Future Projects - Kisumu, Kenya

Kenya Project Main Page

.

THE FUTURE PROJECTS

Most aid organisations have projects that are organised in the western world, and that's the way that it has always been done. Well, we don't believe in just throwing money into a black hole, where much of it is soaked up by corruption. History has shown the rest of the world that doesn't make a big difference in reality. Africa is still the same! We believe that projects need to be owned and organised by the local people.We like to assist the community to genuinely help themselves. To help them set up projects that are sustainable. All they need is a start. We can't help the whole of Africa, or the whole of Kenya, but we can, and do, make a huge difference to one local community!
We believe in projects organised from the bottom, ground roots upwards, rather than from the top (western world) down.
So where do the local community want to go next? What do they want to do?

This is all that is left of one family. A grandmother and two teenage sisters, one of whom has a baby. They live in a single room. The two girls have AIDS and the baby was born HIV positive. This family situation is all too common.

One of the biggest problems in the community is the school leavers. The ones that don't go on to a secondary school. And that's the majority.

They have little or no chance of obtaining work
75% of them don't have a father left alive to act as the family breadwinner. 50% of them don't have any living parents at all, so they live with a grandmother or other relatives.... who cannot afford to support them.
Girls often resort to prositution to earn money to feed themselves and their grandparents and younger siblings. They sell their bodies for 100 shillings or less. (£0.87p, a little over $1). They are aware of the dangers of AIDS, but food and survival comes first. The problem is, of course, that they do end up contracting AIDS.
Boys just hang around doing nothing. Many leave "home" to live rough on the streets.
Most of the young people have nothing. Their situation is hopeless. Literally.

The answer to this is incredibly simple. Skills training and job creation.
The community knows this, but there is a total lack of money to get things off the ground. We have had long discussions with the local people and they would really love to be able to help themselves and the young people in particular.
Since we built the new primary school at Alara, the community are now left with the old school building, with eight rooms. It is decrepid, but it would need a only a little work done on it to provide usable workshops. Workshops that could be used for things such as:

Woodworking and furniture making
Sewing and dressmaking
Hairdressing
Building skills
Craft work
etc.

Workshops where the young people can not only learn the skills, but actually carry out small self sufficent businesses at the same time, under the guidance of a suitably experienced adult.

The now disused old primary school at Alara.

School uniforms made by Elizabeth

Elizabeth with one of the new sewing machines. (Sewing machines are extremely expensive in Kenya. A simple old fashioned manual cast iron Singer machine costs about £100 ! - It is easier to buy good electric machines here in England for about £60 and take them over there when we visit).

SEWING AND DRESSMAKING

Let's look at one project that would be easy to set up here, and which would provide opportunities for several girls.
There is a ready made market for the produce. School uniforms. Not just for children in Alara, but also for the many other primary and secondary schools in the district. At the moment the only way of getting a uniform is to go to the market at Kiboswa and have one made by a seamstresses there. We know two of them, as they have done work for us. One, Elizabeth, has a small permanent unit in the market, open for sales on Wednesday and Saturday on market days. We have already purchased two new sewing machines for her, and she already teaches some of the orphan girls there. Effectively, there is already a pilot project in place. It just needs to expand now.
So it would only be a little step further to set up a sewing workshop in one of the rooms at the old school. A place to teach more girls, (think of them as paid apprentices), and a way of making a larger business operation.
What would be needed?

Renovations for the room^1*, including

Steel door and windows (for security)
Smooth concrete floor
Replaster the walls as necessary
Decorate the walls
Reinstate the electrical wiring and fittings (a supply is already there)

Work tables and chairs ^2*
Storage cupboards ^2*
Sewing machines
Materials

1* An opportunity to emply a local builder, plus boys who have left school to learn the building skills, and pay the boys too. The start of the building workshop project.
2* An opportunity to employ a local carpenter, plus boys who have left school to learn the woodworking skills, and pay the boys too. The start of the woodworking workshop project.
The total cost for getting the sewing project off the ground would be about £2,500. But from then onwards, it would be a totally self-sufficient business. We can help with that original starter, but it would be very much their own business and their own project.

.

Kenya Project Main Page

Our Kenya Children Sponsorship
HelpKenyaKids.org

Rod & Gay Neep
51 St. Whites Road, Cinderford, Gloucestershire GL14 3DF, England

email: info@helpkenyakids.org

Phone: +44 (0)1594 826633

Kenya Project Main Page
.		THE FUTURE PROJECTS Most aid organisations have projects that are organised in the western world, and that's the way that it has always been done. Well, we don't believe in just throwing money into a black hole, where much of it is soaked up by corruption. History has shown the rest of the world that doesn't make a big difference in reality. Africa is still the same! We believe that projects need to be owned and organised by the local people.We like to assist the community to genuinely help themselves. To help them set up projects that are sustainable. All they need is a start. We can't help the whole of Africa, or the whole of Kenya, but we can, and do, make a huge difference to one local community! We believe in projects organised from the bottom, ground roots upwards, rather than from the top (western world) down. So where do the local community want to go next? What do they want to do?
This is all that is left of one family. A grandmother and two teenage sisters, one of whom has a baby. They live in a single room. The two girls have AIDS and the baby was born HIV positive. This family situation is all too common.		One of the biggest problems in the community is the school leavers. The ones that don't go on to a secondary school. And that's the majority. They have little or no chance of obtaining work 75% of them don't have a father left alive to act as the family breadwinner. 50% of them don't have any living parents at all, so they live with a grandmother or other relatives.... who cannot afford to support them. Girls often resort to prositution to earn money to feed themselves and their grandparents and younger siblings. They sell their bodies for 100 shillings or less. (£0.87p, a little over $1). They are aware of the dangers of AIDS, but food and survival comes first. The problem is, of course, that they do end up contracting AIDS. Boys just hang around doing nothing. Many leave "home" to live rough on the streets. Most of the young people have nothing. Their situation is hopeless. Literally. The answer to this is incredibly simple. Skills training and job creation. The community knows this, but there is a total lack of money to get things off the ground. We have had long discussions with the local people and they would really love to be able to help themselves and the young people in particular. Since we built the new primary school at Alara, the community are now left with the old school building, with eight rooms. It is decrepid, but it would need a only a little work done on it to provide usable workshops. Workshops that could be used for things such as: Woodworking and furniture making Sewing and dressmaking Hairdressing Building skills Craft work etc. Workshops where the young people can not only learn the skills, but actually carry out small self sufficent businesses at the same time, under the guidance of a suitably experienced adult. The now disused old primary school at Alara.
School uniforms made by Elizabeth Elizabeth with one of the new sewing machines. (Sewing machines are extremely expensive in Kenya. A simple old fashioned manual cast iron Singer machine costs about £100 ! - It is easier to buy good electric machines here in England for about £60 and take them over there when we visit).		SEWING AND DRESSMAKING Let's look at one project that would be easy to set up here, and which would provide opportunities for several girls. There is a ready made market for the produce. School uniforms. Not just for children in Alara, but also for the many other primary and secondary schools in the district. At the moment the only way of getting a uniform is to go to the market at Kiboswa and have one made by a seamstresses there. We know two of them, as they have done work for us. One, Elizabeth, has a small permanent unit in the market, open for sales on Wednesday and Saturday on market days. We have already purchased two new sewing machines for her, and she already teaches some of the orphan girls there. Effectively, there is already a pilot project in place. It just needs to expand now. So it would only be a little step further to set up a sewing workshop in one of the rooms at the old school. A place to teach more girls, (think of them as paid apprentices), and a way of making a larger business operation. What would be needed? Renovations for the room^1, including Steel door and windows (for security) Smooth concrete floor Replaster the walls as necessary Decorate the walls Reinstate the electrical wiring and fittings (a supply is already there) Work tables and chairs ^2 Storage cupboards ^2* Sewing machines Materials 1* An opportunity to emply a local builder, plus boys who have left school to learn the building skills, and pay the boys too. The start of the building workshop project. 2* An opportunity to employ a local carpenter, plus boys who have left school to learn the woodworking skills, and pay the boys too. The start of the woodworking workshop project. The total cost for getting the sewing project off the ground would be about £2,500. But from then onwards, it would be a totally self-sufficient business. We can help with that original starter, but it would be very much their own business and their own project.


		. Kenya Project Main Page