Affiliated Projects
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Nikibasika Learning and Development Project The mission for Nikibasika is grounded in the belief that the best way to provide sustainable support for a community is to enable the leaders of the future. We are committed to helping our children achieve their imagined futures, by providing education, shelter, food, medical care and housing until they are self-sustaining. We will support each of them with vocational training, university or the development of a business, to sustain themselves and be leaders in their communities. Four of the children are now in post-secondary learning, including two in university and two in vocational training. Many of the children had tragic early lives, involving war and violence, illness, poverty and abandonment. Now that they're at Nikibasika, they have a sense of home for the first time -- and we're helping them develop the sense that they can truly make a difference in their communities. To help the children learn how they can make this difference, we are partnering with community officials to create volunteer projects for the children. We also encourage the children to stay connected to their communities of origin wherever possible, by spending time with extended family and their home villages on holidays. On our most recent visit, we were reflecting on the incredible difference we see between the children when we met them (when they didn't even know how to hug) and now, where they stream off their porch yelling with joy and piling on us to greet us. Without the support of our donors over the past several years, these children literally could have starved. Some of them would have definitely ended up on the streets. But today, they realize what they have, and what their futures can be like, and they express tremendous love and gratitude to "the Canadians" as they call us (even though they know that their "village of support" is actually Canadian, British, Irish and American!). A volunteer group of four people in Canada manages the project and raises funds. CACHA provides oversight and accountability and enables us to provide charitable tax receipts to donors. Our Ugandan partner, Reach the Youth, provides us with on the ground support, acts as the employer of the Nikibasika staff in Kasese, and provides accountability for spending. Imani Vocational Training School Imani, like many African organizations, is often dependent on local and foreign donors to support its operations. Realizing that this is not a viable long-term model, the leadership of Imani have partnered with CACHA in order to realize the goal of complete self-reliance and sustainability. This is achieved through the implementation of small food- and income-generating activities that are operated by the school, as well as the ongoing construction of classrooms. A number of these projects have been implemented and are operational already: the garden has been irrigated, fish are being harvested from Imani's two fish ponds, pigs are being raised, and innovative inter-locking bricks are being produced and used for the school's ongoing expansion. The continued construction and development of these small businesses and classrooms will, it is hoped, eventually help Imani School completely eliminate its dependence on outside donor support, and thereby act as a model and example for other African organizations to follow. Prevention Through Empowerment (PTE) was founded in 2006 and is affiliated with Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Over the last year, PTE has established and developed the Pamoja Tunaweza Women's Center located at the base of Kilimanjaro in Moshi, Tanzania. This project was launched in partnership with Kilimanjaro Women Information Exchange and Consultancy Organization (KWIECO) who works to promote a community respectful of human and legal rights through Child Education, Community Outreach, Counselling, Lobby/Advocacy, and Legal Assistance programs. The Pamoja Tunaweza Women’s Center, translated from Swahili means ‘Together We Can’, recently opened its doors as a women's support center that aims to provide legal and social support as well as counseling around women's health issues with a focus on HIV prevention and treatment. It will also provide shelter to women and their children who are in desperate need of temporary accommodation. There are currently plans underway to hold a ‘Women’s Health Caravan’ in April 2008 at the center. Future goals include a regularly scheduled weekly Women’s Health clinic staffed by a Tanzanian physician dedicated to women’s health issues at the center and to assisting women to develop small businesses and micro economies. |
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AFFILIATED PROJECTS