Gambella Update

We wanted to get an update out to everyone, to let you know where things stand with Gambella.

The money that we raised (over $2500, WOW!!!) has been wired to the Gambella project account, and is all ready for purchasing animals once the conditions are right. 

However, the night raids have been continuing.  Thankfully, there have not been any more human deaths since the attack in July, although animals are still being stolen.

According to Habiba (one of the TCD workers in Gambella—pictured at right), the local government is getting more and more involved, so hopefully things will return to normal soon, so that we can purchase the animals to get the animal loan system in place.

I have been reminded that things in Africa do not happen as quickly as we Americans are accustomed to.  In fact, there is even a saying in Africa, that conveys this very message—TIA (This is Africa)—the phrase is a way to remind you that things will happen at the pace they happen, not necessarily the pace we would like them to happen.

We Did It!

Thanks to your generosity, we did it!  We exceeded our goal of $1800.  Our total as of this afternoon was $1920!

We were expecting our ChipIn widget to allow donations up until midnight CST, but apparently it ended early this afternoon.  We know there are still some people who have expressed a desire to contribute to Gambella, so even though we are at the end of our first official “push” to help Gambella, we will leave a ChipIn widget on our site through the end of the year, so that anyone wishing to contribute may do so.

Thank you again for all of your generosity and support!  We have been thrilled with the response, and we can’t wait to share pictures of your donations “in action!”

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Another Great Day!

Well, it’s been another great day for our partnership with Gambella!  Thanks to your generosity, it seems that we may have set our goal a bit low.  If you—or someone you know—are still considering giving $10 to help Gambella, please do so.  We would love to blow away our goal, and help even more people in Gambella!  Even if the thermometer goes past 100%, you can still contribute—just click on the ChipIn button.  Thank you!!!

Last Days of Our First Project

We are in the last few days of raising funds for the first project in our neighborhood’s partnership with Gambella, and we have been amazed at the support we have received from our friends and family.  You are the ones making this happen, and we are grateful to you!  Just a few hundred dollars left to reach our goal!

Our First Project with Gambella

We need your help! Would you be willing to spare $10, to make an immediate impact on an entire village?  Click on the orange ‘ChipIn!’ button on the top-left of this page to make a contribution.

Earlier this year, Gambella village was attacked by 50-100 armed men. They killed 6 men to send the village scattering. Once they had the village to themselves, they proceeded to steal more than 1,000 of the Gambellans’ animals, and money from their huts. In addition to the loss of animals and money, many of the villagers got sick with pneumonia from hiding without shelter for several days, until the village was safe enough to return to their huts.  (See the video at the end of this post for more information.)  The good news is that the men behind these attacks have recently been captured, and the people of Gambella are now getting back to work on the TCD projects that have already started.

The people of Gambella already live on one meal (or less) each day (some are sustaining themselves with little more than tea). To suffer the loss of animals and health, on top of the extreme poverty that has been their lifelong experience, is unimaginable.

We need your help to get them back on their feet. We want to implement a small animal loan program, to help them restart their small herds. Fifty families lost all of their animals, and the idea is to start with these families, giving them a male and female goat, so that they can breed enough animals to begin to rebuild their small herd (at which point they will give a male and female animal to the next family in need of rebuilding their herd). We also want to ensure that the villagers are getting the medical attention they need.

In order to help the people of Gambella, we want to raise $1800, to pay for the animals and medicine, as well as a portion of the finances needed to pay the staff workers who will implement the animal loan program, and oversee the recovery efforts.

Can we count on your help? Just $10 can make a huge difference in these people’s lives. If you’re able to give more, it would be greatly appreciated, but even $10 can make a lifelong difference.  We’ll be able to post some pictures of the animals, and maybe even some of the families, that we help with your donations.

Click on the orange ‘ChipIn!’ button on the top-left of this page to make a contribution.  For this first project, we’re only raising funds through November 22.

GHNI Gambella Attacked! from Jeff Power on Vimeo.

What Is Involved in a TCD Partnership?

How Partnership Works (in GHNI’s words):

Direct: We facilitate your relationship with the village.  It’s about you helping them in their journey to sustainable transformation.
Relational: The idea is to get to know your village.  We provide regular updates, coordinate volunteer trips, and offer live video communication from the village to your group.
Investment: We never replace a village’s own investments in their transformation.  But as they invest themselves, their partners then multiply the impact by also investing financially in specific development projects in the village.
Exit: Each village knows it must become self-sustaining.  We want them to experience the dignity of being strong and independent!  So each partnership is intentionally time-limited.

• As a partner, our neighborhood is agreeing to invest $5,000 or more per year, in TCD development in Gambella, for three years, or until Gambella is self-sustaining.
• We will be provided with regular information about Gambella (by GHNI), and will be able to participate in Skype calls, receive videos and pictures, etc.
• We will have the opportunity to go to Gambella, in one of GHNI’s partner trips.

What Has Been Done in Gambella so Far?

• Repaired generator used for fetching water from a deep well
• Built school for 180 school children, who had been learning under a tree

• New shoes for all the school children
• Repaired a water trough for their animals
• Built a small, one-room clinic (the hospital in Isiolo (which is a 4-hour walk from Gambella) was so excited, they donated a bunch of supplies)
  • Two volunteer nurses saw 400 people the day the clinic was dedicated
• Built chicken coops for a cooperative income-producing effort
• Demonstrated brick-making, for possible future income generation
• Initiated a partnership with water district officials, for future water projects
• Taught the entire village two CHE lessons (Community Health Education)-hand washing and teeth brushing-and gave everyone toothbrushes and toothpaste
• Two nurse volunteers worked with the village CHE Committee (two women and two men) to further their health knowledge
• As GHNI has been teaching the villagers that they can get out of poverty, if they draw on their resourcefulness, several women started a business selling tea and chipate at the local watering hole (literally), and are now making $10/day (20x their previous income)!
• Installed a drip irrigation system in an experimental acre (and have since expanded that acre)
  • Not only has this acre provided food for the villagers, but they have also been able to sell some of their produce to people from other villages—this is HUGE for a village that has just begun to incorporate agriculture into their lives!

• Demonstrated to the villagers how they can create their own biosand filters (which filter the dirtiest water to 99.8% pure-clean enough for anyone in the world to drink in good health)

• Built dorms for the teachers
  • No girl in Gambella has ever gone to school past eighth grade-getting “hang time” with the female teachers will be a HUGE bonus (not to mention, the teachers pay a small fee to stay in the dorms, which goes into the village’s development fund)
• 600 mosquito nets were delivered, because a man from NY with a t-shirt biz made and sold t-shirts for the sole purpose of buying nets

Who Are We?

We’re a small group of friends and neighbors, in Algonquin, IL, partnering with Gambella village, in Kenya.

We’re thrilled to be able to work with Global Hope Network International (GHNI) in this partnership, as we come alongside the people of Gambella, helping them reach TCD Sustainability.

We believe that a small group of people, who unleash their compassion, and work together toward a common goal, can change the world.  We’re starting with Gambella.

What is TCD?

TCD stands for Transformational Community Development.  TCD is the model that Global Hope Network International (GHNI) uses to help the poorest villages of the world transform themselves.

The goal is to help poor towns and villages achieve TCD Sustainability-holistic, sustainable transformation-in five critical areas:

• Water - Secure enough clean water for every person, every day
• Food - Grow an adequate, nutritious food supply
• Wellness - Practice basic TCD wellness in every household, decreasing disease by two-thirds
• Income - Double the daily income per household
• Education - Provide primary-level education for every girl and boy

Key Transformation Values:

• Holistic - Transformation happens through holistic, sustainable approaches to problems and their solutions.
• Ownership - Villages can solve most of their own problems by wisely drawing on locally-available resources.
• Partnership - Healthy change requires healthy partnerships between villages, government, NGOs, donors and others.
• Expectation - GHNI looks for an unprecedented wave of involvement and cooperation coming from this world-aware generation!

How it works:

• GHNI trains villages to transform themselves using their proven TCD training and curriculum
• GHNI works with village leaders
• GHNI works thru village committees and TCD trainers
• GHNI involves compassionate worldwide partners (like us!)
• GHNI expects, tracks and rewards village success

Who Is GHNI?

Global Hope Network International (GHNI) is a non-profit, private humanitarian aid organization headquartered in Orlando, Florida and Geneva, Switzerland. Through a committed team of both staff and volunteers, Global Hope Network International is dedicated to serving the “hidden and hurting” in more than 38 countries around the world. They focus on the overlooked or hidden persons in war zones, natural disasters and under-developed countries by providing aid and sustainable development through food and water supply, medical care, agriculture, education and micro-enterprise.

Their mission in their own words:

In today’s society, human cruelty is rampant and those without an advocate have little or no means in which to find aid or refuge. Global Hope Network International is committed to bringing help and hope to the hidden and hurting around the world. Our goal is to assist and provide humanitarian aid to the overlooked, discriminated and marginalized men, women and children who might not otherwise see any aid in their unreached region or province.
We also facilitate and encourage people through programs rich in community development, agriculture, education, medical care and micro-enterprise. This allows families and individuals to become strong and independent, moving them away from poverty and despair. This is made possible through local agencies and partnerships in country, which allow us to design specific programs for people groups that are in greatest need.