There are walls!

Construction is moving along. The community hall has walls, and we are thrilled.  We even spent the afternoon sitting inside the new building just getting used to it!

Azaph Sithole is the senior member of our committee.  He is an Elder and therefore is well respected by the community.  The group of Elders in Uta work to help the local traditional leadership to guide the community.  He has worked his life to support his 14 children, all of whom have successes that their father can brag about.  He has a reputation across Uta of being able to provide excellent life advice, some of which we’ve had the opportunity to witness.  As an Elder, Azaph has helped us bridge the gap between traditional leadership and Uta’s future leaders.  When the planning committee needed to secure permission-to-occupy from the local chief for the land, his role allowed him to help the group navigate this system and made that process possible.

Azaph announced at our last committee meeting that he would take it upon himself to survey the building site at 5am Friday morning in order to begin construction on the community hall fence.  Azaph has been getting price quotes for fence materials from local hardware stores.

The original and most basic purposes of the community hall are to hold meetings and facilitate pension distribution.  Azaph is an example of a member of the community who collects pension from the government but is currently is unable to do so in a comfortable environment where he and others can be protected from sun or rain. The government will be able to use the community hall as a pension site so that mothers and the elderly will be able to collect every month in a secure location.  Azaph’s leadership in the community and in the planning committee is a blessing and his commitment to the project has been an inspiration to the rest of the committee as well as to us.

Thanks to Natalie  Sasser for her amazing work on our new Global Development Internship video!!! Watch it, enjoy it, pass it along!

In 2007, SMRC hosted its first Global Development Internship. After the life changing and deeply rewarding summer of working with youth in Manyeleti, South Africa, the US students that had joined us had made close friendships across the globe. Among the biggest issues that the GDIs (then known as American Participating Students or “AMPS”) were exposed to and discussed at length was the rapidly spreading HIV/AIDS issues.

When we returned from South Africa that August, we saw a headline for a condom recall in the region where we had been working and continue to work. The recall stated that “Choice Brand” condoms were faulty. The idea of faulty condoms in a high-risk HIV/AIDS region looked like a human rights violation – and we were all devastated. As a response, SMRC sent around a petition for condoms to be donated from quality companies to the community.

This year the condom issue has taken a different, much more promising direction. This summer GDI Trae Watson and the Buffelshoek Trust organized for 60,000 condoms to be donated per month to the community in the effort to combat HIV/AIDS. We are grateful to him and Jasper Watson for their hard work. What an achievement for health!!!

We are in the midst of the second phase of our Global Development Program in Kayafungo, Kenya. As we speak, the students are working hard to complete monitoring work on our past development projects. They are meeting with community members and leaders, teachers, students and partners to understand the impact that the Secondary School we built is having on students lives, to learn how youth are benefiting from the latrines we constructed at 14 schools, to see how behavior has changed in a community that received our Community Health Training workshop programs and finally, to see how families are benefiting from the new water dam built at Katsangani.

The group remains motivated and hard working, and we are excited to
see how their efforts lead to new projects and initiatives that will
continue to create opportunities for others in such a poor, rural
area. Life in the homestays has proven very rewarding and informative, and students have actually been requesting to spend more time in the local homesteads than at our small motel that is 15 km away. The cultural immersion is intense and exciting, and the group has really enjoyed it. Yesterday we spent the school day with the Youth Polytechnic, a wonderful community run school where children learn practical skills (construction, carpentry, metal work, auto repair) so that they may get jobs in the future. This was so inspiring, and we joined them for sports in the afternoon.

Our Kenya Global Development Internship has arrived in Mombasa and we started off with a bang: a tour of the city from our friend Madi and a visit to the lo0cal Swahili restaurant, Island Dishes. The visit has already proven fast paced in spite of the Coast’s laid back mentality.

In addition to the local fare and great company, the GDIs have begun to dissect the meaning of development and our role in Kayafungo, where we will be beginning this weekend. The challenges in the community, the potential for projects and community mobilization, and the various perspectives the highly experienced group members are bringing to this program is truly invigorating.

When you drive into the city of Mombasa, a sign reads: Mombasa, Yes for Children. Certainly a slogan we can all appreciate. The only trouble is that this is a city where children continue to sleep on the streets and beg for food. We started this journey in Nairobi where we met with UNICEF, we are now in Mombasa getting a sense of the complexities of poverty through the children, and in a few days we will be in Kayafungo, working hand in hand with youth and children towards common goals: health, sanitation and education.

I hope to keep  you updated on this blog, as the group continues to learn and work in the community!

OneWorld.net selected the inspiring work of community leader and great friend of SMRC as the subject of a story on early childhood education. Doris is a special woman because she has the ideas and persistence to turn difficult situations into powerful success stories. Read the story published by OneWorld here: http://www.euronews24.org/world/mother-to-a-community-oneworld-net/

Fundraising for many people is the least exciting activity they can think of. Most of my friends loathe raising money, even if it is for a cause they absolutely love and believe in with genuine passion. That is why fundraising should be fun. Sarah Whitney and the GW SMRC chapter successfully pulled off their 3rd Annual Anything But Clothes Run, and it was a wild success. The campus dean joined them along with a slew of students all taking the steps (no pun intended) to build a community center in Uta South Africa. 

The article in the campus paper can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/ccas2r. What other ways can you think of that make fundraising fun and successful?

April 23rd, 2009 by beafields

I had such a dose of inspiration today during this special Y-Talk interview with Saul Garlick, Founder of Student Movement for Real Change (SMRC).  The organization aims to answer poverty through the power of young leaders. During this special Y-Talk interview, I talked with Saul about how SMRC offers university students the opportunity to identify and implement development projects and social enterprises that offer sustainable solutions to health and education in developing communities.

Listen to the podcast here: http://www.millennialleaders.com/blog/interview-with-saul-garlick-student-movement-for-real-change

Website: http://www.studentmovementusa.org/

If you are student who is interested in an internship with SMRC OR if you are interested in getting involved as a donor or volunteer, please contact Saul by e-mailing him at saul@studentmovementusa.org or by telephone at 1-202-657-6616

This summer is poised to be an incredible one. We will have over 30 people working in Kenya and South Africa on a number of projects and activities that will provide the communities we work in ample opportunities to develop new enterprises and organize for the common good. We are delighted to get out to the villages and get to work. But there is even MORE going on in DC!

Led by Andrea, Director of Community Relations and a team of interns with diverse backgrounds and genuine commitment to our cause, SMRC is planning to host events this summer in the Washington DC area. A huge summer bash is on the list of possiblities, several happy hours, perhaps a movie night or two? But we aren’t going to plan anything without our members’ feedback. What would YOU like to see this summer for interns, students, young professionals and the general public? We’d love your ideas. Let us know if you like what we are thinking…

Sometimes it is hard for people to fully understand what it is that SMRC does for development. We can always share pictures, tell stories and offer the numbers like young leaders in the organization have built 3 schools, 4 libraries, 2 soccer fields, etc. But there is no replacement for that in-person, in-the-field exposure to our efforts. Sign up here!

That’s why we are inviting you to join us on an exclusive 9-day adventure to South Africa beginning Labor Day weekend. From September 4-13, SMRC will be staying in the community, enjoying local fare, visiting a world-class safari and seeing Africa’s “Big 5″ and the whole animal kingdom. See what the GDA trip was all about in March.

Interact with the community and learn more about SMRC’s work in the field. Spots are filling up faster than we anticipated. Go to the site now and let us know if you want more information!