A Possible Partnership in the Works!

Today, the founders of FFCI and I met with Enterprise Mentors, a local microcredit group. I have struggled for months to set up a meeting with them. I feel that helping families develop through training and loans can be a great way to strike at the root of the orphan and needy child problem, and the founders agree. In addition, I made Michael a promise-- one that I feel extends to all the children at New Life and elsewhere-- to help his mother and his family so they can live a fulfilled life. So Michael can keep going to school. So he can eat. So he can live with his mother instead of at the orphanage.

The meeting had taken so long to set up, I had become discouraged and thought there was little interest on the EM side. Imagine my surprise and excitement when they were thrilled at the prospect of working with us in Ghana! Plans for a small office at our school and an exploratory initial program have already been discussed! After our founders return from Ghana (they leave next week!), hopefully the plans will become real. We are all so excited about the help this can bring to our children, their families, and children and families all over Ghana. EM is a well-established microcredit group, and they focus as much on training as they do on loans. We are pleased to be forming a connection with them!

Square Foot Gardening

So I just got back from training on square foot (or meter) gardening, and I just have to say that it is SO COOL!!

First, a giant thank you has to go to Karen Bastow, one of the key people involved with SFG in my area, for being willing to give us free training. She traveled so far out of her way to give of her time and knowledge and we are so grateful!

These gardening techniques are truly incredible. You can create an amazing garden in 20% of the space you would use in a traditional row garden. The use of composted soil gives healthier crops and a higher crop yield. It uses significantly less water than traditional gardens, and takes a fraction of the time to care for, since the method means almost no weeds. We were shown examples of SFG's in Kenya-- some that didn't work, and why, and some that were amazing successes. One small orphanage was able to stop buying vegetables completely, and were hoping to start another garden for food they could sell!

SFG was introduced at New Life last year, but due to various factors, has not done well since. We hope that in our groups this summer we can use new materials to train them, and truly get them involved! We hope to do the same for Sankofa, and for FFCI once we get established. If the people can get the concept and really do it, I am confident that it can help provide for the children. It's not meant to compete with farmers, but to work alongside them and to help bring more food to those who are in need of it. With our two groups going back to back, it hopefully gives us enough time to see how invested they are in the project, and to ensure that it can work. We are very excited! If you have any questions about SFG, check out their website above, or email me.

Issues Affecting African Children #4: Abandonment, Exploitation and Slavery

Today's article comes from Guinea, but it is a problem that, like the others, affects children across the continent. I highly recommend reading it for more details on the specific crisis in Guinea.

The issues of child abandonment, exploitation and slavery are not new, and can take many forms. Child soldiers, sex slaves, indentured house servants, fisherman's "helpers"...the list could go on. Some parents actually sell their children, while others believe they are giving up their children to a better life. Some children are simply taken from the streets when they're forced there after parents die. Others run away from their own slavery and end up on the streets-- just another form of slavery as they are forced into prostitution and theft.

So much of this issue stems from poverty and lack of education. Poverty itself is a form of slavery. However, simply blaming the issue on the broad term "poverty" just doesn't cut it. While the ones who do condemn children to such a situation may be desperate, deliberately placing a child in a situation that brings death, disease, hard labor, psychological trauma, and a complete lack of freedom is vile.

One organization that is trying to help through education is Free the Children. To learn more about them, the situation, and to get involved, visit their site!

Fundraising and Sankofa Mbofra Fie Updates

The following is an exerpt from our fundraising letter:

"After several months as a volunteer at New Life International Orphanage, I thought I had seen just about every joy and trial a West African orphanage could bring—until the day a desperate father arrived. He stood in the dark, narrow hallway of the whitewashed building, clutching the hand of his little girl and holding his toddler son in his arms. He spoke only broken English, so the orphans helped translate his message. His wife had just died, leaving him with the two young children. As a fisherman who spent his days on the sea, he could not properly care for his children, and he had no one to leave them with. We were the third orphanage he had come to asking for help.

“Just small time,” he pleaded as he let go of his daughter’s hand to shift his son to the other arm. She came slowly to me, taking my hand and giving me an impish smile. “I come back when they big.”

The director of the orphanage was nowhere to be found, but I already knew we could not take in any more children—we were already overcrowded. And so, as the only adult there to speak with him, I had to let go of the little girl’s hand and say the hardest word I have ever had to say: no. As I watched him gather his children and trudge slowly up the hill to the road with a look of resignation and discouragement in his eyes, I knew I never wanted to say no to a cry for help ever again.”
Shallee McArthur
Volunteer Program Coordinator, Families for Children International

Please donate today! If you can't, but would like to help, please pass around the letter to friends and family. Click the link above and to find the full letter!

Now, updates and pictures from Sankofa! A new bamboo school house has been built-- a larger one to fit all of the classes. Previously, the older classes had to hold class under the trees. We're happy they now have the room they need!

The new school house being built.

Even with the schoolhouse, studying is hard when sharing a book with 8 other children.

Meet Betty Ampong, a student at Sankofa, wearing her uniform.

News from the Continent #1

Since I can't possibly blog on the many different Issues Affecting African Children (IAAC) I read about every day, I'm also going to do an occaisional "News from the Continent" blog. I'll link to articles that I've read, and if you fancy reading them, just click the link! I try to keep up on news across the continent; if you'd like to do the same, a great site is www.allafrica.com .

Article 1 discusses SOS Orphanage's work in Ghana using Football (soccer) as a tool for development with children. Very interesting take on how sports and values can make an effective change!

Article 2 is also from Ghana, and discusses the government's new social policy to distribute money to the poorest of the poor. The article argues that the money could be more effective if used in different ways (and I agree!).

Article 3, again from Ghana, discusses the country's high child mortality rate-- affected greatly by malaria.

Article 4 discusses the dangers children face in tumultuous Kenya. Instances of child rape and violence against children have risen dramatically since the election violence began.

Muhammad Yunus, Micro-Credit, and Africa

Although I'm not categorizing this in the Issues posts, it is a sort of indirect issue affecting African children.

Micro-credit, micro-loans, micro-enterprise, micro-franchise...they're the new buzz words in international development. Lending to the poor, helping them establish business and franchises-- all on an individual, small-scale level. All these words and works were spawned from a simple idea by a brilliant man-- Muhammad Yunus. He began his work in Bangladesh in the late 70's and early 80's, which eventually led to the founding of the Grameen Bank and the Grameen Foundation. Through his efforts and ideas, many other such institutions of aid have been established, enabling millions to gain the opportunities that lead them out of poverty.

I had the incredible experience to sit in on a conference call with Dr. Yunus a few weeks ago. An energetic, visionary man with a lip-twitching sense of humor, Dr. Yunus has become an icon in the development world, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity. He defined his work as social business. The concept of business is about more than just making money-- humans aren't money making machines, he declared. Business needs to include human aspects, they need to do good to people. He gave the example of a newly-developed, nutrient-rich yogurt being used in Bangladesh. The purpose of the company is to help children become healthy.

He then addressed the idea of helping the poorest. Micro schemes have been accused of not reaching the poorest of the poor, so Dr. Yunus set out to prove that theory wrong. He spoke of beginning projects focusing on beggars in Bangladesh. They were given loans to earn money by door-to-door sales. And it worked! Many of the beggars, the poorest of the poor, stopped begging completely, and all were able to pay back their loans and earn more money. They could now earn an honest living.

Of all the things Dr. Yunus said, this struck me the hardest: all humans have unlimited potential. How can they unleash it? That is what micro projects are about-- the opportunity for an individual to tap their own potential and make of their life what they will. Now, I don't believe that micro-credit is a panacea for poverty. But it is one method that is very effective, and I for one am very excited to get involved in micro-enterprise at our orphanages and micro-credit for the people of the surrounding villages. Many of our children are not truly orphaned; families simply don't have the means to take care of them, and they are handed over to the orphanage. Micro-enterprises can help the orphanages care on the road to self-reliance, and micro-loans to the families can strike at the root of the problem. Maybe someday, a micro-loan may help some of our children return home.

Issues Affecting African Children #3: Food Shortages in West Africa-- Please Donate!

In a continent still largely fed by subsistence farming, anything can affect the availability of food. This article discusses the consequences of the late start and early end to the rainy season in 2007 is already being felt in West Africa. Rising food prices due to food shortages are beginning. Aid agencies are already being called on to avert hunger crises across the region. Of course, it is the poorest who are hit hardest by such disasters, and who knows when and if aid will come. So many places in the world need aid, and it often doesn't arrive until the pictures of children like scarecrows begin to grace our televisions.

Nana Esi, my host sister, age 4, is on the left. Adjoa, an orphan from New Life, age 3 1/2, is on the right.

This is an issue that strikes me deeply. It is in an area where those I know and love will be affected, which makes it more real to me. I picture my children's faces, many of them already too skinny and affected by malnutrition, if not starvation, and worry what this will do to them. I remember when I took my well-off, well-fed host siblings to the orphanage and discovered with shock how small and thin the orphans really were. For many of them, this started long before they ever came to the orphanage, and they certainly are better fed there than they would be in many other places. But they are my children, the children of my heart if not my womb, and the thought that their little bodies might suffer more than they already have makes me...afraid.

And so, I will do what many of them have already done at such an early age on the streets of Ghana: beg. Please, if you have the means, and maybe even if you feel you don't, please donate by clicking on the Donate button on the right. All donations go directly to the children pictured and talked about here. People often mention that "for the price of a cup of coffee..." I don't much care about the price of a cup of coffee. I care about my children, and I beg for your help to keep them fed and well-- whether it's the price of a cup of coffee, or less, or more.

Nana Esi, right, age 4. Comfort, left, an orphan from New Life, age 8. Such are the effects of malnutrition.

(All donations are made to Families for Children International securely through PayPal, and are tax deductible. )

CLARIFICATIONS

I just wanted to clarify a few things on this post. Donations made will not go to handouts that do little in the long run. FFCI's goals are to help children and the organizations that support them become self-sufficient. Famine, food shortages, and rising prices are not new in Africa, and they will continue. We use our funds for projects such as square foot gardening, chicken raising, and micro-enterprises such as soap making. Some of these have already been started at New Life, and need a little boost. We are planning to implement them at Sankofa and FFCI as well with our summer volunteer groups. These projects help provide food and income to the children and the orphanages, and this news of food shortages and rising prices means a harder year ahead for West Africans. Our plan has always included these projects, and the need has become more urgent. Please help us create a self-sustaining environment for these children!