Swaziland!

We recently opened a new project in a new country- Swaziland! First a quick geography lesson. Swaziland is a tiny kingdom surrounded by South Africa on three sides and bordered by Mozambique on the other. It is ruled by king Mswati lll, is one of the poorest African countries and has the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS on the continent. 75% of the population depends on subsistence farming and 60 % live on less than $1.25 a day.

swaz map

Andando is starting small in this small country with fifteen micro loans in one targeted community- Nhulweni. In many ways this is a typical small community in Swaziland, rural, no electricity or running water. But there are some hard working folks here who are eager to improve their lives and their community. We hope that this small beginning will grow into bringing long lasting sustainable change to more people and communities in this beautiful little corner of Africa.

Here are a couple examples of the loans-

Majahonkhe Bhembe borrowed $120 to buy pipe to access irrigation for his garden and will also use the water access for his chicken project where he is raising broilers for sale.

Majahonkhe Bhembe

Khanyisile Jele also borrowed about $120 to start a small store from her house to sell chickens, fruits and vegetables.

Khanyisile Jele

These loans are for a six months duration and are interest free. When they are repaid, they recycle into new loans in the community.

If you are interested in donating to our micro loan fund, click on the donate button and follow directions. We make loans from $30- $400 depending on the project.

Micro Loan multiplication

We have been doing micro loans in Senegal for more than four years now.  Over time we have shared some of these stories on this blog, on facebook and on our website.  Just yesterday we put up a short video on facebook from one of our loan recipients. We have had great success with this program. Out of about five hundred loans, fewer than ten have not been repaid. Some of the loans were for a small business start up, some were for farmers and some were for projects.

Just recently we heard from one of our loan recipients with absolutely the most gratifying story yet.  Djibi had received a loan from us several years back and repaid in a timely manner. He has since built a solid tailoring business and is very diligent about budgeting and saving his money.

Djibi has observed the Andando loan program in action and has learned much from it. So much so, that he recently informed us that he is starting his own microloan program based on the Andando model, back home in his own village.  He has saved money over time and believes he is now in a position to help others , thanks to the help he received from Andando! 

With his own savings, Djibi has made his first four loans and is hoping to do more. We are humbled and gratified by Djibi's generous spirit and his desire to pass along the blessing he received. 

djibi

Continued success to you Djibi!

A Young Wonder

The story begins about a year ago when a young girl (11 years old!) heard about a need in a far away place. Rheanna heard about a school in a remote village in Sierra Leone where the children had none of the resources she enjoyed in her small, Oregon town. She learned that schools in Sierra Leone ask that their children have uniforms, although most of the families attending this school could not even afford to feed their children every day.

Rheanna decided she wanted to help and told us she was going to make or supply uniforms for every child in the school Andando supports in Buedu. That would be 460 uniforms...but she got to work and started sewing! She recruited her friends, her church, her local high school class. Along the way, as people heard about her efforts, they gave money and she also did some fundraisers, selling purses she had made and doing concessions at a wrestling tournament among other things. Civic clubs and city council pitched in too.

By the end of last year, she had completed this monumental task!  Then she started fundraising for her and her mom to be able to go to Sierra Leone to deliver the uniforms in person. Once again friends and family pitched in and last month was the culmination of Rheanna's dream, to meet the kids that she held in her heart for a year and to give them all a school uniform.  What a great day!

Rheanna tells her story to the parents and teachers who were gathered. This had been a "secret" project, so everyone got really excited!

The students came in all shapes and sizes but Rheanna had it all covered!

In addition to the uniforms, Rheanna was also able to buy sandals, copybooks, pencils and textbooks, thanks to the many generous donors who encouraged our young wonder along the way.

Thank you Rheanna, for your hard work, your commitment and for your great attitude when dealing with some slightly challenging African Experiences...you are amazing!!

 

 

Mt Barclay

Andando has been helping to support a school near Monrovia, Liberia for several years. Last month we had the opportunity to visit and also to bring a donation for some much needed textbooks- a big thank you to Plan for the Children Humanitarian Aid for this donation.

The school has a feeding program-each day the students get rice and sauce.

The teachers do a great job with very few resources, so they were extremely thankful for Plan's donation for the textbooks, all of which are part of the official West Africa curriculum.

Sometimes you have to find your textbooks on the street....

Mt Barclay has many other needs and in the near future we hope to add windows and doors to three of the unfinished building where classes are held. We'd also like to get desks for the lower grades- currently the students are sitting on the floor.

If you'd like to give to Mt Barclay, click on the donate button on our website. There are several ways to give.

 

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!

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!!!