Monthly Archives: July 2012

by | July 27, 2012 · 11:34 am

Children Speak about Monsoons and High Hopes in India

 It’s monsoon season in India right now and it’s been raining nonstop!  Given all the rain we’ve had in the UK over the last few months you might think I’d be quite comfortable with this, but here in a slum in Patna ADP the rain brings very different challenges.

An urban slum area in Patna ADP after the rain

I’m here in India to continue my storytelling mission with children, encouraging them to have a voice about their everyday experiences. Several of the children chose to write about the monsoons and I think their words will give you the best picture of what life is like here:

 “In monsoon there is a lot of rain.  Lightning flashes in the sky.  Tit tat tit tat tit tat the rain falls.  The cold days have come.  In monsoon I feel cold.  Water floods.  In the monsoon my house leaks.  In monsoons we put plastics over our roof.  Outside water gathers.  Once water gathers we have to make the drains and then the drains get full.”

Puja, Neha & Anjalie 8yrs

People’s homes here are in a state of disrepair, with leaky roofs, bamboo fences for walls and mud floors. Although these are permanent dwelling places they look like temporary structures thrown together, especially with the added layers of plastic to keep out the torrential rain.

The monsoon also produces a range of health issues for children living here. The stagnant water left after the rain is a certified breeding ground for malaria carrying mosquitoes.  The change of climate brings high fever and flu. There are also some serious sanitation threats, with drains overflowing and rubbish everywhere.  This next group of children talk about this in their story:

“It is rainy season.  We like to take bath in it.  The thunder clouds roar and then rain comes.  Near house the way becomes muddy, water log is also there.  When rains come we face problems in going to school, bags are also wet, then we put umbrella.  Water also drops from the roof.  We face problem in that.  From the muddy roads, very bad smells comes out.  When we take bath in that rain we fall sick.  We have to eat medicine, it is very bad taste.” 

Dipali, 10yrs, Gudia, 14yrs, Anshu, 12yrs & Priti ,10yrs

 

Despite these challenges though, I was really encouraged to find that these children still have such high aspirations. Here are another couple of stories from peer learning groups about what the children want to do when they grow up.

“(In this card I see); The first girl wants to be a farmer, the next child wants to be a football player, the third girl wants’ to be a singer, the fourth girl wants to be a doctor, the fifth girl wants to be a teacher.  Like these children we should also become something or someone and make are parents name and our countries name very high.  Like these children we should also think about the future and show we can do something.”

Shalu Utsav, Vishal Gaurav 8yrs

“I love to study.  With the knowledge every children wants to study.  Ashish loves to study science.  After studying Ashish wants to become scientist.  Mitun likes to study general knowledge, after studying, he wants to become doctor.  Sujata likes to study maths.  Pushpa wants to become teacher, children of our village goes to school at 10 o’clock and comes back at 4 o’clock.  The evening six to seven o’clock children goes for tuition.  Mummy and Papa gives us notebook and pencils.”

Roshni, 9rs, Ashish 12yrs, Pushpa, 10yrs, Sujatam 10yrs

 

Some of the kids from the story telling workshop in Bhojpur ADP

The aim of these story writing workshops is to empower children and amplify their voices so that their communities, their sponsors and World Vision can hear.  I really hope that you have enjoyed hearing from the children and that their stories have given you a window into their world.

If you want to see a bit more of their world I have created a photo album on Facebook from my trip (you might even be able to spot your own Sponsored Child in there.)

If you’ve got  any more questions about the story writing workshops or what life is like here in India please post them here or on the Facebook page.

 

Steve Richards is a Children’s Communications Specialist with World Vision UK. He seeks to give the children we work with the skills and confidence to write and speak for themselves in their own words. He is working in India right now.

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by | July 26, 2012 · 11:29 am

Indian Sponsored Children proclaim “Education is our Right!”

I’ve spent the last week and a half surrounded by some very noisy and expressive kids! While this probably isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time, I’ve loved it! I’m in India conducting story writing workshops with children here.

Showing kids the ‘story tellers mat’ helping them to descibe their lives with all their senses and emotions

One of the most exciting aspects of my work is inspiring children to believe in themselves and that what they have to say is really important.  Even more vital is that we respond actively to what is voiced; children themselves, community members and World Vision staff.

 

I’ve been absolutely inspired by the children and young people I’ve worked with here.  I wanted to share with you a couple of stories that are particularly special from Vaishali ADP.

 

A group of young lads with a powerful message to the world; “education is our right”

“Education is very precious for human being.  Without education human is like an animal.  And education is the mirror of our society.  Without seeing in the mirror our self we are not satisfied, same way without education we are not feeling internal peace. 

Some of the older boys in a ‘peer learning group’

When we are doing the study, we are learning new lessons.  When we are doing the study in that time we are also getting entertainment.  And because of education we come to know how we have to live in this world. This is a proverb, ‘education is the only means in which we can go forward in life’.  Now this modern era, without education no work is possible. 

When we become educated person then our younger brother and sister will be aware about the education and they will also be interested to get involved in study. Because of education we achieve something and then our society, our state, our country can become proud.  This is our shout in all the streets, “education is our right”.  Mahamata Gandhi also told like this, ‘never live like an uneducated person’ and we are promising here that our village, our society will be educated.  Without education we are nothing!”

Richardson 16yrs, Navin 17yrs, Sonu 15yrs, Ravikant 17yrs, Jahindra 16yrs, Raja 14yrs, Sumit 13yrs, Suraj 10yrs, Mukesh 10yrs, Rahul 15yrs, Avinash 13yrs, Praveen 14yrs, Nikesh 11yrs

 

What’s particularly special is that this group included boys from 10 years of age to 17.  All members contributed and exchanged such profound reflections about the education they valued so dearly.  I witnessed real leadership from the older ones and saw how they inspired the younger ones.  This is a powerful example of peer learning.

 

I wanted to show you Asmita’s point of view.  As the boys said; “education is our right” and it’s a girl’s right too!  Asmita shared her emotion and experience of gender bias and how domestic labour is a barrier to her attendance and engagement in education.

Asmita reading her story to the group

Jobs stop me from studying

“In Bihar state people’s livelihood is agriculture, people are farming for their food.  Sometimes my mother says ‘you do this work’, then I’ve done that work, but I’m also saying to my mother that I have to go to school.  But my mother says ok, you go to your school but first you finish your work.  To hear this I became angry and the next day I wake up early morning and I clean the house and I bring the water and I cook the food and after that I feed my parents and brother and sister and then go to school. 

When I’m working I feel my brother is doing the study and I’m cooking the food.  Sometime my mother went for farming work, that time I prepare the food at my house and feed my family member and after that very fast I get ready and I go to school.  When I’m reaching school I saw my class is started, then because of fear I come back to home.  Sometime I’m bringing the water, cleaning the house, washing the pots and then go to school. When I’m doing less of this work then I go to school on time and I’m living the happy life.”

Asmita 15yrs

Many of the children from the story telling workshop in Vaishali ADP

I always like to encourage children to present their stories to the wider group and community members that are present.  Asmita stood up and spoke with such bravery and passion and her voice was heard.  I had so much respect for her. Now the next step is to bring the change.

Tomorrow I’ll share a few more of the kid’s stories with you and tell you about the monsoon here – it’s even worse than rain in the UK!

 

If you’ve got any questions for me about my trip or what life is like in India please post them below or on Facebook. You’ll also find some more photos on Facebook – you might even be able to recognise your own Sponsored Child in there.

 

Steve Richards is a Children’s Communications Specialist with World Vision UK. He seeks to give the children we work with the skills and confidence to write and speak for themselves in their own words. He is working in India right now.

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by | July 25, 2012 · 4:32 pm

Building safety nets to catch children before they fall

Ann Graham is a broadcast journalist and photographer. She began working with World Vision in 2006 and was based in Dakar, Senegal and Niger before returning to the UK in December 2011.

I first moved to West Africa in 2005 during the region’s worst famine in years.

What a terrible introduction.

I visited Niger and saw mothers and children stripping leaves from trees to get something to eat – food that was normally only used for cattle. They told me a big drought or food crisis hits Niger every five years. But the truth is that since 2005 the region has suffered food shortages in 2008, 2010 and again in 2012.

Yadou and her twin girls in November 2011.

This coupled with other problems has left up to four million children hungry.

As a writer and photographer for World Vision, I lived through all of those crises. It’s my job to try and put a human face to the statistics. To cut through our collective compassion fatigue for human suffering. And make sense of our frustration and to question why – why is this happening again?

It is not easy to witness, nor is it easy to explain the complexities of why West African families find themselves caught in cyclical food shortages. But question and share their stories we must. Because amongst the stories of tragedy and lost childhood, there are stories of hope.

A childhood can be lost to the food crisis – either literally through death or gradually as a result of other factors. I have grieved for several children I’ve seen die because of preventable causes such as malnutrition. I’ve also seen childhoods lost slowly as children are forced to drop out of school, do dangerous work to help their families. Or very simply go without adequate food, day after day until they no longer have the energy to play, grow or be children.

Despite the enormity of the challenges that face families in West Africa – together with government and humanitarian agencies such as World Vision – there is still cause for hope and a belief that things can be different.

I was reminded of this recently when I received an update on a family I met before leaving Niger in November 2011. Yadou is a mother to two newborn twin girls, who had been brought to a health centre because Yadou was so malnourished she was unable to feed them. At the time I photographed the twin babies, Yadou and their seven year old sister Mariama who had made the long journey on foot from their village to the health centre.

I watched as Yadou let drops of water drip from her fingers in a desperate attempt to hydrate her baby girls. It was a pitiful sight. And as I left the health centre I really didn’t know if those little girls would live and if I am honest I thought the odds were stacked too highly against them.

So after six months you can image my joy when a friend sent a link to an article published by World Vision New Zealand telling the story about how the twins – Husenna and Husanna had been traced to a World Vision assisted feeding centre. On meeting the two girls again my friend said: “Seeing the photos of the healthy looking girls might give you the impression that this is an aid agency story with a happy ending. But the reality is much more complex”

The twins and mother Yadou in June 2012

It is complex because despite the joy of knowing the two girls are alive and doing well, the challenge remains to ensure that other girls and boys do not lose their childhoods to preventable causes.

While it is important to rush in and help families in an emergency such as the one facing West Africa today – and agencies like World Vision do – it is also important is to strengthen families and build long term safety nets that will help them withstand future failed harvests. World Vision is currently working with the British Government to build these safety nets, catching children before they fall and protecting their childhood when their families encounter difficult circumstances.

There is hope.

As a community we would like you to join us in talking about what childhood means to you, and what it should be like for babies like Husenna and Husanna.

Answer the question ‘Childhood is……’ and send us a photo representing this on our facebook wall or on twitter using #lostchildhood. We will feature these photos on our Lost Childhood pinterest wall and the top 50 answers will be published on our website in two weeks time.

And please consider donating to our #ShareNiger West Africa appeal. Every pound you donate will be matched pound for pound by the British Government, helping us to reach even more children – building these safety nets to help carry them for years to come.

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by | July 24, 2012 · 1:19 pm

Meeting My Sponsored Child in Sierra Leone

It had been seven years since my last visit to my home country, Sierra Leone.   For many reasons I wasn’t able to plan a visit in the intervening years, but was really excited to be finally making the trip after such a long time.  I was planning to visit family and friends as well as the young girl I sponsor through World Vision.  After a smooth flight from London I landed at Lungi Airport on a wet, muggy Sunday evening.

 

Visiting the village chief

I spent the next few days seeing family and friends and preparing for my visit to meet my sponsored child. The people were as warm and as friendly as I remember and getting reacquainted with old friends has been wonderful, visiting the neighbour and her family across the road brought back great memories.

 

On Wednesday we headed off  to my sponsored child’s community through the mountain villages of Regent, Charlotte and Bathurst.  At Charlotte I caught a glimpse of the first site of my old school, Annie Walsh Memorial, which was actually based in a church built more than a hundred years ago.  We passed several markets en route and at Moyamba Junction decided to cut through the Sierra Rutile mines to save time.  The manager at Mattru Jong sent a staff member on motorbike to meet us at the mines so we wouldn’t get lost and he led us safely to our destination.  As we arrived there was a welcoming party to greet us, I felt very much like a VIP, and it was obvious right away that a lot of effort had gone into planning my visit.

 

Sharing a laugh with my sponsored child

I was welcomed to the ADP and Mr Jalloh explained the itinerary for the day. First stop was a visit to the local chief to pay my respects and explain my reason for visiting.  We chatted for a few minutes and the next stop was the home of my sponsored child, who ran out to greet me, she had been told I was coming and her whole family turned out to see me.  I felt truly honoured to be a part of their community even for such a short time.  We exchanged gifts; I gave my sponsored child the pens, pencils and other stationery items I had brought for her.  I also brought her a couple of books, ‘Alice in Wonderland’ explaining that it was a very popular children’s book in the UK and ‘Olabisi’s Party and other stories’, a book of short stories for eleven to thirteen year olds.  I also gave her a postcard of London showing Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, the River Thames, Trafalgar Square and other landmarks.  She was very happy to see where I live.

 

She showed me her school report and I saw that she did very well in her end of year results and was second overall.  She read for me from a book I had sent her last year ‘Chike and the river’ one of my favourite childhood novels by Chinua Achebe.  It was great to be able to see her wonderful progress in person.

 

With my sponsored child’s family (me wearing the batik blouse they gave me)

I talked with my sponsored child’s family a while and got on very well with her mum, I gave her the gifts I had brought for her and she returned the gesture by giving me a few gifts of her own; coconut oil, a live chicken and batik blouse.  My guide took lots of wonderful pictures of me and the whole family to remember the occasion.  We said our goodbyes and drove to the school where we were met by the headmaster and my sponsored child’s class teacher.  They were warm and friendly and explained that the school closed for the summer holidays last week, and would resume in September.  I gave the teachers the scrap books, colouring pens, pencils and postcards I had brought for the pupils (hopefully I can plan my next visit so I can get to see them during the school term).

 

Giving a few gifts to my sponsored child’s school – including a book about London

We then visited three different projects in the village; a traditional birth attendance centre, a health centre and staff building with classrooms, an office and a store.  It was great to be able to see my small contributions making such a difference to remote communities in Sierra Leone, people who would otherwise struggle to meet some of their most basic needs.  World Vision’s activities are growing and my hope is that they can continue to reach other groups that so urgently need help in the country.  Now that I have seen the hard work of local staff I will make sure that I continue to do my bit for as long as is necessary to help World Vision support these communities.  This visit has been particularly poignant for me because I was born in Sierra Leone, and feel that it’s important for me to put something back into my country of origin.

My visit was over, in a flash it seemed, but I’m already thinking about my next trip, I definitely plan to return.

 

If you have any questions for me about my trip or what life is like for children in Sierra Leone please post them below or on World Vision’s Facebook page.

Mia Koso-Thomas is a long-term supporter of World Vision. She grew up in Sierra Leone but now lives in London working as a legal consultant. She has blogged about her return to Sierra Leone and meeting her World Vision sponsored child.

*Mia has not used her sponsored child’s name in order to protect her identity

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by | July 23, 2012 · 12:10 pm

Lost Childhood

What is it like to be a child without a childhood? Sent away from home to beg, pulled out of school to support family or too hungry to play – what does it mean to lose your childhood?

Hard labour

‘After work if I’m not too tired I like to play babysitting with my friends. We’ll wrap up a flip flop and pretend it is a baby,’ says 14-year-old Fati.

These words should never be said by a school-aged girl, exhausted after a hard day of labour.

But they are.

Fati, sifting for gold. Photo Mike Goldwater

Fati has never been to school. Forced to move to the hot and dusty mining town in Tillabery, her family have been struggling ever since the last food crisis when their animals died. She now spends her days working at the mine. Under the scorching sun she painstakingly sifts through the silt in search of flecks of gold.

This is a decommissioned mine – the wealth of its gold has been taken long ago. Fati, her grandmother and other mothers and children are searching for leftovers. Scraps.

Nearby teenage boys plunge into the depths of a mineshaft to dig for quartz. Fifteen-year-old Gado is one of them. He left his village to earn money to help his family survive.

Gado, 15, left his hometown to work in the mines to help his family. Photo Adel Sarkozi

Sinking down the 125ft mine shaft where there is very little oxygen, he chips away at the rock with his tools before winching buckets to the surface. Then Gado and the other boys go through the arduous process of granulising the rocks: smashing, washing, sieving, washing, sieving, washing, sieving. It is hazardous and exhausting work.

Many mines have collapsed, crushing the boys inside.

“When I finish work every evening at seven, all I do is go to bed. I am too tired to do anything else. I just want to sleep,” Gado says.

The long walk

Parents are forced to make desperate decisions, like sending their sons to Niamey, the capital of Niger, for food. These boys walk more than 100 miles – an arduous ten day trek. Aged between ten and 14 they walk in the searing heat with only the clothes on their back. When they reach the city, they live in makeshift housing or on the streets, making them increasingly vulnerable to abuse and weakened from lack of food and clean water.

The boys on their long walk to Niamey to beg. Photo Justin Byworth

“We’ll beg,” was all they said, when asked what they would do when they got to Niamey.

What choice does a parent have when there is nothing to eat at home?

Childhood lost

A generation of children in West Africa is losing their lives or childhood to the food crisis. An entire generation of children who have already lived through up to four food crises in their short lifetime.

This is all they’ve ever known.

Rather than having the opportunity to learn in school, play games with their friends and dream of their future they experience another bitter reality.

A food crisis robs a childhood in a number of ways:

Hunger. Millions of children across West Africa are currently malnourished with not enough food for their tiny bodies to properly grow. This can cause them to be permanently stunted making it difficult to reach their full potential. They grow up to be malnourished adults, and then malnourished women give birth to malnourished babies and the cycle continues.

Work. Childhoods are robbed when children engage in dangerous or exploitative work that deprives them of their potential and dignity. There are many more children like Fati and Gado who work far from their villages in exhausting jobs and on empty bellies.

Education. Thousands of children are being forced out of school to find work. Far away from their friends and a stable environment, it can be a traumatic transition for a child.

The mines in Tillaberry. Photo by Adel Sarkozi

Give a childhood back

Through #ShareNiger World Vision is looking to give children in West Africa their childhood back. We want you to join us in that journey.

We want to create an explosion of noise online, filled with voices of mothers, children and families. We want to shine a light on what childhood should be for every child – everywhere.

As British children look to their summer holidays, over the next two weeks we want to get parents and their children talking about what childhood means to them. Perhaps it’s a cherished toy, climbing trees or fun with your childhood best friend.

Send us a photo and a short explanation of what childhood means to you and your children. Please post this on our facebook page or tweet this using the hashtag #lostchildhood. We will feature all of the photos on our Lost Childhood pinterest wall and will publish the best 50 answers on our website.

The British Government are currently doubling donations to our West Africa Food Crisis Appeal – pound for pound, helping our funds to go even further. So we want to double our impact. Tag two people to your photo on facebook or twitter and invite them to add their voice.

Join us to give children their childhood back.

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by | July 20, 2012 · 10:16 am

Guest blog: “I know it’s my problem too”

Merry Raymond is a #ShareNiger blogger. A mother of six children; she has four girls, one baby boy and a loving little boy who sadly didn’t stay. You can read her blog patchofpuddles.co.uk or follow her on twitter at @merrilyme.

Safe in my home, surrounded by all of the everyday problems of a dishwasher overfilling with soap suds and getting all the children to ballet and rugby each week without compromising family time, it is easy to get overwhelmed by my little world. If I turn on the television I see conflict, pain and suffering; fluffy entertainment is easier on the heart than acknowledging disaster, death and war. I do care but I didn’t know where to start. I know it’s my problem too – I didn’t know how to help.

The video made by the #ShareNiger trip of Roukayatou changed my perspective; despite having done her best to provide for her family, Roukayatou had found herself in talons of the food crisis, trying to feed her family of five on a pack of baby food. They were facing starvation due to an accident she could not have prevented and a rain shortage she can neither plan for nor control.

Ask any group of mothers to imagine an hour locked in a room of hungry toddlers and you’ll see the whites of their eyes; Roukayatou’s story keyed into my heart in a new way. I’ve had the experience of watching one of my children fade to death because of something I could neither understand nor change. I felt her fear but I also saw her humanity; a mother as weary of the wails of hungry children as of worrying and being hungry herself. A mother facing the possibility that eventually her children will not even have the energy to cry.

West Africa is gripped by yet another food crisis. Unimaginable numbers of people going hungry, needing vast quantities of food to be brought in to save them. It is disheartening to watch the news as yet another year of failed crops brings another crisis. Weakened children suffer quickly because communities struggle to get good water and grow food in difficult conditions. There is something particularly bitter about children dying in preventable circumstances.

I watched Roukayatou’s video with parent blogger friends while the #ShareNiger trip was still in progress and one phrase galvanised us all; “What can we do?” Roukayatou’s story touched so many hearts in a few minutes; we all identified with her. Blogging, tweeting, using Facebook – it can seem facile from the outside but it can make change. On this occasion we changed lives through group sponsorship. Where a full child sponsorship was out of our current financial reach, via social media more people heard about our efforts and finally 11 children were sponsored. Also, some of that money will go towards their West Africa appeal, where the UK Government is matching these appeal donations pound for pound. Looking forward, it’s a phenomenal amount of money pledged from a moment of solidarity with one woman. We all recognised ourselves and our hopes in Roukayatou and saw how we were going to change things for the better.

Merry’s daughters weighing rice

My four daughters pored over the details of the 11 children when they arrived; we read the details as we ate our lunch, the irony evident to us all. We weighed out baby rice and saw how much Roukayatou was feeding her family on. We’ve looked hard at how we speak of having no money but fritter away pounds and tried to imagine how those children would feel if they could visit this house, filled with books, toys and food.

What changed for me was properly understanding that across the world there are mothers who will fight for one more day with their child, even without hope. No loving mother wants to feel the gut wrenching despair of that loss. I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to help raise a little boy somewhere in Niger; to afford him some of the money I would have spent on my own son had he lived. It matters to me to have found a way to prevent that loss happening to someone else.

While World Vision fights to break the hunger cycle in West Africa, bloggers are getting ready to speak out again. As the crisis continues in West Africa it is robbing children of their childhood. Instead of spending time in school, children are having to look for work. Conflict in neighbouring Mali is forcing families to move across the border and live in refugee camps. And rather than playing outdoors, kids are focusing on their next meal – that small amount of rice – to feed their bellies.

We want to get people talking about this. Next week we will be asking people what childhood means to them. Perhaps it’s a nostalgic memory from your own childhood, or maybe it’s something that your children remind you of every single day. We want people to speak about this and be creative to raise awareness of the childhoods currently being lost to hunger in West Africa.

If you would like to help these children in West Africa, please consider donating to World Vision’s West Africa appeal. Every pound donated is a pound matched by the British Government – helping to reach thousands more people.

Thank you to all of the families who have come together to use #bloggerpower to support #ShareNiger. Co-ordinating a communal sponsorship of eleven children has helped me see I can make a difference with my words, the small change of my pocket and the understanding that life events have brought me.

Sian at MummyTips who travelled to Niger and sent back the original #ShareNiger coverage.

Chris at Thinly Spread

Rosie at Rosie Scribble

Jax at LiveOtherwise

Kate at KateTakes5

Beck at TheMummyAdventure

Kelly at PrestonPrecious

Helen at The Petit Mom

Clare at Seaside in the City

Susan at SusanKMann

Aly at Plus2point4

Jacq at MyMumDom

Wendy at Inside the WendyHouse

Lesley at Scottish Mum

Claire at Bad-Fiction

Mirka at All Baby Advice

Molly at MothersAlwaysRight

Helen at KiddyCharts

Kylie at NotEvenABagofSugar

Emma at Emmaand3

Nickie at IamTypecast

Cass at Frugal Family

Maggie at LifeAtTheZoo

Fran at TeensnTwincesses

Ruth at GeekMummy

BodForTea

Emma at MummyMummyMum

Trish at Mumsgoneto

Amy at OneMoreMeansFour

Nova at CherishedByMe

Hollie at HollieSmith

Morgan at  Growing in the Fens

Donna at LittleLilyPadCo

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by | July 12, 2012 · 2:36 pm

Bolivia, Stories From the Children

 

A school, perched in the middle of nowhere

I’ve just returned from Bolivia where I’ve been working with sponsored children in some incredibly isolated and hard to reach places.

 

After driving for hours on a rocky dusty road and then trekking down a mountainside, we reached a school hidden deep in the valley, a modest two room mud brick building with a Bolivian flag flying on a mast in the yard. The flag had a gaping hole where the wind ripped through it. This was typical of the communities I visited during my trip.

 

Working with the kids was a lot of fun, the purpose of my trip was to help children to tell their own stories in their own words, helping them to develop their voices and story writing skills. We played circle time games to encourage talking and sharing thoughts and feelings.  We then broke down into smaller groups of ‘talk partners and a scribe’ to help them write stories about their lives and their experiences.

I think the children’s stories will give you the best picture of what it is like to grow up in these harsh but beautiful surroundings.

 

Alex one of our budding story writers

“In my community  there is many mountains very big. I like the trees, the pines are very big.  Once, I went up to a pine I was playing with my friends and very happy.  Another day, we went to the river with my friends, Marcos, Ruben, we took a bath it was very much warming.  The water was hot.  I still don’t know to swim and I will learn. 

I like to walk sometimes I like to run with my friends.  Also I like riding bicycle because it goes faster I can feel wind and I so feel happy.  One day I would like to have a bicycle to play in my community and I would lend it to my little brothers.” Alex, 13yrs

 

Bolivia is a stunning but difficult country. 48% of children there live in extreme poverty, not surprising when you see the environment they try to scratch a living from. Growing food here is very difficult, which means malnutrition is a big issue. The following child’s story highlights some of the more difficult aspects of living in these isolated communities.

 

 “In my community it’s too much hot and also cold. When it rains the river grows and there is a lot of water and we cannot cross to the front side. When it rains I just stay home and I cannot get to the other community.  We get diseases and cold temperatures bad smells in our community. 

I like spring because there are many flowers and a lot of fruit and vegetables, there is more to eat and to take a bath in the river with the warm water.  Also in spring I like to play soccer and some like to play on the green grass. Because of rains more, corn, beans, alfa it grows more, to feed the cow and also grass to feed the sheeps and the goats.”

 

Enjoying ‘circle time’ with the children

Writing was a really big challenge for virtually all the children I encountered.  Put a pen in a child’s hand and ask them to write and you will receive a blank expression and a blank piece of paper.  Ask them to draw and no one struggles, creating something immediately.  It was evident the Bolivian children I worked with are rich in artistic expression and ‘visual language’ and less so in oral and written communication.  However, as you can read, they wrote some really great pieces using the Storytellers Map and Cards.  The tool along with time and patience will foster some great storytellers, for sure.

 

“My favourite song is; “Wachi Wachi Turito” because its very pretty, happy I dance with it, these are the words of the song:

“Catch the bull with the rope

Little bull from the mountain

Catch the bull with the rope

Over there you go little bull

Over the plants go jumping”

I listen this song at school, I learnt this song in Candelaria. My teacher Heidi Pinaya Bellido taught me this song when I was fourth grade this year.” Sergio, 11yrs

Learning outdoors – not bad when you have such beautiful surroundings

 

I hope this has helped to give you a glimpse into what life is like for children in Bolivia, and for those of you who sponsor a child there I hope this will help you to understand them and their environment a little better.

 

If you’d like to see some more photos of my trip you can take a look at the World Vision Facebook page. If you’ve got any questions for me then please just post them below and I’ll get back to you.

 

If you’ve been inspired by this blog you may also like to consider sponsoring a child in Bolivia.

Steve Richards is a Children’s Communications Specialist with World Vision UK. His work seeks to give the children we work with the skills and confidence to write and speak for themselves in their own words. He has just returned from conducting story writing workshops in Bolivia.

 

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by | · 1:03 pm

Life on the border – one year on

Amanda Koech,  a Communications Officer for World Vision Somalia, describes the scene at a border town in the south-west of the country – and asks how the situation has changed one year after a food crisis was declared in East Africa. 

I’m in Kabasa camp in the dusty border town of Dollow in Somalia – home to more than 1,200 families, many too afraid to return to the insecurity of their former lives in the south.

Just a short distance from here the borders of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia converge. All three countries have been severely affected by the food crisis which has gripped this region, and which gained vast media attention this time last year.

And this is just one of more than ten camps spread around Dollow district catering for nearly 80,000 displaced people. Many families fled the drought of 2011 from Southern Somalia as well as conflicts that have continued in most parts.

Clean drinking water provided by World Vision at the Kabasa camp

Picture of improvement

There’s no question that violence, disease and hunger is still a daily reality for communities in Somalia – an issue which we, and other aid agencies on the ground, are relentlessly working to address.

But there is progress. I first came to Dollow last summer and, compared to then, there is a marked improvement in the welfare of people. When I first came, there was hardly any shelter for families. They lived under flimsy pieces of cloth and were exposed to the elements. Children spent most of their days idling at the feeding centre together with their mothers.

World Vision and others have been working hard to change this. A feeding centre and other programmes have drastically reduced malnutrition. A walk in the camp reveals more healthy children compared to last year. Housing has also improved, where traditional huts and better tents now dot the camp.

Nine-year-old Hawa, centre, with her siblings and World Vision Child Protection Officer Amina, left. Hawa moved to Dollow when the 2011 drought killed the family’s livestock. She lost her mother nine months ago and was left to look after her four young siblings.

Hand-to-mouth existence 

The plight of the families here is personal to me. Growing up in neighbouring Kenya our family, too, faced a drought. My parents were farmers and didn’t make much money, meaning we effectively lived hand-to-mouth.

As a four-year-old child, the next thing I knew was that all the crops were drying in the field and my parents could no longer feed us. We ended up with one meal a day and many of our neighbours were starving too.

I survived where many did not. And last year in Somalia, years after my own experience, I saw others in the same situation… women and children trekking for days for this precious commodity called food.

Children playing at Kabasa camp

Afraid of the insecurity

Back in the Kabasa camp today, the World Vision mobile clinic visits ensures that families get treated for common ailments. We also provide clean drinking water at the camp, saving women and children trips to the crocodile-infested Juba River where several livestock have been reportedly eaten.

According to the World Vision Regional Manager at Dollow, Kebeh Jallah, many of the camp residents are afraid of going back to their homes in the south due to insecurity.

They say that as long as insecurity persists, they will not be able to produce food in their farms and rear livestock.

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by | July 10, 2012 · 2:39 pm

The Reason Your Sponsor Letters Can Take a While to Arrive…

Trekking to a remote village in the bottom of this valley, no road access here.

Ever wondered why the letters from your sponsored children can take a while to arrive? Well I’ve just spent the last two weeks in Bolivia and have seen firsthand the terrifying roads, high mountains and wide rivers sponsor’s letters have to traverse before they arrive. So next time you hold one of those letters, please take a moment to appreciate the journey it took!

 

I’m a well travelled person, but I have never before been in such remote and extreme communities as those I visited in Bolivia. I travelled to villages hidden deep in valleys, far from the closest roads. There was a fair amount of huffing and puffing involved in reaching these tiny communities at high altitude, but once I started working with the children the trek felt well worthwhile.

 

Sergio, one of our sponsorship heroes in Bolivia, crossing a river to reach another isolated community

Each visit to one of these communities involved a journey of pretty epic proportions, normally using several different forms of transport. It certainly gave me an appreciation for how hard the sponsorship staff work – and their dedication to reaching hard to reach children.

 

On one trip, where the roads were particularly treacherous due to recent landslides, I had to get out of the car on three separate occasions to move rocks into crevices in the road so that we could pass. After all of this work we came to a dead end, the road had simply fallen away into a gaping hole like one of those cartoon images. We had to retrace our steps and find an alternative route.

 

But the car journey wasn’t the end of it. In most cases we then had to trek for another hour or so to reach our tiny village destination. At 4,000 feet, this too was no mean feat. I’m normally a pretty fit guy, but I was pushing my body to the limit with the lack of oxygen in the air at that altitude – though the locals found it a breeze.

 

Being greeted in traditional Bolivian style

After our trek down the mountainside we were greeted with a welcome drink of warm milk and rice and given impressive garlands made from flowers and vegetables. The locals were always dressed so vibrantly. I was amazed at their generosity, that people with nothing gave so much. The kids were somewhat coy to begin with, but soon warmed up to me and were climbing over me pulling and touching my dreads… They had never seen them before and were quite taken aback.

 

While I was in these villages I conducted story writing workshops with the kids. I want to tell you more about them tomorrow and share some of the children’s stories, but while we are on the topic of hard to reach children I thought this story from Marcos was perfect:

 

“When I go very up in my community I look at the school bus I think it should be very difficult to drive because places here are very dangerous and when I imagine it scares me a lot. 

I prefer walking or taking my things on donkey.  I have a donkey in my house he help us a lot to carry heavy things especially when we harvest potato, wheat, beans, barley, sweet potato, yellow potatoes, corn. Also two cows, they help with the plough of the land because with the pick it’s not enough.”    Marcos, 11 yrs old

 

I’d love to answer any questions you have about Bolivia and what life is like for children in some of these remote places. Please post your questions below and I’ll get back to you. Keep following the blog and tomorrow I’ll share a few more reflections and some of the children’s stories that came out of my story writing workshops.

 

Steve Richards is a Children’s Communications Specialist with World Vision UK. His work seeks to give the children we work with the skills and confidence to write and speak for themselves in their own words. He has just returned from conducting story writing workshops in Bolivia.

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by | July 9, 2012 · 10:11 am

An amazing last day with World Vision in South Africa

Well, here we are, our last day at Kodumela! We have talked water, fed children a wonderful meal, seen the good that World Vision’s facilitating does, been sang to by old and young, and met a wonderful little boy in red.

We began with a gentle walk through the bush to a beautiful reservoir, a surprising oasis in the sometimes hostile terrain. This is where Kodumela gets its water, something that sounds so simple, but no! The levels between the source and the outlet are the same which denies gravity her magic, reaching a solution will make the water flow more strongly. In fact as our day progresses water becomes a defining theme.

Water availability is not a problem, as there seems to be plenty of it but getting it to the right places is difficult. This simple element is so crucial to the sustainability of those who are so vulnerable. With it they can cultivate, this empowers a struggling family, child-headed or with parents, to produce food to be eaten and any surplus bringing in an income which can be the difference between survival or not.

Me with ‘my little boy in red’

I met my little boy in red at Lafata, a World Vision micro-finance success story in every way. It has been in existence for ten years and now employs 200 villagers, mostly ladies, who produce everything from unique bead jewellery to raffia woven shoes in bright colours. They have a very healthy chicken and egg business and are looking to begin a goat keeping programme to work with the disabled to include them in the success story. They keep the most impeccable files of paperwork that most western offices would envy and when they have nothing to do (which is rarely) they gather in the central building and sing their hearts out which is a magical sound.

My little boy in red was small and dark with those big brown eyes that melt your heart, he didn’t say much with his tongue but spoke volumes through his expressive little face. We bonded in a pure and simple way looking at the chickens together from one day old chicks to the old broilers whose laying days are over and are ready for selling. He held my hand, let me cuddle him with such trust, I left him all smiles with a little toy car I had brought along just in case. In all the difficulty we have encountered he shines like a beacon for me of the good that is being done here.

It is a fact that through World Vision’s dedication to children they have radically reduced mal-nutrition in Kodumela. How good does that sound? Today I saw first hand how! A drop-in centre doesn’t fill one with hope that the meal provided is going to be anything other than a scene from Oliver Twist, but how wrong was I! The food was amazing and this is certainly the only meal they will have in a day; they are hungry, really hungry, but they come to this place where it is safe, basic lessons are sometimes taught, everybody smiles all the time. There are swings, a slide, sunshine and hope, a feeling of being cared for and even loved, they sing and pray before their ‘lunch’ closing those dark brown eyes with such solemnity, even the tiny ones. They line up smallest first, biggest last, no pushing, no shoving, no snatching or grabbing, each child waiting in line dignified and patient each plate being met with thanks and a shy smile.

Food! Wow, vibrant orange pumpkin, gloriously red beetroot, creamy white rice that smells as rice should and each child has a good piece of chicken cooked with those flavours that make it so South African. They retreat politely to the unfinished building that hopefully will one day be their haven where the food is enjoyed peacefully in the company of each other. How much more wonderful can it get? – thank you World Vision, as a mother I know how important feeding children is and with the help of a dietician brought on board by World Vision this is really happening here against all odds.

Helping to serve the children at the drop-in centre

So back to water, a second drop-in centre where they do the same, this is Ledile’s pride and joy the building built by World Vision not yet finished but it will be any time soon. The gardens are magnificently cultivated and productive because of – guess what? Fresh clean accessible water provided by a bore hole dug and supported by World Vision. Drip feed irrigation was then laid down using this new found water source freeing up valuable labour and so the ‘market garden’ thrives and expands giving work and income to the workers and their families again bringing the sustainability that is what World Vision strives to achieve.

We ended the day and our time here with a wonderful, emotional ‘de-brief’ sharing our feelings positive and negative, then a flurry of activity had us all assembling tables and chairs so we could sit together for a good hearty meal. Some sat, others came filled their plates and stood: the cows moo’d, the sun set, we said our goodbyes with tears in our eyes.

This has been a humbling few days where we have encountered the successes with enthusiasm, the failures with concern, the happiness with smiles and hugs, the sadness with tears and more hugs. I have seen faces that have cheered my heart and some that have melted my soul, I walk away with a desire to make things better but know I can’t fix everything, I know I cannot wipe away all the problems with a hug. Kodumela is a magical place, the landscape, the light, a smile from one so young they don’t yet understand and the hope that World Vision brings. But the reverse is the sadness seen in the face of a child who is confused by what life has dealt, frightened by responsibility beyond his years, the loss of childhood. We came thinking we already knew a lot; we leave knowing we have so much more to learn.

As a family we leave enriched by our visit and love for all those at Kodumela ADP and beyond.

Nicola Brown is a long-term World Vision Supporter who is visiting South Africa with her husband Tudor and son Sam

If you would like to ask the Browns any questions about what life is like in South Africa please post them below.

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