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Rural community support

The Gambia is a small country in Western Africa, surrounded on three sides by the nation of Senegal. Most Gambians live in rural areas, where poverty levels are very high, leading to high maternal, child and infant mortality.

We’re shipping to partners who have been working with Gambian communities since 1984 through programmes that improve water access, sanitation, food security, health and education. “Our communities are strong in culture, peace and unity,” our partners write. Their projects offer the opportunities and the tools to help these communities successfully improve their own infrastructure and livelihoods.

They have asked Crossroads for help with goods to support their various programmes, including medical supplies, school furniture, bicycles, electrical goods, school books, clothing and more.

Restoring sight to fight poverty

Fatoumata had been blind in both eyes due to cataracts and she depended on her grandson to help her day to day. “Making eye health a priority has significant economic and social benefits for everyone,” write our partners. They run clinics in villages (left) to diagnose and operate on cataracts, restoring sight to people like Fatoumata. Today, with her sight restored, Fatoumata can take care of herself, and her grandson is released to seek employment and earn an income.

This shipment will include health and hygiene goods to support our partners’ rural health projects, helping more like Fatoumata and her family.

Staying in school for better futures

Andong was on the verge of dropping out of school when our partners met him. After losing both his parents, Andong was living with relatives who found it difficult to support his education. Like many local families, they depend on farming to survive, but grow just enough to meet the family’s own nutrition without earning extra income to cover other needs like schooling and health. As a motivated student, Andong was doing odd jobs on other farms to earn just enough money to cover his daily school commute, but never had enough for books and stationery. Our partners began supporting Andong, so that he could focus on his studies without financial stress. He was relieved to be able to stay in school, and finally graduated from high school, starting a university degree soon after.

We are so pleased to be supplying our partners with school goods and furniture to help them give opportunities to more vulnerable students like Andong, helping break the poverty cycle through education.

Covid-19 has closed village markets across the Gambia, as part of social distancing measures, which has a ripple effect on food security for those in poverty.  Our partners run programmes to help provide food packages to struggling families.

Building sanitation facilities for a local primary school, as part of health and hygiene programmes helps fight diseases that contribute to poverty.

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Empowering rural communities

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Zambia has faced an unsteady economy in recent years, and it’s particularly impacting the nation’s rural areas. HIV/AIDS is still endemic, affecting over 11% of the population and the poverty rate is almost triple that of people living in urban areas. The current COVID-19 pandemic has put an extra strain on this area as there is often limited access to facemasks, hand sanitiser and other equipment to slow the spread of infection.

Our partners are dedicated to finding sustainable ways to empower their communities to develop and grow. Crossroads is sending a shipment so that they can support their communities in this growth by ensuring access to medical care, clean water and education. The goods from this shipment will also help them continue to run programmes that focus on nutrition for mothers and babies, childhood disabilities, agricultural training, adult literacy, leadership training, and water and sanitation.

We are pleased to be sending, a shipment of goods that they have requested to boost and improve these projects. We hope to Include items such as medical supplies, computer equipment, office furniture, school desks, and clothing and bedding.

Baby C’s story

Baby C was born with club feet, a condition that affects 1 out of every 1000 children born in Zambia. When our partner’s organisation first met with Baby C his parents were afraid that he wouldn’t ever be able to walk. Our partners were able to send him to their hospital where surgery was performed successfully.

Crossroads’ shipment will help better equip facilities, like those that helped Baby C, so that they can reach those in the community that can’t afford medical care.

Maybin’s story

Our partners run a programme for orphans and vulnerable youth where those in need can apply for sponsorship to pay for their education. The funding can help all ages from primary school through to college and university.

So far, they have helped over 1000 of these individuals, with 350 currently employed in various government departments

Maybin was one of those supported by our partners program. He studied for a qualification in accounts and once he graduated, he found a job as an accountant in the transport agency in Zambia

Goods from this shipment will help our partners continue to offer programs like these to the youth of Zambia, providing opportunities for those who could not ordinarily afford education.

Our partners’ aim is that “young people from rural areas grow into healthy, educated and productive citizens”.

Mr. Lengwe and his wife, pictured here with their corn harvest, graduated from an agricultural training programme run by our partners.

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Rural community development

In the north-east of Tanzania, many in rural communities battle to access essentials like clean water, education for their children and medical care. In rural areas, 48% of children lack basic needs, compared to only 10% in the urban areas.

Crossroads’ partners are based in a rural area where a dedicated group is coming together to improve life in their community for some of those who are most vulnerable – children, youth and women. They identify people who would most benefit from opportunities, and run programmes in job training, education for children and small business support.

They have hopes in the next five years to start a preschool and open a computer centre and a vocational training centre for youth. Crossroads is supporting their goals with a shipment of goods like school furniture, computers, office furniture, electrical and household items, toys, books, clothing, recreational equipment and more.

Empowering women through skills training

Widows in rural areas can be left very vulnerable, trying to support families after losing their main breadwinner. Our partners saw women who were ready to work hard and earn a sustainable income but lacked entrepreneurial skills or practical training. Their programme for widows and other women has been one of their success stories, training women in skills like sewing, and providing capital to start new businesses.  “Many are now running their own businesses,” they said.  Our shipment will include goods to help them administer these programmes, empowering more women to support themselves and their families.

Education changing lives

When our partners met Peter as a young boy, he was living on the streets. Born into a poor family, a series of challenges had led him to try and make a life for himself on the streets. Without education or job training, Peter was likely to fall into a life of crime or gang activity, like many of his peers. Thankfully, though, his future was changed through our partners’ child and youth programme. With their care and financial support, he was able to go to school, and he eventually graduated, going on to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dar es Salaam. Now, Peter is employed as a cashier and is thriving.

He can credit his success to the care and opportunities he was given through our partners’ programmes. This shipment will include school goods and other items to help these partners reach more children like Peter, turning futures around.

With a small plot of land, our partners aim to start an agricultural programme for youth in their community.

Tourism in Tanzania accounts for a significant portion of the economy, but Covid-19 has severely affected jobs and livelihoods.

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Community education and job training

In the landlocked Eastern Region of Sierra Leone, poverty is widespread. “Thousands of families are living in rundown and hazardous shelters, with decaying infrastructure” wrote Crossroads’ partners. “Schools are faced with many challenges. There’s an absence of libraries, poor conditions of classrooms and toilets, insufficient teachers, broken chairs and tables, and so on.” Even where schools are equipped for students, many families can’t afford to keep their children in school beyond a few years. “The majority of families are still living in conditions of extreme poverty,” said our partners. “All family incomes are oriented to the first need: food. In most cases, they can’t afford the cost of school uniforms, shoes, transport or books.” Our partners are working within their communities to help families break out of the poverty cycle so that they can keep their children in school to give them better opportunities. They said that job options for untrained youth are dire. “The majority are unskilled, and not equipped for self-employment, so they do hazardous jobs such as extracting stone to sell, or digging ditches. The money they earn is below one dollar a day.”

To address these deep-seated problems, our partners are running highly successful projects in vocational job training, agricultural training, micro-credit for women and also workshops on preventing HIV, Covid-19 and gender-based violence. We are pleased to be supporting them with a shipment of goods that will help them expand their projects to include things like a computer training centre, youth recreation centres and new primary and secondary schools.

In the communities our shipment will be helping, most of the jobs available for youth without education or training are difficult and low-paid. They may break rocks (above) or dig roads (below), earning just a dollar a day. Goods from this shipment will help more local students access education, and learn practical, vocational skills, so that they can move beyond a dependence on dangerous, low-paid work to survive.

Sallay’s story

Sallay was one of six children, and her ageing parents simply couldn’t afford to keep her in school. “She completely lost hope,” said our partners. That hope was rekindled, though, when she joined a tailoring class our partners were offering to girls like her who had dropped out of school. Today, Sallay has established her own tailoring workshop which generates enough income for her to support her younger siblings to stay in school, provide food for her family, and set herself up in a new, modern apartment. Now, Sallay helps other young women through her own successful business, teaching tailoring to girls who, just like her, were forced to leave school early.

Fatu’s story

Fatu has been working the land since she was a teenager, but the work had been hard and the rewards small. Fatu had no in-depth knowledge about how to use her land to its greatest potential. The income she earnt from her meagre harvests could barely sustain her family. After joining our partners’ agricultural training in a women’s group project, Fatu learnt better ways to farm, and now she successfully grows nutritious, high quality vegetables which provide her family with healthy meals, and a sustainable income. The project has been life-changing for her. With the increased income, she can now keep all her children in school and pay for their books and uniforms. When they’re sick, Fatu can take them to a private clinic and get the medicine and care they need. She has even used the surplus profits to establish her own small business, selling clothes, shoes and bags in the local market. Goods from this shipment will help our partners help more women like Fatu learn the skills to earn a better income and support their families.

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WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING?

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Zambia has faced an unsteady economy in recent years, and nowhere is that more visible than in the nation’s rural areas. Here, the poverty rate is almost triple that of people living in urban areas. HIV/AIDS is still endemic, affecting over 11% of the population.

Our partners in Zambia have been working to help their communities by establishing firm and sustainable foundations of education, financial aid, vocational programmes and nutritional advice. These ensure that children have access to a good diet and education, and that families can create their own income through agriculture, manual labour and practical skills like carpentry and cookery. There are also programs to increase young people’s awareness of the social factors that can lead to contracting AIDS and HIV.

This shipment will allow our partners to provide these services and give them the opportunity to expand the number of programmes and increase the number of people they can help. We are sending books, stationery, school and office furniture, and electrical goods, including computers, to help with the education and training programmes, long with clothes and bedding to help those families who are unable to afford them. These goods will help build the foundations on which these communities can grow, and we are proud to be a part of that.

New school under construction

Our partners are building a school, due to open in 2022, which will give education to children who currently can’t afford to go to school. They’ve asked Crossroads for help with goods like school furniture, educational resources and other things to help them give quality schooling to children who are now missing out.

These two children must stay at home to help their mother, rather than go to school, as their family can’t afford school fees.

Benjamin’s story

Benjamin was enrolled in an electrical engineering course, but he was forced to drop out of college as he could not afford the fees. Shortly afterwards he was helping with our partners’ school construction project and his needs came to the attention of the staff.

Our partners enrolled him in their education programme, meaning that his fees would be paid for so that he could finish his studies.

Benjamin completed his course in December 2019 and is now ready to look for employment as a qualified worker.

Goods from this shipment will equip our partners to help more motivated young people like Benjamin, giving them a chance to complete their education and enrich their employment possibilities.

One school in the area has only the equipment shown in this picture to provide education and training to the community.

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Community development

In Central Ghana, the nation’s poorest region, most people make their living from the land, through fishing and farming, or through small businesses like carpentry, weaving, or market stalls. They are left vulnerable when unexpected changes arise, or disasters hit.

Our partners on this shipment started an NGO in 2013 to help a handful of disadvantaged students, widows and elderly in their community.  The project snowballed, and they added programmes in youth job training, counselling in STD prevention and drug awareness, and establishing a small medical clinic. Today their programmes reach more than 2,000 people each year.

They have seen hundreds of vulnerable women and young people trained in skills like soap making and tailoring, who are now able to earn a living from their skills, but they want to scale up. “We want to extend the programmes to five other communities,” they told us. Their plan is to set up mini healthcare centres, bakeries, a palm oil extraction project and coconut farm, all to create jobs and set up thousands more people to be self-sustaining and escape the poverty cycle.

Our shipment will include goods to support their efforts, including electrical equipment, medical and office furniture, household goods, recreational goods for youth, educational books, clothing and more.

Training youth in skills like traditional ‘kente’ weaving (above), woodworking and tailoring, helps preserve and celebrate local traditions while setting up young people to generate their own income or start small businesses.

A ‘hand up’ for bright students in need

When they looked around their community, our partners could see that there were children from impoverished families who were bright and ambitious but couldn’t afford to stay in school. The cost of uniforms, school fees and boarding accommodation for those living far away was simply too great for some families, meaning that students with high potential were missing out. Our partners identified four such students for a pilot project (pictured above) and gave them everything they needed to be able to stay in school, where they are now completing their secondary education and have bright futures ahead! They want to replicate this success by sponsoring more students in other communities, but they’ve asked for help with goods from Crossroads to administer this and other projects.

Expanding their reach

Our partners currently have offices on the ground floor of a school building, but they want to expand to reach five more communities. This needs a capital injection of goods like furniture, household goods and medical equipment, which Crossroads is well-placed to provide!

The expansion will allow them to reach thousands more people in need through training, healthcare and educational projects.

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