Yaw Pachi Womens Group showing the way
Yaw Pachi women group was started in 1993 in a very humble way. It was like any other women group where members are involved in ‘Merry-Go –Round’ activities.
The group benefited from CARE- Kenya by having some training on farming methods. Through the training, members managed to plant different crops in their Shambas especially bananas.
In the year 2000,the group decided to start Yaw Pachi center for orphans. This happened when the members realized that manyChildren were losing their parents and being left under the care of theaged grandparents or guardians. Most of the deaths are HIV/AIDS related.
At present we have sixty orphans26 total orphans; 11 mothers dead; and 23-father dead. The number has been limited since that is the number the group can manage. All the children have been divided into twenty groups 0f three each. Since there are twenty members in Yaw Pachi women group, each member is therefore allocated three children. The children however maintain their home backgrounds but the caretakers make follow up in terms of social life and education. We feel a bit relieved now on the side of education facilities since our government has offered free primary education.
Our youngest, who is a total orphan is not yet in school and is living with an old grandmother who is physically disabled.We have three in secondary school –one in form three and two in form two. Raising school fees for the ones in secondary school has proved to be a struggle. There are two doing their last year in primary school and therefore hoping to join form one next year.
We run a feeding program at a center, which consist of a house donated to us after the owners died. Due to limited resources we provide food once a week basis. Our humble prayer is that one time we should be able to run the feeding program on daily basis.
This will only depend on the availability of funds. We surely hope that God will answer our prayers when the right time comes.
In 2002 we benefited from a donation courtesy of UNDP. The funds to the tune of Kshs.850, 000 from UNDP helped the group to start a dairy project, which started with five heifers. Additional funds of Kshs. 400,000 from UNDP this year helped us to get eight more animals. So far fifteen members have dairy animals and five are still waiting to benefit. Milk from the animals has helped us to improve the quality of tea we serve to the children. We get about 80 litres of milk per day and marketing of this volume of milk has proved difficult. It has also improved the living standard of the members who have benefited. After every member benefits, we hope to extend our generosity to our neighbouring groups so that the whole area can benefit also.
We have also benefited from DERO CULTURAL COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION, which has donated library books to the center. We encourage the children to come to the center on Saturday afternoon so that they make use of the books. We tried our lack for the National AIDS program (Through CACC funds) but failed to get any good response. We also work in collaboration with Viagroforestry project that has managed to train and provide us with seeds for fodder crops.
At the end of every year, we normally hold Christmas luncheons and buy for the children some gifts. This is simply to prove to the children that despite their being orphans there are people somewhere who care.
In 2003 December the group held a cleaning up exercise at Yala Sub-District Hospital where the children and the members participated very willingly. The children learned that they also have something to offer to some other needy cases somewhere. We had planned to carry out the activity annually even though we skipped it last year .We promise to take off again at the end of this year and to continue with it on yearly basis.
Our future and main aim is to have a way of taking care of these children fully in terms of shelter, food and education for those in secondary school.
We are at an advanced stage of mobilizing and initiating a youth group affiliated to Yaw Pachi. This will enable them to learn from the success and challenges of Yaw Pachi in order to build a stronger and vibrant youth organization.
WAY FORWARD
-Getting sufficient resources to help in running the feeding program on a daily basis
-Establishing a dairy plant to help improve the marketing and income to women farmers
-Ensuring that all the members get a dairy animal to increase the production and income of the group
Contact Person:Mrs. Jane RogoTel: 0722-617012
Originally posted by Khama Rogo at the Sagam website.
The group benefited from CARE- Kenya by having some training on farming methods. Through the training, members managed to plant different crops in their Shambas especially bananas.
In the year 2000,the group decided to start Yaw Pachi center for orphans. This happened when the members realized that manyChildren were losing their parents and being left under the care of theaged grandparents or guardians. Most of the deaths are HIV/AIDS related.
At present we have sixty orphans26 total orphans; 11 mothers dead; and 23-father dead. The number has been limited since that is the number the group can manage. All the children have been divided into twenty groups 0f three each. Since there are twenty members in Yaw Pachi women group, each member is therefore allocated three children. The children however maintain their home backgrounds but the caretakers make follow up in terms of social life and education. We feel a bit relieved now on the side of education facilities since our government has offered free primary education.
Our youngest, who is a total orphan is not yet in school and is living with an old grandmother who is physically disabled.We have three in secondary school –one in form three and two in form two. Raising school fees for the ones in secondary school has proved to be a struggle. There are two doing their last year in primary school and therefore hoping to join form one next year.
We run a feeding program at a center, which consist of a house donated to us after the owners died. Due to limited resources we provide food once a week basis. Our humble prayer is that one time we should be able to run the feeding program on daily basis.
This will only depend on the availability of funds. We surely hope that God will answer our prayers when the right time comes.
In 2002 we benefited from a donation courtesy of UNDP. The funds to the tune of Kshs.850, 000 from UNDP helped the group to start a dairy project, which started with five heifers. Additional funds of Kshs. 400,000 from UNDP this year helped us to get eight more animals. So far fifteen members have dairy animals and five are still waiting to benefit. Milk from the animals has helped us to improve the quality of tea we serve to the children. We get about 80 litres of milk per day and marketing of this volume of milk has proved difficult. It has also improved the living standard of the members who have benefited. After every member benefits, we hope to extend our generosity to our neighbouring groups so that the whole area can benefit also.
We have also benefited from DERO CULTURAL COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION, which has donated library books to the center. We encourage the children to come to the center on Saturday afternoon so that they make use of the books. We tried our lack for the National AIDS program (Through CACC funds) but failed to get any good response. We also work in collaboration with Viagroforestry project that has managed to train and provide us with seeds for fodder crops.
At the end of every year, we normally hold Christmas luncheons and buy for the children some gifts. This is simply to prove to the children that despite their being orphans there are people somewhere who care.
In 2003 December the group held a cleaning up exercise at Yala Sub-District Hospital where the children and the members participated very willingly. The children learned that they also have something to offer to some other needy cases somewhere. We had planned to carry out the activity annually even though we skipped it last year .We promise to take off again at the end of this year and to continue with it on yearly basis.
Our future and main aim is to have a way of taking care of these children fully in terms of shelter, food and education for those in secondary school.
We are at an advanced stage of mobilizing and initiating a youth group affiliated to Yaw Pachi. This will enable them to learn from the success and challenges of Yaw Pachi in order to build a stronger and vibrant youth organization.
WAY FORWARD
-Getting sufficient resources to help in running the feeding program on a daily basis
-Establishing a dairy plant to help improve the marketing and income to women farmers
-Ensuring that all the members get a dairy animal to increase the production and income of the group
Contact Person:Mrs. Jane RogoTel: 0722-617012
Originally posted by Khama Rogo at the Sagam website.
posted by Debora at 8:10 PM
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