Buedu Farming Project

For several years Andando has provided a feeding program for about 400 children in Buedu, Sierra Leone. This program began after the end of a long civil war and was valuable in providing much needed nutrition for a fragile population. In the last year or two, conditions have been improving with more and more farming taking place. So, one year ago we met with 168 families from the school to evaluate the feeding program and to see what could be done to help these families further on the road to self-sufficiency. Together we agreed that a rice farming program could be implemented, with a view to enabling each family to grow enough to feed their own children. Andando provided seed and basic tools to each of the families, and they got to work......

One year later we returned to hear and see what happened.

We are happy to report that these families have harvested enough rice not only to feed their families but have enough also to sell and to replant!

Some of the families came to share their stories and to express gratitude.

An exciting day in Buedu!

 

Christmas in Senegal

This year we spent Christmas in Senegal, arriving on Christmas morning. It looked like any other day in Senegal, a predominantly Muslim country. The day after Christmas, we headed north to the Podor area to  look at some of the wells that were completed  in the last few months. We visited five wells and can say  that in every village your contributions have brought hope and life! Some of these villages are quite remote and we had a few adventures getting there.  But it was well worth it to meet people who have a new fresh source of water.

On behalf of all them, thank you.

This year Andando has a goal of 12 new wells for Senegal. This is double last year's number but we are confident we can pull this off together.

 

Also while in the north we stopped in St Louis to meet a couple of our new loan program recipients. Pictured here is one of the ladies  who received a loan for a sewing machine.

Modou Sakho

In summer of 2010, we visited some of the farmers in the Keur Soce area that had received seed loans from Andando. Modou was one of these farmers and the day we visited he was working with  two of his sons in their beautiful peanut field. Modou was looking forward to a good harvest and the ability to make a profit, thanks in part to the no interest loan he had received from Andando.

Fast forward one year and once again Modou is hard at work in his peanut field. But this year he a has a horse to help him with the plowing! With last year's profit he was able to purchase a horse  which has helped him and his neighbors immensely, not just in farming but in transportation also.

sakho and horse]

Little by little, step by sustainable step, life is getting a little better for Modou and his family. Now they can dream of a future that has hope and possibility, thanks to one of our micro loans.

More latrines please

Andando recently completed a much needed latrine project at the elementary school in Keur Soce, Senegal. This school serves  around 475 students and had no functioning latrine! This opened our eyes to look more closely at the number of schools that need latrines and so far through just anecdotal research, we have found lots....and so we have recntly completed funding our second latrine project in Donaye-Taredji, a village in the north of Senegal. This elementary school serves 289 people and had no latrine. Now they have two, thanks to your donations,and the hard work of a Peace Corps volunteer and the local population.

This is a fairly simple low cost sustainable project that brings about immediate results in improved health of the children, which in turn results in healthier communities.

 

We'll keep you posted on the growing Andando Latrine Project!

the store

Our online store is now up and running!  Only a few items so far, but check back soon for more. All of the items in our store are made by artisans known personally to Andando. Each item comes with a brief bio of the artisan. They have all been paid a fair price for their work. enabling them to have a living wage that can support their families

Books, Trees, and Hats

Our tag line reads 'alleviating poverty through micro development', and although micro lending is a strong focus for achieving this goal, Andando wants to be open to appying alternative solutions depending on a country's culture, economy and stage in development. In Paraguay, we noted that in many rural communities, the education system is severely lacking in basic resources. Education is a basic building block in alleviating poverty, so Andando has provided some small grants to have introduce lending libraries in three different communities.

Each of these grants allows the school to buy some books which it agrees to lend to the students. These books are checked out, giving the entire family access to the materials. In the past, books were so scarce that students could only use the books while at school.

One of the interesting micro loan projects in Paraguay is a vivero or tree nursery. Two young ladies have started this business with $150 loan. Ground has been cleared, seeds have been planted, and little trees and other ornamentals are sprouting! In less than a year, this crop will be ready for sale. An agreement has already been reached with the local municipality to purchase trees to plant around the nearby town.

The community of Embuscado is famous for it's production of straw hats. A women's cooperative was looking for ways to market their hats further afield. Andando made a buying agreement with these ladies and we are selling their hats along with our artisan goods from Africa. They will shortly be available on our online store. In the first week we had these, we sold over 50 of these hats at a summer festival! They come in many sizes and colors, also children's sizes. Meanwhile you can purchase them directly from us via email . We are also looking for other stores, organizations that may be interested in partnering with this great co-op.

All of these ventures have been made possible through the partnership of several awesome Peace Corps volunteers. Thanks to you all!

News

Mark your calendar!  Andando will be holding a fundraiser Sunday May 22nd from 2.30-4.30 in the afternoon at the historic Pix Theatre in Albany Oregon. And you’re all invited!

 

There will be a variety of festivities including wine tasting, a silent auction, the Andando Store, and a screening of an award winning Senegalese short film.

 

Need further info or questions?

theandandofoundation@gmail.com

 

World on a Wall

Schools in Senegal have very few resources. Usually a class might share one textbook and much of the instruction is done by copying what the teacher writes on the chalkboard.

Andando has done a few humanitarian projects in schools and we came up with this idea of teaching the kids about the larger world beyond their village -painting the world on a wall!

We drew the borders of all the countries in Africa, and in the bottom left of the wall, an enlarged map of Senegal, with the main cities.

There are now two schools in Senegal with a new mural on their walls.

The first photo is from the vilage of Keur Soce, south of Kaolack, and the second one is at a school in Yoff, part of Dakar , the capital of Senegal.

The extra bonus is that the whole community has the opportunity to enjoy the map.

Extra special thanks to Lewis and Ruby for heading up this rather daunting project. They made it look easy. (It wasn't!)

Women's Empowerment

In Liberia, a country recovering from years of civil war, unemployment is extremely high and there are very few opportunites, especially for women.

Last summer, our partner in Liberia approached us with a proposal to start a training program for women. Andando agreed to fund a six months training program for women . 600 women enrolled in two locations near the capial, Monrovia.

The women have been receiving instruction in hairdressing, sewing, cooking and soapmaking. The six months program is now ending and many women are now doing internships with the hope that this will lead to permanent employment for some of them.

Andando hopes this effort will lead to a brighter future for these women as they work to support themselves and their families.

Well done ladies!

Omar Kebe

Last time we were in Keur Soce, Senegal, we spent the day looking at projects, doing interviews and video.

And everywhere we went , this young man seemed to appear a few minutes later. He was very sweet and polite and every time we spoke- maybe half a dozen times that day- he would say, in English. "my name is Omar Kebe. My father's name is Al-haji Kebe." over and over. Turns out this was the sum of his English vocabulary, but he really wanted to practise.

So this blog post is for you Omar. We enjoyed meeting you and won't soon forget you( or your name. Or your father's name.)

a Garden in the Desert

After our first round of loans was repaid in Keur Soce last year, some of the women got together and discussed some ways they could pool together their profits in a way that would benefit their families and community.
The result is an amazing two hectare garden with lettuce, corn, okra, carrots,peppers,tomatoes, cucumber and about 50 cashew trees.
180 women are involved in this garden. They have divided themselves into 18 groups of ten. Each group tends it's own area and they have morning and evening shifts for watering.

All of the water for this garden is provided by a well that Andando had dug previously. The women expect this garden to provide income from market sales, improve family nutrition, with enough funds left over to buy a pump for the well so they will no longer have to draw water by hand.
The women also told us that one of the unexpected benefits they have experienced from this garden is that they have discovered a new spirit of unity and cooperation with each other.
This wonderful garden is an example of what a community can do independently when given a small helping hand.
Andando means "walking together" in Wolof the principal language of Senegal. We are so proud to walk together with these strong women!

bad bloggers

We are officially bad bloggers around here....but that's because we've been busy.
We went to Africa in January- three countries in ten days . Check our website and click on news for a few glimpses of that trip. www.andando.org
And we're leaving again tomorrow! Lots of good things happening. and we will try to do better when we return.
For now, please look at this blog and see what these two great folk have been doing on behalf of Andando in Senegal. www.lewisandruby.blogspot.com

AND stay tuned for a brand spanking new website within the next month or so!

summer in Senegal

On our July visit to Senegal, we were so pleased to see how green the country side is. Farming in Senegal is a gamble , always depending on the rains and so far the rains have been sufficient. We were able to visit some of the Andando fields, including the one pictured above. The farmer, Modou Sakho, has planted his peanuts and was hoeing with his two sons the day we visited. He told us the plants were doing well and he was optimistic about a good harvest, providing the rains continue.
Andando has made loans to about 50 farmers like Modou around the Keur Soce area. It is our hope that by helping them to help themselves, they can build a better future for their families.

The story of the lost votes

The Chase Community Giving Facebook Campaign is over.
It was an amazing month for us at Andando as many worked to rally the vote and so many of you responded.
1613 individuals voted for Andando.
Chase took away 658 of these votes citing voting irregularity. We ended the campaign in 233rd place with 955 votes.

We have had communication with Chase concerning this 'voting irregularity' and although the responses have been quite vague, we understand that they deleted many of our African votes because it appeared to them that someone was setting up profiles for the sole purpose of voting for Andando.
The truth of the matter is very different.
In Liberia, Andando is involved in a women's empowerment program. These women heard about the Chase Community Giving program and wanted to participate and support Andando.
They saw this as a way to be involved in helping themselves. These women are all desperately poor and of course have no computers etc. But because they were determined, they rounded up four or five computers, borrowed a generator, (no electricity there), bought gas to power the generator and started voting. They encouraged family members to vote and excitement built as they saw the vote count rise. Then on Sunday night, about 24 hours before the end of the campaign, they saw the votes disappear.
For us this was disheartening and discouraging. For the Africans it was heartbreaking.

Olivia, one of the women who voted- "...We feel like this was a slap in the face. We have gone to great lengths to support our charity by purchasing gas for our generator to power our obsolete computers just to be a part of this campaign. Women queued up in numbers and rallied their family members as a way of saying thank you for their support...."

We have explained to Chase how these ladies voted and are convinced that they have done nothing wrong. We will continue to try to dialog with Chase and at least try to make sure that this never happens again.

But, this is not the end of the story........
On Monday night, after the voting closed, Andando received a call from someone who had voted and had been following the story of the lost votes. This person said " We cannot let things end this way. These people have all worked so hard and have been pushed aside. They must know that hard work is rewarded and that hope follows tragedy. I am giving $20,000 to Andando to make this right."
We were overcome, there were a lot of tears and so much joy! We called our contact in Liberia and told him what had happened. He was speechless (unusual for him!) at first and then just began praising God- " He is our Sole Provider...depend only on Him...to God be the Glory.."
The women have been told, there is much rejoicing today in Liberia, and after work on Friday, there will be a party!!
To God be the Glory indeed.

Once again we are so grateful and humbled by all your support. We had votes from the U.S., Senegal, Liberia, Canada, the U.K., Chile, Australia and Paraguay. We wish we could thank all of you personally but we don't have contact info for many. If you know of people who voted who may not read this, please share it with them.
We hope you will all continue to follow the story of Andando. It looks like there are many chapters yet to be written!

chasing the vote

Andando is currently in the running for a share of a $5 million giveaway by Chase Community Giving on Facebook. If we get into the top 200 charities we will win $20,000!!!

That translates to about 200 micro loans, about 400 farmer loans or 6-7 wells!

All we need is YOUR VOTE!

The voting takes place through Facebook, so you must have a Facebook profile to be able to vote.

We've made it easier for you by providing a link from our website to our Chase Community giving Page.
Here's how to vote;

Go to www.andando.org. Near the bottom left hand corner of the page, you will see a box for Chase Community Giving. Click on this box.

When you get to the Chase Community giving Page, click on the green box that says' Get started to Vote'.

A box will pop up asking you to 'like' Chase. Once you have done this, click close to close the box. (Note: you have not yet voted.)

The green box will now say 'Vote Now'. Click on the box to vote.

Another box will pop up for you to tell your friends. Tell as many people as you can!

Voting ends July 12, so do it now and spread the word!!!

100 fields

Farming in Senegal is a risky business-and one that many Senegalese depend on for survival.

As we became involved in the lives of villages through our micro lending program, we learned about another segment of village life that was vital -and very precarious. Subsistence farming is a fact of life for many Senegalese and as in many other areas, farming is a struggle. Most farmers have to borrow at exorbitant rates if they want to buy seed and fertilizer and often end up in a cycle of debt from one year to the next.

We discussed this situation with friends, farmers and colleagues in Senegal and came up with our Seed Loan project. The farmer gets a loan of seed and fertilizer according to the size of his field and repays this loan after he has sold his harvest, either in seed and money, or in money, and with no interest.

We are now in our third season of seed loans and have achieved remarkable success with 100% loan repayment. Senegal has had good rainy seasons for the last two years which has helped the farmers tremendously. Another advantage that Andando has is our wonderful Senegalese partner, Diegane Ndiaye. Diegane works diligently with our loan recipients. Thank you Diegane for your hard work and commitment to these projects!

This year we are hoping for good steady rains again as we launch our biggest expansion of the Seed Loan Project so far. The community of Keur Soce and some smaller surrounding villages are the recipients of this year's seed project. With help from generous donors, Andando has been able to help over 40 farmers with seed and fertilizer.

Planting is happening right now in Senegal and this year there will be about

100 Andando fields!

Thank you for your support of this great project. You have been instrumental in restoring dignity and hope to our farmers and their families.

( Photos above are from the recent seed loan distribution ceremony in Keur Soce.)

baskets

Maybe you didn't know about our special baskets that we sell to help support our child feeding program in Sierra Leone. (See our website for details http://www.andando.org/)

Each basket costs $25 and they come in two styles, the traditonal round bolga or the oval market basket.

The purchase of one of these baskets will feed a child in Sierra Leone for six months!

In the last two years we have sold hundreds of these baskets at fairs and festivals. We will be selling them all summer long at the fairs in the previous post as well as a few other places.

We can also mail you one. Just email us your color preferences- they come in a wide variety from solid to partially striped, to totally striped blues, reds, greens, purples. Add $5 for shipping.

Or if you live nearby, we can arrange to bring some to you! Email us and let us know what you'd like. theandandofoundation@gmail.com

Get yourself a new basket for summer markets and picnics and feed a child for six months at the same time!

summertime

The season of spring/summer festivals is approaching and with it comes the chance for Andando to be out and about , sharing our stories with people and selling some cool stuff from our wonderful African artisans.

Our first festival is this weekend! And it looks like the weather might cooperate!
We will be in the lovely little town of Scio, Oregon at the 75th annual Lamb and Wool Fair. May 14-16 www.lambfair.org

On Saturday June 19 , 9-2 p.m. we will be at the Day of the African Child in Portland. This event takes place adjacent to the Portland Farmers Market www.harambeecentre.org

The following weekend you can find us at the WorldBeat Festival in Salem, June 26 and 27. This is a super fun event celebrating cultures from around the world.
www.worldbeatfestival.org

We will participate in other festivals through July and August and will keep you posted.

a village in Senegal

Life in a rural village in Senegal is challenging. There never seems to be enough food, enough water, even enough time, especially for women. Women have millet to grind, water to fetch, babies to nurse, and always many mouths to feed. The majority of the men are small farmers and that is always a risky business in an area where the rains come intermittently and sometimes not all. As a result of all these conditions, many of the men of the village are forced to go to larger towns looking for work, usually with little success. Some of these men will end up with new wives and children to support in the town, making a bad problem worse.

Since it's beginning , Andando has been looking at ways to improve life in the local village, ways to give people a hope and a future right where they are. That is why we have focussed on micro lending and farmer loans as ways to encourage people to stay in their villages and build stronger famiies in the process.

Keur Soce is a village where Andando has been working for about three years. We began work there with a church partner, Doxology. On our first visit we met with the local chief and had some great discussions about the needs of the village which resulted in some aid to the school. the drilling of two wells, installation of two neighborhood taps and help with starting a huge market garden. As the relationship has grown, Andando has targeted Keur Soce for the newest round of micro loans and in March we distributed 45 loans in Keur Soce. These loans average about $100 and are for projects such as a small shop, a hairdresser even a small restaurant.

Dibe Diouf is one of the loan recipients. In order to supplement their meager income from farming, Dibe used to go out in to the bush to find wild fruit which she would then take to sell in the nearest town. This was sometimes difficult and dangerous. She did not know when she might encounter wild animals and snakes. With her micro loan, Dibe has opened a small shop where she sells sugar,rice and oil, things that people used to have to travel further to buy. Dibe's family will all benefit from this new venture.

Andando is currently raising funds to help the farmers of Keur Soce get 'seed' loans for this years' planting. The farmers will be able to get enough good quality seed for planting their fields. After they have sold their harvest, they pay back their loan with no interest. This method opens up a door of hope for farmers who were previously 'enslaved' by high interest loans which they had little hope of ever repaying.

These two projects are infusing the village of Keur Soce with hope! At Andando we too are hopeful as we walk together with friends there and look to a brighter future for the people of this village.