The Power of Pennies - We Day Inspires!

Today I've been watching the live stream of We Day in Toronto. My daughter Martha is there again this year and I fondly remembered two years ago when our entire family volunteered at We Day - Peter and I in the Educator booths, Martha as a crowd pumper and Jeremy at a Merchandise booth. As a volunteering family with a family-run charity of our own in Kenya it was just natural to participate in We Day.

This year Craig and Marc encouraged youth to save their pennies and take them to the Royal Bank to help provide water for those in developing countries who  have water sources to which they have long distances to carry our precious life source back to their homes or for those whose water sources are closer to home but the water is not clean and safe to drink.

We know the power of pennies for it was by saving pennies in a jar that we started to help our Kenyan friend and "son"  Ronnie Mdawida pursue further university education in order to help the people of his home village of Wongonyi, in southeastern Kenya, and all people of Kenya to a better quality of life. So we began by simply putting pennies in a jar and The Ronnie Fund was started. We later expanded to using this penny bank our son Jeremy recieved. We are not a wealthy family but we felt blessed by the life we have here and were inspired by Ronnie's desire to help his people. We can tell you that it doesn't take long for that small and what some people consider insignificant coin to add up to making important social change. And as Ronnie started to help his village and we began to tell his story and ours, others joined with us individuals, churches businesses. Now six years later we are making a difference in people's lives, one person at a time through educational scholarships, microfinance, Biosand Water Filter project, Health care resources, new homes for widows, clothing and supplies for orphans, Sere Girls Club and Agricultural Tools and training for sustainability.

Our newest project is the Mghongo Leadership Centre, Eco Lodge and Demonstration Farm that once built will provide quality educational training on a variety of topics including Agriculture, Health and Nutrition, Water and Sanitation, Teacher Training, Leadership and Youth programming and much more.

Our meeting with Ronnie when he came to live with our family for three months in 2005 as a participant in the Canada World Youth Program has changed our lives in ways we could never have imagined. And it all started with pennies in a jar to help one young man to further his education but has resulted in  really helping him to achieve his dream of providing quality village life in Kenya.We have made life long friends in this remote hilltop village that I know will endure forever.

Some people are hesitant to help others or just too overwhelmed by the poverty of the world but if we each help just one other person, who in turn will help one other person and so on, and so on, just imagine a world of peace and equality for all.

 YOU CAN DO IT! WE ARE DOING IT!

 As the Dalai Lama said"

"If we are lucky enough to be living a good life, we should recognize this gift and thank God for it by looking out for others who need our help in breaking out of the cycle of poverty."

BE THE CHANGE!

 

To see how pennies can transform Kenyan communities check out our website

 www.easysite.com/theronniefund

theronniefund@sympatico.ca

Ronnie giving an inspirational talk to 150 youth attending a Youth Barazza in Wongonyi Village telling them to never give up their dreams despite the hardships they may be facing. Ronnie faced those same challenges coming from a childhood of poverty to achieve his BA in Rural Sociology and is now working on his MA, transferring his knowledge to a new generation of Kenyan youth.

Girl Power - Mentorship Program a Success!

In Kenya when girls reach high school age, school is no longer free. If one is to advance to high school her parents must pay not only her tuition fees but also purchase school uniforms, textbooks, and other supplies like pens, notebooks and math sets. Those whose parents cannot afford the fees are usually sent out to work to contribute to the family income. As a result girls do not envision a real future for themselves. They don't set goals as they know that those goals will probably not be achievable.

The Ronnie Fund is attempting to change those views for these promising young girls in Wongonyi Village. This past spring Serah Mucha Mdawida (Ronnie's wife) arranged for two women educators from Nairobi to travel to the village to facilitate a weekend mentoring workshop for students. On the Friday the women engaged 150 students from Wongonyi and neighbouring Mbolo village on self-esteem and visioning through fun and engaging activities.

The next day the women met with 20 girls from the Sere Girls Club and spent in-depth time on goal-setting, time management and the power of personal future planning. Many of the girls have never spent any time thinking of the future beyond the next day. The facilitators enlightened the girls on the need to think about their futures and educated the girls on the opportunities that exist by going to college and university. It is only through education that the girls and their families can lift themselves out of the cycle of poverty. Serah will be holding a follow-up workshop with the girls in the next month or two. As well Serah will be bringing a few girls to Nairobi to tour the universities and colleges and learn about opportunities outside the village.

The girls did find the visioning exercise challenging because they have not ever thought about life outside the village but it is hoped that this workshop will give the girls a new look on a brighter future.

Serah also plans on developing a mentorship program with successful young women in Kenya who can mentor the girls on a regular basis encouraging them to continue their studies both at high school, university or college and then into the business world. It is important that we empower these young women who are the leaders of today. An indication of the power of girls is our twinning project with Muskoka Scout troops and the Ikanga Scout troop in Kenya. Recently the girls unit of the Scouts placed third in the provincial Kenya Scouting competition. A great feat and we celebrate their hard work. Go Girls!

World Orphans Day - May 16, 2011

Isaiah Mwandami, Project Manager for The Ronnie Fund Biosand Water Filter Project, (himself an orphan looking after three siblings), shows an orphaned family their new Biosand Water Filter that has just been manufactured which will provide them with clean, safe drinking water.

Around the globe thousands of children live everyday without the benefits of guidance, nurturing and love from parents. Many of these vulnerable children have lots one or both parents to the ravishes of HIV/Aids, genocide and tribal wars and other diseases.

Sometimes these children are being taken care of by grandparents and other relatives. However if the job becomes too onerous, the grandparents too old, or the relatives unable to feed a few other mouths these children find themselves cast out to live on their own, fending for themselves, barely able to survive having to find work to sustain themselves rather than going to school and enjoying the fun activities children are supposed to partake in. In a very many cases, one finds older siblings taking on the caretaking roles, looking after many younger siblings.

World Orphans Day is to raise awareness of the number of children living in parentless households and the great needs and challenges these children have. In our village of Wongonyi, Kenya we have recorded 60 children out of the 300 attending Wongonyi Primary School to be orphans and that does not include orphan siblings attending (if possible) Allan Mjomba Secondary School. Ronnie has been approached by orphaned children starving for lack of food and crying because of treatment by adults who have note realized starvation to be the issue. The care of orphans and vulnerale children in Wongonyi Village is another of the challenges we are researching and trying to address in terms of care facilities.

Currently we have been able to provide some orphans with clothing and food along with school fees and supplies. Recently a donation from the Eastern Star branch in Bracebridge, Ontario allowed us to begin providing Biosand Water Filters to orphan families. These home water filters provide the children with clean, safe drinking water improving their health and lessen their trips to seek medical help for stomach ailments from water borne bacteria. Now The Ronnie Fund is exploring different models of care homes that would provide a family type setting for those orphans in Wongonyi Village.

Sometimes when we travel we from the West are repulsed by children in large centres like Nairobi, Calcutta and Brazil who are begging in the street but for many of the orphaned children it is their only alternative to try and get a little money or food to sustain their siblings. A sad state of afairs for those of us who have seen the reality of children living alone. Imagine your own children have to live on their own finding food, raising money, not being able to go to school and you can see how millions of children worldwide live. As well those grandparents and relatives looking after orhpans have a great weight put on their shoulders.

Today, I ask you to think about those orphan children and support a cause that is making a difference in these vulnerable children's lives. Asante-sana (thank you!)

November 15 - National Philanthropy Day

"I never look at the masses as my responsibility. I look at the individual. I can only love one person at a time."

Mother Teresa

"Ronnie gives vegetable seeds donated by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds to Monica, a microfinance participant."

Wow - did you know that today, November 15th is National Philanthropy Day. Now you might think that a philanthropist is someone who has a lot of money, so much so that they have extra to give away to charitable causes. But not so, each and every one of us can be a philanthropist - it only takes a small act.

On Friday we screened the documentary "a small act" about how one woman's small act of a monthly donation to sponsor a young boy in Kenya resulted in that boy, now a man, starting his own small act of an education fund for the students in his small village. We showed this film because it mirrored our own small act of starting The Ronnie Fund for our "Kenyan" son, Ronnie Mdawida, by simply saving pennies in a jar for Ronnie's university education. Now four years later and through the generosity of others who have participated in their own small acts by partnering with us we have been able to effect great changes in Wongonyi Village, Kenya. But there are still more challenges and issues to face. Our message with The Ronnie Fund is that it doesn't take great wealth to create change, each of us has the capacity to make a difference in just one other person's life and like drops of water that create ripples, the generosity will be spread.

As individuals we cannot solve world poverty, HIV/Aids or the plight of orphans in Africa, India or South America but each of us can make a difference by our own small acts and those collective acts can help achieve positive global change. Each of us have the capacity to help someone in need be it at home in our own community, our country or around the globe in a developing country to change a life for the better. For us, it was as simple as saving pennies in a jar.

Today on National Philanthropy Day, think about how you can change the world and donate today to your favourite cause (and remember philanthropy doesn't just mean money, it also includes your talents, skills and time).

"Change the world with a giving heart."

Microfinance - Small Loans, Big Impact

"Winnie - one of our microfinance recipients was able to expand her village shop."

Sometimes it is hard to imagine how a little financial boost can have such a huge impact. Microfinance is the term for small loans to business people who otherwise would not qualify for funding. In our village of Wongonyi, Kenya the local bank had few funds available for loaning out to those who wanted help to improve their businesses. So The Ronnie Fund started a Microfinance Program.

Through the generosity of a donor with an interest in Microfinance, we launched our program with six recipients. A year later we are pleased to report that the original six have repaid their loans and we recently provided another 12 participants with funding for their business projects which include a poultry business, grocery and cereal shops, goats, dairy farm, barber, tree nursery, carpentry, agricultural inputs, butcher shop, agrovet store, sewing and farming.
Ronnie meets with potential participants to determine their eligibility and assess their business plan. Once selected the participant signs documentation agreeing to a repayment plan. Ronnie also arranges for training in business skills so that we achieve a 100% success rate in repayment. This training also assures that our participants have the needed business knowledge to ensure a successful and expanding business.

For many of the people in our remote rural village, Microfinance has been just the impetus they have needed to move forward in their lives creating much needed income so they can support their families with food, clothing and school fees. We have found that our Microfinance Program is the perfect tool for helping to move people from poverty to prosperity. It truly is a testament to the fact that a small amount of money can have a tremendous impact in changing lives.

August 19 - Humanitarian Day

The dictionary defines a humanitarian as being a person who is devoted to the welfare of all human beings and being helpful to humanity. Most people are humanitarians they just don't know it. Many people think a humanitarian has to be working overseas, in poverty ridden areas or with folks who have serious basic needs. But a humanitarian can be working in your own neighbourhood, helping those around you who require assistance like a hot meal in winter through an Out of the Cold Program or Meals on Wheels, perhaps helping provide craft instruction at the local seniors citizens home or long term care facility or maybe even a child who simply helps an elderly neighbour by bringing in the newspaper or shovelling their walk in winter.

And yes there are those of us who do work in foreign countries trying to help those who may have been oppressed or lack opportunities for a better quality of life. For me, being a humanitarian is simply that I and my family, through our family charity The Ronnie Fund, want to help create a peaceful world where all people are equal and have the basic necessities of life. Even though we are just an average middle-class family, we feel we are so blessed by what we have and how easy life is for us while there are so many around the globe who do not have access to clean, safe drinking water, the ability to send their children to school on a regular basis or have enough food for the table. In Africa, it is a real challenge for most people to provide even one meal a day for their family.

August 19th is Humanitarian Day - it is a time to think about how you can make the world a more humane place by using your actions to help those in need, at home, around the corner or around the world. Each of us has the capacity to help all human kind. Support Humanitarian Day by helping someone in need - you'll be glad you helped to contribute to making the world a better place to live.

The Value of Volunteers

Mama Pads - reusable sanitary napkins for girls and women of Wongonyi.

Our volunteer crew included our selves, Kathy and Peter Wood, son Jeremy, his girlfriend Sarah, our friends The Evans-Lucy family (Don, Jan, Omar and Vincent) along with our friend Russ Van der Jagt.

This past weekend we were given the opportunity to raise funds for The Ronnie Fund by helping to clear tables at the Snyder/Montgomery wedding in Bracebridge, Ontario. In exchange for helping at the reception the Montgomery family made a donation to The Ronnie Fund. Without the assistance of our friends we could not have undertaken the job and raised these much needed funds. It is the value of volunteers that we treasure. Our friends were happy to be able to assist us in this way. Sarah and Omar were able to get 4 hours of volunteer hours they need for their high school diploma, so it was a win-win-win situation. And as Omar told his mom, "Hey, I'm actually have a good time."

With that donation, we have purchased an overlocking treadle sewing machine for our new project in Wongonyi Village, Kenya. The girls in the sewing class at the local Polytechnic are making Mama Pads, resuable sanitary napkins which they will sell as a micro business. They have already received training in sewing the pads and in business skills but needed an over locking sewing machine to make a quality product. Ronnie has purchased the sewing machine and it is on its way to the village now. Ronnie will present it to the Polytechnic class when he gets there this weekend. The Polytechnic instructors will be so surprised as they had told Ronnie that they did not have funds to purchase a machine at this time. We can just see their faces when Ronnie shows up with the gift.

The availability and use of sanitary napkins is a big issue not only in Wongonyi Village but in most parts of rural Africa. Disposable sanitary napkins are very expensive to purchase and as a result most girls and women use rags. The girls are very self-conscious and do not go to school during their period, losing valuable education time. Last year the Bracebridge Pathfinder group made some Mama Pads for the girls of our Sere Girls Club and they were well received. We have no doubt that our Mama Pad project will be a great success for the Polytechnic Institute and bring self-confidence to the girls and women of Wongonyi.

We all have special gifts and talents. For some, they have a gift of funds to give charities in need and for others, it is the gift of their time to volunteer during a special event. We thank all our donors and volunteers for their special gifts for together we are making a difference in the lives of those in Kenya.

Day of the African Child - June 16

The Watoto of Wongonyi Village, Kenya. Watoto is the Kiswahili word for "children".

Yesterday was a great day to celebrate children , especially the children of Africa for June 16th has been declared the Day of the African Child.

For those of us who have been to Africa, we have experienced the beauty of these children. Their shy smile as they greet you on the road on their way home from school, the giggles and laughter as children see their own image displayed on the back of a digital camera and the happiness when they are presented with a gift like a new school uniform, textbooks or a solar reading light to assist them with their education.

Kenya and all parts of Africa are home to a great quantity of forgotten children, those whose parents have succumbed to the ravishes of Aids. These children have been shuffled from relative to relative hoping to find support and love or been taken in by someone else in their community only to find that they are put to work or that in the end, the family does not have food or financial resources to care for them, so the orphans must subsist on their own. These forgotten children lack food, clothing, sometimes even a proper home or shelter not to mention the inability to afford school supplies and fees. In Wongonyi Village, Kenya we too have our issues with orphans who lack the love of a family or caregiver, a problem we are working to rectify.

So on this Day of the African Child, we ask that you think about these children and how you might help them to live by supporting initiatives like The Ronnie Fund as we facilitate programs to assist orphans and children by providing food, school uniforms, fees and textbooks, or other programs like Sleeping Children Around the World that provides bed kits and malaria bed nets, or Grannies to Grannies which supports grandmothers who are looking after their orphaned grandchildren.

These vulnerable children deserve our care and assistance. Their gentle ways and beautiful smiles hide the real reality of their lives but we can make a difference in their lives. Please help today.

The Value of Volunteering

Volunteering can open you up to a host of new experiences, whether here at home or abroad. It's a way of sharing your talents with others in need, be it the local food bank, tutoring adults to read or helping those in developing countries learn new skills.

We are very fortunate to have our own charity, The Ronnie Fund, working with Wongonyi Village in southeastern Kenya. We just returned from our second trip to Wongonyi and feel blessed to have been able to take our teenagers both times. It has been an opportunity for them to see and live in another culture, to see just how blessed they are and the share the simple pleasures with other children. For our children , they learned that receiving a gift means the giver didn't rush out to a store, for in Wongonyi a shop may just a little stick kiosk by the roadside, but that a gift comes from the heart - a basket woven by hand from sisal or palm fronds or perhaps even a live chicken. And for people who earn only a $1.00 per day, the gift of a chicken is huge, so graciously receiving it is important. Even though you might want to give it back to them for you realize you might be taking their food source this would be an insult. But instead you take it back home (your African home that is!) and kindly share it, where it becomes dinner for all the next day.

If you are bringing others over to help volunteer for your organization, there are a few key points to remember. Create a volunteer package with information on what types of shots, visas, and other documentation they will require to get into the country. Host an evening to inform your volunteers of the cultural differences they will experience (ie. women not wearing tank tops and shorts, purchasing a kanga to wear when in a village location). It is important that you and your volunteers are culturally sensitive, that you fit into village life and not stand out, it will help you be accepted by the people you are working with.

And most importantly, you need to inform your volunteers of the mental challenges they may face and experience. There are vast social differences you might experience - staying in a mud hut with no electricity, no running water (the joys of a sponge bath), eating foods you are not familiar with (goat stew anyone!) and perhaps only one meal per day, washroom facilities (squatting over a pit latrine or even having to go in the bush), and the abject poverty of those living in the slums. Without informing them of what they will see and experience during their stay, it will be a shock to them and they may have great difficulties in readjusting once they are home.

However, when your volunteers are well prepared, the benefits and values they will experience far outweight the challenges they may face. The joyful spirit of people who are living one day at a time, the smiles, hugs and laughter from children when you take their picture and you show them. The welcome songs and grateful thanks when you provide tools and gifts that will improve the quality of their life.

Recently, some volunteers heading to Kenya for a voluntourism trip told me they felt uneasy and a bit nervous because they really weren't sure what to expect when they got there, the unfamiliarity of being in a strange place initially without charity sponosr being present. By taking the time to fully inform your volunteers prior to travelling, you will allay their fears, make them feel more comfortable in the new land and make their experience of volunteering for and with you a pleasureable and profitable experience for them, your organization and the people with whom you are working. And if they have a great experience the first time, you'll find they want to come back and continue sharing their blessings with your organization.

Kenya - Subsistance Farming versus Market Gardening

"Travel can open up a window on the world - it expands your horizons and shows you that the world the media portrays is not always as implied. Often we only hear about the poverty that is Africa and yet there are areas of great beauty and wellbeing."

We just returned from a two week visit back to Wongonyi Village in Kenya to check up on our projects that The Ronnie Fund has been supporting. It's been one and a half years since our last trip and once again, our children Martha and Jeremy accompanied us. What a fantastic opportunity for them to see another part of this great planet earth.

I noticed new changes in Kenya this trip - for me it seemed in Nairobi that the city was cleaner (not as many small piles of smouldering litter at the roadsides) and the Mombassa-Nairobi highway was so much better than the last time. Only one small detour hindered our trip to Wongonyi. But still the road up to Wongonyi Village was the same, a rocky road of deep gulleys that meant 10 km seemd more like 100 as the range rover inched its way up a road that was carved out of the hillside. My daughter Martha knew not to look out the window as we were sitting on the cliffside of the matatu. Thankfully the rain held off until later that evening when we were safely esconced in the village.

Although Wongonyi, located high atop the Taita Taveta Hills is a subsistence farming village where farmers have little access to markets in Voi and Mombassa, that would produce income from their agricultural efforts. The poor road infrastructure is a hindrance to producing more and in turn being more successful. And yet, a trip we took up to the Rift Valley lookout showed us a different Kenya, a more profitable area shown in the photo above. The Rift Valley is much like our Holland Marsh, an area rich in agricultural fertility that thrives on market gardening. And easy access to a continuation of that same Mombassa - Uganda Highway means that Rift Valley farmers can easily ship their produce to markets in Voi and Mombassa on the coast. It is amazing that a simple thing like a proper road can mean the difference between profit and loss, subsistence and successful market gardening, even the distance from the Rift Valley to Voi is so much greater than from Wongonyi to Voi.

Although Africa and Kenya do have areas that where poverty and living on a dollar a day is the norm, where parents often cannot afford school fees or uniforms, villages rely on the World Food Program and subsistence farming means simply that, that people are just subsisting but there are also areas of Kenya where the quality of village life is improving and farming has moved into market gardening, a more profitable way of life. In Wongonyi, we are working in co-operation and collaboration with local farmers and village residents to provide them with the tools and resources they need to move ahead but they still have to rely on local government to provide them with the infrastructure like proper roads to access profitable markets. Hopefully, local governments will see the benefits to all people in providing these essential services.

March 22 - World Water Day

Zach, Eddie, Isaiah, Grandma and Chris show off Biosand Water Filters ready for distribution in Wongonyi Village.

Well, I know I am a couple of days late in celebrating World Water Day but we have just returned from a successful trip to Wongonyi Village in Kenya. Here in the developed world we are blessed to have water ready at our fingertips whenever we need it for drinking, bathing, watering our gardens. We simply go to the tap, turn it on and presto, water at our fingertips. And because of its easy access and availability we are wont to waste this precious natural resource.

Yet in the developing world access to water is not so easy. People often have to walk several kilometres each day to fetch water, carrying the heavy jugs home on their heads, compressing their spines or in wheelbarrows making for aching arms. And the water is not always clean or safe - sometimes it is muddy water from water hole that is also shared with wild animals.

World Water Day is a day of awareness of this important natural resource and the many people worldwide who go without safe, clean drinking water leading to intestinal illness and diseases that keep children from school and adults from their jobs. In Wongonyi Village, The Ronnie Fund is addressing the issue of safe drinking water by providing Biosand Water Filters in homes. These concrete filters are filled with sand and gravel replicating the earth's natural water filtering process. After two weeks from installation, the filtered water is ready to be safely drunk. We were able to see the difference that safe drinking water is having on the residents of Wongonyi. It's amazing how a simple tool like a Biosand Water Filter can have such positive impact on peoples lives.

Kenya, Here We Come!

It's hard to believe that tomorrow we leave again on another African Adventure. It's been a whirlwind month as we arranged for Visas, Kenyan currency, booking our flights through Fly for Good, meeting with folks who wanted to donate goods and funds for the trip and the daily e-mails back and forth between Ronnie and ourselves as we prepare for the journey and they prepare for our coming.

While we've been busy here, Ronnie has been busy ferrying volunteers back and forth between Nairobi and Wongonyi Village. And then he had to go pick up the oil press we ordered and send it ahead to the village on three different buses and then in land rovers up to the village, which has been a challenge in itself as the roads are in bad shape due to the rains. As well, Ronnie's wife Serah has been also busy checking out uniforms and the purchase of textbooks for the Sere Girls Club, all so that we can spend more time in the village and less time in Nairobi shopping for these items ourselves.

Back at home, our house is now filled with 12 large suitcases and chests, plus 3 carrying on bags, 3 laptop bags and one guitar all ready to be taken to Toronto's Pearson Airport tomorrow.
By travelling through Fly for Good (see my earlier post) which supports humanitarian trips with airline discounts, we also learned we could each take an extra checked bag, hence the 12 bags we are taking, filled with lots of tools and goodies for the village - soccer shirts donated by our local soccer association, items donated by our local hospital, farming tools, solar shower units supplied by the local Canadian Tire store, books, games and musical instruments for the primary school, fabric and sewing supplies for our ladies sewing groups, solar lights for students, and a solar room light unit from Light Up the World along with 60 T shirts for the Ikanga Scout troop and pencil cases donated by TerraCycle filled with pencils, erasers, sharpeners and notebooks from the Burks Falls Scout troop. And finally some personal gifts for Ronnie, Serah and their families - books and clothes for the new baby, Tim Horton hot chocolate, marshmallows, maple candies and a travelling coffee mug along with inspirational books the men had been searching for.

It's getting late and we have the final check of tickets and passports, yellow fever certificates and last minute essentials and then bed, because tomorrow comes quickly and there will still be the final checklist of items to complete before heading off.

As our Kenya friend Steve emailed us today "Karibu Kenya!!"

Making a Difference One Person at a Time

This little girl is an orphan who received clothes, toiletries and food thanks to a generous donor in Muskoka.

Prior to our trip to Kenya last summer, a donor approached us with a request to help the many orphans living in Wongonyi Village. Orphans and vulnerable children are a huge problem in most African countries as a result of the devastating effects of HIV/Aids. Parents fall ill to the disease that robs them of life leaving young children alone without parental supervision, making those children take on responsibilities of adults in tending for themselves and their siblings. Unfortunately, robbing them of their childhood as they spend time searching for food, clothing and firewood, just trying to survive. Some of these orphans are able to be taken in by a friend or grandparent but still life is not good for many grandparents are old and barely able to look after themselves let alone the added responsibility of young children.

But through the generosity of loving people in Muskoka who want to share their blessings of abundance, The Ronnie Fund has been able to begin helping some of these vulnerable children in Wongonyi Village, letting them know they are loved and that people half a world away truly care for them. This little girl was so shy and afraid of the people she was meeting she brought a friend with her for moral support. Such small gestures will have a big impact in the lives of these children.

As Richard Carlson said in his book, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work"; "Acts of kindness and goodwill are inherently wonderful. There's an old saying: 'Giving is its own reward.' This is certainly true. Your reward for being kind and making someone else feel good are the warm positive feelings that invariably accompany your efforts. So starting today, think of someone you'd like to make feel better and enjoy your rewards." I couldn't have said it better. Remember you don't have to solve the problems of the world, just focus on making a difference in one person's life at a time and before you know it you'll be changing the world.

Fair Wages for Fair Work Done

It has come to my attention lately when speaking with people working in developing countries that they are missing an essential element in the work they are carrying out in providing aid. Many of us working at a distance rely on people, both young and old, in the developing country to assist us by meeting us at airports, helping with travel plans, negotiating with local business people and arranging clinics and training sessions, so that our time in those countries will be profitably and well spent. In our own case, we at The Ronnie Fund rely on Ronnie to arrange our site visits, set up meetings while we are in Kenya and then to continue arranging training sessions, purchase equipment, etc. whhen we are back in Canada.

However, many of these people although highly skilled and well qualified with college diplomas are not paid for their work. It is somehow assumed that because we are assisting fellow countrymen that we need not pay these project managers a wage for the work they are doing on our behalf. What we tend to forget is that these people are just like ourselves. They have rent to pay, families to feed and other expenses that require finances to pay. We cannot assume that they can volunteer their time to help us. If they are working for us with no pay, how can they afford their own expenses.

I urge to you remember this next time you are working with people in developing countries. Remember that if you are expecting someone to act as your project manager or to assist you in setting up clinics, training sessions, purchasing products or simply acting as an advisor on cultural and political situations, you should be paying these people a fair wage for the time they are taking away from other jobs, money making opportunities or their families. We need these advisors as much as they or their countrymen need our help, so remember, a fair wage for fair work done - we here in the west wouldn't accept anything less.

World Food Day - October 18

October 18 is officially declared as World Food Day. And important day of rememberance by those who are blessed with an abundance of food for those throughout the world who have little. In many areas of the developing world people experience hunger on a daily basis. Droughts, lack of affordable seed or pastoral animals, or lack of tools means feeding families is a struggle. The young and the elderly are particularly at risk, as lack of nutrious food means they are at peril of succumbing to diseases and infections for their bodies cannot fight off these diseases.

We felt extremely lucky and honoured last summer during our trip to Wongonyi Village, Kenya that the people of the village were able to share their resources with us, even though we knew it was straining their supplies. The ladies of the village met daily to help Ronnie's mother, Getrude prepare our meals like Mandaazi, a tasty treat similar to a doughnut. At the same time, The Ronnie Fund was pleased to be able to donate Money Maker Irrigation Pumps (from the KickStart Company) that have enabled farmers to irrigate their lands more easily, thereby increasing vegetable production which has meant more food for their families and excess that can be sold to generate income.

On World Food Day, please remember those around the world for whom a hungry stomach is a daily occurrence and do you part by donating to a local food bank or soup kitchen or to an international organization that helps to ease the lives of those who are experiencing hunger by providing food aid or enabling tools that can help them to help themselves.

Asante-sana!

The Bottom Billion - moving people out of poverty

I have just finished reading "The Bottom Billion, Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can be Done About It" by Paul Collier. It has been an interesting read on global poverty. The book focuses on the poorest of the poor countries who have gone unnoticed by the West. Collier contends that the causes of the failure of these countries can be attributed to several traps including extraction and exportation of natural resources, civil wars and bad governance and that aid and globalization can hinder rather than help these countries climb out of poverty.

A couple of Paul's comments really resonanted with me and with the work we are doing in Kenya through The Ronnie Fund. Paul says, "...development is about giving hope to ordinary people that their children will live in a society that has caught up with the rest of the world. Take that hope away and the smart people will use their energies not to develop their society but to escape from it - as have a million Cubans. "

Collier goes on the further explain the impact of the migration of educated people from developing countries - that globalization has led to emigration of the brighest and best skilled and knowledgeable people leading to skills shortages in the poorest countries hindering the development process. Collier notes, "This all adds up to a depressing picture of what globalization is doing for the bottom billion. To get a chance to play in the global economy, you need to break free of the traps, ... in order to turn a country around it helps to have a pool of educated people, but the global labor market is draining the bottom billion of their limited pool of such people."

We realize that education is the key to improving quality of life and we especially support those like Ronnie Mdawida who pursue further education and then pass that information on to others or use their newly gained skills and knowledge to create a better quality of life for their countryman instead of leaving their homeland for greener pastures abroad. I think Collier nails it on the head when he says, "In every society of the bottom billion there are people working for change, but usually they are defeated by the powerful internal forces stacked against them. We should be helping the heroes. So far, our efforts have been paltry: through inertia, ignorance, and incompetence, we have stood by and watched them lose."

In poor countries across our planet there are heroes like Ronnie Mdawida in Kenya, young men and women with dreams of making their country a better place to live, to lift their fellow humans out of poverty and achieve quality of life. We salute, encourage and support those individuals to keep believing in their dreams and we along with others who share a belief in common justice and human rights will help, in respectful ways, to make those dreams a reality.

The Green Belt Movement - A Model for Community Development

"The Green Belt Movement has over the past 30 years shown that sustainable development linked with democratic values promotes human rights, social justice and equity, including the balance of power between women and men. The (Nobel Peace) Prize demonstrates that although the work of grassroots groups, especially women's groups, does not always make headline news, it does make a difference."

Wangari Maathai, 2004

In 2004 Kenyan Wangari Maathai received worldwide recognition for being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for sustainable development, democracy and peace, her most notable achievement being the creation of The Green Belt Movement, an organization promoting the planting of trees in Kenya and now around the world. I just finished reading her book "The Green Belt Movement, Sharing the Approach and the Experience", an intimate look into the creation of the organization and its achievements over the past 30 years.

For those of us working in Kenya in projects of sustainable development, agriculture and community initiatives this book is a must read. Wangari provides a history of Kenya and how it has lapsed into its present state of poverty but tempers that with a practical analysis of how improvements can be made ending with a positive outlook that hope exists for a new tomorrow. For those of us coming from a Western perspective, it gives us insight into the workings of Kenyan culture and how we can approach our projects so we get successful results. Of especial note is her chapter on Lessons Learned. We can all learn by heeding The Green Belt Movements experiences:

1. Community Development initiatives should address community-felt needs.

2. The messsage must make sense to the participants.

3. There is need for good leadership.

4. Work patiently to motivate communities.

5. Offer some short-term incentives.

6. Reach both decision makes and communities at the same time.

7. Field staff must be keen observers.

8. The community must understand the project.

9. The community must own the project.

10. Community development takes commitment.

11. Limited resources demand prioritization.

12. Democratic administration and management is key.

Community development takes patience, especially when you are working in a different culture. Not all the world works with the West's quick paced business style nor are all the resources readily available at your fingertips in Kenya. But with understanding, inclusive actions, an integrated community consultative program and lots of patience you will be able to achieve positive change. When we started The Ronnie Fund, we did not do so with the aim of imposing projects on Wongonyi village. We have followed Wangari's advice by relying on Ronnie to identify the needs of the community, to prioritize the projects and to negotiate with local administration. Through his leadership we have initiated several successful projects that the villagers have taken ownership of and that have made a difference in their lives in creating quality village life. There are still many needs and challenges in Wongonyi village but I have no doubt that The Ronnie Fund will continue to make positive changes.

For those of you who are heading non-governmental organizations working in Kenya at the grassroots level or those establishing schools and orphanages, I highly recommend you add this book to your library. Wangari's chapters on establishing a tree nursery project will also be very helpful as a model for instituting community development projects in Africa.