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Published: September 24th 2006
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Now let me tell you about a couple of organizations who stand out for me that embody the local community based approaches that are resonating with me: C-MEDA and St. Rita’s Community Based Orphanage. One has led me to the other.
I first came across C-MEDA (Community Mobilization and Economic Development Agency) when I attended a good governance seminar in Nakuru my second week here. Unfortunately it has taken me a month or two to reconnect with their CEO Anne-Marie. But a conversation that Anne-Marie and I had in those early days has stayed with me. We talked about supporting orphans to stay in their home communities with a relative or friend of the family acting as guardian has stuck. This in stark contrast to institutionalizing children - pulling them out and away from their roots. There is no formal registration required of orphanages and though there are government standards - there is really not any enforcement. There is also no notion of state wards or state status for orphans. No social safety net here. So many orphans fall through the cracks, are abused or are treated as second class citizens. So when you see this how can you not
help but want to create an orphanage. And this goes on all the time - hearing of foreigners and missionaries individually or as a group coming to start an orphanage. On one hand at least someone is trying to look after the children. But sometimes this results in the creation of homes for children without sustainable means to feed, clothe or educate - despite all the good intentions.
I was at an orphanage the other day, run by some wonderful caring catholic sisters. It was 2 pm in the afternoon and they did not know where the supper meal was coming from. They were waiting for God to provide for the 40 children in their care. They assured us that God will tell someone to drop a donation of food off. Now I am not one to interfere with divine intention and intervention. But I walked away feeling quite disturbed. Where was the proactive meal planning? I had also noted a small vegetable patch that looked tired and was overgrown with weeds. Could there not be a garden to provide fresh vegetables? Certainly donations help but what of the responsibility to ensure there is a meal everyday…let alone 3?
So take this example and now let’s scale this problem. Remember there is an estimated 1 million orphans in Kenya. And this number is growing daily with each HIV/Aids related deaths.
So you have independent orphanages all over the place springing up often with 40 to 100 children. So the question becomes how do you help these orphanages become sustainable. And this is where C-MEDA comes in. They are teaching orphanages to farm so that they can provide for the bulk of their own needs and also sell surplus crops and create other income generating activities. They are also sensitizing and promoting the care of orphans in home villages and rural areas through support groups and family sponsorships. They are proactively trying to identify future orphans (children with one or both parents dying from aids) to ensure the supports and the community are around them when their parents die. C-MEDA works with the leaders and management teams of orphanages to increase their capacity to manage the orphanage and provide the necessary supports for their kids over the long term - including nutritional meals. This is not a short-term, in and out, project. We are talking the parenting of children - which we all know is a life long commitment! So what impresses me about C-MEDA is that they are locally based - a Kenya based NGO working to support, build the capacity and promote the sustainability of orphanages. They are also promoting and supporting a new community based model of orphan care. Yes a village raises a child.
It is C-MEDA that has introduced me to St. Rita’s. Just down the road from Kisumu in Donga, a women has started a program that supports over a 130 orphans by supporting and working with their families of origin. Bernadette has come home to her parents rural home - she lost them and her siblings to aids. Bernadette has left a career in human resources to do this work. She keeps two homes - one with her husband in Nairobi and the one in Donga. She spends most of her time in Donga.
Bernadette, a cook and several volunteers provide 1 meal a day for the 130 children aged 3 to 14. This sometimes is the only meal these children get. We are talking extreme poverty. And we are talking porridge and beans. Bernadette and her team work with the families to encourage same and fair treatment of the orphans in the family unit. They do this by working with and feeding all the children in the family unit. They keep a watchful eye for abuse. The work with the family to live positively with aids. Bernadette and her team also encourage the children to stay and excel in school, often working with the kids to help them with spelling, reading and math. Most are already behind when the start primary school because pre-school and kindergarten are not free or universal. It has only been 4 years since free and universal primary education was introduced in Kenya. The system is still reeling to accommodate the millions of children who almost overnight ended up in primary school. Secondary school - grades 7 to 12 - continues not to be universal or free. But Bernadette is proud of her 20 kids that have moved on to secondary. She is helping by sponsoring these children.
Bernadette for the most part supports these children with her own funds and modest donations from the local community - which she seeks support from daily - after the kids go back to school. She is farming a small plot to help with daily requirements and has been talking with C-MEDA about developing a small dairy - for their own needs but also to create income.
When I return from Pakistan in three weeks time, I am hoping to spend more time with C-MEDA and St. Rita’s. I also promise to have some photos -- ended up not having the camera the day I met Bernadette. But I have included photos of the brilliant sunsets observed almost nightly in Kisumu. The picture of course does not do the sunset justice. Never have I seen such vibrant colors -- particularly the red. Someone was saying the other night that Kisumu was rated as one of the top ten places in the world to view a sunset -- I get that!
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Chica Sue
non-member comment
Agriculture in Africa
Hey Chica - what a great update. Can't help but muse about the synergies between what the CSF is trying to do in terms of agriculture in Alberta - and what the need is there in terms of creating a sustainable food supply for these orphanages....hmmm...get's one thinking! Take care. Luv, Chica Sue, Pica Chica and Ben xoxoxox