Emily, a young teenager in rural Kenya, longed to go to school but her family was too poor to afford even the small cost of buying a school uniform – a requirement at Emily’s local school. Josephine, 14 years old, had to miss school every month for a different reason. Like many girls in her community, Josephine was forced to stay home during her monthly period because she had no access to sanitary protection. She missed an average of 46 days of school a year. Josephine and Emily are both girls whose lives have now been changed by Crossroads’ partner in Kenya, an NGO serving a community of about 250,000 people, where many live in poverty. In one of their programmes, they identify girl children who need help to attend and stay in school. They provided Emily with brand new school uniforms, so that she can now join her peers in class, and they helped Josephine and many more girls like her with a supply of sanitary pads so that now, she doesn’t need to stay home and miss lessons every month.

The work our partners do in their community is helping children break their family’s cycle of poverty, first by staying in school, then offering recreational and educational activities for youth, and then income generating schemes once they have finished school. Crossroads has shipped a variety of goods which will have life-changing implications!Kenya feedback - school3

Staff have begun the distribution of goods that will help them impact their community:
Books and computers from Crossroads will create the community’s first ever library. In a region of 250,000 and 36 schools, there is currently no library at all. Clothes and shoes will change the lives and health of many of the poorest children. “Many children wear tattered clothing,” staff told us, “and a majority of them go to school without shoes. The children have to walk barefoot into the pit-latrines, and this exposes them to the risk of contaminating diseases.” The staff have written to say the library is underway, in collaboration with the local government office.

Furniture from Crossroads will equip their youth centre, a place where young people from around the community come together to watch television, socialize and be encouraged by the staff. “The lack of enough furniture in our premises continues to hamper our opportunity to enrich and empower their lives,” they told us. Toys from the shipment will be used in a new centre soon to open for the community’s disabled children, as well as in the NGO’s regular community centre, where children can visit during weekends and after school.

It’s exciting to see the goods begin distribution and truly making a life changing impact for girls, like Emily and Josephine.

 

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Kenya Snapshot

Capital: Nairobi
Population: 45.55 million. About half of the population is under 18.

Population below international poverty line of US$1.25 per day: 44%

There are 1.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS ,  1 million children orphaned because of AIDS, and 2.6 million orphans in total.
More than a quarter of children are involved in child labour, mostly in agriculture, but also in the mining industry.

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Mongolia is a pocket of the world easily forgotten. It’s rarely in the news. It’s not generally in our consciousness, other than picturing Genghis Khan in gorgeous costume riding across the vast steppes. In the 21st century, though, life on the ground can take pure grit. The average wage yields just on US$1 per day, and that’s if you can get employment.

Handicrafts - Adilbek leatherworkerFor Adilbek, it was virtually impossible to care for his family. After trying, and failing, to find regular work, he took a brave step. He decided to try and make a living out of the traditional Mongolian crafts he held very dear. He paid his way through evening classes to learn sewing and leatherwork skills until he was able to start making and selling leather products through Mary and Martha Mongolia (MMM), one of our Global Handicrafts suppliers.

Try as he might, though, Adilbek couldn’t work fast enough to be fully sustainable, working on his own by hand. We, happily, could help through our fair trade marketplace. As we sell Global Handicrafts, we can set aside a portion of the funds to help our craftsmen in what we call a ‘fair trade premium’. The Mary and Martha group used some of these to train Adilbek’s brother in leatherworking, so that he can work alongside and expand the business. They also used the funds to purchase a leather stamping machine (pictured at bottom) for quicker, more efficient production.

MGMM2133

With one in five people still living in poverty in Mongolia, it’s a joy to see the real fruit of fair trade in action through these social premium stories. We never tire of hearing them! You can buy some of the gorgeous leather products made by MMM craftspeople like Adilbek in our Global Handicrafts shop like journal covers and coasters.

 

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

read more ...

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WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

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Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

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When Dorcas, of Zimbabwe, lost her job as a housemaid, she felt desperate. She had been forced to retire from the job, in the suburbs of the city, Mutare, because she was growing older, but as a widow with 9 children, and some grandchildren, Dorcas still needed to earn money for daily necessities. She had no prospects and no idea what to do.

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It was 2008 in Zimbabwe when a group of grannies like Dorcas decided they weren’t going to be a statistic. These women, many of them widows, fought back against the catastrophic 94% unemployment rate with a weapon close to home: the knitting needle. They chose to knit because it requires no factory, no equipment and no infrastructure, and it can be done anywhere. Their name is as funky as their products: ‘Gogo Olive’. In the Shona language, ‘Gogo’ means a ‘granny’, or someone similarly beloved. ‘Olive’ connotes ‘hope’: a commodity in short supply among the struggling people of Zimbabwe.

We’ve worked with Gogo Olive for many years now, selling their knitted animals in our Global Handicrafts shop. We’ve seen them purchase eyeglasses for some of their workers, with the ‘fair trade premium’ earned from their Global Handicafts sales. Dorcas, from the story above (pictured below), now rejoices that she can be part of the collective. “Although it was difficult in the beginning to learn the knitting, I now manage well and do my best. I now have money to pay for my rent and buy food,” she says.

This year, we were excited to commission these same ‘gogo’s’ to knit the ornaments (above left) that hang on our 2015 Christmas carphoto1ds. We learnt that the benefit of extra income extended beyond their usual knitters. With such a large order, and running out of time, the group hit on the idea of employing women at their local prison to knit, for the same fair price, a number of the ornaments. They frequently visit women in prison and teach them skills that will help them find a safe and steady job when they are released. “When I was in the prison last week I was thinking how this will make Christmas a lot happier for these ladies and their families,” wrote our contact at Gogo Olive. “Even though it is a short contract they can earn quite a bit of money that they can use to buy things they need in prison or give to their families. Thank you for bringing them so much hope at Christmas time.”

We’re overjoyed to know that we could help some of the most disadvantaged women in Zimbabwe, through our Christmas cards!

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read more ...

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