Sahakarini's partners working together

The work of Sahakarini begins with the passion, commitment and generosity of individuals and groups here who want to make a difference.

Sahakarini then works with trusted partners in the receiving country. Plans are developed with the input of the beneficiaries, contracts entered into, work done and results accounted for.

Thanks to the governments of Canada and Alberta, matching grants are often available and may result in multiplying a dollar by as much as 8 times. To learn more about our governmental partners click on http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/index.htm for CIDA or  http://www.wildrosefoundation.ca/idp/default.aspx for the Wild Rose Foundation

Together with partners, Sahakarini is able to provide needed stoves.

In Guatemala, a leading cause of death in children under 5 years of age is respiratory disease. This is due in large measure to carbon monoxide exposure from the indoor fire pits traditionally used for cooking. There is also a huge risk that children will be burned. Environmentally, the practice of indoor pit fires requires plenty of fire wood, and contributes significantly to the rapid deforestation of the countryside.

The solution our parnter has identified is a safer, more fuel-efficient and affordable stove. ONIL stoves, produced and assembled in the area, raise the fire off the ground, enclose it, and pipe smoke out of the house. They are inexpensive, easy to assemble, and easy to maintain and repair.

Clean, Safe, reliable water sources can also be a problem in the Chimaltenango area. Water-borne illnesses are common. In response to this our partners offer a home-based water filter. Relying on gravity, these simple 2-bucket systems will provide 10 gallons of clean water per day.

For both the stoves and water filters, Sahakarini provides 80% of the purchase price. Recipients pay the rest, and participate in training sessions on the use and maintenance of these tools. in 2010-2011, the Kaqchikel Presbytery plans to distribute 150 stoves and filters.

Guatemalan Women working with the vegetables grown through their micro-credit funded small business

In Guatemala we are providing loans to 53 rural women in three villages to help them with small businesses that will earn them better incomes. Some will grow and sell vegetables, raise chickens, sell eggs and milk; some will make and sell aloe shampoo; and some will make and sell crafts such as baskets and weaving. The money they earn will help their families and especially the children whom they will be able to afford to send to school. As the women pay back the loans, they can borrow again or others can borrow enough to get started.

As one of the women told us, “Our children will change the world.” The resilience, strength and hopefulness of these women who have suffered unspeakably during the civil war and are continuing to experience uncertainty even today, is remarkable and inspiring.

Our partner on this project is the Kaqchikel Presbytery, an indigenous church organization. It has as its goal that the communities it works with will reach better levels of organization, sustainable human development, consciousness, and participation in society without discrimination, and that this be an expression of the values and principles of the kingdom of God.

Little boy looking on

In Sierra Leone we have been involved for three years with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee helping farmers get re-established and develop a reliable food supply using work oxen. A long civil war in Sierra Leone destroyed most of the work animals and many of the crops. Farmers, some men and some women, are divided into groups of 10 and one person is chosen to be responsible for a team of oxen. The handlers are trained and seed rice is supplied. The farmers attend workshops and agree to repay the loan for the rice as well as to put some rice aside as seed for the following year.

With the third phase underway, 90 farmers are planting rice on expanded acreage using oxen.  Following the pattern of the first two phases, from July 1/06 to Mar 31/07, 30 new farmers (21 men and 9 women and their families) were registered; 3 farmers’ committees were formed; workshops were held; animals, implements and seed were procured. Unfortunately, yields in some areas were poor because of a lack of adequate rain for the rice crops. Nonetheless, all the loans from the phase 1 and 2 farmers were paid in full with interest except for the group which had the poorest crops. We hope for better rain and crops this year.

Rock Chipper at work

On the outskirts of Hyderabad, large numbers of Dalit and Tribal people have settled in hutments without benefit of water, sanitation, and other services. The adults have a 5% literacy rate and cannot get steady work. Most work as day labourers mainly as cleaners or rock chippers when work is available earning the equivalent of less than $600 per year.

The HOPE and Change Hutment Project, undertaken with partner organization, SERVE, an Indian non-governmental organization, will seek official recognition of these communities including ration or identity cards for the residents and where possible, title to small pieces of land so that they can establish permanent homes no longer fearful of eviction.

There are four main aspects to the project:

1) Community development to empower the residents to understand their situation and begin to solve problems effectively

2) Vocational training to help break the cycle of poverty. Residents will have the opportunity to take courses in practical nursing, sewing, driver/mechanics, and plumbing so that men and women can earn better livings for their families and begin to provide for education and health care.

3) Basic health care There are no government sponsored health facilities in these communities and private clinics are prohibitively expensive for these people both from the standpoint of fees, transportation, and lost work time for appointments, testing and treatment. There is a need for education about nutrition, sanitation, common diseases, and STDs including HIV/AIDS. The plan is to work toward better provision of services from outside while at the same time tending to the present needs.

4) Bridge support for HOPE School

Embedded in all aspects will be measures for giving women voice and choice they have not had before.

Itaituba Grade and Trades School

Itaituba reminds one of a frontier town, which in some respects it is. Eighty years ago, it was the centre of mining and rubber production, both of which disappeared and with them any measure of prosperity. Horse carts loaded with fruit, hides, and other produce line the dock on the Tabajos River. Streets are dusty. Most buildings look in need of repair. Shanties ring the town. An empty state-of-the-art fruit packing plant on the edge of town speaks of a once grand, but ill-conceived plan to introduce industry.

Although this area has a small overall population, it has the largest proportion of young people in Brazil. The government has mandated the civic authorities to “do something” about growing youth restlessness and unemployment.” As the mayor indicated to us in March 2004, A Mao Cooperadora has shown the most effective approach to nurturing and training people and that is why he encourages their work. That is also why we are pleased to partner with them in this initiative.

In March 2004, a group of Sahakarini supporters spent a week in Itaituba. The town was poorer than we had imagined, but the work of our partner, A Mao Cooperadora, was far more extensive and successful than we had realized.

The visit gave us a strong sense of how the School fits into an over all development program which began some twenty five years ago and now touches all parts of the life cycle of the local inhabitants beginning with a creche for infants and children, a grade school built as part of this initiative, the trade school and farm to train young people, a clinic, a dental office, and a hospital.

Unlike the states of southern Brazil, this area is underdeveloped and the people suffer from very low levels of income, services and opportunities. There were no good training opportunities offered in the Itaituba region previous to this school. It is giving the young people the chance to participate in and take advantage of growing development. Each year graduates in electrical, automotive, and carpentry trades, computer use, and agriculture will improve the standards of the existing community and also serve to help attract new development. This is a long range benefit with multiplier benefits to the area for years to come.

In the first year, a very good school building was built which houses grades 1-8 as well as some of the trades.

The A Mao Cooperadora school is considered the best in Itaituba and has a waiting list. Parents appreciate the high standards, the facility, and most of all, the caring attitude of the teachers.

The trade school programs exceed SENAI certification standards. Courses include:
Electrical
Auto mechanic/auto electrical
Plumbing:
Farming and animal husbandry:
Carpentry AMC also runs a commercial furniture making business of very high quality which generates revenue. Sahakarini helped get this program running some years ago.
Computer training

The seed money which made it possible for us to dream about doing this project came from the estate of a young man who was killed in an accident. As some of the staff spoke about how much they had hoped for such a school, they also acknowledged that it had come about because of someone else’s great loss. From great pain has come hope and happiness, gratitude and grace.

Technical Training Area at Kallaipadum Technical College in India

The Kallipadem Technical College opened in September 1988. It was developed in partnership with the Church of God in South India with the assistance of CIDA and Alberta AID. The purpose is to impart good technical training and sound education in order to raise the social and economic standards of the students irrespective of caste, creed, race or community. The training is organized according to the Indian governement industrial training scheme including both theoretical and practical training. Courses include electronics, electrical, automotives, plumbing, drafting and computing. It continues to be strong program with approximately 200 graduates per year.

“The College runs nicely, I am told, on revenues from students and the students graduating from the various trades immediately find jobs. The economic advances in India in the last 13 years have been immense, thanks to the opening up of the Indian economy. It’s incredible to see the impact of globalization on a very traditional, class conscious society. There is building going on everywhere. IT and telecommunications are huge, and schools new and old are everywhere. No doubt there is a downside in terms of erosion of traditional values, but I suspect not too many people, given the choice, would want less development.”  (Alan Fielding, notes from a visit in 2005)

Children and Staff gather at Daycare Centre in Sao Paulo, Brazil

The purpose of this project was to establish a daycare centre in Jardim dos Alamos, a squatter neighbourhood of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Our program partner, A Mao Cooperadora, has several other daycares in the area which they built and operate and for which the city authorities provide program, food and staff funding. The city does not, however, provide the actual facilities, so this was the main focus of our project. Once in operation, the centres provide a safe, nurturing environment for children as well as outreach and education for the community.

There are about 260 children ranging from infants to young teens in care. The older children attend school part of the day and then are able to find a safe place to be until their parent(s) come home.

Practical Experience for Student Health Workers

This project assists in the provision of primary health care to 12 villages through the supply of health centre, a mobile clinic, and preventive care programs.

Farmer Standing with New Crops in rural Andrah Pradesh, India

30 Villages

This was a complex project, the largest ever undertaken by our partner, Charitable and Community Development Organization (CCDO); and the second largest ever undertaken by Sahakarini. It was complex because it took a comprehensive approach to developing healthier, more resilient, more self reliant and economically viable communities.

The rural tribal people are amongst the most disadvantaged people in all of India. Almost all of the people in the target area are landless farmers and labourers. They have been discriminated against for centuries and therefore not given the opportunities for education that others receive. Illiteracy and lack of alternate job skills severely limit their livlihood options and independence. Migration to the cities in search of work has de-stabilized the communities. They have not been well prepared to make changes. By training and equipping men, youths and women for earning incomes, some of the basic causes of poverty are being addressed.

This is a project in which there are many immediate benefits such as reclaimed eyesight, safe water supply, and food from the kitchen gardens. Other aspects such as learning income earning skills are relatively immediate. Crops growing on previously wasted land where water is now managed is starting to give a sense of food and income security. Farmers are eager to adopt, adapt, and enlarge the project. Migration has slowed by 60% making the communities more stable.

Community Organization

32 VDC’s (Village Development Councils) consisting of 4 women, 4 youth and 4 men, have been formed to promote leadership and development initiatives.

Members have undergone environmental awareness education programs as well as training to help them empower and encourage villagers in the areas of personal health and hygiene, community sanitation, safe water, and income generation programs compatible with their local resources and available training opportunities.

In terms of action, they have formed and monitored the well management committees. They have successfully sought access to government services such as free sanitary toilets. They have participated in having the transit tax on raw materials for the leaf plate makers exempted. They have assisted in the organization of health camps.

Self Management Groups

33 SMGs have formed and are functioning for self employment and or other occupations through leaf plate making, cutting and tailoring, driver mechanics, electric motor pump set servicing/rewinding, masonry. building construction, horticulture/agro-forestry, agriculture and vegetable cultivation, soil and water conservation works, bamboo and cane basket making, food preservation, animal husbandry and poultry keeping. Approximately 80% of the groups are self-employed.

Twenty-five SMGs are using capital revolving funds (CRF) to purchase raw materials and boast a 95% repayment rate.

The SMGs have also taken initiatives, with the support of the Village Development Councils, to participate in government programs such as DWACRA (Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas).

The women leaders of the SMGs, with the support of local leaders and CCDO, have approached the government and convinced them to exempt the raw materials used for leaf plate making from the traditional tax. This has resulted in a reduction of Rs 100 per bundle which is significant to the 5000 women making leaf plates.

Health Care and Family Welfare

The system of rural health care formulated by CCDO provides care at the least cost to the patient and community, while facilitating easy referral of the rural/tribal community to the existing government healthcare facilities.

The system uses trained community or village health workers equipped with primary health kits to work at the village level educating, screening and referring; and organizing and assisting in health and eye camps.

The GSM Love Medical Clinic which was equipped in part by Sahakarini outside of this project provides testing and diagnostic services on a non-profit basis. Within this project, it served over 5000 rural tribal people and urban slum dwellers who could not otherwise afford such services. It is an important link in the service CCDO manages.

In the target villages there has been a pronounced reduction in the incidence of many common ailments. Through the efforts of the village health workers to educate the people about the causes of common diseases and how they are transmitted, the people have been able to take steps to prevent them. This has included empowering the village communities to enlist the aid of concerned groups such as the District Malaria Controlling Department to spray areas of stagnant water where malaria causing mosquitos rest.

Awareness programs regarding AIDS/HIV have been carried out as have alcohol and tobacco awareness programs. There has been some reduction in the use of tobacco and alcohol.

As a result of educational programs, household ventilation, and food storage methods have improved. There has been an improvement noted in personal hygiene. – the frequency of bathing, changing clothes, nail and tooth care, hand washing and wound care.

Malaria, typhoid, viral scabies, amoebiasis, malaria, conjunctivitis, diarrhea, hookworm infection, filaria, viral hepatitis are noted to be on the decline.

Birth attendants are using sterile procedures and pregnant women are receiving monitoring. Children are being immunized. These are all improvements from before the project when birth attendants were untrained and there was no immunization.

Health Camps

33 health camps were held with the participation of Dr. Luke and volunteer doctors and technicians from Visakhapatnam. Just over 2400 people were treated. Many of these were referred, taken to and returned home from the King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam. Over 200 orthopaedic cases were referred.

Eye Camps

20 eye camps focused particularly on children were held. 630 children were treated, usually by being fitted for glasses. 22 eye camps for adults were held. Approximately 1400 persons were examined, and over 500 were referred for cataract surgery to the Regional Eye Hospital. Followup on all eye surgeries has been carried out. Patients are referred to the District Blindness Control Society for the provision of glasses. The health workers also regularly teach how to avoid blindness and administer nutritional supplements to aid in avoiding blindness. In many cases, the restoration of vision meant the restoration of the ability to earn a living or look after a family.

Individual Sanitary Toilets

People have been educated about the sanitary problems associated with open air defecation so prevalent in rural areas, and helped to obtain individual sanitary toilets free of cost under a local government scheme.

Well Building and Water Supply Systems

A total of 10 drilled and 11 open wells have been provided and handed over to the villagers who are maintaining them in serviceable condition.

Skill Training for Employment

A workshop has been built and put to effective use for training programs.

No tonly is the space practical, it is decorated with murals that reinforce some the main themes of the project. For example, there is one featuring women prominently as partners in development. Another illustrates the importance of good water management for effective agriculture. A third reiterates the principles by which CCDO operates.

Courses

A total of 1822 people have been trained in the following:
Tailoring
Leaf plate making
Nutrition and food preservation
Community health workers
Washing powder and detergent making
Automobile driver/mechanic
Electric motor pump set/rewinding
Social worker
Auxiliary nurse/midwife
Masonry/building construction
Computers (MS Office/Internet operation)
Animal husbandry and poultry keeping
Horticulture and agro-forestry
Soil/moisture/water conservation works
Agriculture/vegatable cultivation

JSS has provided certification for the graduates in a number of the programs.

80% of the school drop-outs who trained as driver mechanics are employed by others. The remaining 20% have become self-employed thanks to loans from DRDA (District rural development agency) and SC/ST/BC.

It is considered socially very desirable that the women no longer need to go to male tailors now that women tailors have been trained.

The Central and State Gov’ts have introduced the National Employment Guarantee Scheme under which all unemployed youth are eligible for 100 days guaranteed employment during non-agriculture season. The skill training provided through CCDO has become a unique opportunity for the youth to obtain employment leading to security.

Agro-Forestry/Land and Water Conservation

When we visited the area being reclaimed, and met the farmers involved, we were struck by their energy and hope as well as hard physical labour. They wanted to tell our partners about the new ideas they had.

The government, under the CMP (Common Minimum Programme), has surveyed all the excess lands and distributed 3-5 acre parcels to landless poor families. They have also given financial assistance for the development of these lands. The agro-forestry training the farmers have received has proven very useful and timely.

There is a balance of crops with some, such as paddy crops providing immediate/frequent harvests, and others, such as casuarina, taking 4-5 years to mature to the point of being marketable. 1677 acres have been planted for the benefit of 903 families. Income for these farmers has increased approximately 30%.

457 acres (original goal 400acres) have been irrigated by means of rock-fill dams, diversion weirs, rain water harvesting ponds, gully plugs, check dams, and contour bunds. 271 families have benefitted from this part of the project.

The work done during the project (Bush clearing, contour bunding, gully plugging, manuring, and construction of rock fill dams, weirs, and check dams) has been maintained and followed up for further development. The rain fed storage ponds, diversion veirs & check dams have been in full use irrigating paddy / sugarcane fields in the target area.

582,750 multi-purpose tree seedlings have been raised and distributed. They included cashew, casuarina, teak, acacia, prosopsis juliflora, bamboo, neem and curry leaf for growth in kitchen gardens, and former wastelands.

3,240 households now have kitchen gardens which provide for more nourishing diets as well as produce for sale. Plants have included papaya, curry leaf, beans, bitter guard, ridge guard, bottle guard, lady fingers, and pumpkin.

I am so impressed with this project, but even more impressed by the sense of community these farmers have. As we were all walking around they were laughing and joking and obviously proud of their work. They each have two or three acres and they farm the land intensively with oxen and elbow grease. In Canada farmers live far apart and rural areas are being depopulated. Until today I didn’t think that subsistence agriculture had a future in the 21st century. I’ve changed my mind. These people can feed their families and enjoy their communities without industrialization or high tech.  (Alan Fielding, from his notes following a monitoring visit in October 2005)