Clean water and women’s empowerment in Kenya … vegetables. Now, my husband works on our small piece of land, while I grow vegetables in our backyard. This year, I grew 100 pounds

Clean water and women’s empowerment in Kenya

Maria William, mother of five, is grateful to Church World Service for helping to provide a clean water source close at hand, because she now has time to sell vegetables in the market and provide a small income for her family. Before the community received the clean water source, Maria’s baby almost died from cholera. Maria is excited that they will no longer suffer from water-related diseases. Her children also have enough time to do their studies without worrying about having to get water.

“We are happy because our lives will be prolonged and remain strong and healthy to take care of our families. I’m sincerely grateful for this project,” says a happy Maria, who is now assured of feeding her family.

Woman learns new skills in the Dominican Republic

Diurna comes from a community in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic, where economic need makes women vulnerable to the commercial sex trade and their children vulnerable to hard labor. Diurna learned to sew in a vocational school supported by Church World Service. With a $150 micro-loan she purchased a sewing machine and materials to begin working out of her home. Before the loan, and while her husband worked in a tourist district on the other side of the island, Diurna had no money to use in case of emergencies until he came home at the end of every two weeks.

Now a successful breadwinner, Diurna has three months worth of alteration work waiting. She also teaches some of the neighborhood girls how to sew, and encourages other women to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the vocational school. Diurna has become an empowered woman, balancing

caring for her children, working, and continuing her education.

Literacy opens doors once closed Duda Giltena, mother of four, lives in the Roma settlement of Zemun Polje in Belgrade, Serbia. As children, both Duda and her husband, Ismet, never attended school. Duda says, “We strongly believe in the power of educating children. This is why we enrolled our kids in the primary school Branko Pesic. When CWS began literacy classes for Roma women,” Duda adds, “I was one of the first students enrolled. The program keeps Roma children in school, promotes gender equality and involves Roma men to make attendance of girls and women easier. Now my husband and I attend school every day. We now know how to read and write and we recently enrolled in the 5th grade.

“I recently found a job in a bakery in Zemun Polje. For the first time in my life I am working. We now know that education is the most important thing you can offer to yourself and to your children.”

“Three important things: produce, share and help others for a healthier and better life.”

Felipa Pascual lives in La Mayita, Dominican Republic, and participates in a CWS-supported food security project. She has three sons and two daughters. “Two of them study at university,” she says proudly. “Before this project came to our community I didn’t know anything about producing vegetables. Now, my husband works on our small piece of land, while I grow vegetables in our backyard. This year, I grew 100 pounds of lettuce, 200 pounds each of cabbage and coriander leaves, and 50 pounds of beetroot.

“We are healthier now because we eat a lot of vegetables. I can share what I produce with my family and neighbors, and I have enough to sell, allowing me to help my family pay for other needs we have. The money I earn helps me buy

books for my kids that go to university.”

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The future is looking brighter for an injured Haitian toddler

Laura, 1, became an orphan and an amputee in the Haiti earthquake in January 2010. Her cement home collapsed, killing her mother and father and pinning her left leg under the rubble. It was so badly injured that it had to be amputated. Laura went to live with her aunt in a tent camp.

Her family enrolled in the People with Disabilities program, started by CWS, along with two partners, and for six months they received cash assistance, psycho-social support and referrals to much-needed services. The program hosted a team of doctors from Puerto Rico who provided custom-built prosthetics for more than 30 people with disabilities. Laura was among these. Now she is learning how to stand, walk and run. Her family was also selected to be among the first group to benefit from a home repair program for people with disabilities.

Clean water and sanitation help community in Georgia

Farmer Surukhan Bekauri, 70, and his family live in Galavani, Georgia. His wife, 68, is a pensioner, and his two sons work – one in village administration and the other as a driver. “I still do all the farming work. We cultivate grapes, fruits and vegetables. This gives us some additional income.

“My family, like the majority of the village, did not have sufficient access to safe drinking water.” Surukhan used to have to travel a kilometer to get water. Through CWS support, Surukhan and his neighbors gained access to clean water and sanitation. “They promised to improve the water supply in our village, the sewage system, build eco-toilets, help us develop farming and get training, if necessary. Today, thanks to this project, I have running water!”

CWS helps ethnic minority children gain an education

Agneza Hasani, 15, lives in the Roma settlement of Zemun Polje, in Belgrade, Serbia. Her family – mother, father and three siblings – lives in a small house built of broken materials found in the trash or at construction sites. Roma people are often prohibited from keeping a steady job or attending school.

CWS helped to found a school in her community. “My brothers, Orhan and Bajram, attend the second grade at the CWS-supported Branko Pesic elementary school, and my older brother Gazmend and I attend the first grade at the ‘Little School’ in Zemun Polje, which provides a pre-school program for Roma children and primary education for Roma women. I was aware that this is our only chance to gain an education, right here, in the community. I am grateful for a renewed hopefulness this has brought into my life. Now, one of my important wishes is to finish school and get a diploma!”

Sanitary latrines make life easier for farm families in Vietnam

Farmer Lu’ong Van Phan, 40, lives in Pac Pa village, Bum Nu’a commune, Vietnam, with his wife and two youngest children. “In the past,” says Lu’ong, “as other villagers, I relieved myself in the streams or on the hills. Last year CWS offered to build latrines for those in the village, asking that they provide labor and local material. CWS provided non-local materials and training for community instructors and paid for two masons. Our family helped with mortar work, carried sand, contributed three beams and made the door for the latrine.

”The type of latrine that we have has two vaults,” Lu’ong adds. “After each use we cover with ash. Farmers turn ash and waste into rich compost for fertilizing fields or fruit plants. Plants grow better. Rice is more verdant. This kind of latrine is cleaner than others and does not contaminate the environment or the river.”

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Biography of an Nkundabana (community volunteer)

Yankulije Drocella, 51, is married and has five children. Since 1983 orphans and street boys have approached her for food and clothing. Drocella has always advised others to take care and treat any child like their own, so her community selected her as a chairperson for a local child rights committee. When the CWS Giving Hope program started in her area, the youth selected her as their working group mentor. The group Dufatanye (“let’s work together”) is composed of 24 households, 14 headed by girls and 10 by boys.

Drocella says it has always been uplifting to see youth working together. “We are involved in growing vegetables and pineapple and keeping animals. Giving Hope support has enabled the group to buy a cow, and we raise pigs and rabbits,” she says. The group sells animals, which also produce organic manure for gardens. From the harvest, Dufatanye members have been able to save for medical

insurance. There is no more malnutrition or frequent sickness. “May God bless all who are involved in Giving Hope Program,” Drocella says.

Refugee works hard in seeking the American dream

Abdulmalik Sabah Al Mahdi, 26, now living in Louisville, Kentucky, arrived in the U.S. in February 2010. He was the only employable “young back” in a family of four with any prospects of finding work quickly. Abdulmalik earned a reputation for himself in no time among Kentucky Refugee Ministries staff for being a model of hustle and optimism. However, his English level limited his opportunities. Finally, after months of uncertainty, he found a job working 20 hours per week on the third shift, cleaning industrial baking machines. It was not an easy first job.

He worked so hard at this new job that he was promoted to full-time, and then a month later, he was made supervisor. Under the condition that he take English classes, he was given responsibility over a line of industrial baking machines and the crew that maintains them. He now supports his family with pride.

Improving life at home in Georgia

Natela Bekurashvili, 37, lives in Galavani community, Georgia, in a family of 11 – including three sons and five grandchildren – in one house, without safe water or adequate sanitation. An accountant, she says there are no job opportunities in her area, so, says Natela, “Today I mostly stay at home, looking after my grandchildren and farming.” She adds, “We have a small plot where we cultivate fruits and vegetables. This gives us a chance to survive, to have some food for the children and some additional income for the family.”

Through the CWS-supported Tbilisi Youth House Foundation, she and other members of the community, including internally displaced persons, take classes in farming, construction of eco-toilets, fruit and vegetable driers, women’s leadership, human rights, and small business development. Natela and her husband have built an eco-toilet and gained access to clean water. “Thanks to

this project, many things in our village changed for the better. And it changed my life,” says Natela.

With CWS help, floods can’t stop Nazmeena

Prior to the 2010 Pakistan floods, Nazmeena, 65, from Jogar Garhi village, supported her husband, son and daughter with income from an acre of land and livestock, which included a buffalo and a milk cow. Due to her husband’s chronic asthma, the responsibility of supporting her family was upon Nazmeena. Much of her land, however, was destroyed by floods and the cow, buffalo, agricultural tools, seeds and half their house washed away.

Nazmeena joined a local organization that Church World Service helped to start. She qualified for vouchers to help her purchase fertilizers, seeds and tools. She was able to rehabilitate her land and raise maize, tomatoes and other vegetables.

“If CWS had not helped me, I would have to rely on the high interest rate loans from vendors with strict conditions and I would not have been able to cultivate

my land,” Nazmeena says.






Landless family defies the odds

Ngoun Meng, 54, and his wife, Chean Im, 37, and their two children live in Chat Taing, Preah Vihear Province, Cambodia. Meng’s family is landless. His brother is sharing a piece of forested land (75 ft. x 75 ft.) for Meng and his family to settle on.

Meng is participating in a savings group organized by CWS, which selected his family to participate in a CWS Village-Based Community Development Project. Meng took a loan from the savings group. He learned about micro business management, and he and his wife started a small grocery shop in their house. They also learned how to raise chickens and fish and a home garden. CWS provided Meng with chickens, vegetable seeds and fruit trees. From the first five chickens provided by CWS, Meng now has some 60 to 70.

“We are so happy and are very grateful for the support,” Meng says. “We would never have thought that, as a poor household, we could do so many things to make

a living to support our family, and we can now afford to send our children to school.”

A practical adaptation to climate change

Naomi Kiragu lives at Kikuyu District, 15 miles northwest of Nairobi, Kenya. Naomi’s family of six lives on a six-acre farm where she grows a variety of crops, vegetables and mushrooms, raises fish in a pond and has seven cows. She was one of the first farmers in the district to install a biogas digester, with the help of CWS and a local partner. She now encourages farmers in her neighborhood and beyond to adopt the technology.

With the biogas digester there is no more demand to cut down trees, as she no longer uses firewood or charcoal for cooking. The use of electricity and gas has been cut by 90 percent. The bio-slurry added to the pond stimulates growth of algae to feed her 900 fish fingerlings. Fertilizer from the bio-digester is used on her vegetables and bananas. Naomi has demonstrated how biogas can reduce domestic costs. She and other farmers are getting away from their dependency

on expensive products that also damage soil quality on their farms.

Water: fuel for women’s leadership

Lobuin Lokadio Lokol, 43, and mother of seven children, hails from Naipa village, Turkana region, in Kenya. During the election of the water management committee in her village, she challenged the men when they recommended that only a few women should be included. Men generally make up the majority of the committee, but Lobuin stood her ground.

She defended the women by pointing out that water is majorly a women’s affair and they should therefore be allowed to manage it. She explained how all tasks involving access to water in the community were done by the women. She especially praised them for walking about 7-1/2 miles round trip to collect water, carrying five-gallon containers on their heads for their families, their animals, and even taking water to their husbands in the grazing field. She then concluded that since the program was aimed at alleviating the suffering of women and children, women were therefore supposed to manage the water project. All present agreed with Lobuin’s argument,

and now there is an equal representation of women in the water management committee of Naipa village.

Improving sanitation in a Georgian village

Gocha Tsinamdzgvrishvili, 47, has lived in Tsimanzgvriantkari village all his life. “I live with my elderly parents, and I am the only breadwinner in the family. I have a degree in mechanization, and for more than 25 years had been working in agriculture. After the collapse of the Soviet system ... huge problems appeared with water supply, the sewage system and farming. My family depended on the fruits, vegetables, corn and grapes that I grew. Problems with water supply and bad drainage in the village made raising crops complicated.”

Gocha joined a CWS-supported local organization that started a new program for rebuilding village life. Most village latrines were not sealed and were a source of groundwater pollution. Sewage flowed directly into the village drainage system and water from this drainage system, in turn, was used to irrigate fields. The new project introduced Urine Diverting Dry Toilets (UDDT) as a sustainable sanitation option. Now the village has access to safe drinking water, the drainage system is renovated,

and the crops are safe from pollution. “I really feel happy to be among those who helped change our village life for the better,” says Gocha.






A Rwandan orphan realizes his dream

Nlyombabazi Jean lost his parents when he was 13 and living in a refugee camp in Tanzania. He returned to Rwanda, reclaimed the family plot and dreamed of going to secondary school, which is expensive.

“I joined a youth working group for child-headed households (through the CWS Giving Hope Program). I shared my dream of secondary school, and they helped me plan a restaurant business to earn income to cover my future school fees.” Jean took a loan from the group to open a restaurant and earned enough to repay the loan and open a savings account for school. “I realized my dream. I went to secondary school.” He rents his restaurant to a neighbor.

“Even though I am now at school, my business continues to support me.”

Hard work brings success in the U.S.

Hlawn Kip Tlem, an ethnic Chin from Burma, graduated from Southport High School, in Indiana, this summer. Before coming to the U.S., she and her family lived in Malaysia.

“I was not allowed to go to school [in Malaysia]. Finally my family came to the United States. I struggled to adjust to the American way of living and knew that success will only happen if I work hard. I graduated high school with a 4.0 GPA, but also Eli Lilly offered me a four-year scholarship. I will be studying Engineering at the University of Evansville.

“On behalf of Chin refugees, I want to say thank you to Church World Service for what you have provided us.”

Displaced girl in Georgia finds educational opportunities

Zamira Okropiridze, 17, and her family were displaced by conflict in 2008 in Georgia. They fled to Tbilisi, where Zamira found the CWS-supported Tbilisi Youth House Foundation. “We would have a chance to study for free and get some new skills,” Zamira says.

“I am doing my 12th grade this year. I attend a course in practical accounting, computer, and tour-guiding. I am sure it will help me and my family in having some additional income. What I know for sure now is that I became more self-confident and independent in my decisions. Thank you all for doing this for me and my family!”

Women gain livelihoods in Voi District, Kenya

Teresa Awnor, married and the mother of five, is one of 90 women in the Nyakamo Women’s Group learning about business management, savings, and loans in the CWS Improved Livelihoods Program in Kenya. Such training and investment is helping to empower Teresa and the other women.

Before joining the group, Teresa owned a restaurant that suffered because of post-election violence. Today, with help from the livelihoods program, she is saving money, learning new skills, raising poultry, and growing her catering business. “I am almost through in paying my loan. My children go to school. I was also able to buy a cow and a half acre of land. Thanks, Nyakamo… and thank you, CWS.”






Somali refugees in Indonesia find help from CWS

Somali refugee Amina Abdi Muhammad lives in Jakarta, Indonesia, with her husband and eight children. Life has been hard in Indonesia for her and her family, but since receiving a loan from CWS to purchase an oven and supplies, Amina has become successful at selling baked goods.

“Now I have many customers for my Somalian cakes and cookies,” says Amina. She often thinks of how she can expand her business before she falls asleep.

Social work student finds joy in helping refugees

“I started working as an intern in January 2011 with Refugee Services of Texas in Dallas,” says Debra Tarver. “My husband and I decided to mentor a refugee family. It has been a joyful experience getting to know MiMi, her husband Htut Htut, and son, Yee. We enjoy trying traditional Burmese dinners with our refugee family, walks, texting and talking on the phone, TV nights, and have enjoyed teaching Htut Htut to drive.

“I can truly say that I am forever changed and more optimistic about the simple joys of life.”

Preparing a whole town for the long work of recovery

Tammy Draper’s home in Morehouse, Missouri, where she lived with her husband and children, was so badly damaged by a late April 2011 flood that inundated 95 percent of the town that it eventually had to be torn down. “We expected to lose everything in there ... but we didn’t expect to lose our home,” she said.

Since then, Tammy, along with some 20 other participants, took part in a CWS disaster recovery workshop in nearby Sikeston. “I didn’t know that there are so many more resources,” Tammy said. “This is going to be very beneficial to our community. That is wonderful.”

From displacement to hope in Kenya

Riziki Yoana used to live in Mworoto village, Kenya, with her three children and four siblings, until they, along with 500 other families, were displaced by private development. She also lost her job as a household helper when she had to take time off to resettle the family. They slept in the open for two months and scavenged plastics to sell.

When Riziki found the Jipe Moyo Orphans Giving Hope Youth Group, part of the CWS Giving Hope program, she was provided with food, support to rent a decent house, and a seed grant so she could start a business selling vegetables. She now earns double what she made as a household helper.






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Clean water and women’s empowerment in Kenya … vegetables. Now, my husband works on our small piece of land, while I grow vegetables in our backyard. This year, I grew 100 pounds