malawi).

Most everyone has heard the old adage, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” It sounds very profound – until you realize that teaching someone to fish is relatively useless if he lives in the desert.Recently, I’ve been in a sort of desert, myself, advising an organization building a homeless shelter on the southern-most edge of Santa Clara County, which comprises most of California’s illustrious Silicon Valley. With county population about 1.8 million people, some seven thousand of them are homeless. For eight years I was one of them.

In his book, The Hole in Our Gospel, Richard Sterns, President, World Vision U.S., says, “What I have discovered in my travels to more than forty countries with World Vision is that almost all poverty is a result of lack of options. It is not that the poor are lazier, less intelligent, or unwilling to make efforts to change their condition. Rather, they are trapped by circumstances beyond their power to change.”

When I read this, I was sure he was talking about the homeless problem right here in California. I realized that World Vision and our budding homeless shelter were trying to help people address the same problem: lack of options.

But it appears Del Anderson figured that out a long time ago. And although I have never seen it stated in so many words, he founded Spirit in Action to increase people’s access to a range of self-help options. He realized that by creating options for people – giving them choices – you give them the opportunity to make their own way in their own environment.

Del started out sending people seeds to grow vegetables and fruit, which they could use to feed their own families or sell for profit (Remember Oral Roberts’ seed-faith? Here it is in action!). Then Spirit in Action began giving small business grants so people could choose their own businesses and path to prosperity. Here in Silicon Valley, our shelter will include a job training center in cooperation with local businesses, as many of the homeless have no marketable job skills.

James said, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2: 18-26). So along with World Vision, Spirit in Action and our homeless shelter work to the same task. And the options we create – they’re in the works. I have faith. How about you?

*Editor’s Note (2/22/12): This post originally included a link to a book written by Jerry Elmer. The author has now taken this book off the market because of a problem with the publisher. He does not want people to buy this book.

“The opposite of poverty is not wealth. It is justice.” – Leonardo Boff

One of Spirit in Action’s callings is to create more opportunities for social justice – working towards a world based on equality, solidarity, and human dignity. One project that we have supported is the Manyamula Village Savings and Loans Group (MAVISALO), a community-based organization in Mzimba, Malawi, which helps bring security and credit to this rural community of subsistence farmers.

Since the group started this loan fund, using individual contributions and profits from a poultry project, MAVISALO has made steady progress towards encouraging saving and increasing access to loans for its members.

“The private financial lending institutions and the commercial banks of Malawi were not providing the opportunity to village members to save their money. These institutions provide loans at high interests rates and ask for collaterals, which village members can’t afford.” As the quote at the top implies, MAVISALO is driven to do more than just create wealth among members – they are also creating a system that honors and trusts the village members by allowing even traditionally disadvantaged people to access financial services.

“Today, an institution is born mobilized by the village people themselves and it provides a sound atmosphere that promotes saving culture.” Local leaders have shown interest in supporting the group and using it as a model for others. “This is a great idea indeed to have our own economic institution that helps my people save,” says Group Village Headman, Yesaya Shumba.

Canaan Gondwe, leader of the group of 52 members (20 women and 32 men), has seen a great impact on the community, “Members of MAVISALO are able to smile at the impact the loan project on its members. The impact is not only confined to members but also outsiders as they are served by entrepreneurs who are members. There are youths, widows, HIV people all incorporated in one community institution living together to uplift and empower themselves.”

Great job MAVISALO. Keep up the great work!

RELATED POSTS:

• MAVISALO’s Chicken House
• Children’s Book about Micro-Finance
• “Imagine your life without financial services…”

Happy New Year!

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed financially to Spirit in Action in 2010. Your contributions helped us exceed our end-of-the-year $10,000 goal (we raised $13,341 since November!) In the whole of 2010, 92 individual donors gave for a total of $31,616. Wow! Spirit in Action is blessed to have so many supporters.

Thanks to our generous matching donors from the SIA Board of Directors, your gifts will go twice as far toward helping us expand our micro-grants, self-help programs, and solar cooker projects.

Because of your support, we’re able to help grassroots community organizations around the world improve their villages through skills training, micro-savings programs, and small-scale, responsive financial support.

The latest Business Reports I received were from coordinator Nalu Prossy in Uganda. She trained five new small business groups in June 2010, including Mariam Nakidde’s Maize growing business. Three months after a $100 initial grant from SIA, the business has generated $58 in profit. Perhaps most importantly, “It has made them to plan for their future,” reports Ms. Prossy.

Thank you —without your support, projects just like this one would not be possible. If you donated in the first quarter of 2010, it is possible that your donation directly helped Ms. Makidde’s business!

We also welcome your prayer support for favorable farming weather in eastern Africa this year!

In April of this year, I got an email from Margaret Ikiara. She works for Community Initiatives for RuralDevelopment (CIFORD Kenya) in the Meru North district of Kenya, and was writing to begin a partnership between CIFORD and SIA. I receive many emails every year from people asking for assistance but Margaret’s letter caught my eye. I could hear her dedication and passion for her work as she told me about the people that CIFORD had helped over the last year. I want to share that passion with you and tell you about some of the amazing work CIFROD is doing for those most in need.

Since 2002, CIFORD Kenya has focused on community capacity building, sustainable agriculture, HIV/AIDS, and information transfer to work toward their vision of creating “a self-reliant rural community that is able to evolve a sustainable community development.” The organization, which works closely and effectively with individuals and local groups, is a good example of the local indigenous organizations that Jennifer Lentfer of How Matters thinks are particularly poised to “unleash social change” in developing countries.

I was amazed to read about the many different projects that CIFORD is working on and the great range of people they work with directly. Here are some highlights from Margaret’s reports:

HIV/AIDS Support Programme: In 2009, CIFORD trained 37 HIV/AIDS caregivers. “The effect of HIV/AIDS has been unbearable with many children are orphaned at an early age. These children are left with the grandparents who are elderly and can barely feed them.” This program helps orphans pay their school fees and helps grandmothers start income generating activities to support the children. Helping the grandmothers get ahead financially means that they children can remain living with family, rather than being sent off to orphanages in different communities. Margaret writes, “This has made many people who were hopeless to have a smile on their faces.”

Margaret Ikiara (on left) presents the gift of a goat to Agnes Acuri and Susan Nkatha. The goat will help these women, who are living with HIV/AIDS, earn money to care for themselves and their families.

Sustainable Agriculture Programme: Currently, CIFORD Kenya is working with 10 groups (365 people total) in agriculture activities. These groups are being trained to use techniques that will keep the soil healthy and eliminate the need for expensive farm inputs, including:

• Compost Making – adds nutrients to the soil
• Integrated Pest Management – uses good bugs to control pests
• Double Digging – loosens the soil to help the roots and retain moisture
• Raised and Sunken Beds – mixes the soil

The farmers have been trained on the compost making for use at their farms.

CIFORD has partnered with Kilili Self Help Project in Mill Valley, CA to train on bio-intensive farming and Amistad International in Palo Alto, CA on women empowerment. So far, SIA has contributed to CIFORD only with a mini grant for them to buy local kale and onion seeds, which were given to people living with HIV/AIDS. I hope also that the letters and good conversation between Margaret and me since her first letter in April helps fan her passion and keeps this great organization going strong.

You can read more about CIFORD on their website or on their Facebook page.

‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ –Matthew 25:40

Part of our mission at SIA is to serve God by empowering others. The passage above clearly states that, indeed, the best way to serve God is to help others, especially those in need. In the Bible parable, those who helped did so by providing clothing, caring for the sick, and visiting those in prison.

Prison officers and their wives enjoy Moringa-enriched meat pies.

An inspiring expression of this good action, Newton Amaglo, a SIA grant recipient and professor at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, is now working with over 400 officers and 2,000 inmates at four prisons new Kumasi to help them improve their diets.

So far Newton and his team have contributed free samples, 50 grams for each prisoner, of the highly nutritious Moringa leaf powder to the prisons. That’s a significant supplement to the prison diet, especially considering that just one gram of Moringa has the same nutrients as:

Considering the rumors of poor food in prisons in the US, we could take this as a lesson!

In these Ghanaian prisons, now, the leaves are used in tea and as a supplement in meat pies. Newton and his team have also recommended Moringa for use in the infirmary because of its many know medicinal healing qualities.

This is not just a handout; Newton also knows the importance of training the inmates. When giving aid the best help leaves the recipient with skills they can use long into the future. As such, Newton claims that the greatest success of the project so far is that “the prisoners are learning the technology of Moringa cultivation and processing so that they can live their lives on it even after serving their sentences.”

Not only do we want to care for our brothers and sisters, we also want to care for our earth. Moringa helps with this too. Newton, who also works as Scientific Manager for Moringa Partners, a Moringa discussion forum, recently recorded this podcast about the ways that Morniga can help combat global warming. (His voice is pretty difficult to hear, but the information is very interesting.) Since Moringa grows so quickly, it can help reforest the denuded land. Its green leaves are also high in chlorophyll and in the podcast Newton tells how these trees can absorb carbon dioxide at a faster rate than an average tree. Another interesting fact: there are currently studies being conducted to see if Moringa can reliably used as a biofuel, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. If you want to read more, Trees for Life has a good, reputable resource page about Moringa.

Wow! Every time I read about Moringa, it is a bit clearer why people call it the “Miracle Tree”. And Newton’s work visibly embodies our passion for providing individuals with simple tools that can drastically improve their lives.

50g Moringa samples are handed over to the prison officers