THE CLOTH AND THE MUD, NUMBER 32
WINTER, 2008
NEWS FROM FABULOUS AFRICAN FABRICS, A 501 (c) (3) ORGANIZATION
1158 Kensington St. NW/ Grand Rapids, MI 49534
616-735-4109 and 727-733-9694
Our Mission: to support agencies working with AIDS widows and orphans in Africa and to educate others about the AIDS crisis in Africa
NEWS FROM AFRICA
This issue emphasizes news of unrest in Kenya and how our agencies work there. Organizational news will be covered in further issues. Due to the urgency of the situation in Kenya, we may print additional issues this year. Our website will have updates as well.
RIOTING
The Good Samaritan Home is located in the Mathare Slum in Nairobi. Most of the people in this area are Kikuyu, so have better protection from the government and police. We heard from the Good Samaritan Home on January 7, 2008. The message is reprinted below.
Hello Laura
Happy New Year!
Greetings to you from Good Samaritan Children’s home.
We trust this e-mail finds you in good health.
We would like to appreciate your effort to see that our home is able to put ends meet, May God bless you dearly. We in Kenya have been hit hard with rioting
and chaos but have seen us through this difficult time full of fear and tension.
Great all members of FAF. Pass our regards to them we appreciate their concern to us. We also invite you and FAF to visit us here in Kenya.
Regards
Mercy Staff & Children
This e-mail was sent to thank FAF for a recent $2020 electronic transfer.
Although most of our money is sent without stipulation to its use, this was given in response to a request for tuition funds.
No message has been received from Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya since early in December. This is not surprising, as we hear from them only once a year in an annual report—see article below. WOFAK has four locations around the country, including Kisumu, Kenya’s third largest city, site of very serious riots.
FAF member, Lib Segel has been forwarding reports that she received from David Etheridge, and others, who work with the FMW Quakers in Kipkarren River Kenya, a non-Kikuyu area. Etheridge has been sending reports daily. Here is an excerpt from his e-mail of January 11.
The major news of the day is that the internally placed people [seeking shelter] at Lumakanda School were being moved today to the IDP camp at Turo. There are already 15,000 to 20,000 people there at two sites. The Lumakanda folks will be there together at the Tubo Police station. I’ll be able to visit them there, but this will be difficult: it is at least 5 miles down the road from us. So I’ll have to walk to the junction at the main road and take a matutu [taxi/bus] to Turbo and back. Now there won’t be two times a day visits. The school classrooms, as expected, are extremely dirty and I hope that someone will clean them up before school opens on Monday. . . .
[Etheridge goes on to give the story of his son-in-law who is a motorcycle taxi driver.] Job said that all the motorcycle taxi drivers stayed out of the violence, partly because they were charging double for rides and thus making a good income. Also the winning MP [member of Parliament] from this area, Cyrus Jirongo, had met with drivers and told them not to participate in any tribal violence due to the election. According to Job, most of the bicycle taxi drivers also stayed out of the looting, but of course in terms of class, a motorcycle taxi driver is far above a bicycletaxi driver.
He told me that during the days of no transportation he would sometimes drive people to Webuye about 25 miles to the west of Lumakanda. Job said that he would be stopped at Kipkarren River (and perhaps elsewhere) and [be] asked to show his ID and say something in his native language to indicate that he was not a Kikuyu.
Etheridge expresses his hopes to meet with a local group that did some looting. His stepson reports that there is still a lot of tension in Nairobi. The stepson predicts there will be rioting this week [Jan 13]. Etheridge hears Kenyans criticizing Western reporting of the situation, and he will write his analysis contrasting Western news sources and the facts on the ground soon.
If any of you are interested in getting these reports from Lib, you can contact her at
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I will attempt to post updates on our website, but there seems to be some problem between my computer and the website at this time.
WOMEN FIGHTING AIDS IN KENYA
Charles Kaduwa, Program Officer of WOFAK sent FAF a detailed year-end report which noted that FAF funds had been used for feeding 50 orphans on four weekends during the year. The children are fed by another agency during the week, but on the weekends they have little chance of getting food. One mother who is very sick with AIDS spoke about how happy she is that her little daughter does not go hungry on weekends.
On December 12 Charles wrote
I write to you on the instructions of our Executive Director, Ms. Dorothy Onyango, who is currently out of Nairobi on official functions at the coast, 520km away from Nairobi. We wish to acknowledge receipt of the funds [$2000], which you sent to us. Our bankers have just called to confirm the same and we are quite grateful to you and your entire office for this heartfelt generosity.
Towards end of Christmas every year, we normally have a Christmas party for the orphans we serve, especially at our Kayole resource centre. This year, we are not that lucky to get people to support the activity. We are therefore suggesting that we use these funds to support the occasion, which this year, will bring together about 350 orphans, many below the ages of 15 years.
If this proposal is fine with you, kindly let us know so that we may begin the preparations.
With the agreement of the board, I responded to this letter with “Let the preparations begin!” I asked for pictures of the party, and hope that they can soon be posted on the website.
EMPHASIS ON CHARITY
FAF’s best year for raising money was 2007, as we sent $8450 to our two agencies during the year.
The Rotary Grant to the Good Samaritan Home of $13,000 announced in the Spring Cloth and the Mud was not completed because the Rotary club in Kenya did not open a bank account with their matching grant of $200.00. Therefore Rotary International headquarters was not able to send the money raised in Florida along with its matching grant to the Good Samaritan Home. We have been given no reason for this refusal from Kenya.
Several new books and websites came out about charitable giving just prior to the end of 2007. Here are 6 keys to a successful nonprofit as reported in the New York Times on Dec. 20.
- Advocate and Serve. A campaign for political action is recommended. Note
that 501 (c) (3)s must vow not to engage in politics in order to get their IRS status. Other types of advocacy and service are allowed.
- Make markets work. Great nonprofits do not rely on traditional giving only, but work with market forces. An example would be FAF’s sales.
- Inspire Evanlgelists. Volunteers are not only a source of funds, but are advocates for the cause.
- Nurture Nonprofit Networks. Share wealth, expertise, talent, and power with
Other nonprofits.
- Master the Art of Adaptation. Listen, learn and modify.
- Share leadership. Engage Boards. Have a strong second in command.
How are we doing? The Board of FAF would like feedback on this.
Evaluating Charities. These websites evaluate charities. We are not listed yet, but if we continue to grow, we will be included.
www.charitynavigator.org. www.give.org www.guidestar.org
www.charitablechoices.org
AIDS AND WESTERN HELP IN AFRICA
Daniel Halprin, a senior research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health presented this argument in The New York Times on January 1. Although this article does not address orphan/widow problems, it relates to FAF’s giving in Africa.
Many millions of African children and adults die of malnutrition, pneumonia, motor vehicle accidents and other largely preventable, if not headline-grabbing conditions. I was struck by this discrepancy between Western donor’s priorities and the real needs of Africans last month, during my most recent trip to Africa. . . . .
If one were to ask the people of virtually any African village (outside some 10 countries devastated by AIDS) what their greatest concerns are, the answer would undoubtedly be the less sensational, but more ubiquitous ravages of hunger, dirty water and environmental devastation. The real-world needs of Africans struggling to survive should not continue to be subsumed by the favorite causes de jour of well-meaning yet often uninformed Western donors.
LIFE IN THE GOOD SAMARITAN HOME
Previously The Cloth and the Mud has mentioned the work of Randy Bell and his documentary about the Good Samaritan Home. In his film Randy follows several orphans from the childhood in the home to adult independence.
Randy is winding his work down, and sent a summary of his last visit on December 16, 2007 to FAF President, Christine Coggins. There he cites some successes and some continuing struggles. Ochieng has started an NGO to help people in the slum. They run a pharmacy and a sewing school with limited success. He also organized a number of anti-AIDS outreach sessions. Boss has a good job and a child, but his new TV and DVD player were stolen. Njambi was scheduled to go to beauty school, but had a second baby so can not attend now.
Below is Randy’s story of Mary.
Mary attended school on the outskirts of Nairobi with a group of teenagers from Good Samaritan. One day she left school late and walked back to the orphanage by herself. She took a shortcut through the woods and three men attacked her. They tried to rape her, but she screamed and fought back and a few older men came to her rescue. The assailants escaped, and Mary, afraid they would find her, left school the next day and went to her grandparents’ house. Mary was scared of going back to school, and asked if I could help her transfer to a new school.
Unfortunately, I’m not in a position to find Mary a new school and told her she would need to talk to Auntie [Mercy Thuo], who makes all the decisions about education for the children from Good Samaritan. At first Mary was reticent, but eventually she agreed and came to Nairobi.
Auntie, though, was furious at Mary for leaving school without telling her, and she suspected Mary was pregnant as her behavior follows the pattern of many teen pregnancies in Kenya. When Auntie learned the real story she was even angrier—to change schools May would need to repeat her 3rd year, and that was too expensive. Auntie told Mary that since she wasn’t raped it wasn’t a big deal, that nearly all Kenyan women have been attacked, and that she simply shouldn’t walk home from school alone and she shouldn’t take the shortcut. Under no circumstances would Auntie condone a transfer to another high school.
Mary decided she’d rather not attend school at all than return to her previous school, so she went back to live with her grandparents. At least for now, it looks like Mary will not finish high school.
For a complete copy of this report, contact www.orphansofmathare.com/mathareproject/ and www.floatingfilms.org
THANKS FOR SPECIAL HELP
FAF thanks all of the special people mentioned above who are working on the ground to help others in need. FAF also thanks the many members and friends who together donated over $1000.00 to the Anthony Salazar Fund in December. Today’s news points out the necessity for FAF to raise and hold emergency funds.
PASS IT ON
Members are the life blood of this organization. Do you know someone who might like to join our work? Pass on a brochure or this membership form; or e-mail Laura at our website www.laurafabulousafricanfabrics.org or
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or Christine Coggins at
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with the name of the potential member and we will do the rest.
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