Keeping track of our sponsored children

Last week I was locked in a regional workshop on the shores of Lake Victoria in Entebbe, Uganda. It sounds lovely in print, but besides a quick sprint to the corner shop in desperate search of chocolate, I didn’t see daylight for the four days we were there. I don’t normally get excited about conferences, but there is a major shift happening in our organisation and it is exciting. We are dramatically improving the way that we do business, particularly in sponsorship. Through sponsorship, World Vision tracks the well-being of more children in the world than any other NGO. Community volunteers visit children at least four times a year to check on their health and well-being, to share sponsor correspondence and make sure they are still living in the community. With each community that we work in having up to 2,000 children over a vast area registered for sponsorship, this is a massive undertaking. Some programmes are so remote that there is no transport, electricity or internet. Some volunteers have to cycle long distances to visit the children and record details using paper and pen. These are then entered into a computer at the nearest office with electricity (often several hours away). This has led to the occasional awkward error like a girl being recorded as being a boy or a child having moved out of the area in the few months and World Vision has not been informed. We do our best to prevent mistakes, but we’re all human. Technology is taking East Africa by storm – millions own mobile phones, computers are popping up everywhere and the fibre optic cable is bringing high speed internet to the region. World Vision is going digital with child sponsorship. We have a simple two page form (down from 8 pages), that the community volunteers can fill in and scan into a database. From here we can see how many registered children are malnourished, are immunised, have malaria, or are not in school and we can use this to inform our programmes. In most communities we work in, this kind of information is rare and most of what is available is out of date. So for example, if many of the children have diarrhoea, we will know to respond with a health and sanitation project. If immunisation levels are low, we will raise awareness of the importance of immunisation and support health centres to perform immunisation outreaches. And better still, we will go one step further and support health centres, schools and the government administration to collect this information and provide these services, so that they can provide important services to their communities.

Child Protection Work Gains Ground in Uganda

By Evelyn Despite the 5am start, I was excited to visit Lunyo and Busitema in Eastern Uganda where Irish people are supporting a child protection project. This was my first visit to Uganda and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. First up, was a meeting with the Child Protection Committee, which is working with local communities to raise awareness of child rights. It quickly became apparent that the committee members are extremely dedicated to child protection and have taken it up as a calling. I was particularly impressed with Paul Ouma, the Child Protection Chairperson for the South West Parish, who spoke of his desire that “Busia will change and become a better place to live in.”

With the support of the child protection committee, communities are now watching out for the welfare of the children, reporting cases of child abuse and working with the police to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice. As a result, the cases of child abuse are decreasing in the area. Local Solutions to Local Problems Too often we look to foreigners to give us the ‘magic pill’ which will fix all our problems. Sadly, there is no such pill. Meaningful development can only occur when communities are empowered to recognise and address their own problems - this way they are in control of their own development. This is the case with the Child Protection Committees I met in Uganda. After critically analysing their problems, community members have begun to come up with home-grown solutions. For example, a member of the Child Protection Committee for the Busia area, told me how they have started a mobile school, which offers classes every Saturday to children who cannot access school. Government support I was also really impressed by the community’s ability to engage the local government, through the District Probation Officer, Julius Ogalo, on child protection issues. While his department, like many others, was underfunded, he showed a real commitment to children’s issues. I sometimes feel that many of the government officials and leaders in African countries are unaware and do not care about how their actions impact their citizens. Many of us give up hope in the face of such apathy. However this is not the case with these communities – they seemed full of hope and resolve, with a real belief that lives can be transformed if everyone, including the government leaders and officials work together. It was truly an inspiring trip.

Finally the rains come to Kenya

And then there was rain… Rain has finally come to Eastern Kenya (and most of Kenya). Driving through Mwala, I am amazed at the difference in the landscape. The fields are now lusciously green and filled with crops. The once dried rivers are now full. The heavy rains have turned the roads into a ‘four wheel drive only’ zone and part of our afternoon is spent trying to extract our heavy-duty 4x4 from the riverbed. Looking at this scenery, one would think Mwala is a fertile area with high food production. “Visit during September/October and you will not believe it is the same place - it will be very dry and dusty,” says Frank Meme, the Mwala programme manager. “Last year’s drought and the resulting famine were extremely severe; the community was forced to rely on relief food”, he reminds us. Evelyn and I were off to visit an Irish Aid funded project in Mwala ADP, to check up on how your tax contributions have been put to work! At last, enough food! After a long, bumpy drive, we arrived at the Wali Imwe Ndigua (one piece of cloth cannot make a dress) farmers group to a red carpet welcome. Each group member told us how this project, coupled with the great rains, has drastically increased his/her yield. This farmers group had been trained in improved farming methods and received crop seeds, fruit tree seedlings, farming equipment and livestock (Galla goats and cockerels). This has dramatically improved the group’s ability to fend for themselves: For example, the group’s treasurer told us that he has harvested 500kg of maize compared to 30kg of maize the previous season. Each group member contributes a small amount of their harvest to be stored and used as seeds for the next season. The surplus food is sold at the market and the profit used to benefit the group and promote their development. The group is determined to work their way out of poverty: “Hatutaki watu wa hiki kikundi wasikie njaa tena” (we don’t want our group members to go hungry again), the group’s Chairman told us. Water Kiosks At another project site, pointing to some far off hills, the Secretary for the Water Users Association recalls the long distances community members would walk to fetch water. Irish Aid funded a food security project which enabled the construction of a borehole, water tank and eight water kiosks in this drought prone area. Water from the borehole is pumped to the water kiosks where it is distributed to community members at an affordable rate. These kiosks are placed at convenient locations, reducing the distance community members walk to fetch water. Previously, people were walking up to 20km to fetch water, which meant entire days were wasted just trying to get water. To compensate for the lack of water, clothes went unwashed and bathing became a luxury. This led to the outbreak of skin diseases and water borne diseases – misery. Making a difference Despite the brevity of our visit, it was clear that the community were 100% behind the project and were maximising all opportunities given to lifting themselves out of poverty. I was deeply humbled by their welcome and gratitude for the help they have received from Irish Aid through World Vision Ireland. I was moved by the sense of accomplishment in their voices when they showed us their crops and livestock and their hope for the future. This visit reminded me of the reason for which we do this work- we are transforming lives and restoring hope. By Evelyn in Kenya

Child Friendly Spaces in Haiti

World Vision Ireland doesn't just run development programmes in Africa. We also respond to emergency situations around the world. As soon as the earthquake in Haiti struck we launched an appeal to help the survivors. We raised nearly €100,000 from our supporters and received a grant from Irish Aid for €200,000. As a child focussed agency, we are especially concerned about the wellbeing of children. One of the things we do is we set up special centres for to care for children called ‘Child Friendly Spaces’. Children get to play and learn and really just be kids again for a little while. Counsellors are also on hand to provide support to the children traumatised by what they’ve been through. In Haiti, a lot of the children are still living in temporary camps, they may have lost family, friends and all of their possessions so they really need all the help they can get. This video shows the type of work we do in the Child Friendly Spaces. Hope you like it!

Back to blogging from Kenya

I know I’ve been conspicuously absent on my blog for the past few months and there’s been lots of interesting developments since December. For one, I now have an intern onboard! Her name is Evelyn Gathuru (see photo) and I’m going to let her introduce herself here: “After living in Canada for 5 years, where I completed an undergraduate degree in Human Biology and Sociology from the University of Toronto, I decided to move back home to sunny Kenya. After a brief re-adjustment period (e.g. remembering that Kenyans tend to drive on the left side of the road), I was ready to jump into development work in Kenya. I then decided to pursue a Post-Graduate Diploma in Project Planning and Management for Development Projects at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, which I completed in October 2009. After exposure to development issues in Kenya and the rest of Africa, I felt quite disappointed by the approach we were taking to address these issues. It did not seem like the root causes of poverty, inequality and injustice were being sufficiently addressed. Rather, it seemed like we were constantly putting out fires. I was (and still am) specifically disappointed with the lack of political goodwill to make significant positive changes in the well-being of the Kenyan population. My sincere desire to work towards bringing sustainable development and improving the well-being of Kenyans prompted me to join World Vision Ireland. I especially like their child-focused approach. I had finally found an organisation whose developmental approach was in line with my thoughts and feelings regarding development work i.e. one that was committed to working towards tackling the root causes of poverty, inequality and injustice in order to secure long-term change.” Evelyn will be working with me until at least September and she'll be helping out with the blog, so you'll be hearing plenty more from her!