This month we have some broad news about where each of our project leaders find themselves. We have our call with the African women every other week and sometimes the cellular/internet connection is good and sometimes not so and calls are dropped and we are unable to get full updates
We had a text from Sister Agnes earlier in the month telling us the Mama pig has given birth to 9 piglets. One died after birth and 8 are thriving. Sister seems to revel in the journey of the pigs and is looking forward to the day a fat pig goes to market and she can support one of the children to attend special vocational school. Of course we have lots of questions about the hatchery and since we did not get to have her on our call but for 5 minutes, those questions remain to be answered.
Mama Sow with her 8 piglets
Mama Dinah lost an uncle and traveled to his service. He was 79 yrs old and had cancer for 15 years so his death was not unexpected and still it is the loss of one more of the family. She tells us that this is the time for elections which brings almost everything in the country and the county to a standstill. People do not want to travel across county lines. Everything slows down. What has not slowed down for all 3 African women is inflation. Both Mama Dinah and Mama Charity spoke of the toll on their communities. No flour, or maize for Mama Dinah, cooking oil so expensive, it can’t really be purchased. They are not sure how much of the shortages are because of the war in the Ukraine, how much is the election coming up for Mama Dinah’s community, and how much is because inflation is rampant around the globe. What both Mama’s do know though is those who are rich are still able to purchase what they need even though it is more costly, and those who are poor have to go without!
Mama Charity finds herself in unfamiliar and amazing circumstances. About 4 years ago some of her old volunteers created an association. The association was formed to find volunteers for Mama Charity and find godfathers who will support the education of some of the children. The father of one of the girls who helped found the association wished to support not only his daughter’s work, but also the work of Mama Charity. He lives in France and he invited Mama Charity to come and meet with the association in France. Those who have been reading the newsletter for a while know that Mama Charity lost her only biological daughter who was just 22 years old at the time of her death. After Manuela’s death, this man also wanted Mama Charity to have time off from the hard work she does to keep the orphanage afloat and the other projects she has building and moving forward. He suggested he would fly her to France to meet with the association, share her story with wider audiences and have some well earned holiday time. Mama Charity had never been to Europe so this was indeed an incredible gift.
Mama Charity in Paris. When in Paris, don a hat that looks Parisian!
Her sponsor took care of everything, from the documents for the French Embassy to where she stays and her travel within France and a planned trip to Germany where others she has known will arrange for her to talk with small groups there. If you are living near Cologne, or Dusseldorf Germany or Paris area, let us know and we can see if you are able to meet with Mama Charity or sponsor a small group with whom she can share her story. The timing is perfect for her as she is unfolding the sponsoring of children for school. We have talked about this in our last two newsletters: She is looking for as many sponsors as possible for at least 100 children, some from the school she built and runs just across the border in Ghana and some for children from the orphanage. She hopes to have the process for sponsoring a child in place by the time of our next newsletter. For 100 Euros a child can receive education for a full school year and the sponsor can choose the child they wish to sponsor from photos we will include in the newsletter and on our website. In turn, Mama Charity will see to it that the sponsor receives some communication and reports from the sponsored child. So, if this touches a place in your heart, we expect to share the process Mama Charity develops after she returns from her travels.
Traveling and being away from the day to day challenges at the orphanage have expanded Mama Charity’s vision for what more she can do for her community. Her orphanage is bursting at the seams and really hasn’t room for more children and yet the children keep coming. She wants to create a new village, the Mama Charity Village Project, and would like to purchase 30 hectares of land to build new buildings for housing the children, schools from primary right through to vocational schools that follow attendance at secondary school. She will continue to farm the land we supported her in buying. She has 6 goats there now, 3 males and 3 females. She wants to get additional females. She drilled a borehole and did not get a good water source so she is moving toward creating a system for large capture of rain water during the rainy season and then tanks for storage. With filtration systems, this can be made into potable water. A school on this land would also help educate the children of the community. Their moms are the ones Mama Charity had hoped to give seed money to for planting this spring on her land. However the land still needs clearing so after the Cassava planted last September is harvested, the women will help clear and prepare the land for planting. Fruit trees do not need a lot of supplemental water once they are established so Mama Charity is still planning on planting fruit trees. Her niece who is volunteering at the orphanage now has suggested juicing the fruit and selling the juice to bring in income.
When we meet with our Project leaders, we are taken with the collaboration between them. They did not know one another before they joined forces with Hand-in-Hand with African Women. Now, Mama Charity thinks she can be learning how to farm from the other women. She has resources; she did not have before, right at the tips of her fingers, a phone call away. We use one of the free platforms for video or audio calls so the only cost is to have internet access or to purchase cellular service where internet is not available. Mama Dinah is still thinking of exploring the possibility for her community to plant fruit trees as they will take much less water than cattle. She will not pursue this until her proposed bore hole is operational and producing enough water for the community and extra for irrigation. She knows though that she can learn a lot from Mama Charity who has planted fruit trees before on loaned land and will be doing so on her own land. The team finds great joy in watching the collaborations between the project leaders.
Screenshot of What’s App call with leadership. Top row, left to right: Lucille and Eliana. Middle row: Barb and Mama Charity. Bottom row: Sister Agnes and Ivana. Mama Dinah arrived a bit later and Sister Agnes lost internet connection a few minutes after the screenshot was taken
Next month we hope to have significant updates on each of the projects. Our final (we hope) campaign for raising the remainder of what is needed for Mama Dinah’s bore hole and solar pump will be underway and, following this fundraiser, we would be delighted to give a green light to the drilling of the bore hole. Mama Charity will be deep in the process of structuring the Godparent program for sponsoring a year of a child’s education. And we will have more contact with Sister Agnes and hear more about the hatchery as well as the pigs. We are all anxious of course; to hear that chickens have started laying eggs and the eggs are finding their way to market.
If you are new to our Newsletter, you can find the previous newsletters on our website under the Newsletter tab: https://handinhand.space/newsletter/