Sukamaere

Sukamaere Community Based Organization (CBO) works in the Mulanje district of Malawi
and in 2010 served 963 orphaned and vulnerable children; that’s nearly 1,000 children Sukamaere has expanded its care for! To see pictures, click here. This has been possible through a grant from OSA to establish a maize mill in 2008 and training to utilize the loan effectively. Purchase of food and food production has provided for 526 OVC, which comes from the food produced directly and from the profits made from the mill. Outside of school, there are 34 Community Based Childcare Centers (CBCCs). Through the CBCCs, Sukamaere has been successful in providing educational support for just as many OVC as it feeds, 526, and additionally, all of those OVC are enrolled in school. Sukamaere serves 135 households in four villages, and provides training in OVC support and offers training in HIV/AIDS awareness, a direct issue OVC and community members are faced with everyday.

Looking at the Numbers at a Glance:

Shuluti

Since receiving grants from OSA in 2007, Shuluti Community Based Organization (CBO) supports a growing number of Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC). With a $14,100 (U.S.D.) grant from OSA, Shuluti purchased a paraffin pump as an income generating activity (IGA). The profits generated support OVC by providing education and food. With a $15,800 (U.S.D.) grant from OSA, Shuluti constructed a Resource Center and two additional Community Based Childcare Centers (CBCCs). To see pictures, click here.

Despite these strides, the communities Shuluti serves greatly need additional funding and training. Shuluti works in the district Nkhotakota and as of 2010 served seven villages. This decreased from fourteen in 2008. Fewer households receive help as well. More CBCCs need to be consturcted in order to feed more OVC and increase educational support for the many OVC not enrolled in school. Through more grant money and skilled training these opportunities can exist. OSA trains CBO leaders of the community on how to write grants. These CBO leaders  identify the needs of their community and the OVC most in need, and with funding from OSA for their grants and with further management training, change starts to take shape. Community involvement motivates the people to take ownership of the funded projects, and through their participation and through income generated, they maintain sustainability. Community involvement further encompasses training of the community members to support OVC in their wellness, providing additional strength of the program. 

With this approach, we will see more CBCCs constructed, and with direct support and with the income generated by the paraffin pump communities can pay for food, clothes, books and school fees – the OVC directly benefit. OSA trains Shuluti CBO leaders from the beginning of their partnership and initial grant request. In 2007, OSA trained four CBO leaders in proposal development and financial management, while Shuluti trained members of its own community in many areas to foster self-reliance and sustainability – not dependence on aid. Skill training involves project and business management to effectively use resources, leadership skills, HIV/AIDS training and caregivers training. Trained community members and training programs are already in place; with more grant money  will come more CBCCs and  provide more OVCs  with what they need to become reliant, resilient adults.

Training Received:

Looking at the Numbers at a Glance:

Masangano

Through the construction of 13 Community Based Childcare Centers (CBCCs), Masangano Community Based Organization (CBO) serves over 1500 Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) since 2010. Along with the CBCCs, their piggery income generating activity (IGA) exists as a central avenue for the community to become self-supporting. According to one of our OSA staff members in the field, this remains one of the most successful IGAs to date. In 2008, Masangano trained 20 community members in piggery management to enable ownership and operation within the community itself. This training from within contributes to the success of the program that we see. Currently, eight pigs live at the center, and the community sells these pigs to generate proceeds, which go directly towards supporting their 52 OVC. To see more, click here.

Looking at the Numbers at a Glance:

Chimwala

Chimwala Community Based Organization (CBO) serves communities in the Mangochi district of Malawi. In 2007, Chimwala received a grant from OSA and built a kerosene pump to serve as an income generating activity (IGA). In an effort to effectively utilize the pump, and become self-supporting and sustaining, Chimwala conducted a paraffin management training to 10 community members. This action allowed Chimwala to help the people attain community mobilization, enforcing empowerment and ownership of the kerosene pump IGA. From this, the profits have gone directly towards supporting Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC), by providing both education and distribution of food. The following year was equally successful: Chimwala purchased a Maize Mill, generating food production and income for the OVC. We have seen success in all these programs by witnessing an increase in both the number of OVC being fed and the number of OVC attending school.

In a community where HIV/AIDS is rampant, AIDS awareness activities have been implemented as an adjunct to education programs. Further training on HIV/AIDS and OVC care for community members has been conducted by Chimwala to help provide for OVC needs. The presence of Community Based Childcare Centers (CBCCs) has enabled over 400 OVC to be served, and these children have received food, psychosocial and educational support, but in the past two years the numbers have dropped – the number of CBCCs has decreased, fewer OVC are receiving educational support and fewer households are being served. However, the good news is that the system for change is already in place and it is possible for these numbers to increase again.

Looking at the Numbers at a Glance:

Nkata

Nkata Community-Based Organization (CBO) currently serves 9 villages, reaching 135 households. Throughout the Mangochi district of Malawi, Nkata CBO constructed eight Community Based Childcare Centers (CBCCs) where a substantial number of Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) receive food. In 2009, Orphan Support Africa helped establish a food security program, through which 386 OVC were fed that year, and in 2010 that number increased to 543 OVC. The OVC additionally receive educational support through the CBCCs – however, Nkata needs more resources and income to further theirgoals of reaching more OVC.

OSA assisted in the construction of a resource center and the purchasing of sewing machines in 2009 helping them move a step in the right direction: it affords some supplemental income and vocational training for the OVC, giving them skills they can use for work or small business endeavors later in life. While most of the children faced HIV/AIDS directly, through the illness or death of one or both of their parents, many OVC are infected with HIV/AIDS themselves, which is why in 2009, 20 community members received HIV/AIDS training to help care for and support these children. The children desperately need such support, and now, through these trainings, they can. Collectively by 2010, over 700 OVC were served.  To see pictures, click here.

Looking at the Numbers at a Glance:

Chitungu

Chitungu Community Based Organization (CBO) works in the Ntcheu district of Malawi, located one km from the Boma (see below). Vegetable trading brings heavy traffic to the area and with that, high levels of HIV/AIDS. Chitungu formed in 1996 in response to the increase in extreme poverty and growing number of Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in its midst. As an active organization, where women and youth have a strong representation, more than 200 households within nine villages are served; as of 2010, this included at least 221 households. The OVC are supported with the construction of five Community Based Childcare Centers (CBCCs) and two youth clubs.

       In addition to the CBCCs, the community’s income generating activities (IGAs)have supported OVC’s education, home-based care for the chronically ill OVC guardians and to provide food security. In 2007, with a grant from OSA a maize mill project was launched. Outputs went towards food provisions and monetary profits went towards school fees, books and uniforms. The project was further refined in 2008 with the installation of electricity to the mill. The following year, with another grant from OSA Chitungu developed an IGA unique to itself, the construction of four rental houses. In 2009, 350 OVC were fed and in 2010, 356 OVC received education support. Profits from all of these activities have had solid positive outcomes for the OVC. At this time other developments are underway for a new piggery. To see pictures, click here.

What about a BOMA?

A BOMA has been traditionally defined as a fortified enclosure pertaining to a village or livestock. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term has been recorded by Henry Morton Stanley in his well-known How I Found Livingstone (1871) where, “we pitched our camp, built a boma of thorny acaia and other tree branches, by stacking them round our camp.” Later in the late 19^th century under colonial rule, the British in eastern and southern Africa used fortified stations or military barracks. BOMA has since evolved into an alternative meaning, and refers to both a central government office and a district center. These more populated, central locations offer business, labor and trading opportunities.

But these high traffic areas are associated with an increased prevalence in HIV/AIDS. Due to greater mobility, there is a greater chance of HIV/AIDS spreading from one person to another. An increase in populous increases the pool of potential partners, and often these interactions are anonymous. Although illegal in most countries, prostitution and transactional sexual relationships are highly prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa. Due to extreme poverty and lack of infrastructure, huge percentages pf the population are uneducated and as a result protection is often not used. Those who contract HIV/AIDS return home only to spread it unknowingly to their partners in their village, exacerbating the problem of how to support those infected and those OVC left behind.

Training Received:

Vinthukutu and the Paraffin Pump

Vinthukutu Community Based Organization (CBO) works in the Karonga district of Malawi. Since setting up their first Income Generating Activity (IGA), the villages that make up the Vinthukutu CBO have developed a new paraffin pump and a new resource center and multipurpose hall acting as a video showroom. To see pictures, click here. These are two recent construction projects Vinthukutu has taken on to support Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in six villages and over four hundred households. Income generated by mineral oil sales from the paraffin pump goes towards providing food, education and other needs. You can look at the facts. These are Income Generating Activities (IGAs) and other program activities initiated by Vinthukutu from the past four years:

There are six Community Based Childcare Centers (CBCCs) to give children and OVC a place to belong, connect with others and be provided for.  Since 2009, over 700 CBCC children and over 300 OVC have been  supplied with food, psychosocial support and educational support. In the past, children have been provided with clothes, blankets and mosquito nets through the CBCCs as well.

There is high enrollment in school and this directly correlates with educational support. As of 2010, 300 OVC are enrolled in school and 300 OVC are receiving educational support. Support from within their community is the foundation for their achievements. For example, profits from the paraffin pump IGA supported 13 OVC in secondary school (2009).

Vinthukutu serves its community directly in other ways. In 2009, the CBO procured and distributed 150 kg of rice to 57 people living with HIV. In 2010, they procured 5 bicycles for monitoring activities. Vinthukutu  has trained numerous community members in various management and child care-giving sectors. Through this investment of transport, monitoring and training by the CBO, sustainability of these projects is fostered. From 2007 to 2010, the number of OVC has triple from 319 to 960 OVC served! By earning a grant from OSA, that initial paraffin pump has allowed Vinthukutu to provide so much to the people, while strengthening community empowerment along the way.

Training Received:

Looking at the Numbers at a Glance: