Michelle Fraser of Peterborough, Ontario spent January to June 2006, as a CRWRC volunteer intern in primarily Kenya and Uganda , with the goal of exploring issues in the field of integrated, holistic, and sustainable community development, and with a focus on health and issues related to HIV/AIDS.
Here is her May 2006 report.
Greetings from Africa!
During the month of May I have witnessed numerous examples of the power of community. I traveled throughout Malawi, Zambia and Eastern Kenya visiting some of the projects of CRWRCs partners, namely the Reformed Church of Zambia (RCZ) and the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK). I met with church groups who are providing services to their communities ranging from the care of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), caring for the old and sick, and providing free schooling. I was amazed at the singularity of their purpose despite the diversity of their living situations and backgrounds. Two such communities are the Kenani Community School, and Kalingalinga RCZ.
While staying in the town of Kitwe in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon at Kenani Community School. It is located on the edge of a large compound where unemployment, idleness and HIV/AIDs rates are all sky high. It is in such environments that young children are at high risk in all areas and desperately need a safe place to go to learn and spend their time productively. Unfortunately, despite the advent of free Primary education, there are still costs associated with attending school that are prohibitive for children from extremely impoverished families. To attend government schools, children are required to wear uniforms and shoes as well as purchase exercise books and writing utensils. Because of these costs, there is a large number of children who simply do not attend school.
The local RCZ church identified this need and offered the use of their building for a community school. Community schools do not require children to wear shoes or specific uniforms and the church provides assistance with books and pencils. However, upon arriving at the school, the difficulties of running a Community School also became apparent. The school is truly a community affair with no external funding so they have to make do with very little. The church building is a temporary structure, with wooden planks serving as walls and roof, a dirt floor, and empty maize sacks fixed to the walls in an attempt to keep out the elements. The school is forced to close whenever it rains because the children get soaked and are unable to concentrate. Their school is one room with wooden benches running down its length with blackboards serving to divide the classes. They have 560 students and 5 volunteer teachers who teach multiple classes in morning and afternoon sessions. The teachers do not receive a salary and live in poverty themselves, struggling to find their next meal.
While it is most certainly better than spending the day on the streets, I can not imagine that these conditions provide a very good learning environment, especially considering that most children do not receive more than one meal a day and go home at night to abusive or non-existent families. The incredible thing is that this is not a unique situation. As I traveled through Zambia I saw hundreds of similar Community Schools, an indicator of the inadequacy of the government school system. It was both infuriating to witness the unavailability of quality primary education, as well as heart-warming to see the incredible efforts of communities across the country to care for the next generation.
During my time in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city, I had the privilege of meeting with the Home Based Care (HBC) group of Kalingalinga RCZ. Kalingalinga is a very large compound with conditions similar to the one described in Kitwe. This remarkable church is located at the center of a despondent neighbourhood where the local joke is that the bars out number churches 20 to 1. Upon entering the church’s yard, we were greeted enthusiastically by the Reverend who ushered us inside to meet the caregivers group. The next few hours spent with these incredible volunteers were wonderful. They opened the proceedings with beautiful African songs about the issue of HIV/AIDS and the call and challenge of being community caregivers. They were animated as they sang in gorgeous harmony and danced together.
Begun in 2002, this group of 20 caregivers (19 women and 1 man) visits the homes and helps to care for 80 chronically ill patients, 100 OVC, and 50 widows/ widowers. They visit in groups of 2 or 3 and offer physical help with cleaning the home, cleaning and feeding the patient, as well as encouragement and support. They have received training in HBC and counseling, and they gave me a demonstration of how they go about their work. They are very professional and it is clear that they take great pride in their newly acquired skills and knowledge of how to correctly handle the ill. They wear gloves when cleaning the patient and take special care to wash their hands thoroughly with soap before feeding.
After going through their routine in a very convincing drama presentation, they took some time to tell me about themselves. They range in age from 34-73 and are all members of the immediate community, although not all members of the RCZ church. The group was roughly 50/50 for widows/married, and many had very large numbers of dependent children, whether biological or orphans they care for. When asked how they manage to continue in their work both at home and in the community without getting worn out, they simply replied that they had to do the work. It is their calling and if they do not do it many people will suffer. They explained how despite the difficulties of providing the basics for their own families, their work brings them great joy and they would not consider stopping.
The longer I was with these women the more I was captivated by their selfless spirits and incredible work ethic. These are not the ‘incapable victims’ that Africans are often portrayed as by the media and organizations trying to get pity money. These strong, competent women use every opportunity to better their community. They are yet another example of the great human resource that this continent possesses and its transformational power.
I have less than a month left here in Africa and I am sure it is going to pass quickly. I am visiting one more project; then I’ll head back to Nairobi to debrief before taking a short vacation on the coast and flying home!
Blessings,
Michelle Fraser
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