Volume 2, Issue 5 - Just World International

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The KibagareCon’t from page 1. . .Project . . .this group was to employ teachers and provide thechildren with one meal each day. The school wouldrely on the members for fi nancial support, with themoney being used to pay the teachers and buy foodfor the children.However, due to economic constraints, the group could not continue to support theschool and it was closed earlier this year. However, the school proudly reopened inSeptember of 2005 with funding from JustWorld International.JustWorld International is now working together with the Kibagare Compassion Groupto ensure that the standards of the Kibagare Nursery School are improved and that thechildren receive quality education. In the fi rst two months, JustWorld International hasmanaged to achieve the following:FencingBy September 22, a fence had been erected around the school hall and a gate put inplace, allowing the school to be locked up after hours. This has been especially helpfulin the prevention of theft of the building materials stored in the school hall. To ensurethat there is maximum security at the school, JustWorld International has hired twoguards who work in 12-hour shifts.Building of Pit LatrinesJustWorld International funded the building of two pit latrines for the children, one pitlatrine for the teachers, one urinal, and one bathing area. Because of the availability oftoilet facilities in the school, sanitation in the school has greatly improved.Renovation of the School HallThe school hall was in dire need of repair. Some of the walls of the hall, made fromiron sheets, had holes, while others had rotted due to overexposure to moisture.JustWorld International funded the overall renovation of the hall. The walls and the roofwere redone, the hall was divided into three separate classrooms, each with its ownentrance, and a small offi ce and storage room were put in place. The fl oors were thencemented.Division of ClassesOnce the renovation process of the Kibagare Nursery School was complete, JustWorldturned its focus to ensuring quality education for the children. The organization decidedto employ a second teacher and took over the responsibility of paying both teachers.The employment of a new teacher meant that the children attending the Nursery Schoolcould be divided into two groups: a Nursery Class and a Pre-unit Class.However, as the renovations of the school continued, the number of children attendingthe school on a regular basis increased greatly, perhaps refl ecting the community’shope in the school. To date, more than 105 children are attending the school on aregular basis with more on a waiting list. Due to this increase in attendance, thechildren were recently divided into three groups: Baby Class, Nursery Class, and thePre-unit Class. JustWorld is in the process of interviewing candidates to fi ll the positionof a third teacher meaning that, soon, each class will have its own teacher.The Nursery Class in progress before the renovation of the school.International bought the charts and books.JustWorldIn a very short time, life for the children of the Kibagare community has improveddramatically. Thanks to JustWorld, hope again fl ourishes in Kibagare. In 2006, JustWorldwill continue supporting, improving, and empowering the Kibagare community. Plansare already in place to add a kitchen, install running water, and provide nourishment forthe children at the school. JustWorld is excited about the success of this project andthanks its dedicated supporters for their help in making this possible.6
Strength inthe Face ofChallengeby Wanja Laiboni, Student VolunteerA year after my fi rst mission with JustWorld International toKenya, I found myself back in the fi eld again last summer.While the goal of my fi rst visit to Kenya had been to identifypossible partnerships for JustWorld International, this time Iwas going to work with the Kibagare Compassion Group, thegroup that JustWorld International had chosen to work withbased on my evaluations from the year before.My mission was to examine thegroup’s organization and analyzethe amount of progress they hadmade during the past year. Mostimportantly, I would carry out indepth research of the group’simmediate needs and those thatwould ensure its self-suffi ciencyin the long term as JustWorldInternational promotes self-reliance,not dependency. Considering thatmy objectives were more specifi cthan during the summer of 2004, I assumed that my goalswould be easily accomplished. I was wrong. Within daysof my arrival in Kenya, I found myself with a responsibilitymuch larger than last year’s.The Kibagare Nursery School is located at the heart of thedestitute Kibagare slums, which overlook the outer sectionsof the affl uent Loresho Estate. I went to the KibagareNursery School two days after my arrival in Kenya only tobe greeted by an empty school with locked doors. A childpassing by offered to take me to the Chairlady’s house.We found Mary, the Chairlady, in her fl imsy, three-roomedsheet metal home that she shares with her husband, herfi ve children, and her deceased sister’s two children. Iwould later learn that Mary’s sister had succumbed to thearmy of opportunistic diseases that attack the body whenone is HIV-positive. Her situation is not unique, but onethat is refl ective of a big problem facing many householdsthroughout contemporary Africa.It had been one month since the members of the KibagareCompassion Group had madethe decision to close the schoolbecause they could no longerafford the teacher’s monthly feeof Ksh. 3,000 (approximately$48 US). Moreover, they hadgiven their money to a ‘professor’representing the National AidsControl Commission-Kenya butwho was no more than a conman. It was not hard to see whatrendered these women an easytarget. Firstly, they comprise aclass living below the poverty line in a nation where classdetermines the amount of justice one gets. Secondly andmost importantly, almost all of the members of the KibagareCompassion Group are illiterate or semi-literate, which is agreat handicap.JustWorld International emphasizes an important principleto its volunteers: initiative. In the wake of this unexpecteddevelopment, my fi rst instinct was to ask Mary to ensurethat the children resumed school the following Monday.The next week was spent collecting money from family andfriends to pay the teacher and looking for a way forwardwith JustWorld. It was decided that I would write a series ofreports and start my research onthe project’s immediate needs.By being in the fi eld, I learnedthat gathering information doesnot follow a specifi c model, asinformation can be found throughboth traditional and nontraditionalways. I spent many mornings inthe school talking to the childrenand making observations of whatthey needed or what needed to beimproved. In the meetings withthe women, it became apparent that they were determinedto take their lives into their hands. “People will disrespectyou if you disrespect yourself!” Mary frequently emphasized.Poverty and hopelessness weigh heavily in the past andpresent lives of the women and children residing in theslums, thus rendering their future bleak. Many have givenup but not these women whose resolve and dignity remainintact. When it was mandatory to meet as a group, many ofthose with jobs would leave work in order to join the othersin making decisions that would determine their futures andthose of their children. When reaching a consensus becameimpossible, heated debates would ensue as each womantried to have her voice heard. Finally, voting would decidethe best course of action. I received this process with joy asit signifi ed activism taking root at the grassroots level.As Dervla Murphy says of East Africa, “One is aware of animported way of life having been suddenly grafted onto aculture unprepared to receive it.” This is especially truewhen one examines the incompatible thus ineffectivepolicies that many Western organizations have imposedCon’t on page 8. . .7
Page 1 and 2: © Cymon TaylorJWI NewsletterVolume
Page 3 and 4: JustWorld Project UpdatesHondurasAs
Page 5: SCHOOLSwide awareness-raising assem
Page 9: © Pierre Costabadie© Randi Muster

Volume 2, Issue 5 - Just World International

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