Sustain the Lives of Kenyan AIDS Orphans&Families
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Updates from the Field:
Updates from the Field (or Progress Reports) on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.com by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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Index of Updates from the Field
Update from Kenya
By James Maina - Ebony Foundation staff member, January 18, 2008 03:59 PM
I wish to brief you and the GlobalGiving family over the current situation in Kenya.
We have been a peaceful Country in a generally troubled region and people sort of took the peace for granted.
The country is now battered almost to a pulp with blood spilt with vengeance, senseless killings and wanton destruction. Markets, food stores and shops have been looted. Hospitals are dysfunctional and health centers incapitated by riots and barricades.
The violence, death and destruction witnessed in the Country for the last one week has jolted the Nation into conscience and every body is now craving for normalcy.
Peace is slowly returning to all affected parts of the Country but the impact of the riots has been devastating. Hundreds of people have been killed turning thousands of innocent children into helpless orphans and over one million people have been displaced becoming internal refugees over night.
The impact of the riots is most felt in the micro and small business sector. Over 1 million small businesses were looted and or burn down destroying the only source of income to millions of Kenyans. Most of the fighting and destruction occurred in slum areas in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru and Kericho in Rift Valley. These regions are home to over 70% of EbF’s clients and as you can imagine almost all our clients in these regions have been affected by the riots. Only one region- (Mount Kenya) which is home to about 20% of EbF’s clients was spared the violence.
We are still auditing the riots impact on our clients and by this morning about 4,564 of our clients had been badly affected by the riots.
About 1,532 of our clients were displaced and both their homes and business premises burnt down and are currently housed in church compounds and police stations.
Another 2,143 clients had their business premises burnt down or looted leaving them with no source of income at all.
833 clients had their homes looted or burnt down and about 56 clients are missing and feared dead or critically injured.
The biggest task at the moment is to:
--feed and house the displaced people
--and to finance the reconstruction of the small businesses that were affected in order to enable the people re claim their source of income.
EbF has formed the following committees to address the above issues:
A humanitarian committee that is working with the International Red Cross to provide food, shelter and medical care to the victims.
A business reconstruction committee that is working with the affected clients to re finance and rebuild the small businesses that were looted and or burnt down.
A compliance committee that is studying the legal and contractual aspects of the affected loans to arrive at the best policy action. This team will identify loans that we may need to re schedule, refinance and probably write off.
Today we began re financing the businesses that were burnt down/looted. We have set aside some US $ 94,000 for this purpose but this is US $ 220,960 short of the US $ 314,960 EbF requires to raise urgently to re finance the affected businesses.
James
Update from Ebony Foundation in Kenya:22nd November
By James Maina - Executive Director, November 27, 2007 05:58 PM
Campaign to stop Female Genital Mutilation
As from November 2007, Ebony expanded the Uzima/Woyosu project to incorporate a campaign to stop FGM, or Female Genital Mutilation. Use of unhygienic surgery implements in this inhuman practice is responsible for continued HIV/AIDS infections among young girls in Kenyan Rural areas where Ebony Operates. FGM is the process in which the outsides of the female reproductive organs are surgically removed. The surgery can be performed in the girl’s home, in a surgical center, or even near a designated tree. In most cases the mutilation is done by elderly women as part of initiation rites and is treated as “festivals”! Nevertheless, it is an inhuman, degrading experience. The rudimentary tools used to practice FGM along with the absence of medication to heal the wounds have caused the death of many and increased HIV/AIDS infections.
Involving Students
Ebony has teamed up with The Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) of Kennesaw State University (Atlanta USA) in conjunction with Moi University of Eldoret, Kenya, in developing an innovative intervention to reduce the practice of Female Genitalia Mutilation (FGM) in traditional communities in rural Eldoret region of Kenya.
Through the initiative, we will assist in starting a "self-dependent" passion fruit project and other income generating activities for the elderly women “surgeon” who carry out this inhuman “surgery’ as a means of earning a living. The focus is to reduce the practitioners and the unfortunate women that suffer the process of FGM.
The initiative will provide training and impartation of life skills to the women and the girls to maintain the passage rites from Girlhood to adulthood. By this effort we hope to see a reduction in the FGM practice and reduction in HIV/AIDS Infections among young girls and aim at changing many lives for the better within the target rural Eldoret region of Kenya.
Vision
To see girls and women free from violations of their human rights through harmful cultural practices subjected by society; restoration of human dignity and advancement of girls and empowerment of women.
Mission
Facilitate the adoption and implementation of Tumndo Ne Leel curriculum for initiation of girls and impartation of life skills to women and girls.
Goal
To eradicate female genital mutilation for the advancement of girls and empowerment of women in the communities that practice FGM.
How can you help?
FGM is fundamental human rights violation affecting millions of girls every year.You can help by giving donations to the project through GlobalGiving & informing others about FGM.You can also partner with the Kennesaw State University SIFE Team to help women affected by FGM and allow them to learn profitable skills.
Update from Ebony Foundation in Kenya
By Irene Wambui Mwangi - Project Leader, July 20, 2007 05:30 PM
The Women and Youth Support Project (WOYOSU) has since changed name to The Uzima (Swahili for Health) Programme
The project has continued to grow. About 600 people who include 417 women are currently receiving support through this project. An additional project site has been opened in partnership between Ebony and Family Health International (FHI) an American International NGO. This site is located in a town known as Naivasha about 80 km west of Nairobi. We are working with Fountain of Hope a group of people affected by HIV/AIDS.
By 30th June 2007, Ebony had disbursed some Kenya Shillings 516,000 (US $ 7,818) for small business start up loans and Kenya Shillings 129,000 (US $ 2,182) in education and health grants total of Kenya Shillings 645,000 (US $ 10,000) to 70 beneficiaries who include 52 women. Some 156 children who include 90 girls and 66 boys have been able to continue accessing formal education and some 186 children have access to proper medical services as their parents are able to afford health care.
72 families who have HIV/AIDs affected family members have been supported in setting up and expanding income generating activities and are now able to provide improved care to the sick.
Ebony targets to support an additional 100 family within the next 3 months and we need to raise some Kenya Shillings 1.5 million (US $ 22,727) and it is our hope that the GlobalGiving family will continue to support us.
Progress Report for September 2006
By Irene Wambui Mwangi - Executive Director, October 11, 2006 04:36 PM
We did receive the initial USD 925 from Global Giving and we are very thankful.
The donation has been used to finance three needy women create income generating ventures to help them support their families. See document 1.
We have also updated our institutional profile to improve our focus on providing support to HIV high risk populations. See document 2
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