Michigan: Pass it On...

Pass it On

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Pass it On...

Fall 2007

Niger – "Thanks to the new well and the increased cultivation, we have more food for our family," says Elhadj Moumouni, of Maito village, "and we are able to sell the extra to gain a little income." Moumouni and other villagers in Maito are growing onion, tomato, cabbage, okra, and potatoes.

More than 1,860 people in Maito are improving their lives and gaining access to more water for household use, for their gardens, and for their animals, with the help of the Church World Service Water for Life/Water for All program and local partner Nagarta.

"In our area," Moumouni says, "the growing season generally doesn't exceed three months, due to the shortness of the rainy season. Drought at other times of the year--and sometimes locust infestations--limit the amount of food we grow. After three months of agricultural work, we have no other activities to do. Our income comes from agriculture. This project--and the new well--has brought a change in the way we grow crops after the rainy season."

The villagers, who are learning about growing techniques, plant health, and community organizing, provided the labor for the well themselves, with help from people of nearby Mazoza village, who, inspired by the Maito project, have asked for help in establishing the same kind of project in their village.

Communities in Kenya, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Gambia, and Niger are participating in the Church World Service Africa Initiative Water for Life/Water for All program and gaining clean water and skills in ecosystem management.

Bosnia – Block by block, new homes are replacing the charred remains of buildings in Canton 10, a province in western Bosnia Herzegovina. Residents are returning to the area’s once idyllic communities, where dairy cows produced enough milk to sustain generations of families.

The houses are changing into homes as families live in them. Yet outside every front door, bombed-out factories and barren pastures serve as a reminder not only of the war that displaced families 15 years ago, but also of the challenges of Canton 10’s future.

The CWS Balkans: Build a Village is a comprehensive, multi-year approach to helping rural communities recover. The idea is to empower communities, helping them chart their own paths, enabling returnees with economic tools such as loans. At its core, the program is ultimately implemented and operated by local constituencies.

In five villages, locals serve on village committees that will decide which projects the CWS Balkans: Build a Village program will support.

"The only way for us to survive is to become self-sufficient," said Dušan Radivojša, a member of the Crni Lug village committee in Bosansko Grahovo. Radivojša anticipates the committee will support forming a milk collection cooperative, so family dairy farmers can process their products on a greater economy of scale.

Mozambique – Sixty women in Maputo, the capital, are learning to sew, with the help of CWS and local partner the Christian Council of Mozambique.

Most women in Mozambique must struggle to participate in the country's economic development because they lack education and skills, employment opportunities, and control over economic resources. Participants in the sewing classes gain skills, tools, and confidence.

The women pay a one-time fee of about $3 to cover their initial materials--thread, cloth, needles, etc.--and attend class for four months. They and their families--including about 240 children and youth--reap the long-term benefits, as the women begin to earn a better income and improve their families' quality of life.

CCM allows one machine for three women in its classes. Until CWS helped to fund the purchase of several new pedal sewing machines, the training center at CCM’s headquarters was operating with only one machine. These new machines mean more women are able to take the class.

The training center replenishes supplies with profits from selling tablecloths, women’s wraps, drapes, school uniforms, and other items sewn by the students. The students take home any additional profits. And, in the off hours, students and ex-students are able to use the machines for a nominal fee, while they get their own small businesses started, and begin saving for their own machines.

Laos – Some 240 abandoned and orphaned children, ages five to 20, have food to eat and a bed in a comfortable dormitory at the CWS-supported Luang Prabang Orphanage.

Along with basic education, the children are learning vocational skills such as carpentry, weaving, and fish farming.

The Lao government, which pays the salaries of teachers and administrators, now runs the orphanage. CWS provides input on new curriculum and non-formal education, and assists with facilities and building maintenance and repair.

The students' monthly government food stipend is supplemented by vegetables and fruits from gardens that CWS established and the children and orphanage staff maintain.

Bolivia – Forty-two children are attending a new school in the indigenous Guarani community of Pananti, Bolivia, thanks in part to the help of CWS partner Tarija Regional Development Study Center (CER-DET).

CWS is working with several partners in the Chaco region of South America (which includes parts of Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina) to help indigenous communities become empowered, gain access to their ancestral lands, and improve the quality of their lives.

Parents in Pananti are concerned about their children's education, reports CWS staff. Families struggle to pay for the books and supplies that the children need for school.

Before the new school was built, the children of Pananti walked more than four miles over dirt roads and across a stream to reach the nearest school. Classes were taught exclusively in Spanish, and the youngest children, who never learned Spanish at home, made a slow beginning in their education.

The new school--built in time for the start of the school year in Feb. 2007--is the result of several years of petitioning by the Pananti community. Their efforts on their own behalf grew out of what they have learned about their rights and about community organization.

Pakistan – A cyclone, excessive rainfall, and flooding in the Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh, and North-West Frontier provinces of Pakistan have left more than 300 dead, crops and livestock inundated, fishing boats sunk or damaged, and a high threat of disease from animal carcasses floating in the water. Drinking water is a critical problem, as water stored by the villagers has been contaminated.

Marvin Parvez, CWS Pakistan-Afghanistan regional representative, says that without a generous response, the situation will be exacerbated by health problems, lack of food and medicine across the affected areas.

Thus far, CWS has provided 250 food packages and 320 plastic sheets for families in Gadap, and 500 plastic sheets to the Thatta area, both in southwestern Sindh Province, Pakistan, and is planning to distribut 1,000 food packages and 500 plastic sheets in Turbat, southwestern Balochistan Province.

The food packages contain items such as rice, lentils, cooking oil, and sugar, and are meant to provide a month's ration for a family of eight to 10 members.