January 1, 2023
January 1, 2023
| On December 20th we celebrated the two year anniversary of Hand-in-Hand with African Women! The end of the year is a time many of us look back at our year to consider our accomplishments, our goals moving forward and how satisfied we are with what we did since the start of the year. Hand-in-Hand has a lot to celebrate since our inception. If you have looked at our website (www.handinhand.space) or read most of our previous newsletters you know we have had short term and long term goals for each of our 3 projects in Africa.. Our short term goals have been reached and many of our long term goals have shifted as communities are living and breathing entities and as such what is most important to each of them changes over time. We thought we would summarize what has occurred in each community and in future newsletters expand on what will be coming next. |
| Sister Agnes’s dream of having a poultry farm has been realized with the building of a large poultry shed, installation of electrical wiring, a small water tank and purchase of an incubator as well as a vehicle to transport eggs and broilers. Unanticipated challenges were the cold weather and how to provide enough warmth for baby chicks by putting blankets or material on the walls and getting heat lamps. The price of feed was hit by inflation and cracked corn and green veggies were used to supplement the food for older chickens. Sister discovered adding fresh greens increased the production of eggs. Sharon Joy Lumumba has stepped in to volunteer her services of being present at the hatchery on a daily basis. Last month’s newsletter had videos of Sharon showing us around the hatchery. Do you recall in a newsletter several months ago that Sister Agnes was visiting a rural area and stopped to speak with a local priest and shared her mission to provide care and education for children who had no other resources? The priest suggested she raise pigs and gave her a male and female pig to get started. It turns out Sister is quite successful at raising and selling pigs and this has been an immediate success in providing some money for children to go on for advanced education as well as providing some funding for feed at the hatchery until the hatchery business grows enough to be more self sustaining. Sister has found someone who volunteers to help with the pigs and she tells us the local community is becoming involved and appreciative of the efforts she is making to bring food and education to those that do not have enough of either. She is experiencing the building of community as well as her team. She tells us often that she is developing a whole team that can keep both the hatchery and the pigs going even if she is unable to be present! On our recent twice a month call we all celebrated with her the successes! |
Ivana of our Hand-in-Hand team interviews Sister Agnes
Mama Charity: Does this woman ever sleep or does she sleep and awaken with new inspirations, new ways of making a difference in the world? As you know, her mother died and Mama Charity went to Accra, Ghana to arrange for the burial and celebration of life. Her mother was a well respected elder in the community and still Mama Charity tells us the culture thinks her parents were “useless” because they did not produce any male children to create impact in the world. So Mama Charity made a promise to her mother as she was being buried that she and her sister would demonstrate to the community, to the culture, that girl children can also make an impact and change the world! She and her sister have formed a new foundation in Ghana to raise money and awareness; to embrace learning and new ways; provide for orphans, the less privileged and old aged; and assist with health funding for the needy and support financial empowerment of women. Mama Charity came home from the funeral not only with the intentions for her already established orphanage and school but also renewed intentions to get her own farmland planted with fruit trees and thriving so the widows and single moms in that community will have food to feed their children.. There are not that many people that would come home from a funeral with new and renewed intentions to have a bigger impact on the world around them! Her orphanage is doing well other than the struggle to keep the food flowing for 130 children under her care. Her school which she started a year and a half ago accepted 100 more students this year than in the first year and she still intends to grow by at least one grade level each year moving forward. Hand-in-Hand has partnered with her to support the education of the children and has a separate donation site for this project. See Here https://bridgesofhope.ca/project/hand-in-hand-education-program/?utm_source=Hand+in+Hand&utm_campaign=557c78e6f6-
Now that she is home from Ghana we will be meeting with her to set up the exact structure of the giving to the education of these children. As you know we were not able to set up the structure needed to have individual children sponsored by individual donors. That required many safeguards and structure we are not able to create yet. Instead we will look with Mama Charity assessing all the needs for a growing entity like this and request donations towards the most pressing needs. At the moment this is paying the teachers.
Ivana has interviewed Mama Charity for the end of the year celebration and the interview can be seen here
| Mama Dinah has received all the quotes needed for us to make a good decision on installation of the water towers and solar pump. She has looked closely at the 3 entities that submitted bids and has one she favors. The plans are to install the towers about 200 meters away from the bore hole on a slight elevation which will assist in the gravity flow from the towers. One tower will have a gravel pack to make the water more usable for human consumption and the other tower will distribute water for all other needs. The 24 solar panels that will power the pump will be installed on top of the towers which will help keep them out of harm’s way and also give the tanks some protection from the very hot summer sun. The community is organizing their council. There will be some trained to do whatever maintenance needs to be done with the equipment. The council will also make decisions on how to fund savings for repair expenses that can be expected in the future. When the council meets, decisions will be made that will be applied to all community members.. All of this is going on in the background right now while the Hand-in-Hand Team looks at the finances. We expect the community will be able to celebrate the distribution of clean water very soon into the New Year. |
Ivana interviewed Mama Dinah who is celebrating the clean water and the dreams to come in the new year
We are a small organization and as it usually goes some of our team members took over some tasks over the two years for which we might not be best suited. We started putting out the word that we needed folks to take over some of these tasks. For Eliana it was the monthly reconciliation of finances after we receive the Bridges of Hope Report. Now, we have a new team member, Diane Matthews, who is the answer to our prayers. She has worked many years in finance departments for various companies and enjoys the details and data involved in tracking finances,. After her career in finance, Diane found herself attracted to energy work, specifically Reiki. She has clients local and global and also teaches Reiki locally and is expanding to do so globally.
Diane Matthews our new team member who will assist with financial accounting
Ivana, whom many of you have met virtually because she is such a great interviewer and has interviewed so many of us and then posted the interviews on our social media, has expressed her desire to spend more of her time in different ways. She wants to contribute to impact management, creative and strategic planning and sustainability of Hand-in-Hand as that is her passion and main interest. Therefore, we are looking for someone (one or even more people) who would like to take over planning and creating regular social media content (Facebook and Instagram primarily). You will have full support, guidance and ideas from the team, and with the freedom to be creative and playful in your own way. If you are that person, please contact us through our email at hope.whisperers@gmail.com
Lucille Mandin, founder of Hand-in-Hand with African Women sums up our two years of creating impact in the three African communities
Next month’s newsletter we hope to have end of the year financial statements so we can share how much money has been raised since inception and other details. In our next newsletter we will start to outline the visions for 2023
| Note to our supporters and donors in the vicinity of Edmonton, Alberta |
| Hand – in-Hand with African Women have created a partnership with Caprice Consignment , not just a fancy consignment store but a place that gives back. If you are cleaning your walk-in closet of timeless treasures, (clothing and accessories), bring them to Caprice Consignment at 10630-170 St. Edmonton, AB. Be sure to inform them you are choosing the option to put your earnings of the pieces you are consigning, to Hand-in-Hand with African Women. Thank you for being partners in spreading love, hope and compassion! |
| Please visit us on our Facebook page and Instagram. Please consider forwarding our Newsletter to your friends and family if you know of others that may be interested. The need for water is urgent and we can all make a difference together! |
| As we have said before. Previous Newsletters can be found on our website under the Newsletter Tab: https://handinhand.space/newsletter/. |