A grassroots group in Zimbabwe, Shingirirai Trust, is teaching paper-making as a source of revenue and creativity in their community.

This slideshow shows the first class, a small group who will then become the trainers for others in their community. Classes are on the way for young people, a group of teachers, and volunteers from within the organization.

The class instructors are thinking outside the box from the start, encouraging participants to create entirely new designs. Shingirirai Trust chose a grassroots technique that limits the size of the paper, but [...]]]>

A grassroots group in Zimbabwe, Shingirirai Trust, is teaching paper-making as a source of revenue and creativity in their community.

This slideshow shows the first class, a small group who will then become the trainers for others in their community. Classes are on the way for young people, a group of teachers, and volunteers from within the organization.

The class instructors are thinking outside the box from the start, encouraging participants to create entirely new designs. Shingirirai Trust chose a grassroots technique that limits the size of the paper, but makes the entire process, even the drying process, possible from back yards so they are not dependant on a source of electricity.

Shingirirai Trust is a Firelight grantee partner in Harare, Zimbabwe. They work in the informal settlements of Mabvuku, Tafara, and Caledonia, where they offer an educational environment for children at six Early Learning Centers. Their program encompasses physical, social, cognitive, health, emotional, and moral development of the child. They are constantly adapting and improving their curriculum, seeking that, “apart from education it encourages inner strength for life.”

The 2008 water shortages and cholera outbreaks in Zimbabwe created a dangerous situation affecting 100,000 people leading to 4,000 deaths. It was hard for parents and caregivers to get adequate food for children, as many people were near starvation. Chiedza Community Based Orphan Welfare Organization (Chiedza) say that in 2008, you could really see the HIV pandemic taking its toll, as people could not rely on a steady supply of medication or adequate food.

Firelight funds Chiedza’s chicken income-generating activities in four villages. Their profits [...]]]>

The 2008 water shortages and cholera outbreaks in Zimbabwe created a dangerous situation affecting 100,000 people leading to 4,000 deaths. It was hard for parents and caregivers to get adequate food for children, as many people were near starvation. Chiedza Community Based Orphan Welfare Organization (Chiedza) say that in 2008, you could really see the HIV pandemic taking its toll, as people could not rely on a steady supply of medication or adequate food.

Firelight funds Chiedza’s chicken income-generating activities in four villages. Their profits are used to support the education, health, and nutrition needs of vulnerable children. Due to water shortages, communities had difficulty keeping the chickens alive. They transported water from the river and the hospital, but it was not easy to find enough.

When the situation improved,  Chiedza had emerged more assertive and strategic. They realize they are not out of the woods yet as water shortages are still possible, but they have now set up a system of community contributions to ensure they have food stocks for six months. Each household supplies ten kilograms of maize after the harvest, churches contribute, and women work together to till special plots of land whose harvest is designated for orphaned children. Chiedza notices that children’s health is improving, “life has been restored to most of our villages.”

This Friday greeting tells you more about one of our grantee partners in Tanzania, WOMEDA (Women Emancipation and Development Agency)!

Happy Friday, everyone. We hope it’s a great one!

Education is a necessity.

That’s Reformed Open Community Schools (ROCS) tagline and they know what they’re talking about. They’ve made education a reality for over 15,000 vulnerable children in rural and urban areas of Zambia.

We had the great opportunity to talk with Sonnile Phiri, ROCS Community Development Coordinator when she visited Santa Cruz late last year. She was in town to talk with several people about ROCS including the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Opportunity Collaboration UnConference and all of us at Firelight Foundation. It’s [...]]]>

Education is a necessity.

That’s Reformed Open Community Schools (ROCS) tagline and they know what they’re talking about. They’ve made education a reality for over 15,000 vulnerable children in rural and urban areas of Zambia.

We had the great opportunity to talk with Sonnile Phiri, ROCS Community Development Coordinator when she visited Santa Cruz late last year. She was in town to talk with several people about ROCS including the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Opportunity Collaboration UnConference and all of us at Firelight Foundation. It’s something Firelight does as often as we can, bring African community leaders to talk with our staff and to connect them with others in the U.S. to discuss the many solutions African leaders implement everyday in their communities.

Hear what Ms. Phiri had to say…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juiN_DTrRAw

What does this photograph say to you?

About this photo:  Dila Perera, Firelight Program Officer, took this photograph while visiting Rwandan grantee partner Let the Little Children Come to Me (LLCCM) late last year. Every Saturday, LLCCM brings children and youth together who are either orphaned or in the process of being adopted to give them the chance to run and play, and to truly be children. This Bible was sitting on a table in their small meeting hall, an unknown [...]]]>

What does this photograph say to you?

About this photo:  Dila Perera, Firelight Program Officer, took this photograph while visiting Rwandan grantee partner Let the Little Children Come to Me (LLCCM) late last year. Every Saturday, LLCCM brings children and youth together who are either orphaned or in the process of being adopted to give them the chance to run and play, and to truly be children. This Bible was sitting on a table in their small meeting hall, an unknown child had written “don’t worry” on it, perhaps capturing what they hoped all the children would feel during the Saturday gatherings.

Meet Firelight Grantee Partner, the Mara Widows Development Group in Tanzania, a grassroots group making a big difference for children.

In 2002, four women in Tanzania came together to help widows affected by HIV to take care of their families. Calling themselves the Mara Widows Development Group, they quickly assessed the greatest needs in their community. When they saw the great poverty and stigma street children, orphans and vulnerable children and families faced, they decided to expand their programs to also [...]]]>

Meet Firelight Grantee Partner, the Mara Widows Development Group in Tanzania, a grassroots group making a big difference for children.

In 2002, four women in Tanzania came together to help widows affected by HIV to take care of their families. Calling themselves the Mara Widows Development Group, they quickly assessed the greatest needs in their community. When they saw the great poverty and stigma street children, orphans and vulnerable children and families faced, they decided to expand their programs to also focus on children.

The Mara Widows Development Group has now organized Child Protection Committees in all 13 wards of the Musoma district in Tanzania. The Committees were formed in collaboration with local government officials to address violence against children. They help to identify vulnerable children and to distribute food, educational support, and other donations from community members. Mara Widows also provides trainings in care and support for children, helping to promote a protective environment free from violence. Each committee is trained by a social worker about how best to care for vulnerable children and about the importance of family-based care. The local “funds” of community-donated food, clothing, and other material items have created a safety net to draw from when children and families need it.

Mara Widows Staff states, “In our community… orphans are seen like the lost among the living,” and this group is doing something to

Children at the Mara Widows Development Group

change that. As a membership organization, they reach approximately 120 vulnerable children by assisting caregivers, including widows and families who have opened their homes to orphans.

Firelight Foundation funding supports the participation of 40 caregivers to participate in an economic-livelihood program, which trains caregivers in small business development and management, operating a revolving loan fund, monitoring their progress, and providing feedback to participants.

Mara Widows Development Group continually encourages community participation and has leveraged government support through its advocacy for better laws, policies, and structural reforms to better prevent violence against children. They are a humble yet tenacious organization that has evolved into, “a place to turn to,” for community members and children in need.

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This story was written by Mia Schmid, a Firelight Foundation Volunteer.

A wise man once said that the support he received helped him to be where he is today–helping thousands of children. He said it was like they were planting a tree.

See what else Saeed Wame, Executive Director of Namwera AIDS Coordinating Committee, a Firelight grantee partner in Malawi had to say in this powerful video.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BojNxi-3Cpg

Do you have a message for Saeed? Post it below!

On a recent trip to Zimbabwe, Firelight Program Officer Aili Langseth visited Gwai Grandmothers. This grassroots organization was started by a group of grandmothers who joined together to help children who had lost their parents and had become the heads of their households. All the children are now placed with extended family, but the grandmothers continue to bring the children together twice a week. They help to relieve the expenses of adding children to the family by providing meals and they [...]]]>

On a recent trip to Zimbabwe, Firelight Program Officer Aili Langseth visited Gwai Grandmothers. This grassroots organization was started by a group of grandmothers who joined together to help children who had lost their parents and had become the heads of their households. All the children are now placed with extended family, but the grandmothers continue to bring the children together twice a week. They help to relieve the expenses of adding children to the family by providing meals and they also take this time to teach children things like laundry, cleaning, hair styling and other things that children would typically learn from their parents growing up.

The children were visiting at the same time Aili was and she took the video below. One of the grandmothers had started the children off with a song and then children took over from there. Aili said, “What I love is that they are so free to share their dancing.”  She said the grandmothers took their turn next, laughing and singing for the children.

No program is complete without the time to celebrate and have fun, the children at Gwai Grandmothers are a great example of that.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-C2O8ZCDCM

In the wake of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Zambia, the founders of Lupwa Lwabumi Trust (LLT) found that the greatest impact on children was the loss of traditional family and community structures. That’s when this grassroots organization, established in 2004, decided to address issues of family disintegration and child separation. Families are typically the safest place for children to grow up, so LLT provides support to children who have lost their parents through family and community support groups [...]]]>

In the wake of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Zambia, the founders of Lupwa Lwabumi Trust (LLT) found that the greatest impact on children was the loss of traditional family and community structures. That’s when this grassroots organization, established in 2004, decided to address issues of family disintegration and child separation. Families are typically the safest place for children to grow up, so LLT provides support to children who have lost their parents through family and community support groups that reinforce a safety net for them.

LLT has formed Family Circles, which are clusters of families who live in close proximity to each other and who develop solutions to local problems by talking among family groups and through community-based savings and loan groups. Families share challenges, collaborate, and develop community-wide solutions. If there is an issue in a family, community facilitators hold a family conference to reflect on how to positively change a child’s wellbeing. The success of their approach is documented in part by their reach: upwards of 800 children receive wide support from 38 family circles and 85 self-help groups. By creating a social safety net for children, LLT’s model ensures community responsibility for caring for the vulnerable.

LLT’s approach to community involvement is unique and organic. They understand that each family has its own culture,

An LLT diagram illustrating organization of family circles

personalities, and history and that these factors influence how a family will function and the inherent problems it will face. With this understanding, they utilize community participation as a core strategy to lasting change. This grassroots group remarks that because they have been “walking together” with children and families, they have seen community ownership over the Family Circles and support groups.

LLT has successfully expanded a network of support for children who have lost their parents and who are progressively becoming their own advocates. They have done this through their support groups and by linking government ministries and organizations that provide critical services to families.

A Family Circle meeting

By linking and networking key stakeholders, LLT hopes to bring greater attention to the issues concerning children and families and to effect national-level change. LLT engages their beneficiaries in a way that places trust in the hands of the community to find sustainable solutions to the problems they face.

As a result, the communities have embraced the Family Circle model and have assisted each other on a daily basis without LLT prompting. It is this model of support that LLT hopes will bring about improved child welfare, whereby children experience security, protection, and dignity.

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This blog was written by Mia Schmid. Mia is a Firelight Globally Engaged Youth Volunteer and a recent graduate of the University of Denver where she studied International Studies with a focus on International Development, Health, and Gender.

Enjoy this video of women at Simukai Street Youth Programme in Zimbabwe who have taken a moment to celebrate the success of their beautiful garden.

Simukai advocates for children’s safety and protection by providing childcare to schools and churches, family and child counseling, and vocational skills for children out of school.

TGIF!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2ZeQYlwqHs