Walking many miles to school can make it hard for children to access an education. Our partners in Zambia knew that for kids in remote villages where they operate, just getting to class can mean hours walking in difficult weather, on rocky or dusty roads. Some children miss out on school entirely, or don’t finish their education because there’s no school in their village.
It was a joy, then, when a Hong Kong NGO donated an excellent van to Crossroads, which we could include in a shipment to our partners in Zambia. They’re now using it as a school bus for children in remote villages, making it that much easier to access school, and a brighter future! With enrollment expanding from 85 students to a whopping 400 at the end of 2016, the new ‘bus’ couldn’t have come at a better time.
“[We were] extremely excited about the bus,” wrote the Zambian staff. “It was so exciting seeing this come out of the container to the jubilation of all the people that were part of the offloading program. A test drive was taken right away. It will be very useful to us in fulfilling our dream of enrolling more kids.”
Also included in the shipment were computers, shoes, clothes, school supplies, furniture and toys, many of which will equip new classrooms for the expanding school.
We’re proud of these children and their families for battling the odds to access education, and so grateful to all the volunteers and sponsors who made this shipment possible!
“Light Home is possibly the turning point of my life,” says Mrs Lee, a client of Crossroads’ partner Light Be. The social enterprise organisation arranges affordable housing, or ‘Light Homes’, by connecting Hong Kong landlords with underprivileged families. But it can take more than four walls and a roof to feel like home. Many families can’t afford the upfront costs to furnish their apartments with all the furniture and household goods they need. Crossroads has been privileged to partner with Light Be by supplying some of these items for their clients.
us to see that investment into homes like these, over a couple of decades, can help thousands start life over.
She found an option other than prostitution through Freeset, a fair trade textiles enterprise. Debi had a job she could do with dignity and an appropriate salary. She was slowly able to save money and, in time, get married and move out of home. She even had enough to help support her mother.
When we buy products from Gogo Olive (and many others), we not only pay the ‘fair trade’ minimum. We pay an additional sum which the women use to invest back into their community and families. The Gogo Olive ‘grannies’ were able to buy eyeglasses for some of their workers with this ‘premium’ payment. It was a joy to see photos of the proud faces of these middle-aged craftswomen wearing their new glasses, for some the first glasses they had owned.
At just 16, she was desperate to contribute to the family income. She turned to a trusted ‘aunty’ of the family. Her aunty said she could find Beauty a job as a housemaid. Beauty took it but soon found that the job was in fact in a brothel. She was trapped. One of our partners met her just a month after Beauty began the work. She runs a papercraft business in Kolkata’s red light district that takes women from the sex industry and gives them new jobs, new training and a new dignity. Named Love Calcutta Arts, it was this group that created
