“I don’t want to be cliché and say that this summer was “life changing” but it was pretty extraordinary. I not only learned what poverty is really like and the role of non-profits, I learned a lot about myself. I wouldn’t change this summer for the world. I strongly recommend that anyone interested in doing an internship think big and take a risk, because you never know where you might end up.” Read the whole article by Chelsea on her ThinkImpact experience

Back in Mariakani again and had a short time on the internet to connect with the outside world. I feel so oblivious to what is happening globally, as the only news we get here is in Kiswahili and primarily focused on the health of Raila Odinga (the Kenyan PM) as well as the upcoming vote to change the Kenyan constitution. It is quite nice though to disconnect from technology and just enjoy talking to people and spending quality time with others!!

So to quickly summarize this past week, the interns moved into the second chunk of our work here in Kayafungo, where we started with capacity inventories. Basically, we go around our subareas in Kayafungo, mine being Mbalamweni which is soo huge, but absolutely beautiful with palm trees and lush green everywhere. Along with our translators, we just go to different homesteads and ask people about their skills and talents. The point of the capacity inventory is to tap into the resources and assets that community members have, so as to get a better idea of the strengths of the community, as well as meet people that we potentially will establish partnerships with to launch a social business or advocacy project. It has been really incredible to find out about the hidden skills and talents of everyone we met. Nick and I met this incredible man Michael who just talked to us for about an hour and a half while grazing his cattle (and my feet were getting eaten alive by fire ants) about his crazy life experiences doing just about every job. He, along with several other community members I met, were very inspirational because they told us point blank that they didn’t want handouts, as USAID and the traditional aid system has focused on doing, but rather that they wanted the training and knowledge so that they can pull themselves out of poverty. So that was pretty incredible to hear their amazing mentalities and that they want to achieve for themselves…and that is exactly what ThinkImpact and my own personal philosophy on development is, that just handing out money to impoverished people (though out of good intention) ends up being detrimental and creates an atmosphere of total dependency, making it virtually impossible to break the cycle of poverty.

So after we met people and just found out about their skills and talents, the second half the week was asset mapping, where we made lists of the groups, institutions, physical resources and prominent individuals existing in our sublocation, just to get a good overall view of the community and what strengths it has to offer. It is so crazy that we have only been in the community for 2 weeks, since I already feel that I have learned SOOO much about Kayafungo, Giriama tradition, Kenya, and just the daily lives of the people in Kayafungo. And I’m slowly picking up Swahili as my host family patiently drills it every night while we make dinner! It really has been an incredible learning experience.

Okay, really must run now, but everything is going great, feel like I’ve been here forever and definitely feeling at home! Next weekend we are going to an island called Ngomeni, which should be incredible, so I’m already excited for that!!

Kelly Souls

GDI Kenya 2010

Written 6/21/10

We have been a week in Kenya, although most GDIs will attest that it feels like a month.

From Nairobi we flew to Mombasa on two separate flights.  One landed properly but the other hit a storm and was forced to turn back to Nairobi before landing.  We waited on the runway for about an hour, laughed and joked to calm our nerves, and arrived safely in Mombasa - late but with no problems.

Kenya GDIs with their homestay moms

We spent the day touring Mombasa and the girls purchased khangas, colorful pieces of material they wear as skirts during their stay in Kayafungo (pictured on the right).  Early Monday morning we departed for Mariakani, the highway city a 40-minute drive from the heart of Kayafungo where we will be spending the weekends showering, washing clothes and reflecting after the homestay experience.

On Monday we got our first glimpse of the community we will be working in for the next seven weeks.  We piled into two vans and headed first to Gogoraruhe Primary School, a school ThinkImpact built last year.
Only a few yards from the school grounds, not one but both vans got stuck in the mud!  Even with the assistance of 35 community members and two hours of pushing, pulling, and digging, one van could not be removed.  Once nightfall emerged we left the van, piled into the other, and returned to our hotel in Mariakani.

The next day we toured more project sites, riding in vans and walking on small footpaths. While jumping across a small creek, Stephanie fell in the mud but shook it off with bellowing laughter.

Kenya GDIs in Kayafungo

The food so far is delicious and everyone is healthy.  Patrick and Rachel G. had some episodes of nausea that we eventually determined was not from sickness but from taking their doxycycline (malaria prophylaxis) before eating. Thankfully this was a problem easily remedied!

The rural homestay experience started yesterday.  The interns were partnered and met their homestay families.  They will be living in different villages with the families until August and meeting Sunday through Tuesday in Mariakani.  Pictured you will see Leslie, Meredith (team leader), Ari, Patrick and Xin with their homestay moms, Betty and Agnes enjoying fresh coconuts.

Overall, the trip is going great!  Hope you are too!

It has been an exciting week so far in Manyeleti, South Africa! The Global Development Interns for ThinkImpact have arrived in Dixie, Makrepeni, and Uta. There are 12 interns this year and they will be living and working in the communities for eight weeks. The ThinkImpact staff has already recognized so much potential in this year’s South Africa GDIs in the short time since we began training in DC last week. The GDIs spent the day yesterday visiting all of ThinkImpact’s past initiatives in Manyeleti, including the high school soccer fields, primary school libraries, and community centers. Today the GDIs began using field work tools for asset-based community development (ABCD) to learn more about their communities and create a foundation for the work they will be doing over the next eight weeks. With the excitement over the World Cup reaching its peak in South Africa (only three days before the competition begins!) we are equally excited to see what the GDIs will accomplish this summer.

As the Uta Community Center nears completion, we are anticipating an exciting opening celebration and great chance for the Uta GDIs to get involved. As soon as electricity is installed, the community will be able to watch the World Cup games at the center. This will provide a safe space for fun for the whole community and a great start for the revenue-generating activity and small business involvement at the center. Women will be able to sell snacks, drinks, and other goods at the games and community members will pay a small fee for entrance. The GDIs will be completing monitoring and evaluation assessments of the community center over the next month to determine the “social return on investment” of this ThinkImpact fellowship initiative. The GDIs will also have a chance to attend the opening of the center and will be able to see the development of community programs over the next two months. This will be a great resource for the GDIs to get a first-hand experience of the successes and challenges that come with pursuing a fellowship as they complete their internship field work and begin to develop a sense of where they wish to go next. We are excited to see the advocacy projects and fellowship proposals for social businesses that come out of this year’s GDI in South Africa, and will be updating you soon on all that’s going on Dixie, Makrepeni, and Uta.

Today a loved committee member passed away. Lizzie had a smile that could brighten anyone’s day. Her laugh was infectious. Lizzie died of TB while staying in a hospital 45 minutes away in Acornhoek. She had been in the hospital for over a month when it happened. She was so strong and so alive just a few months ago. She has young children that will now grow up without her.

We got to know Lizzie when she shared some brilliant thoughts with us about what she wanted to see in her community. She was looking forward to the business opportunities that the community hall would bring. As one of our most dedicated and involved committee members, Lizzie brought such valuable ideas to our meetings and played such an important part in making the community hall possible.

1. Clara Brodie is a student at Wellesley College

“I’m really excited about the prospect of seeing another part of the world and learning about healthy, sustainable growth. I think that resource based assessment is a unique and innovative approach to the challenges of the developing world.”

2. Tyler Confrey-Maloney is a student at North Carolina State University

“I am excited to pursue a deeper understanding of how a community can grow in both environmentally and economically sustainable ways. I love to travel and cannot wait to see a new part of the world! I also have a very serious interest in photography and was excited to learn about the photojournalism advocacy path.”

3. Paolo Singer is a student at Harvard University

“I’m excited to do health and education work this summer with Think Impact. I am especially interested in the role of social enterprise and government policy in helping achieve human security in the Manyeleti communities and beyond.”

4. Connor Gillivan is a student at Quinnipiac University

“I am looking forward to this summer and my experience in South Africa with Think Impact because it will be my first opportunity to live and understand another culture. I’m seeking to grow as a person in both mind and heart this summer so that I can help the people I create relationships with in South Africa as well as relay my newfound knowledge and passions to those I return home to.”

5. Justina Towns is a student at Towson University

“I hope to gain hands-on experience that will foster agency in the community we will be working with and also connect with other students who are interested in international development.”

6. Tim Skaggs is a student at Indiana University-Bloomington

“I’m so pumped about going because I can change lives and a community. The change will be long lasting and will grow with the community.”

7. Jimmy Pappadeas is a student at University of Maryland

“I am excited to see first-hand what it takes to be a part of development in another country including both the approach and actual implementation of projects and ideas to help a community. Learning methods that have already been used with success will help me better understand how to effectively tackle the pressing issues people face every day.”

8. Chelsea Coalwell is a student at Regis University

“In the Jesuit tradition of “men and women in the service of others” I look to serve not only those in my immediate community but also those in the global community.  This internship is a way to serve others while learning more about the challenges of global development which stand in the way of alleviating poverty for so many.”

9. Will Smith is a student at Georgetown University

“Having been lucky enough to spend four months in South Africa already, I’m very excited to head back. I’m also looking to begin a career in international development, so I’m very much looking forward to the opportunity to experience a development project on the ground.”

10. Kate Loose is a student at Cornell University

“I am looking forward to an exciting summer where I will be able to gain development experience and get to know and build relationships with people in Africa.  I am excited to learn more about sustainable business models and deepen my knowledge of development projects and microfinance in particular.”

11. Olive Nwosu is a student at Oberlin College

“I am excited about this trip because I look forward to working closely with an organization and community committed to fighting poverty through hands-on, intensive and sustainable business ideas. I
am also particularly enthusiastic to meet college students who share the similar ideas and goal as I do.”

12. Christina Williams is a student at Catholic University Columbus School of Law

(Next week we will publish the 2010 Kenya GDIs)

ThinkImpact would like to welcome our guest blogger, Fehmeen Khan. to BigThink, to tell us about her experience with microfinance and the work she is doing.

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There are four choices for those who realize we’re in the middle of a microfinance revolution: oppose it, watch peacefully from the sidelines, occasionally support the idea in accordance with one’s personal capacity, or become an active participant of this noble cause.

I chose the third option.

Microfinance Hub was born the day I made this decision and I haven’t looked back since. The aim was to create awareness about the penetrating social implications and remarkable financial returns of this phenomenon, and a website seemed to be the most effective method of achieving this feat.

I had no exposure to this field prior to late January 2010; in fact, all I knew about it was that Professor Yunus, the ‘father of microfinance’, won the 2006 Noble Peace Prize and that my dad had only just joined a local microfinance bank.

But that was enough to get me started and I soon came across ThinkImpact’s blog, as well as a few other valuable resources that welcomed me into the complex yet fascinating world of microfinance. It did not take me long, however, to realize there was a relative dearth of information about this topic, despite the honest efforts of many well-wishers, and I thought I ought to do my part in filling this gap by shifting the focus of my site.

As a result, over the last couple of months, I’ve covered various areas related to trends, challenges, technology, services and the economic impact of microfinance itself, and in effect promoted other people’s efforts as well as my own.  Many people from around the globe drop by my site each day and show their support in their own way; some leave comments, others subscribe, yet I attribute my greatest pleasure to simply being able to help answer their questions about microfinance.

No wonder my dreams continue to flourish. I know one day, maybe after a couple of years, Microfinance Hub will live up to its name and become a central source of simplified information for anyone interested in microfinance. Now, my aim is simply to educate others about this idea, so somewhere down this road, when the World Bank is forced to eliminate the concept of the poverty line because no one lives a life of economic deprivation, I can look back and be glad that I played a part in this revolution – a small part that was commensurate with my individual capacity.

Name: Fehmeen Khan

Website: Microfinance Hub

URL: http://microfinancehub.com

Today marks the two-month countdown to the 2010 FIFA World Cup here in South Africa. It would be an understatement to say that South Africans are excited. Everything in the country has revolved around soccer and preparations for the greatest competition in the sport since the host site was announced by FIFA in 2004. Things are no different here in Utah, where kids are looking forward to their four-week school break in June scheduled especially to accommodate the event and a lucky few community members have scored tickets to matches across the country.

The Project Steering Committee is hoping to make the most of the World Cup at the community hall and plans are underway to ensure that soccer-mania does not pass without taking advantage of the new facility. The committee hopes to host viewing parties for the community in the hall by setting up a big screen and projector for all of the matches. By charging a small fee for entrance to these events, the committee will be able to generate an income for maintenance and utility costs and future community initiatives at the hall. During the viewings, local entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to market and sell their goods to soccer fans, boosting their profits and developing business opportunities within the hall. Many women will be sure to make use of the building’s kitchen to sell snacks and beverages to hungry viewers.

The timing of the World Cup also brings a great opportunity for the Project Steering Committee to involve the local soccer teams in the opening of the community hall and its programmes. The PSC secretary, Rames Mndlhovu, is currently working with the three teams in Utah to develop a plan for their use of the hall. Rames hopes that the facility’s health and fitness space can provide players with a safe place to use equipment such as free weights, while also serving as a resource for health education initiatives. We hope that in the future, the teams can also make use of the meeting spaces for mentoring opportunities with local youth, taking advantage of their interest in soccer to motivate peer education and tutoring programmes within the schools and community.

With all the hype leading up to the 2010 tournament, the adverts are right: the world is watching. So are we, and we can’t wait to see what lays ahead for soccer, sport, education, health, and empowerment opportunities in the new community hall.

Shangaan word of the day – bolo – soccer