December in Senegal

101_0214We have been running around Senegal for the last week lining up several projects for the next few months. Hitting the ground running, we journeyed to the town of Keur Soce where most of our future projects are taking place. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we toured several surrounding villages where we have just finished wells and have plans for several more. Along with some of these wells, we are installing solar pumps that will aid people in drawing water, making it easier to water their garden plots that surround these wells. This will make it easier to grow vegetables all year around and have far better nutritive options on their plates and cleaner drinking water. We made arrangements to renovate a community building in one village and turn it into a rural health post where mothers can deliver babies and minor medical treatment can be provided. We met multiple times with the elementary school teachers and administrators to discuss our projects there. At Keur Soce Elementary we are initiating a nutrition program to jump start the students in the morning with a daily breakfast as many of them receive nothing. In addition to the school building repairs we have just completed, we are also rehabilitating desks and chairs that are in pieces and starting a small classroom library for each class. These investments will be protected by security measures we are putting in place.

Stay tuned for more updates as we return to the States this week!

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Trip to Senegal

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Several of us gathered in Senegal over Christmas and New years and in to the second week of January. We weren't all there together all the time but we were all together some of the time.... Scotty and Crystal were there first arriving Christmas day. They had a great reunion with old friends. You may recall that Scotty and Crystal spent a year in Senegal helping Andando with miscellaneous projects. Then on the 30th Lewis and Ruby arrived from Swaziland. They also had previously spent time working for Andando in Senegal. I joined them later that day. Then on the 30th Ken, Mary and Kevin arrived to complete our group. We worked on a variety of projects while there and also spent a lot of time catching up with old friends.  Our first couple of days were spent doing a kids camp for over 60 kids. The kids came and spent the day. Our theme was Christmas, and we played games, read stories, did crafts, watched movies, and ate lots of good food.

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Our next few days were spent in the Keur Soce area, visiting several projects, including the construction of a health post in Thiawandou. We are excited about what a huge difference this building will make in the life of this community. More about this soon in its own post.  We also visited some new wells, and water projects.

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Another part of our trip was spent checking out some micro loans. We are consistently pleased and encouraged by the ingenuity and hard work of our loan recipients.

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A good trip!

Micro loans in Swaziland

Our first round  of micro loans in Swaziland was initiated on April 1. On October 1 the loans were repaid and we wanted to share just one of the loan recipients stories with you. Thanks to Ruby for this report.

Khanyisile Simelane was an inspiration from the start. Her affability was contagious and proved to be one of her best business assets.

Khanyisile Jele

She received her loan to start a small business out of her home on April 1. Almost immediately she suffered a setback  when the freezer she was using broke down. She learned one of the first rules of business- flexibility. Rural life is demanding and highly unpredicatable and she quickly realised she would need a business partner to share the responsibility of running her small store. This proved to be her best decision.

A partnership was built with her neighbor and they were off and running. The store was moved to a more central location to maximize traffic and the product mix was improved to reflect needs in the community. They have been diversifying and improving their selection weekly and are already a social hub. Her friendly nature has transformed their small enterprise into the perfect gathering place for community members and her shared business responsibilities has proved highly sustainable.

Her 6 month loan was repaid 100% and on time and the business has not skipped a beat. This small business has allowed her a feeling of stability, a few small luxuries and most importantly, pride in what she has accomplished.

The Hungry Season

In Senegal, and in much of Africa, every year there is a season that we do not experience. It is the time in between when last year's food supply runs low and there are still several months to wait for the next harvest. The Hungry Season. In many rural villages, families are reduced to one meal a day, some not even that. This hardship  goes largely unnoticed because it is not a widespread famine like the kind you see on the evening news. It is just a slow, gnawing, debilitating hunger that robs people of their energy and strength at  the hottest time of year, and makes young children especially susceptible to disease and vitamin deficiency that will affect their development for the rest of their lives.

In the areas of Senegal where we work,  this is a fact of life this year. Last year's harvest was not great and farmers did not receive a good price for their crops, resulting in almost empty storehouses and no ready cash for emergencies.

 We consulted with our local partners about what  Andando could do to help. Teachers at local village schols were consulted and they identified around sixty families that were particularly needy.  Each of these families received 50 kg of rice which will help see them through until harvest time. Fortunately the rains have been plentiful and this year's harvest looks more promising.  In another area we work in, the local church is coordinating a food distribution for us.

 

 

 

The lack of food security in Senegal is an ongoing problem. We at Andando hope we can be a small part of the solution. We are working at creating an environment in rural villages where people have enhanced abilty to grow their own food, through micro lending, water security and education.  There are no quick solutions, but village by village we hope to make a small difference along the way.

Ronkh Health Post

Back in January 2012, Andando visited a recently completed water project in the remote town of Ronkh in Northern Senegal. This project was facilitited by Peace Corps Volunteer, Sarah Kopper. Sarah shared with us the need for rehabilitation of the local health post. This health post is supposed to serve over 5000 people but because of it's poor condition- broken latrines, septic tank exposed, parts of the roof needing to be replaced etc, people were forced to travel far for care. We asked Sarah to provide us with a proposal, which she quickly supplied us with.  Along with 20% contribtion from the community, work began in April and was recently completed.  The result is a facility that is sanitary and very usable.

The new health committee has conducted  a survey of the community and has organized several public cleanups in the area.  Sarah is confident that the newly rehabbed health post will serve the community of Ronkh well for years to come.

The town's doctor sees over 250 patients a month and delivers around 100 babies a year at this facility.

Thanks to Sarah for her good work in implementing this project!

Worldbeat!

This coming weekend, June 30 and July 1, we will participate in the 15th annual Worldbeat Festival at Riverfront Park in Salem. if you live within 100 miles you should come-it is a lot of fun!

There will be music, dancing, food, from all around the world.  And on Sunday thrilling dragon boat races on the river!

Come visit us, we'll be in the African village with lots of new merchandise from our Senegal artisans.

www.worldbeatfestival.org

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.

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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. 

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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.)