Power of the Forest, by James Perakis
Western Kenya is one of the most densely populated rural areas in the world, putting tremendous pressure on natural resources in the region. In Kakamega district, agricultural expansion, cattle grazing, fuel wood collection, and logging have reduced the once mighty indigenous rainforest to only 240 square kilometers. This trend is likely to continue, it seems, despite efforts by government and non-government agencies to combat forest destruction.
For almost one year now, I have been working with a local environmental conservation group in the southern part of the Kakamega Rainforest. Despite the unfortunate political conflict earlier this year, I was able to work with my organization to research and develop programs that address deforestation and simultaneously address the needs of the community. In particular, we developed a fuel briquette initiative to reduce the demand for firewood that is collected from the forest. Fuel briquettes are made from everyday commercial and agricultural residues and can be used as a replacement for traditional sources of energy. The system has been successfully implemented in other parts of East Africa and will certainly benefit the communities living in and around the Kakamega Rainforest. In July, we held a comprehensive workshop to train community members to make and use fuel briquettes. There was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and support for the project.
That same month, however, the Kenya Power and Lighting Company was expanding its rural electrification program to include the communities living around the lower half of the forest...
The Comedor and the Panadería, by Jacquelyn Koehler
Once on of the ten richest countries in the world, recurring political corruption and an economic crisis in 2001 has greatly impacted the economic stability of the country.
The Argentine “comedor” is a mixture of a soup kitchen and community forum depending on the location. Generally comedor’s provide one daily meal for people living in the community. These meals are either eaten at the comedor, or taken home to eat. Some comedors even act as a daycare or after school program where kids can come to do homework or other activities.
My name is Jacquelyn, I am from Kansas City, Kansas. I graduated in 2006 with an economics degree and was unsatisfied in my job. Wanting to enter the world of microfinance, I felt hands on experience working for a microenterprise would be essential in getting a feel for how microloans effect a community. In June 2008, I came to Argentina to work with a comedor and the baking cooperative they wanted to implement.
La Estrategia de Caracol is located on a dirt street and is a light green building thanks to a fresh coat of paint. The neighborhood is referred to as an “ausentimiento” or essentially privately owned property that was usurped by people moving to the area after the 2001 economic crisis. Houses in the area are precarious built using any materials they could find, cardboard, tin, wood boards, bricks, concrete. The street running past the comedor is not paved (as a majority are not in the area), which also means that no services pass by, including trash trucks, so people have taken it upon themselves to throw their waste in the street. Just the other day I noticed a tennis shoe embedded in the dirt road…
Two weeks isn't enough, by Paula Hunt
I came to Jinja, Uganda with the excitement that I would learn a tremendous amount about subjects such as Uganda history, economics, politics, and social and cultural practices by interacting with my host organization, host family, fellow FSD interns and co-workers, and locals whom I would come across.
I also eagerly anticipated working in an unfamiliar business line (micro-finance and micro-lending), and employment in a full-time capacity that contradicts my New York City rat-race, Wall Street-driven, high-tech software consultant career: Philanthropy.
My assignment is a short one – 2 weeks, including FSD orientation training. “How much can I accomplish?”, and “how effectively can I be utilized?” are questions on my mind, as well as my FSD Project Director, Margaret...
India's booming economy... and everyone else, by Nina Robbins
India’s booming economy is thrusting the wealthy of India into the ranks of the world’s richest, but how about everyone else?
After my first two and a half weeks trying to find my place in the charming chaos of India I can confidently say that the sight of a traffic jam caused by a 52 sheep pile up, the shameless stares of complete strangers on the streets and the new function of my hands as dinner utensils is quickly become routine. The 6 Udaipur interns, including myself, are all stuffed with stories (and chipatis) and are enjoying a friendly competition for the most compelling chai rendezvous, most bizarre host family member and best Indian fashion sense. I could stand to learn a lot when it comes to the fashion sense.
On a more professional note, we are all gradually coming into our own development projects at our respective NGOS. I am working with the Sahayata Organization with a group of cheerful and motivated young professionals and a delightful supervisor nicknamed Babuji. The Sahayata Organization is as an emerging urban micro Finance and Livelihood initiative in Rajasthan...
Dung Paper and Chili Peppers, by Evan Sorley
Upon arriving at my new home, my supervisor and I were taken by my host father to inspect the field. Though I could not understand all that was being said, I caught his motioning to the distance, pointing to bare patches of earth surrounded by maize, and the word “Ndovu” – Elephant. The subject of my internship was self evident that day, and is still an all too common occurrence. That is, the human-elephant conflict.
My host father still sleeps outside at night, as well as many farmers in the community, watching for elephants. This despite the establishment of the Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary in 1994, aimed at reducing the conflict and increasing revenue to the community through tourism. Coupled with the post election violence that has caused a sharp decrease in tourism throughout the country, Mwaluganje is facing difficulty in both its primary goals. It has been my hope while I am here I can help to help alleviate these difficulties.
I first identified that Elephant Dung Paper Project could be enhanced as a way to raise revenue and awareness of the sanctuary. To accomplish this, I have worked on improving the quality of the paper, arranged for the art club of the local primary school to decorate the notebook covers, and have made an informative stamp to go along with the products. I hope then to market the paper products to tourist shops and hotels around Mombasa.
Inside the Forest, by Joel Larson
Being in the midst of my internship with the Kakamega Environmental Education Programme (KEEP), I am settling into the rhythm of life in Western Kenya. Located just inside the forest, KEEP shares a plot of cleared land with the Kenyan Forest Service, a handful of monkey researchers, and several other community-based organizations. KEEP was founded by a group of forest guides, who recognized a growing need to educate the local community about conservation and sustainable use of the forest and its products. Since its beginning, the organization has expanded to include several income-generating projects, including a tree nursery, butterfly farm, and bandas for ecotourism.
Walking into the forest from the surrounding homesteads, you pass through a buffer of tea plants designed to prevent further encroachment into the forest. Once you get under the canopy itself, the temperature drops almost 10 degrees and the humidity climbs to the point where you could probably swim as easily as walk. The air is filled with bird and monkey calls, along with the occasional crow from a rooster...
When Health Politics Fail, by Lillian Perez
On the first day of my internship with CEPAC, my supervisor, Dr. Saúl Yustón Demarchi, took me to a barrio called Tolosa, which is located about half an hour from the center of La Plata, to show me how the organization addresses health needs in marginalized communities and to explain a concept I have been curiously exploring since that day, health politics. Dr. Yustón began by stating that ‘in order to have optimal health, you need good politics; that is, good economic politics for good health politics.’ Now it would seem like common sense to see that governmental investments are necessary to provide “beneficiencia” – the same opportunity to health for all – but lack of funds and political corruption here in Argentina has consistently shown that achieving “beneficiencia” is far from real. In the consultorio (small neighborhood health clinic) of Abasto, where I work, I have witnessed how past political exploitation has led community members to become skeptical of outside interventions, even NGOs. Last year, CEPAC conducted a health needs assessment study in Abasto to present to the government program ARCOS, which then provided the funds to establish the consultorio and pay a few doctors to serve there. Unfortunately, in the past six months, political conflicts have stalled aid going to public health programs such as ARCOS. As a result, doctors’ salaries were cut in half and medicines and medical equipment have been slow at arriving. Speaking with Dr. Yustón, Dr. Liliana Alberino (the general practitioner at the consultortio), and some of the community members of Abasto, I have become more familiar with the idea of health politics and what happens when it fails...
The Beggar Children of Main Street, by Matt Kernan
The Beggar Children
We ten interns had more or less just landed in Uganda. We had stayed a night in the capital city of Kampala, had driven in excruciatingly slow traffic to Jinja, and had been attending cultural orientation for several days. It was Day Three, and we were touring Jinja on foot.
Imagine. A parade of mzungus meandering around downtown, fingers pointing, and heads on swivels. With stomachs full of matooke and rice, we took our time digesting as we strolled along the broken sidewalk. Shopkeepers called out, hoping that their wares could draw our attention. Boda-boda drivers offered us rides on their bicycles or mopeds. A third group called us too. Three small children, around five or seven years old, quietly implored, “Sirs, 100?” They were asking for a meager 100 shillings, and we had just spent 8000 on lunch. Surely we could spare the equivalent of 6 American cents.
Before we could respond, our program director shooed them away in their native language. Many were heartbroken. I know I was. Here is a little kid, malnourished and poorly clothed, and all he wanted was a nickel. That’s not too much to ask. I could have tossed him the coin and moved on.
But, as our program director explained, it is not about the amount of money. It is the principle. FSD teaches that you can only effect serious change by striving for sustainability. What will that boy do when we leave? Who will care for him then?
Development of the "Rainbow Game", by Ashley Harden
As a nine week intern in India, time is short and work is hectic. Although, I have limited time here, I was still able (with the support of the FSD site team and my co-workers) to implement and obtain funding for a project. The Institute for Local Self-Governance and Responsible Citizenship, my host organization, conducts bi-weekly, trainings for members of panchayati raj (India’s village government and representative system). The Institute does not have any substantial data that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of its trainings. This lack of evidence has started to become problematic for the NGO because donors and future investors want proof of the trainings’ positive impact.
In an attempt to help the Institute evaluate its trainings, get funding, and improve the quality of the training itself, my co-workers and I designed an interactive evaluation game entitled the “Rainbow Game”. This game is color coordinated by training categories. The rules and questions are simple. The game will be played by participants at the end of all six-day trainings. By recording the amount of incorrectly and correctly answered questions for each category, the institute will be able to document the amount of training information retained by representatives. In addition, the game will be fun, colorful, and easy to follow, especially since the majority of trainees are illiterate...
Faulu Kenya’s Welfare Association: Keeping Members on the Bridge to Success, by Ryan Gentzler
I learned about the concept of microfinance about a year and a half ago, and the idea instantly captured my attention. Reading about Muhammad Yunus’ experience starting and building the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh gave me visions of leaving for an exotic faraway land where I would trudge through sweltering jungles to meet with loan groups in secluded villages, handing out funds and beaming as each proud entrepreneur in turn stood and ceremoniously handed me the coins she had toiled for that week, repaying her loan a few pennies at a time, and watching with amazement as they were able to achieve a level of stability previously impossible.
Being stationed in Mombasa, a city of upwards of one million people, my experience has, needless to say, differed quite significantly from that fantasy. Nevertheless, upon landing in Mombasa, it was immediately clear why microfinance is so critical in developing countries, and what the enormous gap between ‘developed economy’ and ‘developing economy’ looks like. In the absence of a Western-style job market, the economy here seems to be comprised, in the vast majority, of small-scale entrepreneurs selling all manners of consumer goods: peanuts, fruit, Safaricom cell phone credit, Coca Cola, beaded jewelry, secondhand clothes, each of them making his or her living on sales of less than a dollar. The prospects of those growing those businesses are bleak without the access to small amounts of capital that microfinance institutions like Faulu provide.
I imagined the typical microfinance office to be a couple of bare, dingy rooms with flickering computer screens and a small vault for the operating funds. Instead, I work in what could be easily mistaken to be a small, professional, American bank. Employees wear corporate polos and a row of tellers take deposits from behind a thick pane of glass. Operations are smooth and systematic, though they make do with a fraction of the technological equipment found in a Western bank. Attending meetings with loan groups, it was immediately clear that the system is well-polished.
Las Mentes Bien Preparadas, by Kelly Mannion
“Promocionar y desarrollar integralmente al hombre, generando igualdad de accesos y oportunidades.” This is the central mission of Fundación Pro Humanae Vitae, a group of dedicated volunteers tied together by overpowering belief in the equal development of the human person in every sense of the word – economic, social, cultural, political, moral. Founded by Sra. Graciela Sánchez in 1995, the Fundación supports numerous community development programs in the La Plata- Buenos Aires locale, working alongside universities, businesses, and municipal-provincial governments to develop and realize public initiatives. Within my first few days as a member of the FPHV family, I came to the realization of how ample the field of human rights work truly is. FPHV is not an organization that focuses solely on the well-being of one particular demographic, in one particular place or time. It is, rather, an institution dedicated to serve the needs of the community, whether in the form of organizing conferences for university students, workshops for small-business owners, Christmas recitals for children, outdoor programs for incarcerated persons, or exhibition fairs for local artisans. Even after 6 weeks at the Fundación, I still do not fully grasp the immense community reach of this great organization and its university, business, and governmental counterparts...
Bridging the Digital Gap, by Lynda Blancato
Living in the United States we are constantly wired—communicating with our friends via instant messenger, using the wealth of information that Wikipedia provides to research some unknown person, event, or place, or even reading articles from newspapers and magazines across the globe—all tools readily available with basic internet. Technology plays such an important role in our lives now that most of us cannot imagine a day during which we don’t check our email at least once, and we cringe at the thought of denial to such access. In a society with such a high rate of digital literacy, we often take for granted the conveniences that technology provides—complaining if a website loads too slowly or of the difficulty of formatting a document in Microsoft Word. It’s all too easy to lose sight of the marvel of the internet, or, even on a more basic level, of word processing programs.
For the past month, I have been working in the heart of La Plata, Argentina at a comedor called Asociación Civil El Roble. El Roble is a non-profit after-school program that supports thirty-five children living below the national poverty line by teaching important social development skills and offering supplementary educational programs. Although I assist in many different daily activities, my main responsibility has been as the computer teacher for the youth there. The Argentine public education system is drastically underfunded, and, as such, these children do not have access to computer technology at school, much less at home...
Implementation in India, by Cynthia Goitia
It is perplexing to think that in all my time spent in development-focused courses, taken in Sweden, Chile and California in an attempt to derive some comparison, I found repeated emphasis on theories and inflated economic prowess without ever understanding how exactly things get done. Implementation. And yet one week into my internship in India I came to understand the decisive weight of bottom-up community solutions in generating sustainable development. Unlike a mere paragraph in a greater text, the approach is an indispensable element of grassroots projects such as those implemented by my host organization, the Jal Bhagirathi Foundation.
The idea is simple: support the formation of community-based water forums to manage water resources and contribute some, although not all, of the funds required to bring their visions to fruition. We forget that people want to help themselves but lack the proper incentives and that, unless they do help themselves, solutions will likely be inconsistent with needs. For these communities, the answer lies in the construction and repair of traditional rainwater harvesting structures to increase their capacity to collect and store water. It is captivating to consider that in many cases solutions already exist, and that they simply need to be re-embraced and relieved of the social, political and economic mentalities that initially betrayed them...
Las Historias de Warmi (Warmi Stories), by Sarah Connette
For the past 5 weeks I have been working at Centro Integral Warmi, a small non-profit community center in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Cochabamba, Bolivia. In addition to running a day-care center and a library, Warmi operates a soap factory that employs ten mothers in the community. The women take turns cooking, taking care of the kids, and working in the Centro Productivo. In the Centro Productivo, I had the chance to work with them as they ripped animal fat to be cooked in a giant, fairytale pot, broke hard casts of soap into smaller pieces, and dumped the pieces into two machines that churned out soap in thick, spaghetti-like strings. The women work hard but enjoy it as they chat and joke with each other. As one woman said, “Como hermanas trabajamos,” or “We work like sisters.” The stories of these women are both rich and moving, and I felt like the customers should know more about what buying Warmi soap means to these women.
I had the opportunity to interview the 5 women who have been here for a long time, some since the organization began in 1982. I asked some questions about their families, their personal stories, and what they like about the work and about Warmi, but mostly I just let the conversations flow. Hunched over a little Sony tape recorder in the library filled with chattering kids, I listened to the recorded conversations and typed up the testimonies...
Making a Difference With Cow Dung, by Lisa Curtis
People always talk about “making a difference.” It’s a catchy phrase to use, “Make a difference, call your Senator” or “Make a difference, recycle your bottle.” Personally, I find it a phrase that is all too easy to say and much, much harder to do. But then today it suddenly hit me that I might actually make a tangible difference in people’s lives.
Okay, so a little background. Community Action for Rural Development (CARD) the organization I am interning for, focuses on sustainable development in Western Kenya. My first day at work, Felix, my supervisor, told me that CARD is looking into starting a biogas project. He told me that they saw biogas as a means to decrease pressure on the Kakamega Forest and to improve the livelihoods of the communities that live there. Many members of the community rely on the forest as a source of wood fuel for cooking and lighting. Not only is this activity rapidly degrading Kenya’s only remaining rainforest, it is also wrecking havoc on the quality of life for the people that rely on wood fuel. In many families, the women will leave their houses as early as 4 a.m. to go to the forest. Once they get there, they have to contend with poisonous snakes and spiders, malaria carrying mosquitoes, arrest and even, as one woman told us when we visited, rape. Once they get the wood, some spend all day carrying it in heavy loads on top of their heads. The tragedy doesn’t end there; the smoke from using wood fuel to cook has lead to chronic chest pain and other respiratory problems for many of the women...
Helping Children at the Camp David Centre, by Sara Zelek
During the lunch hour the children at Camp David Centre exit their classrooms, while more come in through the gates to eagerly wait in line for a well-prepared meal. Laughter and playful banter echo, and the childish excitement that permeates makes it difficult to believe that many of these children are living in conditions of extreme poverty. This meal is only part of the school sponsorship that Camp David Centre provides to the needy children of the community. In addition to this nutritious lunch, the centre also provides sponsored children with free health care at its clinic, funds for school fees, uniforms and books, and access to education.
Camp David Centre is an NGO based in Changamwe, Kenya just outside of the city of Mombasa that currently helps sponsor almost 500 students throughout the community. Sponsorship is the main program that the Centre runs, but it also hosts a range of other programs such as its own primary school, dispensary, computer training classes, sewing classes, community support group and, hopefully soon, a small library. And yet, with all the people that the Centre is helping, it still tries to do more.
I have been working at the centre for four weeks now, and have gotten involved with the development of a new feeding project. As the social workers of Camp David Centre have conducted surveys throughout regions of Mombasa, we have identified four slum areas greatly in need of help...
Renovate to Motivate: Providing Child Remands With Space to Create, by Jenn Hollern
Most children in Mombasa, Kenya take advantage of free primary education, enjoy playing football in sandy parks, and have ambitions of being a doctor, lawyer, or business leader. But during my time working for a local NGO, Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI), I have found many “street kids” who face the realities of the legal system after being unjustly charged with ‘loitering’ or falsely accused of stealing. Unfortunately, the justice system in Kenya lacks an institution to handle juvenile cases, so organizations like MUHURI are stepping in to direct children out of adult prisons during the trial process and provide them with legal assistance.
A Remand Home for Children was recently constructed just outside of Mombasa city, helping to house youth under 16 for the duration of their trials. Situated on a sand lot less than ½ an acre, it consists only of 2 large cinder-block buildings and 2 more under slow construction – an atmosphere that lacks the hope or encouragement necessary to motivate troubled children. After speaking with the Home manager and learning of MUHURI’s work, it is not difficult to understand the challenges of finding volunteer teachers to instruct 65 remanded kids or provide beneficial activities without proper facilities. In order to ensure time in the Remand Home is constructive and used to jumpstart their return into the community, I have constructed a project to renovate the ‘dining hall’ into a multi-functional room, complete with a chalkboard, removable tables, and shelving for storage of art supplies and school materials for youth...
Color in the Graphs, by Morel Jones
When I signed up to work with a development NGO in India, I had very romantic notions of what my experience would be like. In February 2008, I began working with an agricultural development organization called Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), which is partially staffed by scientists and works to improve the livelihoods of farming families and empower rural women and youth. In my mind, I imagined an organization full of individuals who were passionate about organic farming, dedicated to caring for the land, and intent on building good rapport with farming communities.
My experience at KVK has turned out very differently from what I expected. The first few weeks I spent mostly trying to figure out everything that went on at the organization and how it all functions. I found myself sorting through project “documentation” – piles of ratted notebooks full of scribbled Hindi. Often my search for information at KVK would be interrupted by lengthy questions about the freckles on my arms, or Monica Lewinsky...
Clean Water and Appropriate Technology, by John Allen
Over the past few months, FSD intern John Allen has been involved in water development efforts in Jinja, Uganda. John’s internship has been hosted by Busoga Trust, an organization that seeks to extend the coverage of safe drinking water and sanitation to rural communities in Uganda. With his background in Civil Engineering, John has been working actively with the technical team at Busoga Trust to serve communities by facilitating the construction of shallow well sources. This has improved the health of residents in communities like Igombe, where villagers have worked together to construct a clean water source.
With some exposure to water development before coming to Uganda, I thought I had a decent understanding of the use of appropriate technology. Then I arrived at Busoga Trust and discovered something that confused me. I was disappointed to find out that my host organization preferred to implement hand-dug wells to boreholes. I was perplexed by the “slight compromise in quality” present in hand-dug wells, as was explained by my supervisor. Of course, the organization’s reasoning behind constructing so many shallow well sources was simple; they are about one fourth the cost of a borehole...
An Entrepreneur Network, by Jennifer Drapisch
Over the past 6 months I have worked with Centro de Entrenamiento para la Producción (CEP). They are an NGO established to assist small and medium sized businesses (PYMES) through technological development and business training. The Argentine government recently created subsidies and tax credits aimed at increasing the competitiveness of Argentine PYMES. CEP acts as a window for these programs by assisting in paperwork and requirement fulfillment. They also manage the government sponsored training programs, by designing course content and allocating in-house instructors. Another side project at CEP involves supporting two new inventions to market, including a novel suspension system for cars or machinery, recently patented in the Europe and U.S., as well as, a new energy efficient windmill, still in the design and prototype construction stage...
An Untouchable, Indestructible Army, by Casey Lord
Fighting the mounting summer temperatures of the Thar desert, I carefully wrapped, pleated and pinned my new cotton sari into position this morning in preparation for another meeting with Jodhpur bureaucracy. Saraswati has checked my tucks and folds and given me a red bindi - I look the part and I’m ready to go. Today I am going to the police station on behalf of a local Harijan woman whose life has been turned upside-down by her betraying, polygamist husband and in-laws. Pinkie’s husband has married and had a child with a fourteen-year old girl, bringing his ‘new family’ into the home where Pinkie and her children already live. The in-laws, also sharing the house, are favoring the ‘new family’ and are abusing Pinkie in an attempt to expel her. Pinkie has nowhere to go and has no control over the situation. I will stand with six other (also Harijan) women and protest for her basic right to a life without threat or violence...
Incubating Microfinance Institutions in Southern Rajasthan, by Dave Bullon Patton
I arrived in Rajasthan in September ready to learn about microfinance. I was dissatisfied with my previous life in the corporate world, and was yearning to do something meaningful and deeply fulfilling with my life over the next 8 months. Seven months later, my mind has begun to discover the intricately multifaceted nature of development work and my heart has found a life-long passion for alleviating poverty.
I have been working with ACCESS Development Services, an Indian non profit company, which has a presence in several Indian states. ACCESS partners with local Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to upgrade the livelihoods of India’s poorest and develop local financial services that can support their income generating activities. I’ve been working with a microfinance consultant, a livelihoods consultant, an administrative assistant and our fearless team leader. I have been involved with various projects, but I will focus on my involvement with the Microfinance Insititution (MFI) incubation project...
A Way Forward, by Rebecca Regan-Sachs
I am volunteering in Jinja, Uganda, with the Phoebe Educational Fund for AIDS Orphans and Vulnerable Children (PEFO). Part of my work involves administering a vocational school that PEFO established in December 2007 in order to help young women who had had to leave school early because they could not afford the school fees.
There are 12 students at the school, all between the ages of 16 and 23. Many of their parents died of AIDS, and they are being cared for by their grandmothers. In addition, about half of the young women are mothers themselves, and struggle to provide for the many dependents in their families. The opportunity to learn a marketable skill—in this case, tailoring—is a potentially life-changing one for them.
I was startled one night a couple months ago to receive a phone call from one of the young women at the PEFO vocational center. The reason they don’t have cell phones or the ability to make frequent pay phone calls is more or less the reason they’re in this program: they’re extremely poor...
Sustainable Living in Chagüitillo, by Paul Cook
Within walking distance of the center of Chagüitillo, Nicaragua, is a beautiful ravine with a trickling stream, a plethora of wildlife, and intriguing petroglyphs. Unfortunately, the ravine is also extremely contaminated. Both local residents and residents from a nearby town bath and launder their clothes in the natural wells formed by the stream. Cows from the local farms not only drink the contaminated water, but the subsequent feces they leave behind make the ravine un-usable. Because of the contamination, the Pre-Columbian museum is unable to lead tours through the ravine, not only limiting the museum’s financial resources, but also depriving any visitors from viewing the petroglyphs.
“This City, it is Shining,” by Shannon Harney
Shannon Harney recently returned from Jinja, Uganda. In Uganda, she worked with Soft Power Health, a local health clinic, to expand HIV education and testing in four rural secondary schools–via an educational HIV seminar for teachers, an on-campus HIV seminar for students that included free on-site voluntary testing and post-test counseling, and the creation of a savings account to generate funds for 2 Soft Power Health staff members to become HIV post-test counselor certified. The following is a selection of posts from the blog she kept in-country describing various stages of her experiences.
September 25, 2007
I live in an agrarian jungle; a banana plantation right outside our back door, coffee plant volunteers seeding everywhere, each home equipped with its own durable sweet potato field and as I look to the west to watch the sun set from the main road I look past an ocean of sugar cane.
My mother, Rose, is dark and strong, with speckled honeycomb eyes and hands the size and texture of a baseball mit. My older sister, Silvia, is small and waif-like, and yet incredible durable and grounded; she gets stuck in quick sand Christianity too often for me, but her intentions are good...
Lessons in English, by Madeline Gressel
I came to Udaipur, India with FSD to work as a teacher in a small school for poor children, called the Talent Academy. I was told that I would be working with the school’s English teacher, helping supplement conversational English lessons. I have previously worked teaching art to elementary school students in the U.S., so I thought I could teach some art classes as well. When I started at the Talent Academy, my supervisor told me that the English teacher was on vacation and would be back in few days, so I began teaching on my own. I worked with about 120 students daily, in sections of ten students at a time. In the mornings I worked with the seven year olds, and in the afternoon I worked with eleven year olds. For my first lesson, I had planned to have my students draw their favorite animals. I thought this was a good lead-in to learning the names of animals in English. I had assumed that, since the students took English class, they would know enough English for us to communicate, but they didn’t speak any. It was incredibly frustrating to realize that I was unable to communicate the simplest of ideas, like “favorite animal” or “draw this” or “sit down and be quiet.” By the time the fifth graders arrived, I was tired enough to let them play “English” hangman for the whole afternoon. Everyday since the first, they have begged me to play hangman again...
Grandmother Entrepreneurs, by Vu Ndlovu
This is my 9th week of a 10-week internship here in Jinja, Uganda. I am mostly working on my final reports, which involves the exciting task of organizing receipts, tallying them up to make sure all the numbers add up and making sure we haven’t overspent. I am also spending this week making sure that implementation of the project I’ve been involved with is near completion.
I’ve been placed with the Organisation for the Good Life of the Marginalized, or OGLM, which works mostly with marginalized women and children. I spent the last 9 weeks working with grandmothers whose grandchildren have been orphaned by AIDS. Most of them live in the village of Buwaiswa. After doing a needs assessment involving 20 grandmothers, we discovered that most of them look after about 4 or 5 grandchildren and don’t have enough income to properly feed or clothe them.
We’ve been working to increase their incomes by getting them involved in income-generating projects. Most of the grandmothers have wanted to start projects but don’t have the capital to do so –- they don’t have the collateral that would allow them to borrow at reasonable rates. The goal of the project is to give the grandmothers low-interest loans for all the inputs they need as well as training sessions in any skills they might need to run the projects successfully...
Assembling a Project Monitoring System for the Promic Micro-Credit Program
When one considers the challenges associated with managing a micro-credit program in a widely dispersed rural community, it is apparent that resources are often strained. Boniface Kawiiso, a long-time employee of the Jinja Diocesan Development Coordinating Organization (JIDDECO), was serving the role of the deputy director of the Promic Program, the administrative assistant, the loan officer, credit officer, the trainer, and the primary consultant for an outside Savings and Credit Cooperative. The JIDDECO Promic Program serves groups of women in Uganda with microcredit loans. When Boniface was the sole employee for Promic, it was unrealistic to facilitate a micro-credit lending program across 19 diverse communities. As a result, many savings groups lacked proper contact information, the assistance that they needed to successfully manage and repay their loans, and the guidance to properly allocate group loans...
Infrastructure Development in Villa Elisa, Argentina
Since the end of January, I have been working as an FSD intern in the community of Villa Elisa, a small neighborhood on the outskirts of La Plata, Argentina. While Villa Elisa is a vibrant community full of culture, it is also a perfect example of the challenges that Argentina faces today. On my walk to work I pass wealthy, gated communities that give way to rows of makeshift homes on trash-lined streets. The lack of opportunity leaves most members of the community rooted in their current socioeconomic position.
I am currently working for the Arco Iris Community Center located in the heart of Villa Elisa. I assist the center with everything from teaching, mentoring, and fundraising to serving the children lunch. This community center provides daily meals and activities for over 90 children, ages 2 to 14. They also support microenterprise development for parents and young adults, and capacity-building workshops that give individuals the skills they need to pull their families out of poverty. A source of hope, inspiration, and opportunities, Arco Iris makes the best of limited resources while facing constant challenges.
Recently, heavy rains plagued La Plata and resulted in a series of flash floods throughout the surrounding communities. Villa Elisa, with a low relative elevation, dirt floor houses, and no drainage system, suffered the worst. In many areas, the water level reached chest-high and homes were evacuated while the water washed away and destroyed possessions...
“A Traves de Nuestros Ojos” (”Through Our Eyes”)
“Over the past 7 weeks I have seen first-hand not only the fear of discrimination for a positive HIV status, but also the reality of this fear. It’s everywhere. I see it in the patients’ eyes when they describe that they have recently been fired simply because their boss suspected that there was infection nearby…sometimes in the partner of the employee. I hear it in the interviews that I am holding with patients to better know their needs…they speak of the fear that they live with, for if anyone found out that they were positive, they would be treated poorly. Sometimes their own family members– flesh and blood– don’t even know. And I feel it too. I feel it in the air when I tell someone where I work. When the letters even leave my lips– HIV– I see the confused look come across their faces…the palpable level of discomfort is incredible. Do I have HIV, they ask. Could they really be talking to someone with HIV? What if they catch it through the air that we’re sharing?”
FSD intern Trey, halfway through his internship in Argentina, was working actively to address the pains of this reality. Trey recognized in his community a need for knowledge and empowerment–knowledge in the community about HIV, its transmission, and its reality, in order to reduce the stereotype against HIV-positive individuals, and empowerment of those individuals already infected so that they could, as he put it, “begin to live with HIV rather than die from it”...