Guest Bloggers

Community health and wellness promotion took a sporting turn in Luhwahwa in December when a thousand people rallied in support of LUYODEFO’s 2011 Tournament for Change (TFC).

Change is the operative word here. TFC is a high-profile and highly-anticipated community soccer match – but it’s also one with a high-stakes game plan - Education.

As twelve teams from Kisinga sub-county battled for control of play on-pitch, bigger goals – the kind that reshape entire communities - were being pursued off pitch. “Between games and during half-time intervals, the players and almost one thousand spectators discussed critical issues like HIV awareness and the education of girls,” says Sylvia Biira, Kajwenge village representative, and Chairperson of the Luhwahwa Youth Development Foundation (LUYODEFO.) “These topics are difficult to talk about. Integrating the information sessions into something that’s fun and brings the whole community together makes sense. AIDS, the education of girls, community development – these are things that affect us all.”

The 2011 TFC evolved from a pilot event staged in 2001 which generated a strong community response. “The idea of using on-field rivalry to build off-field unity worked,” said Biira, “but we needed to make some changes. This time we used local radio to promote the event and mobilized community teams to pitch the idea to local businesses.” It was a good call. Collectively, these marketing strategies resulted in almost $650 in sponsorship being raised to support the teams. “It’s still an evolving process,” Biira notes, “ but we’ll take what we learned this time to make the next Tournament for Change ever better.”

Trophies awarded to the winning teams were highly prized but Biira is quick to point out that in a competition like this there are no losers. Each team walked away with a commemorative soccer-ball and the knowledge that they had been part of something important. “Our goal – pun intended – was to get people talking about community health and development,” Biira explains. “In 24 hours, our message of change reached over a thousand people. It was the top story on the local FM radio station. That’s the real win here.”

The energy generated on and off pitch by Biira’s Tournament For Change has created a new challenge. “Now there’s a strong demand coming from the community to get more sports programs up and running for local youth,” explains Biira. “We need to expand LUYODEFO’s resources to give our youth more opportunities – not only in sport, but in education and entrepreneurship too.” These concepts – empowerment, innovation, and sustainability – drive the group’s work and over the last ten years have spawned a diverse range of community projects (visit LUYODEFO.org for a list of current programs.) And they don’t show signs of slowing down though. “We need to help our young people recognize and achieve their potential,” says Biira. “And ensure that their needs and rights are met..”

Now there’s a goal worth shooting for.”

Blog post by Kirsti Shields

Blog post by Kirsti Shields

Six months after landing a prestigious grant to implement a revolutionary cooking technology that uses local-generated waste to make clean-burning fuel briquettes, Emmanuel Menya, Wakitaka village local representative, reports on the Cook Clean and Save the Environment (CCASTE) Program’s vital signs. “We’ve had a lot of successes,” he notes. “And we’ve learned a lot. It’s an evolving process.”

At the heart of the CCASTE program are the area’s youth. “Our young people needed to learn business, leadership and entrepreneurial skills,” Menya explains. “As they go through the CCASTE Program training we teach them important sales and marketing skills. They learn the importance of innovation. Those that go on to start their own business can apply their skills to real-life business solutions that benefit their local community.”

During the first six months of the program, interest has been strong. As of November 2011, forty youth have graduated from the first training program. Three have already started running their own briquette manufacturing enterprise. Almost twenty more have used their new business skills to start a variety of other innovative ventures, diversifying, and at the same time feeding, the local economy.

During the first six months of the program, the number of program beneficiaries has increased three-fold from thirty to ninety. “Before the Cook Clean and Save the Environment Project none of our youth had access to this kind of training,” Menya explains. “Now they’re learning to generate and implement their own business ideas. It’s very exciting.” Enrollment in the next wave of trainings is expected to be high. A visit to an established – and very successful – briquette-manufacturing facility in Kampala attracted a large turnout, and ten local youth have already been trained as “trainers of new trainers,” increasing the program’s potential to teach new trainees.

Interest in using the new fuel is high too. In the last six months CCASTE educators conducted awareness campaigns to educate local residents about the health, economic and ecological benefits of switching to the new technology. Despite patchy turn-out due to poor weather and conflicting local events, over three hundred individuals attended the two sessions.
The biggest challenge, according to Menya, is that at the moment demand for the new briquettes far outstrips supply.

“An overwhelming number of youth are interested in starting up briquette-making ventures” Menya explains, “but for most youth the high cost of the manufacturing technology remains prohibitive.” Part of the problem is that local youth lack a strong saving culture. According to an extensive baseline survey conducted during this first phase of the project, almost 60% of local youth serve as head of household. For these youth, family responsibilities restrict the amount of money they have available to save. But even among youth with fewer obligations, Menya points out, saving habits are poor.

To promote good saving habits and build a reservoir of funds for the community to draw on, CCASTE ran a series of training and education sessions focusing on how to save and use credit facilities responsibly. Early results are encouraging. In the first six months, ten youth bought into the Youth Group’s newly-created revolving Savings Program.

With the CCASTE program up and running and people lining up to make – and use – the new briquettes, the future for Wakitaka’s youth looks bright. Two years ago, the majority of the village’s youth were looking at a very different kind of future. Now, armed with key entrepreneurial skills and access to a ripening communal savings fund, they have the chance to pursue their business dreams. Those aren’t the only gains. Thanks to the cleaner-burning and ecologically-sound new fuel, the village’s physical landscape – its kitchens and woodlands – will be healthier.

“It’s been an encouraging first six months, but there’s a long way to go,” Menya cautions. “We need to increase the Wakitaka Youth Group’s resources so that we can support more youth. We need to instill a stronger savings culture in our youth and encourage entrepreneurs to invest in and access the community saving fund. We need to bring supply in line with demand.”

Menya may be right - there may still be a long way to go. But right now – thanks to Menya’s Cook Clean and Save the Environment Program - a new future is being built in Wakitaka village.

One briquette at a time.

By Halima Tahirkheli

Nabuur is pleased to introduce you to Paul Kilelu, the local representative of the Kajiado village. His dedication to fight against poverty and social equality led him to provide assistance to the International Center for the Conservation of African Range Land (ICCAR), an organization aimed at alleviating poverty, promoting woman's right, and environmental protection in Kenya.

Paul grew up in a humble background. As a child, he was responsible to look after his father's goats and cows. But he was still able to achieve good academic results in primary school, which landed him a position at a Government secondary institution. After obtaining a secondary education, Paul desperately wanted to enroll in college. But due to financial problems, he was not able to attend immediately. Paul decided to start his own business of selling and purchasing livestock in the market. He was successful in his business and decided to pursue further education in international computer driving license and aviation technology.

After graduating from college, Paul noticed many people in his community were selling their land to purchase basic needs for themselves and their family member. Selling land goes against the Kenyan culture, because many Kenyan people have a close relationship with their environment and depend on their land to grow their own ethnic food and medicinal plants. This made him realizes that he wanted to help his community to escape poverty and help them live in peace with their natural surroundings. Paul specifically wanted to find alternative ways for the local people to make a profit without selling their land.

In 2004, Paul Kilelu joined team with Philip Koitelel Pikaany and formed ICCAR. Philip is a devoted Christian with one wife and three children. He has been actively involved in fighting against poverty and gender inequality for many years. He is also a former United Nations Volunteer and was involved in assisting the government employee to address the increasing negative impact of HIV/AIDS epidemic in Kenya. With his hard work and determination, Philip has successfully built eighteen Ministerial AIDS control units formed to focus on government employee.

For over two decades, temperature warming is affecting the pastoralism Maa community. Through research and attending numerous conservation forums, Paul gained a lot of knowledge on this conservation approach. One of the highlight of the project was when Paul had the opportunity to travel to New York City to attend a forum at the United Nations headquarter. Paul learned a lot about effective ways to implement an environmental project by Government officials and people who worked in various non government organizations.

Afterward, Paul and Philip decided to help the community to adopt alternative livelihood compatible with range land conservation in order for them to cope with climate change. Paul and Philip started to work with various women groups and mixed community groups on sustainable livelihoods and environmental conservation.

The organization ICCAR focuses on using Eco-tourism, tourism that contributes to the protection of the environment, in their project in order to allow the local people to manage their land in a sustainable manner, as well as earn a reasonable income at the same time. ICCAR deals with community based Eco-tourism by linking conservation with livelihoods of the community.

While Paul and Philip were developing projects to help the powerless group to live in peace with the environment, they and their team members faced major challenges from the community and local politicians, as well as they lacked the funds to implement the project. But with the help of Jazz for Peace, a musical band, they were able to raise some money through musical fund-raising. Philip and Paul are very grateful to Rick Delarata, a band member of Jazz for Peace, for making the event a great success. Without their help, both men were not able to get any financial support for the organization. The project became popular to local people in the community and more men and women are seeking to be part of the project.

Currently Paul and his co-workers are busy with another project. They are developing a community garden to allow many local women to grow nutritious food and medicinal plants for themselves and their family members. The project also allows women to gain employment and enables them to be financially secure. Paul and his co-workers are seeking funding for the project and hopefully their plan can be implemented in the near future.

Paul feels that the environment is a serious issue in this society. He feels that many cooperation and powerful people degrade the environment for their own economic gains. The marginalized group suffers the consequences because they depend on the environment for their basic needs. As the environment continues to deteriote, the poor people will continue suffer from diseases, hunger, and illnesses, due to society's careless attitude toward the environment.

Due to the current environmental problem many people face daily in their lives, Paul strongly believes that there needs to an implementation of sustainable and conservation projects that serve at a local, national, and international level to assist the poor people to live in peace and dignity with their land. As more people become educated about the severe issue, they will realize the importance of environmental protection and make a conscious effort to not degrade the ecosystem. One way Paul believes people can fight for environmental protection is to volunteer at ICCAR. By helping the organization, they can fight against poverty, gender inequality, and environmental degradation. He is currently seeking volunteers at Nabuur to assist with his environmental projects. We are thrilled to have Paul as part the Nabuur community.

By Hary Mitchell

YOFOSO Reopens Internet Café

After over 13 months of inactivity, Youth for Sport, Restoration, and Rehabilitation (YOFOSO) in Zambia reopened their fully functional internet café at the social centre, complete with four laptops and two desktops. Having a reliable internet source at the centre will help YOFOSO to reduce the costs spent on transportation and internet usage from the other cafes.

Adding to the excitement, friends of YOFOSO have already prepaid for three months of internet service, and YOFOSO has also received two donated laptops. Due to the generosity of their friends, YOFOSO was able to donate two of their own desktops—one to a local soccer team that has managed to build a business centre to raise funds for their team, and the other one to a retired worker who wants to set up a business centre.

Having internet at the centre will help the children at YOFOSO who have been developing computer skills. Four children are currently being trained in website development and management, and it is projected that in a few months they will begin teaching their friends.

One senior youth, Leonard Charles Phiri, has already been trained in video production at a leading local institute and was able to use his skills while working as a camera assistant for the award-winning film “Mwansa the Great.” Leonard is now passing this knowledge to the younger children.

YOFOSO’s Children Featured in Award-Winning Movie

The children from Garden compound in Lusaka, Zambia, are now receiving international recognition from Zambian filmmaker Rungano Nyoni's award-winning film Mwansa the Great. Scheduled for twenty-five different festivals, the film has been traveling the world all this year, making notable stops in Madrid's Cineposible International Festival, the VIS Vienna Independent Shorts, the Tarifa African Film Festival (Spain), Curtocircuito Na Rúa (Spain), and the London International Film Festival.

Nine year old Samuel Mwale has been coming to the centre at YOFOSO since its inception, excelling in drama and traditional drumming. The pinnacle of Samuel's emerging career so far is his starring role as the young Mwansa in “Mwansa the Great”.

Samuel Mwale's acting skills earned him a scholarship, even before he starred in "Mwansa the Great." His school fees are paid for up to grade twelve. This is particularly beneficial to young Samuel and his family, since his father died in in 2006, leaving his mother to care for him and his four sisters.

The soundtrack of “Mwansa the Great” features the traditional drumming of seven to ten of YOFOSO's children. Also, a senior youth at YOFOSO, Leonard Charles Phiri, also worked as the camera assistant for “Mwansa the Great”. Leonard was trained in video production at a leading local institute and is now sharing his knowledge with the younger children at the centre.

Zambians and the community of the YOFOSO social centre eagerly await “Mwansa the Great” to return from its world travels and finally screen in Zambia. The creators of the film are working on exposing the film internationally before returning to Zambia. American film festivals in Austin and Chicago have decided at the last minute to screen the film in October, so there is evidence that is gaining a lot of ground.

Lusaka Tournament a Success

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With the successes of the inaugural Lusaka Tournament, Lusaka and the surrounding compounds experienced firsthand the joining of a profound vision and extensive community collaboration. This monumental youth sports tournament and health awareness event was held the week of August 22nd in the Chiwama compound of Lusaka, Zambia. 56 teams came from 7 compounds of Lusaka to compete in soccer and netball, while learning valuable life lessons in religion and HIV/AIDS safety.

The Garden compound's own Young Gunner's competed valiantly and came within sight of total victory. The under 10 Young Gunners ultimately lost to Mr. C.D Academy of Chaisa Compound in the semifinals, while the under 17 Young Gunners were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Black Boys of the Matero Compound. Although neither of YOFOSO's teams won it all, both the Young Gunners lost to the eventual champions in their age group.

young gunners

The overall success and impact of the Lusaka Tournament depended on the strong partnerships created by the organizing committee chaired by Mulenga Cliff", founder of Youth for Sport, Restoration, and Rehabilitation (YOFOSO). Every evening, Campus Crusade for Christ-Zambia taught the Word of God to the visiting teams camped at the community school, Cobete. Grassroots Soccer, a leading NGO dealing with HIV/AIDS issues among the youths in Zambia, educated the youths about safe health practices, gave counseling, and even tested some of the participants for HIV. More than 450 youths graduated from their program at the end of the tournament.

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The Lusaka Tournament was an initiative by the Lusaka Youth Sport Initiative, a network of local coaches from the participating communities. Because of the lack of funds for the tournament, each team had to pay a small participating fee, the highest being K50,000 (about $10 USD) for the under 17 teams.
Alive & Kicking" donated five balls, while Grassroots Soccer" donated three balls and two jerseys. These donations, plus six trophies and six sets of jerseys purchased from the participation fees, served as the prizes.

“We are hoping that this is not the last event we will be holding,” committee chairman Mulenga Cliff says. “It is our sincere hope that we be able to find sponsors for our event, as community teams have an uphill battles to raise funds to participate in the tournament.”

The communities surrounding Lusaka, and the children from the Garden active with YOFOSO, will experience the longterm legacy of the Lusaka Tournament for years to come. The partnerships made within the community are strong, with some pledging to continue support, but there can never be enough guarantees.

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By Guest Blogger Hary Mitchell

In Zambia, the YOFOSO sponsored soccer team from Garden, the Young Gunners, is about to get a chance to win it all, as the communities of Lusaka prepare for the Lusaka Tournament. This week-long sports festival and soccer tournament will be held August 22nd through 28th, with the crew at YOFOSO heading and hosting the coordinating committee.

The games will be played at a number of different schools throughout Lusaka. YOFOSO has paired up with a network of local coaches, the Lusaka Based Youth Sport Initiative, and will offer soccer tournaments for over 20 teams, each with the following age groups: boys under 10, boys under 12, boys under 14, boys under 17, and girls under 16.

The Lusaka Tournament has received abundant support from the community and other organizations. There has already been a donation of five soccer balls from the organization Alive and Kicking. These balls, along with trophies and a set of jerseys, will serve as prizes for the winning teams. In addition to the actual tournament, the staff of YOFOSO has collaborated with Grassroots Soccer to teach the participants about HIV/AIDS, and Campus Crusade to teach the Word of God.

“At the end of the day, the lesson that the teams will learn will be of great help to the kids,” YOFOSO's founder Mulenga says. “HIV/AIDS lessons have already started. Also, the kids are spending their school break learning. During this time, they could have instead chosen to get involved in the many bad vices that are found in our communities.”

In a county where the percentage of adults living with HIV/ AIDS is over 13%, health education and safe sex education is crucial for the community. It was estimated that in 2009, there were 200 new HIV infections every day. YOFOSO is eager to pair the children's excitement about sports with the important health lessons that will have lasting impact on a generation.

This Friday, June 10th, the Nabuur community will be migrated to a brand new, but much smaller server.

A message was sent out to 235 villages asking if they would like to continue to have a presence on the Nabuur website. Out of those, 31 have replied saying they would like to stay. Added to the villages we marked “active” in our initial review – this would make a total of 91 villages that would be migrated to the new server.

We will be reviewing this list again to make sure all of these should be moved. The initial message did bounce back from several villages (about 30 total) – Pelle will be sending the list of those who responded including a list of the bounced messages so that we can review and determine if any of those villages need to be moved as well. We need to have a finalized list of who to move to Frans by Thursday this week as the server migration will take place this Friday, June 10th.

There are a total of 18,436 neighbours that have never logged in to the existing Nabuur site. This means either they joined before July 2008 and were active at one time, or they never activated their account when Nabuur last moved to the current site (which accounts for the majority of these). All are in agreement that these profiles need to be archived and NOT moved to the new server. People will be able to create an account on the new server if they decide to come back.

Nabuur must be migrated to the new server within the next 12 days. Frans, Pelle, Rolf and perhaps some others will be meeting on Friday to begin this migration. It is important to note this move is to a new SERVER, it is NOT migration to the new Nabuur website. There could be some unexpected bumps in the road with the server migration, but that will not be known until it happens. Once this migration happens, fewer villages will be visible – the rest will be archived. This should be the only noticeable change to active Nabuur users.

How long will this take?

According to Frans, they need to take the existing database, run the clean up script (roughly a 12-hour job) and then set up the new site. After this, the switch can take place in roughly an hour or so.

The log-in to Nabuur will be disabled before they migrate the database. The current Nabuur site will still be visible, but you will not be able to post new messages and volunteers will not be able to create a profile while this move occurs. Once the cleaned-up server is up and running, the domain www.nabuur.com will be pointed to the new server and things should run normally.

If anyone has any problems, please be sure to post or contact us and let us know. We're all hoping everything goes smoothly with the move.

--copy of original post by Jennifer Wells--

(Submitted by Kirsti Shields)

A pioneering new alternative-fuel-generation program is making sparks in Wakitaka village.

The innovative scheme is the brain-child of Wakitaka’s youth development group, founded in 2008 to engage local youth in sustainable, income-generating activities.

Concerned by the community’s reliance on fire-wood, the group conceived the idea of converting wastes like coffee husks, sawdust and household refuse into easy-to-store fuel briquettes.

By selling the briquettes at a competitive price to individual families and small-scale community industries such as local bakeries, the group hopes to generate income to support community-development programs while cycling precious resources back into the community economy.

It’s a brilliant scheme. After all, the raw materials are generated locally, and collected without cost. Diverting domestic waste to the project cuts the village’s reliance on costly and ecologically-unsound refuse-disposal programs. “Fees that traditionally have been paid to garbage collectors can now go to support local developmental programs,” notes Emmanuel Menya, Wakitaka’s village representative.

Menya goes on to explain that there are ecological benefits too. Once the infrastructure is in place to manufacture fuel briquettes, the village’s consumption of firewood and charcoal will be slashed, allowing local woodlands – depleted by decades of firewood collection - to regenerate. Admittedly, reforestation will not occur overnight - but it won’t be long before the landscape starts to show signs of recovery. Moreover, the new briquettes promise to burn longer than conventional solid fuels, meaning that fuel supplies need to be replenished less often. They also promise to produce less smoke than conventional solid wood fuels, creating a healthier cooking environment.

Every member of the community stands to benefit from the project. Unemployed community youth – particularly those with little formal education or training - will have opportunities to develop key sales, marketing and project management skills while working towards something they know will truly transform their community. Whatever their level of involvement – from gathering raw materials to training youth from other communities in briquette-making technology – each participant will gain an understanding of the power – and the potential – of innovative thinking.

That’s not all. Community residents will benefit from a cleaner home-cooking environment, a stream-lined process for disposing of household refuse, and a greener and healthier natural landscape. Women in particular, who are traditionally responsible for the grueling and relentless task of collecting firewood, will find new hours in their day. But it’s not just families who will benefit. Local businesses, such as bakeries, which need a reliable supply of solid fuel in order to operate, will also benefit from the new scheme.

There’s a few hurdles to jump before the briquettes are in everyday use. “We solved the manpower issue by recruiting local youth to aid in waste collection and distribution of briquettes to local consumers,” Menya says, “But we still needed machines to help crush waste, blend it with chemicals, and mold it into briquettes.”

For this, they turned to the Youth Entrepreneurship Facility. Every year the YEF, in conjuction with the International Labor Organization (ILO) invites young entrepreneurs to present proposals for innovative projects that will sustainably meet the needs of applicants’ local communities. Competition for funding is fierce. Candidates advance through a rigorous screening process. Of the more than 500 proposals submitted this year by Ugandan youth organizations, only fifteen reached the prized inspection level. One of these was WYDG’s briquette production project.

Attached to the award is a $8,000 grant - enough to start up a plant to fabricate press machines and implement the infrastructure needed to get the project up and running, Menya notes. The grant will also allow the group to hire full-time project manager, Joel Kakaire, to oversee the project’s implementation. But it won’t stop there. Right now the WYDG plans to offer briquette-making, sales and marketing training to other youth groups, and make its new machines available for individuals and communities to purchase at a subsidized rate.

“This is just the start,” Menya notes. “There’s so much potential to expand the program.”

With WYDG’s ongoing training in entrepreneurism, there’s no telling how far they will go.”

(Story by Kirsti Shields)

Boards are being dusted down in Elmina, Ghana, in preparation for local representative Bernard Benyah’s latest community initiative – a colorful season of free-for-all educational theater featuring prominent local and national performers.

“We needed an impactful way to explore the behaviors, attitudes and societal structures that are feeding the area’s escalating HIV infection rates,” Benyah explains. “Infection rates rose 0.8% between 2007 and 2009. We had to get people talking.” Harnessing music, song and theater to explore issues around HIV infection, Benyah hopes his pioneering Culture for Development program – Dramatic Theater with a social conscience – will get people opening up about AIDS.

There’s a lot to talk about. Lack of access to accurate information about HIV handicaps residents’ capacity to make safe, informed lifestyle choices. In the harsh Ghanaian economy, with high rates of HIV-related mortality, widows and orphaned youth are particularly vulnerable. Many fall prey to older, sexually-active adults who promise money in exchange for sexual services, putting them at heightened risk for HIV infection. Knowledge about contraception is patchy too, Benyah points out, as evidenced by Elmina’s flourishing abortion industry. Once funding for his program is secured, Benyah envisions specially-trained education and outreach teams visiting up to thirty area villages and reaching hundreds of vulnerable residents. “By educating people about abstinence, contraception and safe sexual practices we empower them to make positive choices and positive changes.”

“But it’s not enough to teach vulnerable individuals to advocate for themselves,” Benyah adds. “Society must learn to advocate for them too.” Historically, according to Benyah, Ghanaian society has shunned HIV infected individuals. Once exposed, many lose prized roles at home, at work, and in the community further depriving them of positive support structures. As part of his work, Benyah hopes to train local community members as counselors to help mentor individuals and families impacted by HIV/AIDS and to nurture a culture of positivity of acceptance within, and towards, the HIV positive community. Here too, he sees a critical role for theater. “Theater’s powerful, yet non-threatening. It makes people feel connected.”

In a society where HIV is rife and those known to be affected are routinely ostracized, even ousted, a feeling of connectedness sounds like a good thing.

(Story by Kirsti Shields)

Tired of battling drought and an ever-declining livestock market, many Maasai farmers are tempted by outsiders’ offers to buy their land and resettle their families in nearby towns. “It’s devastating,” explains local representative Paul Kilelu of Kajiado Village. “Our land’s our biggest resource. If we abandon it - we lose everything.”

Paul urges struggling farmers not to sell but to consolidate their land-holdings into tracts of sustainably-managed land such as the Empaash Oloriento Nature Conservancy. Intelligently preserved land, Paul explains, can support vulnerable wildlife species and attract tourists. “Eco-tourism offers us a way to keep our land without being dependent on precarious climate and livestock markets,” he insists. “It’s our best hope for the future.”

Paul hopes his latest innovation - a local-language radio station presented by the community, for the community, and focusing on issues affecting area residents – will get people talking about conservation. Using on-air theater, documentaries and call-in sessions to educate local landowners about sustainable land-use Paul hopes to make eco-tourism a household word. “After all,” he observes. “Eco-tourism’s about more than making a living. It’s about saving the land. It’s about preserving our identity.”

Stay tuned.

- To get involved with Kajiado Village, please click here.

[The following is a post by guest blogger Kirsti Shields]

On a dry day the treacherous 10-mile trip from Belo to Mbessa – through Cameroon’s Ijim Mountain forests - takes four hours on foot. In the rainy season it can take nine or ten. Now, thanks a pioneering taxi program, a Belo elder reaches family in Mbessa in less than thirty minutes. A mother used to toting her child to hospital gets there and back in a morning.

Surprisingly, these are just the incidental beneficiaries of Reverend Teh’s innovative mission. The true beneficiaries are less recognizable. Most are between four and fourteen years of age. The majority have no immediate family to care for them – because they are orphans, or because their surviving parent is incapable of parenting them due to serious mental or physical illness.

Struck by the plight of children like Juliette, 10, who lives with her ailing grandmother – herself a struggling subsistence farmer - and ten other children, Teh Francis - local pastor, educator, and Jinkfuin village representative - conceived the Goodness and Mercy Mission in 2007. Central to his vision was GMM’s Sponsorship Program, which to date has found sponsors for more than 50 vulnerable children. But sponsor recruitment is a slow process; many children wait years for a match.

In 2009 Reverend Teh – working with Nabuur neighbors – founded Jinkfuin Elementary school to provide unsponsored youth with a subsidized education, but these children remained gravely disadvantaged. “We had to find a sustainable way of supporting them,” Reverend Teh recalls, “until they found a sponsor.”

“Running a motorbike taxi – with proceeds directly benefiting these children – was a logical idea,” he says. Many local roads are only passable seasonally, he adds and even under optimum conditions can’t be navigated on four wheels. Car-taxis operate on more serviceable roads but don’t depart until they are fully-loaded imposing lengthy waits – and crowded journeys – on passengers. The need was there, but the funding wasn’t.

Then, in 2010 Teh Francis’s project proposal caught the eye of Paul Stahlberg from Catalyst Exhibits, a US-based marketing company. With CE’s support, GMM first motorbike taxi hit the road running in 2009, picking up fares at a central point in Belo town and making upwards of 20 runs a day. Thanks to sponsorship by US moving company Bekins Van Lines – facilitated by Paul Stahlberg – two more bikes have been added to the “fleet.” “But we need more,” Teh Francis adds, “more, so we can help more children.”

The motorbike-taxi project has proved both profitable and sustainable. The 20-mile round-trip from Belo to Mbessa costs about $18 in the dry season – doubling when rain makes navigating the hilly terrain difficult. Shorter runs on better roads cost less. So far proceeds have “bridged the gap” for 25 unsponsored children like Juliette, and have also funded computers for an ICT program. “What we thought was a little thing has become a big thing,” says Reverend Teh. “Many have been helped.”

At www.gmmafricachild.org you can read the profiles of children – including Juliette - still waiting for sponsors. “Many are in desperate situations and need immediate intervention,” the Reverend Teh implores. Sponsorship starts at only $15 a month, but until there’s a cyber-equivalent of GMM’s taxis to get word where it needs to go it’s up to us to help spread the word.

Visit www.gmmafricachild.org for more information.

Let’s all get on board!