"High Five" Report

A 5 Year Success Snapshot

 

 

In November, 2011 Village of Love Canada partnered with the Canada Africa Partnership on AIDS in order to fundraise for Kijiji Cha Upendo (Village of Love) Children’s Project in the Kibera slum, Nairobi, Kenya.

Give yourselves a High Five, CAP/AIDS!

Without your collaborative spirit, Village of Love Canada could not have gotten underway.

Village of Love started as a pilot project of 15 women, embracing 75 children, orphaned and biological, with one small revolving micro-loan fund.

5 years later…

There are now 5 revolving microloan funds serving 75 women and benefitting more than 400 children! These micro-loan funds are foundational for the orphan caregivers to lift themselves and their families out of extreme poverty through their own enterprise.

Women who were earning $1 a day now earn $4 to $5 a day. Their children are no longer sleeping hungry and they are going to school with a full belly.

Give yourselves a High Five, all micro-loan donors:

Individual Donors, Supporters of Square Dance for Square Meals, Women’s Inter-church Council of Canada, Canadian Samaritans for Africa!

Give yourselves a High Five, Village of Love Team in Kenya:

Andrew Obara (project administrator), Leonora Obara (program administrator), Kevin Garo(community mobiliser), Neddy Mutstotsi (community educator), Leah Atieno(social worker), Moses Omondi (educator), Robert Mugasia (accountant), Roseline Akinyi Ochieng (Board Chair), Dorothy Onyango (Board member), Ambrose Ngongo Gandi (Board member).

Youth training to fix bikesIn 2014 Bicycles for Humanity Ottawa donated a container of refurbished bikes, tools and spare parts to provide both employment for youth in selling and fixing bikes, and funds for Village of Love. This innovative venture produced $5,000 in much needed school fees.

Give yourselves a High Five, Bicycles for Humanity Ottawa! 

Before their families joined Village of Love, the children attended school sporadically, whenever their parents could pay a few shillings for fees or schools supplies. Now 150 children have attended school regularly. Their grades have improved across the board. Three have scored well enough in their final exams to qualify for College. Five have qualified for scholarships to High School, including one to attend a particularly prestigious Girls’ School.

Give yourselves a High Five, education fees donors!

Thank you, West Vancouver United Church and Kamisa foundation! And well done, kids!

“Square Dance for Square Meals” fundraiserFrom raising $2,800 in 2011, Village of Love Canada now raises over $30,000 annually and has in five years raised over $100,000.

Give yourselves a High Five, Village of Love Canada Board and the many event volunteers!

The personal stories brought back by volunteers visiting Kibera have been invaluable for our understanding of the project. In 5 years there have been 4 CAP/AIDS volunteers: Gizaw, Robin Way, Memona Hossain, Ali Higgins; 7 Village of Love Canada volunteers: Judy Whitfield, Yen To, Salome Githuku, Joshua Makori, Sarah Macharia, Mara Nickerson, Sarah Foster; 1 student/ intern: Christine Stenton; and 2 Runnymede United Church Youth Group visits.

Give yourselves a High Five, travel volunteers!

A special High Five to the founders and administrators of the Village of Love Project in Kenya, Andrew and Leonora Obara!

It is their love for children, their model in generous living by raising 10 orphans along with their five biological children, their vision, dedication, hard work and Leonora’s expertise as a social worker that has empowered this whole innovative project!

"Not Condemned," a report from Joshua Makori

Jospehine Kemunto in her sewing shop tells Joshua the ups and downs of her life in Kibera.With only 10 short days in Kenya, Board member Joshua Makori sacrificed precious family time to visit Village of Love, (in Kiswahili, Kijiji Cha Upendo). By good fortune he chose a Thursday, which coincided with the biweekly meeting of one of the clusters. All the women were eager to tell him how grateful they are for what has been done for them. “Without Kijiji, who knows where our children would be!”

They are amazed at the fact that people who don’t know them nevertheless care about them. One might think that the women would take the opportunity of a Board visitor from Canada to tell him about their needs, but in fact they asked if the program could possibly be expanded, to benefit more people around them who are struggling.

This was Joshua’s first visit to the Kibera slum. It touched him deeply.

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From Evictee to Landlady!

Mary Syombua, now the proud owner of her own house!How did she do this?

Mary Syombua, 40, has lived in Kibera since 1993. For years she struggled to support the five children in her care by selling vegetables. When Mary joined Village of Love in 2011, she was in debt. She had borrowed from another micro-loan enterprise that charged interest, and the payments simply ate too far into her business profits for the loan to be anything more than a burden to her. Sometimes she was thrown out of her home for not being able to pay her rent.

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Becoming Real Students

Tracy Khakhali receives with delight a Canadian-donated laptop, while Project Administrator, Andrew Obara, happy to be the deliverer, looks on.

Imagine your son or daughter having no access to a computer for school, having to wait for hours for a vacant spot at the Cyber Cafe! This was Tracy’s situation in her first year at College, her chance in a lifetime to realise her dream of becoming an accountant.

To her great joy,

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