Give A Child Life

Just Returned from El Salvador.

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to El Salvador. Here are a few updates:

1. The flooding did not leave hugely visible scars, but it did wipe out the crops, particularly the corn and beans. Many of the families at the Center have small plots a few miles away where they grow food to supplement what they can buy. This food was destroyed. Hunger will be a problem until they can grow new crops. Right now, they are worried about getting the funds to buy more seeds.

I became concerned after seeing some of the children. One girl in particular had lost a lot of weight. She had amoebic dysentery.  The flooding created additional water contamination because of the run-off. I asked Carlos to set up a five week program giving a healthy lunch with meat to the 12 sickest and hungriest children while the Center closed for the holidays.  

2. Water in general continues to be a serious concern. The government has started putting in a system in a nearby neighborhood; El Zaite is next on the list. But we can only believe it will happen once it starts. Carlos and I decided to buy 13 water filters sold by Cortaid, a nonprofit organization in El Salvador. We'll give 10 to the families with the children suffering most often from dysentery/diarrhea and put 3 in the Center: 1 in each classroom and 1 in the kitchen. When the children arrive at the Center in the morning, they'll dump the water they bring into the filters and in an hour or so, they'll have clean water to drink. This will help them get used to water filtration. We plan to track whether the children’s health improves.

3. The 900 books we distributed last spring made a huge difference. For the first time, all of the children graduating from the Center are entering kindergarten already reading. Parents described how the books "opened up their children's imaginations". I found the books in the families' homes, usually on low shelves where children could reach them easily. They clearly were much used. On this trip, I brought three huge suitcases filled with books for children starting at the Center in January.

4. The Center is doing an excellent job tracking the children's progress. While there, I picked up the post-development assessments done at the end of the year. I also collected post surveys from parents and older children who received books last spring.

Overall our program seems to be doing very well, and we identified other areas for expansion in the next year. More to news to come soon.

Warmly,

Debbie

 

$1 Can Make a Difference.

Starting today, Philanthroper, a website for nonprofits where “a little does a lot," is now featuring Give A Child Life. GCL was selected because with even small gifts, donors can help save the lives and nurture  the youngest, most vulnerable children in the world.

Today you can donate $1-$10 to Give A Child Life through www.philanthroper.com. Because we're a small organization, none of your gift goes for overhead. With only $1, you can provide a sick toddler with the medicine he needs or send a little girl to child care for a full month. With $2, you can buy a bag of flour and a bit of cooking oil for a starving family. For $10, you can create lasting change by seeding a small business for a single mother.

Can you contribute $1 or more?  Will you share this message with a friend (or several) who might like to do the same? For the children’s sake, thank you.

Debbie

 

Mothers can Start or Grow Their Small Businesses...

Last week, our program director in Kenya sent us an important update and proposed we start a new project…

Our monthly meeting in Kiandutu was held last Saturday. We had many parents turn up. We gave a presentation on Family Planning, and it was interesting to see how well the parents participated with questions and contributions. Next topic will be on breastfeeding.

We then discussed the issue of learning simple math for small businesses. We acknowledged the efforts of a few women who have successfully started businesses and kept books and asked if others were interested in doing the same. Parents who wished to open or expand upon small businesses included:

Nancy Adhiambo needs kshs. 1,000/$10 to sell roasted maize after providing day care services.
Amina needs kshs. 2,000/$20 to boost her perfume business.
Zipporah needs kshs. 1500/$15 as she already has a vegetable stall and wishes to sell charcoal also.
Sahara Isaac needs kshs. 2,000/$20 because her snack business went down when she was nursing a sick child.

In total it will cost kshs. 6,500/$65 to have these ladies in business.

After discussion, the ladies suggested that this be given to them as soft loans repayable within the first month after one has made profits, so that others could borrow and benefit.

Do you think we could try this and monitor it? Say create a revolving fund of kshs.10,000/$100 earmarked for small businesses?  

Kindly put forth your thoughts and suggestions.

Carol

We forwarded this email to our supporters and the result was wonderful; we raised enough to start the program, which will lay the groundwork for real, lasting change. Carol will teach these women to add, subtract and calculate a profit. She’ll also go over their books with them on a regular basis so they understand the process. With these lessons and a little seed money, the mothers can start or grow their small business, and perhaps someday will be able to support themselves and their families without our help. Thank you to everyone who made this possible.