Partnerships

“The Village”  

January 2012

Dear Friends,

“He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.” Picture by John Thacks. Used with permission. For more of Thacks’ work, click on the picture. There is an African expression that refers to responsibility for one’s younger siblings, “I’m carrying them all on my back.” This captures an important aspect of the AFRICAN CULTURE: the close kinship ties within families.  It has been demonstrated that the first child to leave school and find work will strive to put his or her younger siblings through school. It is these strong kinship ties that make our dollars go further!  Their love leverages our dollars; our dollars leverage their love. When we become Providers in the Village that Raises a Child, it is a truly equal partnership!

Welcome to “The Village,” our “Village of Love Canada”  newsletter, sharing news and needs from the “Village of Love”  in Kenya. The theme of this month’s newsletter is Productive Partnership: making your dollars go further!  

We Believe:

• ALL PARTIES BRING ASSETS. As Canadian donors, we have vastly more material resources than the families we seek to support. The Kenyan families, on the other hand, have oceans of love for children, and wisdom within their own culture. We believe that the workers and beneficiaries on the ground in Africa are best equipped to make decisions about how to spend the funds raised. 

• OWNERSHIP LIES WITH BENEFICIARIES. When the beneficiaries are involved in decision making at all levels, the ownership they take leads to greater care in the use of funds, stretching them to maximum benefit. This is a key reason for the success of the microloan program, which has a 90% pay back rate. Currently the beneficiaries in “Kijijij Cha Upendo,”  along with representatives from experienced NGO’s, are creating a strategic plan for the organisation.  We are confident that it will work better because of their involvement.

• EQUAL THREEWAY PARTNERSHIP Recently “Village of Love Canada” received a mention on the CSO- Effectiveness blog site because of the unique, equal threeway partnership forged between “Village of Love Canada,” “Kijiji Cha Upendo” and CAP/AIDS. To find out more about the mutual benefits of our partnership click on logo.COLLABORATION ACHIEVES MORE. Organisations with similar goals can achieve more working together than on their own, employing dollars and skills more effectively. Our partnership with CAP/AIDS and our use of their infrastructure and expertise makes our dollars go further!

Your dollars go further with Village of Love Canada. Please consider donating a monthly amount to sustain the ongoing capacity of the organisation.

Thank you for being part of The Village that Raises a Child!

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Canadian Village Action

It only comes once a year! Seize the moment and skate for AIDS-orphaned children!VOLUNTEER:

Once a year, the Rideau Canal in Ottawa freezes over, and skaters seize the moment!  On Sunday, February 5, 2012, some of these skaters will be skating with a purpose: to raise funds to fight AIDS in Africa. They will be participating in the annual  IceCAP/AIDS, organised by our partners, CAP/AIDS Network.

One adventurous soul, John Rossall, will be going from Toronto to Ottawa to skate for the “Village of Love Canada.”  Way to go, John!  Please consider sponsoring John by going on line to make a pledge: click HERE. And of course, if you find the urge is irresistable to go on a glorious escapade down a frozen canal, contact claire@capaids and join the “Village of Love”  team!

DONATE

Our greatest need is for sustainable funds, to build the capacity of the Kenyan “Village of Love” organisation.

• Please consider a monthly donation, no matter how small.
• We understand that life circumstances can change any time. Be assured that you can adjust or cancel your monthly donation simply by e-mailing claire@capaids.org. It’s as simple as that!

With your year-end tax deductible gift, AIDS-orphaned children will have a chance at life!

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A New Year’s Village Story

The Kenyan sense of responsibility to care for one another is very strong. Leonora Obara is herself an example of this. Leonora, one of the founders of The Village of Love, on a recent visit to Toronto, shared her own story with us. Growing up in a very poor family, Leonora and her younger siblings could not go to school. Through Leonora’s resourcefulness and ingenuity this changed!

She was eleven years old when her mother sent her to market to buy some vegetables. Leonora bought some bananas instead, set up her own stall, and sold the bananas at a profit. She bought the vegetables, gave her mother the profits and taught her mother how to do the same. Their family banana stall enabled all the children in the family to go to school!

Although Leonora longed to be a teacher, there was no money for Teacher’s Training College. Instead she volunteered her time, teaching at a school run by a Dutch foundation. A woman from the foundation noticed Leonora’s gentle care for the poverty stricken children attending the school,and suggested that Leonora become a social worker, encouraging her to apply to that foundation for a scholarship.

Leonora took her advice. The rest is history. On graduating, she put her nine younger siblings through university.  It has always been her joy and mission in life to see that children receive an education, including the fifteen she and Andrew have raised!

Now she advocates for the children in “Village of Love,”  that they too may receive an education.