action africa grants

 eKhaya eKasi means “home in the ‘hood” in isiXhosa.  The eKhaya eKasi Art & Education Centre was established in 2008 in Khayelitsha (greater Cape Town), South Africa to serve as an oasis for families impacted by poverty and HIV/AIDS.  Since then it has grown into a community service center that provides assistance to the vulnerable members of the community through its interdisciplinary program - skills development (including literacy), income generating (product development, marketing and sales), self-sustenance, and healthy living.  (They created an “Edible Rooftop Garden” where they teach the community how to grow, use and sell organic plants.)

In the third year of their “Covid Adaptation Project,” Ekhaya Ekasi (Home in the ‘Hood) will continue to support their impoverished community through food, serving 1,800 meals per week. They also will hold three workshops to educate their neighbors about vaccinations and the spread of disease. Recruiting community women to be trained in arts and crafts, they will start to re-build the program that was the Centre’s original focus, re-establishing their Boutique where items made by their trainees are sold to support the artists and the Centre. 

“Thank you so much for the great news! We really appreciate your encouragement and support!”

Children Living with HIV/Aids (CLWHAN), located in Livingstone, Zambia, was founded in 2016 by a group of volunteers who provide varied support to vulnerable children living with HIV/AIDS, almost all of whom are orphans.  They work with the Ministries of Education and Health, and have received an award for their work.  

 In their second year of Action Africa Giving Circle funding, CLWHAN will serve a new cohort of 75 low-income children between 5 and 18, whose caregivers (foster parents and guardians) are not able to provide needed support. The children will be provided with food, school supplies and other material goods. CLWHAN will establish Income Generating Activities (IGAs) that are managed by the Network’s volunteers and selected caregivers. Run by volunteers, an important part of their work is to train caregivers and school management staff in counseling for the children on issues such as discrimination and rejection that they often experience, as well as insuring that their medication regimes are followed. 

“(News of this grant) ...is fantastic news, and it is coming at a time when we still need your support. We are so thankful and appreciate a lot for considering us for another grant which will provide AIDs orphans with basic needs and nutrition to enable them to continue with school. We are very happy to continue working with you.”

 

The Dambwa Children with Disabilities Foundation was founded in Livingstone, Zambia by volunteers who provide support for children with mental and physical disabilities and their families.  

80 children, ages 7-22, with physical and mental disabilities, living in abject poverty, will benefit from this grant, with an additional 392 siblings and parents also helped indirectly. They will continue their successful gardening project, and establish a poultry-raising project. Food and groceries will be distributed to the disabled children and their families, and psycho-social counseling will be provided for the caregivers (often parents) looking after the children. In addition, they will conduct community awareness campaigns on issues for disabled children and their rights. They are the only child-disability foundation actively involved in advocating for the rights of disabled children in their community. All work is done by volunteers, so all of the funding goes to support the children.

 “We are filled with excitement and joy to receive this mail about the approval of our grant. We say thank you to you for the continued financial assistance from AAGC. Many thanks once again.”

Welfare Concern International, located in Livingstone, Zambia, began providing services in 2004 to help orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV and AIDS.  Their programs have evolved to helping the families of vulnerable children become self-sustaining members of the community.

 In its third AAGC grant, WCI will train an additional 100 women in peanut-butter making, tailoring, and menstrual pad production. The women are between the ages of 25 and 60, survivors of gender-based violence, living with HIV/AIDs, and/or widowed and are caring for orphans and vulnerable children. In addition to the trainings, there will be small loans for raw materials to create items for sale, and also meetings on issues such as child labor, early marriage, teenage pregnancies, menstrual health management, education, and HIV/AIDS. 

“Wow! We are so delighted to receive this wonderful news from you. Thank you very much for the grant you have approved ... certainly it will transform the lives of families in my community. May God bless you richly.”

 

Founded in 2017 in Livingstone, Zambia, Livingstone Child Headed Households is a group of volunteers that provides counseling to families where the parents are dead or have disappeared, and the oldest child cares for the younger ones. Many of these children become involved with gangs, drugs, and prostitution.  

 100 Child-Headed Households, including 350 orphaned siblings between 5 and 18 years old, will be supported through school fees, uniforms, food, bedding, clothes, etc. The oldest children and their caregivers will be trained in raising poultry and growing food, and in group sessions, the children also will learn about psycho-social issues such as isolation, loneliness, discrimination, exploitation, teen pregnancy, drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. In the past three years LCHH has helped over 200 children; this will be a new group of 100. This is the only organization addressing this issue in the population, and all its “staff” are volunteers. 

“On behalf of Livingstone Child Headed Households, I would like to write to express our gratitude to AAGC for the award of this Grant. We value your support towards vulnerable child headed children in Livingstone. Thank you very much for supporting us.”  

 Located in Mwanza, Tanzania and a new Action Africa Giving Circle grantee, Tabitha Development Initiative's “Menstrual Health Management 4 Her” (MHM4her) will serve 600 schoolgirls, 300 boys, and parents and teachers in 10 secondary schools, as well as influential district leaders. These campaigns will work to break the cycle of silence and taboos about menstruation, and keep girls in school during their periods. Another goal will be establishing a sustainable supply chain for cost-effective, re-usable sanitary pads. They ran a successful pilot program in 2021, and their curriculum has been created by health specialists.

“Thank you so much for the great news! We are so grateful for this opportunity.”
 

Located in Tamale, Ghana, Community Resources International is a new Action Africa Giving Circle grantee.  With  with our grant, 12 women will be helped to prepare and cultivate unused land that is already theirs. Their produce will feed their large families (at least 60 additional people) and they will sell the surplus to the CRI’s Children’s Learning Centre, to provide nutritious lunches to the children enrolled there. The grant will cover a (rented) tractor and hand-held tools to work the land, as well as a water tank so that the community water supply is not depleted. The project has been designed with input from the women it will serve. 

“Thank you for all of your help and for this grant! ... Walisu (the Director) sends his "big thanks" for the grant. (We) are really looking forward to helping the women farmers and collecting photos of their progress.”  

Located in Bujumbura, Burundi and a new Action Action Africa Giving Circle grantee, Renajes Simbimanga works to raise awareness about obstectric fistula to help prevent it. Obstetrical fistulas (a hole between the birth canal and bladder and/or rectum) are caused by prolonged, obstructed labor, and leave women leaking urine, feces, or both, leading to chronic medical problems and social isolation. Yet it is almost entirely preventable. 60 girls and women (ages 15-35) will participate in two series of obstetric fistula awareness sessions in conjunction with youth-friendly health centers. They will be offered sexual and reproductive services adapted to their age group. The sessions also will give a platform to sufferers of obstetric fistulas to share their experiences and emphasize the importance of being screened and surgically repaired. Indirectly, 300 girls and men close to the participants also will be served.

 “(Our) sincere thanks ... RENAJES SIMBIMANGA thanks you very much for the effort made during this (process).”