A Day Without Dignity is a movement started last year as a counter-campaign to TOMs Shoes One Day Without Shoes event. The day is about honoring the dignity of each person and supporting aid projects that honor that dignity. This year’s focus is on local champions – those leading local projects to address local needs. At Spirit in Action, we know that local leaders are the heart of change and it is our role to support these already active leaders!

One champion I met last summer was Margaret Ikiara, of Community Initiatives for Rural Development (CIFORD Kenya). I was so inspired by the work she was doing in her community to support other women and people with HIV/AIDS and now SIA is proud to support this vibrant organization, doing good in their own community. I asked Margaret to tell us about their work in her own words:

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(L to R ) Tanya, Guardian, Margaret, and children in guardian's care

Encouraging and working with people affected by HIV/AIDS

In Kenya the HIV/AIDs was declared a national disaster. This is because we are all affected or infected. This pandemic has continued to impact on the lives of Kenyans both socially, psychologically and economically.

The people affected directly are the ones who suffer most. These are people living with HIV/AIDS, orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) and the grandmothers caring for them. This is because the people who are dying of HIV are those who are in the productive age group. This has left the families and the whole country economically affected.

CIFORD Kenya is a community-based organisation working in Meru, in the north region of Kenya. CIFORD Kenya realised the challenges the people affected and infected by HIV/AIDS were facing in the society, including stigmatisation and discrimination. These people were left out in the community development agenda. This made most of the people lose hope and self-esteem.

Support and Working Groups

Margaret (center) talks with one of the support groups

With my leadership, CIFORD Kenya mobilised the people affected by HIV/AIDS into working groups. These were formed into: People Living with HIV/AIDS, and Guardians caring for the orphans. CIFORD did not have any resources to support the women. We brought them together and started training them the importance of self-reliance. We committed our time to capacity building where we encouraged the members to come together to mobilise their own resources.

CIFORD Kenya believes that the communities have the solution to their problem and understand best way to address them; all they need is encouragement support and some resources.

For the people living with HIV, we embarked on training them on positive living, nutrition and antiretroviral treatment (ART) adherence.  We also trained them on gardening for better nutrition and increased household income. This has made these people change their lifestyle and have self-esteem and then they become leaders in the campaign on positive living.

Some of the guardians at their weekly meeting.

Guardian Merry-Go-Round Loans

For guardians, (the elderly women who are caring for children), we are aware they have a burden of supplying basic needs for children and there was need to make the guardians come together and start “merry-go-round” and savings group. There is no other way they can help one another other than to bring their resources together. The women have been meeting every Monday at 3.00pm and they have been contributing 20 Kenyan Shillings (Ksh) ($0.25), which is collected and given to one member. The impact of this money is clearly seen in the sense of relief of these women feel when it is their turn to get the collected amount.

The women have been starting small businesses with the money from the group to enable them support the vulnerable children they have welcomed in their households. The guardians are also trained on agriculture skills and livestock-keeping to improve their food security. The surplus food is sold to supplement the family income.

Through a gift, CIFORD Kenya brought in USD $24, to use as principal for loaning among the women at a 10% interest rate. The money has been of great value and many guardians have used the small loan to start small businesses. Most of them have been buying bananas and avocadoes to sell in the local market. The profits are used to support the family. After one year the $24 has grown to $66 as the interest is building on the principal. Women take loan for a maximum of $6 and as little as $0.60!

Solutions from Within the Community

The local problems in Africa cannot be addressed from the top but from within the community. The beneficiaries have to address their own problems in their best way possible. This is the only way that brings positive and sustainable change.  Little resources can mean a lot with full participation of the people in the problem.

There is need for partners to appreciate the inputs of the community members in the intervention strategy, in order to enable a sustainable development.

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Visit CIFORD’s Facebook page for regular updates and more photos.

More posts about CIFORD: 

• CIFORD Kenya: Compassionate Community Action
• A Better Way to Grow Food

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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.

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An important part of Spirit in Action’s mission is to respond to the real needs of the people and support already existing grassroots community organizations abroad. We start by acknowledging the experience and local knowledge of the community leaders and encourage with them as they hone projects that will work for the their specific community.

One such grassroots organization that Spirit in Action has supported is Welfare Concern International (WCI), in Livingstone, Zambia. Moses Chibanda, the current director, left a job in teaching in 2005 to run WCI full-time because he felt a deep calling to help those around him work their way out of poverty. The organization’s mission, in Moses’ words is “to bring hope and give people life survival skills through training and economic empowerment programs”.

Community members meet to pray and plan for the new WCI building.

Most of WCI’s members are widows who have lost their spouses due to the AIDS pandemic, and many are working to have enough money for their children to attend school. Moses explains, “One of the crucial problems faced by guardians is lack of capital to start their own income generating activities to sustain themselves and their families.” WCI provides skills training and small loans for new Income Generating Activities (small businesses) for the widows.

To help WCI in their efforts, the Livingstone City Council, donated an old building (pictured right) that will house a resource center and serve as a place for skills training and other economic empowerment activities. Not wanting to let any space go to waste, the group will use the land around the center to raise chickens and plant a vegetable garden. Spirit in Action will continue to follow their renovation progress and encourage them to reach out to more widows in their community.

Through the challenges of starting to build a center for WCI and seeing the mounting poverty around him, Moses continues on, always expressing dedication to his mission and acting as a strong role model for those who are able to do great works in their community by starting small and dreaming large. Moses shares, “I desire to serve the less privileged people to the best of my ability and take Welfare Concern International to great heights of success. There are moments in my life when I have felt like giving up but because of Spirit in Action’s encouragement and prayer support I have continued to soldier on to drive the work of WCI.”

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Jacky with an orphan and SIA small business leader Henry.

Jacky Buhoro has been blessed with eight healthy children of her own and yet many more children are lucky enough to call her mother. In 2004, one of Jacky and Jacob’s sons asked his parents to pay the fees for an orphan in his class. That was the beginning of Jacky and Jacob’s ministry to orphans…

Years of violence in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have left many orphans, fatherless children, and widows in need of assistance in Jacob Lipandasi and Jacky’s border town community of Bakuvu. Responding to the need, Jacky and Jacob, who is a SIA Small Business Fund Coordinator, now care for 25 additional children in their home and in other host families in their community. I recently had the opportunity to interview Jacky about her service; here is a longer version of the interview, which is excerpted in the SIA Spring/Summer 2010 Newsletter.
*We are deeply thankful for a grant from the Charles Wentz Carter Memorial Foundation, which enabled SIA to support Jacky’s school for orphans and other vulnerable children. THANK YOU!

1. Tanya: Tell me about your family.

Jacky: I am the eldest daughter of my family. My parents have given birth to 8 children including 6 girls and 2 boys. When I met Jacob, he was already mentoring orphans of the first church he led in our hometown. In my family with Jacob we have produced 8 children (2 girls and 6 boys). In 2004, our son, Philippe KOKO Lipandasi (our 5th child) asked us to pay school fees for an orphan in his class who could not pay for it. This is the beginning of our ministry to orphans.

2. Tanya: When did you first accept orphans in your family?

Jacky: After the war of the RCD (Congolese Rally for Democracy) families traveled with orphans and abandoned them in the street as they were unable to take charge. First we hosted 3 girls and one boy (4 fatherless) and a widow in other fatherless families in our community. The community knew that we accompany the orphans. Now we have up to 25 orphans in our family and in several other host families.

3. Tanya: Tell me about your work with orphans.

Jacky: To help these orphans living with us to study, I organized a nursery school. It helps my orphans and also other children of vulnerable families without access to public schools (because their parents are unable to pay). During the holidays the older could come and learn trades (carpentry) in the studio of Jacob with other orphans. Praise the Lord! Before, students who completed kindergarten were directed to public schools and Jacob could pay for them. But now we do not have the funds to continue this. As the curricula of these schools do not have the same goal as our training: I started primary school to continue our vision to support the most vulnerable.

Children play in a garden near the school.

4. Tanya: What are the biggest challenges for schools and teachers in DRC?

Jacky : A) Education in the DRC: The exclusion of the poorest in the education system. The girls, especially orphans have no easy access to school education. Schools provide teaching theory without practice as there are no materials. Only the rich kids access to quality training and focused. Lack of school library. Schools (especially rural) lack access to computers and especially the Internet. B) Important Challenges Teacher DRC: The Congolese government does not pay public officials in general and teachers in particular. The school is supported by parents when they are able. However, 80% of teachers are unemployed and others work without wages.

5. Tanya: How do the Women’s Garden Project and your school work together to help children?

Jacky: The community garden project for women helps us a lot to feed orphans. They help us with vegetables in their crops. It serves as a demonstration site to help children understand the importance of gardens and the role of working together.

6. Tanya: Tell me about how you and Jacob work together in your projects to help others.

Jacky: We organize our time to visit the poorest of our communities and put our attention to widows, orphans and disabled in our pastoral ministry. With the support of Spirit in Action, we organized the community garden and piggery for the widows. We initiated the widows to plant trees and banana trees, because before it was taboo for a woman to do in our communities.

Children surround Jacob and Jacky at home.

7. Tanya: Is there anything else you want to tell me about yourself or your work?

Jacky: I want to have additional training in the care of orphans and vulnerable groups to improve the quality of my services to others. Thank you for your support.

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Women make mats in DR Congo.

Spirit in Action Small Business Fund groups train together and work together. Each group of at least 3 people attend a training workshop including sessions on business management, recording keeping, and communication skills. At the end of the training and the first business cycle of three months these leaders report feeling more confident in all areas of their life.

Also, when women have the opportunity to be in charge of their own business and make money – they pass on the economic gains to their whole families and help to raise the profile of women in their communities. That’s why SIA works with coordinators to ensure that women are given an equal change to lead SIA small businesses. In fact,  58% of current Small Business Fund leaders are female!

One family business group in Nigeria selling Palm Kernels, which are used to make cooking oil, provides a good example about how businesses can benefit the whole family:

“The business is a promising group as Nseobong says that they can now provide better food for their families. Their dream of making profit has really been fulfilled, as they are able to raise a strong capital with 25% reinvestment. This is truly wonderful. Thanks be unto God, Amen.”

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