Back to Newsletter Archives

April 2006

Project 1: Harvesting Hope: Maize Growing and Capacity Building Initiative
Project 2: School Scholarship Fund

Dear Friends,

I am feeling awe, gratitude and joy, as witness to your generosity for women and children affected by HIV/AIDS, who live in poverty. In only six months, you have collectively answered a call to care and respond to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Kenya. Together, you have donated over $6,000 to fully fund two vital grants for Yote Yawezekana Women’s Group. This is an amazing accomplishment worth celebrating! Your kindness is making a meaningful difference in the world. God is working through your generosity to bring about goodness, with healthy food for hungry families and hope of a brighter tomorrow for children who now attend school. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Shanna Branciforte

School Scholarship Fund Update
Eighteen children are now in school!! Some of these children had been at home, unable to pay school fees, and others were struggling to find the means to continue their schooling. In addition to tuition, students have received uniforms, shoes, exam fees and school supplies as needed. Some students have also attended tutoring classes. The children are also now enrolled in the school lunch program and receive at least one meal of maize and beans each day. The families of these children are very grateful for these blessings and proud of their sons and daughters. The schools share in their gladness. Sipeter Mukuvi, Secretary of Yote Yawezekana, shared with me in a recent letter, “We were extremely happy when we received the donation for school fees. In fact, that was the biggest problem that was facing widows of Yote Yawezekana Women’s Group. Thank you very much. May Almighty God keep you long.” The women now have the wonderful opportunity to provide their children with access to education so they continue to grow, learn and see hope in the future.

Please keep in your prayers the beautiful children now attending school: Phylista (5th grade), Shilongo (9th grade), Robert (11th grade), Mbalaka (9th grade), Muteshi (12th grade), Isanya (12th grade), Ligami (11th grade), Irene (12th grade), Mary (12th grade), Redempta (11th grade), Kevin (11th grade), Peter (6th grade), Rym (7th grade), Edwin (7th grade), Hadija (5th grade), Godwin (3rd grade), Justus (primary school), Caspa (high school).

Harvesting Hope Update
The arrival of big bags of maize seed and fertilizer, purchased with your generous gifts, signaled a new beginning, with the sustainable, income generating and nutritional Maize Growing project. The women committed to this industrious initiative have attended a three day competency-building training on agricultural and business practices in preparation for their work. The goal of the Maize Growing Initiative is to improve the quality of life for the people in Shikokho village, beginning with Yote Yawezekana women, in a productive, community-based and sustainable manner, through shared profits of the sale and use of maize as food. To date, the women have ambitiously worked together to plant seven acres of corn seed. The maize is growing well thus far and the women are hoping for the right amount of rainfall for the crops to thrive. The first weeding of the acreage will occur this month. They are working hard to create a successful harvest, despite their own health challenges that can make working in the fields very difficult.

What is Yote Yawezekana Women’s Group?
Yote Yawezekana is a self-help group run by and for the welfare of widows that have been affected both directly and indirectly by HIV/AIDS, particularly through the loss of their husbands. “Yote Yawezekana”, as the name translates, All Is Possible, was formed to give hope and support to its members. The group is comprised of 21 members (ages 25-60 years), of whom 11 are widows whose husbands died of HIV/AIDS and 10 are yet to know their HIV status. HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in this village are high, estimated at about 20%.

Yote Yawezekana is based in Western Province of Kenya, about 2 hours from Kisumu, with the surrounding area totaling 20,000 inhabitants from the Luhya Community. They are registered locally as a Community Based Organization (CBO). The CBO’s main aim has been improving the social and economic well being of widows and their families through working to uplift the standards of living. The area is one of the poorest in the country, with per capita income typically below $1 per day. Subsistence agriculture is the main economic activity including maize, sweet potatoes and some vegetables.

The village does not have electricity, running water, or a paved road linking it to the main Kisumu-Kakamega highway. There are three primary schools and one secondary school. The village has only one rural health clinic. There are no doctors and serious cases have to be taken to the provincial hospital in Kakamega town, about 15 kilometers away and Mukumu Mission Hospital, about 13km away. This journey includes going by foot or bicycle or wheelbarrow and matatu bus.

Current programs of Yote Yawezekana involve caring for others in the group who are becoming much weaker, visiting one another, and raising awareness among the widows who are HIV positive, that they can live positively and with confidence. The CBO is also actively involved in advocacy campaigns for promoting awareness among villagers of the dangers of HIV/AIDS and its impact on families.

Collaboration with The Foundation for Sustainable Development
The Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) is the fiscal sponsor to a number of projects in the developing world, run by individuals and groups from the U.S. As an IRS sanctioned not for profit (501c3) organization, FSD provides fiscal sponsorship for these projects’ and in so doing, permits tax deductibility of donations. FSD handles the oversight of our projects, including the budgeting, tax filing, and administration. Mr. Peter Ingosi, a wonderfully adept community organizer, who provided oversight and supervision of my FSD internship in Kenya, facilitates the projects we have funded. He works in the community with knowledge, skill, and a spirit of caring collaboration. You can read more about FSD here

Fair Trade Chocolate Sale A Success
This February, we held a “Fair Trade” Chocolate Sale to support the school scholarship fund. Our dedicated volunteers sold enough chocolate bars to fund high school tuition fees for two students for an entire year! The fair trade chocolates were made by the Kuapa Kokoo farmers' cooperative in Ghana. You can read more about the cooperative here