Make miracles
“Actually this was a miracle because we received the help very early and unexpected. It was like a blind person to see the moon in the dark. We say thank you very much and may God add to what you have been earning so that you will keep remembering poor and sick people.” Ilkiushin Women’s Group Dairy Cattle Project, Tanzania.

We Listen...
"On behalf of the Kirima Women, let me say that we are extremely happy about the way Global Partners has listened to our outcry for support since 1998. The association is allowing in more members as we pass on gift female heifer offspring, which will provide for continuity of the project. Our association will remain forward-looking in doing our project activities, may we promote and strengthen our cooperation in the future.” - Joy Kajojo, Chairperson, Kirima Women’s Association, Uganda.

In 1998 Global Partners began the B.E.S.T [Building Economically Sustainable Tomorrows] program with two small women’s cooperatives in the villages of Bugarama and Kirima. The women had a lot of enthusiasm but not much capital. Their dream was for each member to own her own cow and produce enough income to feed and educate her children. Mrs. Molly Karwemera, Chairperson of Bugarama Women's Cooperative, outlined the problems they confronted. "We appreciate Global Partners' efforts of bring up the odds of life especially [for] the children born in the area. … Without improvement… life will continue to bring malnutrition, inadequate schooling, poor sanitation, unsafe drinking water, and a span of years shortened by the cumulative effects of grinding poverty and weakening and killing diseases. Very few people in our area own cows and as such there is not enough milk supply. People drink milk when they are sick or sometimes when they get an important visitor.."

With funds from Global Partners, the two cooperatives took off, becoming successful in a few years and then self-sustaining. Other women’s groups in Uganda and Tanzania stepped forward and asked for training in order to build their own programs. The thread uniting all the groups is the unique feature of each woman member passing along the living gift of the first-born calf to another woman who in turn passes on her first-born calf. When all the members of one group have a cow, they reach out to another group and begin the process all over again. Today there are more than 350 members in sixteen cooperatives and more are waiting to get started.

Zero-grazing cooperatives help eliminate malnutrition

Kirima Women’s Association is now twelve years old and supports several kinds of projects besides zero-grazing heifers, including a piggery, banana-growing, and a micro-finance program. More than 2000 households are served by these projects. From under twenty members, the Coop now has forty-two members and applications still come in. Milk is in constant supply.

Educate a child, educate a nation!

Investing in the education of girls is an investment in the future. Making it possible for bright, ambitious young women to attend secondary school is the key to positive change. But there are many obstacles. One girl in Tanzania wrote, “Totally my family is against education. My father is forcing me to get married while I am young. I will cry upon the government to fight against ignorance. I shall educate and encourage my fellow to fight against ignorance through education. If I could have this chance then my family, especially my father would once change his mind toward my brothers.” Another said, “I like studies but my parents have refused to help totally because I am a girl.” And still another, "I am deaf and dumb and my father will not send me to Secondary school… I want to become a teacher so that other disabled girls will see that they can do the same…"
Global Partners, through the Marlene Assell Scholarship Program, makes it possible for many young women to continue their education who otherwise would drop out and find themselves married and mothers at 14, or ill-paid and overworked manual laborers on plantations or in factories, or out on the streets risking infection with HIV/AIDS to make a living. When a person agrees to sponsor a girl, they work a small miracle in that girl’s life. Starting in 2001 with 20 girls, the Scholarship program has grown steadily each year. Besides providing a girl’s school expenses, the program also offers additional tutoring and mentoring to give girls every chance of success. Recently, the program began building dormitories so the girls do not have to walk miles and miles every day to attend school.

Since the Marlene Assell Scholarship Program began, the number of girls in the program has grown tremendously. There are 146 girls today; our goal is at least 100 new girls in 2005. The yearly stipend covers all the girl’s expenses, including health, dental, and eyeglasses. As our experience with the program progressed, we found that the girls needed such things as eyeglasses and reading lights to make studying possible. We have built two dormitories on site with plans for others in progress. Being able to live near the school not only keeps the girls from having to make the long daily walk to and from school, but also provides the girls with an atmosphere in which learning is encouraged. Girls who need assistance can be tutored, extra classes can be held during the summer, and the women who serve as dormitory matrons become real and vital mentors for the girls.

Healthy, Happy Babies begin Here!

For women in the village of Kihanda in remote southwest Uganda, the nearest health center was a day’s walk away. A primitive communication system and barely passable roads almost completely isolated this rural village from health care. However, a group of village women organized to solve these most difficult problems. Inspired by Mrs. Jane Bagye, who had lost a baby due to the distance she had to travel to receive care, the women began building the community’s first health clinic. They rolled stones down the hillsides for the foundation and spent many hours working to build the walls. With Global Partners’ assistance the women of Kihanda were able to finish the clinic and acquire the necessary supplies and equipment to maintain local health care. The clinic delivers not only medical care, but works to teach HIV/AIDS prevention, nutrition, and other useful information. Not only have lives been saved, but the village people are living healthier lives.

Following the success of their first building project, the women of Kihanda went on to build a new maternity ward. Mothers can now deliver their babies safely with their families nearby.

Water pipelines: more precious than oil!

For fifteen years, Global Partners has brought together community leaders, water engineers, and donors, to provide safe and abundant water for more than 100,000 rural villagers. Throughout semi-arid East Africa, water is never taken for granted. Many women and children in East Africa spend up to five hours each day hauling water from available springs and tanks.

Thanks to fairly simple engineering techniques this situation is changing. Near the village of Tororo, Uganda, Flora Bonface no longer has to walk hours every day hauling water for her family. There is a new water source located only a short distance from her home. By the middle of most dry seasons in Arkaria, Tanzania, any remaining water is unsafe to drink and most people have no water at all. By installing gutters and a downspout on a metal roof to direct rainwater to an enclosed tank, clean water can be gathered and stored.

“We say thank you very much for the opening of the Longido Water Project which has been donated by Global Partners. In glittering water drops we have seen 15 new water stations completed and ready to use. And now there is no more crowd for one station. It’s unbelievable. Now we are sure of having our meals in time, no more long lines waiting for unsatisfactory water supply, now we see our children in the school classes in time.” Alais Meing’arana, Project Director, Longido Village, Tanzania

Investing in women makes sense!

AIDS took a devastating toll on the small village of Ongicha in Western Kenya. The survivors, mainly women and children, had no means of support, were mostly illiterate, and had no treatment for those women and children who had contracted AIDS from their husbands and fathers. Determined to survive and give their children better lives, the AIDS widows of Ongicha banded together to form an economic cooperative. They decided to pool their meager resources and find ways to support themselves and one another in the absence of assistance from husbands and families.

The women of the Ongicha cooperative wanted to find a way to support themselves in their own community so that they would be able to continue to care for their children. Project leader, Florence Otieno, determined that, by teaching tailoring skills, the women could remain in their home village and not have to uproot their families by moving to a distant town for work.

At first the women only had one sewing machine which they used to train each other. With the assistance of Global Partners’ donors, the women were able to purchase ten machines as well as essential materials, like cloth and thread. The training program was a success. The women of Ongicha found dignity and resolution in the face of an impossible situation. Their children are receiving medical care and going to school. There is hope where once there was only death and sickness.

Recently, in addition to tailoring training, the women of Ongicha cooperative are building up small businesses based on making and mending clothes. Their good reputation also led to their obtaining contracts from nearby schools to make school uniforms for sale.