Firelight Foundation

One of the best ways to change vulnerable children's lives is to support the local grassroots organizations serving children and families in need. Through our blog, "Ubuntu", we hope to bring you rich insight into what makes these communities and groups so resilient, effective, and remarkable by bringing you a diversity of voices and perspectives--especially those from the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in which we work.

"Ubuntu" is an ethical concept of African origin that emphasizes community, sharing, and generosity, and is organized around the central belief that we're all connected to each other by our common humanity. We hope that our blog serves to connect our various communities even more, by providing glimpses into the lives of the children, families, and communities in Africa facing extraordinary challenges with extraordinary solidarity and courage.

We want to hear from you! Please use the comment function here or write to us at communications@firelightfoundation.org. Tell us what you're interested in hearing more about. We want to make our blog useful to those looking for new and better ways to support communities changing children's lives.

No such thing as a ’small’ injustice

May 26, 2010

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
–Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963
We here at Firelight were saddened last week to learn of the imprisonment of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga in Malawi and earlier this week about Zimbabwe ruling out the inclusion of gay rights in the new [...]

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Connecting to our Grantees

May 13, 2010

I live in a country where individuality is highly esteemed.
But I believe that even as we treasure our own independence, we are nourished and empowered when we experience ourselves not as separate isolated people, but as part of a vast web of life, connected to others and using our passion and abilities to uplift the [...]

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A Tribute to All Who Mother

May 3, 2010

I became a mother three years after my own mother died of cancer. She died peacefully surrounded by her immediate family. She left a gaping hole in all of us who had been profoundly touched by this amazing woman named Zodwa.
I had always looked up to my mother, even during my adolescent years when our [...]

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What do change, justice, and innovation have in common? The “social” part, of course…

April 28, 2010

“Intersections: Social Change, Social Justice, and Social Innovation”—this was the theme of this year’s Council on Foundations gathering in Denver, which just ended yesterday.
It’s a welcome theme from my perspective—very aligned with the work of the Firelight Foundation and its partners. And the Council on Foundations, America’s premier philanthropic association, has delivered solidly on this [...]

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Dispatch from the 2010 Global Philanthropy Forum

April 26, 2010

I’m just back from the ninth annual Global Philanthropy Forum in Redwood City, California.
GPF exemplifies a particular type of philanthropic spirit, tied to the mindset of Silicon Valley. It’s ambitious, can-do, and its view is global.  The same part of the country that has sprouted Yahoo and Google out of garages and dorm rooms has [...]

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Grassroots Organizations Key to Protecting Vulnerable Children in Zimbabwe

April 20, 2010

Over the last few years, Zimbabwe has often made the headlines with news of hyperinflation, election fraud, and political violence.
With the situation now somewhat stabilized, Firelight sent me to visit 22 of our 27 Zimbabwean partners in February 2010.
I asked each organization what challenges they faced during the period of socio-political economic breakdown to understand [...]

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Interview with Mrs. Rufaro Mutsau: A “Stubborn Woman”

April 16, 2010

Mrs. Rufaro Mutsau, the director of one of Firelight’s grantee organizations, Ingalo Zomusa Orphan Care Trust of Gwanda, Zimbabwe, visited Firelight earlier this month.
(See Santa Cruz Sentinel article “Firelight Foundation offers grassroots support to those orphaned by AIDS,” for more information on Ingalo Zomusa, Rufaro Mutsau, and Firelight.)

During her stay, Mrs. Mutsau sat for [...]

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Sitting at Her Feet

April 6, 2010

The Firelight offices feel empty this week—the wake left in the departure of Mrs. Rufaro Mutsau, the director of one of Firelight’s grantee organizations, Ingalo Zomusa Orphan Care Trust of Gwanda, Zimbabwe (see blog on Ingalo Zomusa’s work, “40 Arms of Mercy“).
In her two weeks in California, Mrs. Mutsau showed herself to be the force [...]

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40 Arms of Mercy

March 30, 2010

“Foster Mothering” for Households Headed by Orphaned Teens
When Vusile’s parents died of AIDS, the rural Zimbabwe teen became the head of his household—home to his five elementary school-age brothers and sisters.
Devastated, he struggled to add a roof to their then unfinished house so they at least had shelter, he recalls.
Volunteers from Firelight Foundation grantee [...]

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A Certificate to Life

March 18, 2010

A birth certificate is just a small piece of paper, but for 7-year-old Johnson and thousands of other children in rural Tanzania, it is their ticket to education, health care, inheritance rights, and much more.
Johnson’s stepmother learned about the importance of registering him when a Tujikomboe Group volunteer with a loud speaker visited the market [...]

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