A Personal Touch in Difficult Times

Sauti Moja Marsbit staff with Tim Wright, Director.

This week, I interviewed Sauti Moja Marsabit staff, and asked them why they choose to work with Sauti Moja.  They are professionals who could make, and several have made, twice the money with a large NGO.

 I learned that although these staff had pre-identified community needs and initiated projects to support their communities, they were still surprised, as they delved further into the lives of the most marginalized who were somewhat ‘invisible’ even to them.  The invisible were some young girls, alone and with a child; others were widows, impoverished after losing their husbands; and others are women, ostracized for life for having a child outside of marriage. These vulnerable girls and women and their children represent the full spectrum of ethnicity and religions.

Sauti Moja beneficiaries are of low socio-economic status, and social safety nets have been stretched to the breaking point, with recurring drought leading to widespread poverty.  They survive by doing menial labour, when available, and seeking handouts from neighbours who often consider them a burden.  Again and again, their poverty is characterised by malnutrition for them and their children. Our staff feel an urgency to address these situations, but are frustrated by our lack to funds to meet all the demands that are placed on them.  So often having to even dig into their pockets to provide additional support.

Martha, Child Mother Coordinator, listening to a
young beneficiary explain her situation. 

 
I used to think that the large aid organizations have the money and resources to the job, but aid doesn't always reach the poorest. When relief is distributed in these communities, it may be dropped off, and left for community representatives to distribute. Some of the poorest are not included on the ‘beneficiary list’, as the poorest, after all, are 'invisible' and because of the scale of their operations the large agencies are unable to treat beneficiaries as individuals and their challenges individually.

Sauti Moja Marsabit staff expressed that they feel called to find those in the community who have been left behind, to raise them up through practical assistance, and to see them become empowered and again visible in their communities.  They instantly become part of the Sauti Moja family and their situations receive personalized attention.    Staff are energized by seeing first hand that lasting change is not only possible but is happening everyday within the Sauti Moja Community of beneficiaries, donors and staff.  For our staff, it is not just a job, but a community service that comes straight from their hearts and their faith.

For more information on Sauti Moja programs, select from the side margin or go to www.sautimoja.org.

Pass on and on and on ...

 



This is Buke with her Sauti Moja donkey.  
 "This is not a donkey, it is my back."
 

No, I am not talking about re-gifting but about giving a valuable asset that multiplies and helps many others.

After a single mother or widow receives her female donkey, the first female off-spring will be ‘passed on’ to another poor single mother who, in turn, will pass on to the next.

This practice of pass-on is founded within Sauti Moja’s initiative called Community Livestock Banking (CLB). 

 

Banking? Yes. Livestock is given on loan, and the loan is not paid until the first female off-spring is passed-on.

 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful, if the financial banking sector operated from the perspective of raising up community members.

 

In our CLBs, the good fortune of a single mother receiving livestock strengthens the whole community, because the benefit spreads throughout. 

 

Buke's debt has been cleared as she passes
on her donkey's first female offspring to the

 next poor widow. 

The moment of pass-on is celebrated, and it represents a significant change in social status for a once poor, single mother.

 

She is empowered by give back to the community that had previously considered her a burden.

What is this – social change or social justice - when the poor are no longer invisible or when a beneficiary says, “This is not a donkey; it is called my back.”?

 

You decide, but either way, a burden is relieved and a widow uplifted. All is good when a life of hardship finds some relief.

 

 

 

For additional information on the Livestock for Sustainable Livelihoods program go to www.sautimoja.org.
 

 

 

 

 




People are not 'Rusty Buckets'

Tume's donkey carries water for three households.  

 
Working with some of the most impoverished people groups in East Africa, we at Sauti Moja have heard an expression, “I’m not giving to a rusty bucket.”  This comes from one who believes that support does not take hold or make a difference, so why bother giving. 

Well, this story represents one of many examples of the transformation livestock can bring to poor single mothers or widows.  Our lives and overall wellbeing in Canada are not usually linked to owning livestock, but in the world of an indigenous pastoralist living in the rural landscape of Northern Kenya, livestock equals life. 

Tume, a widow with 5 children, is a beneficiary of Sauti Moja’s ‘Livestock for Sustainable Livelihoods’ program and her story reveals how positively her life has been impacted after she received  a donkey and four goats from Sauti Moja. 


When our staff were first introduced to Tume, she had no livestock and she awoke each day desperate to find casual labour in order to feed, clothe and educate her children.  Her income source was usually burning charcoal, which is amongst the hardest of labours with very little return.  Life was drudgery and she had lost hope that anything would ever be different.   In any culture poverty is isolating and Tume’s life was definitely one of marked poverty, which left her isolated from community.



Two years after receiving her livestock, Tume's herd is
still thriving, as well as her children.

The day that Sauti Moja delivered a donkey and four goats to her home, she was in disbelief, and this was also the moment that Tume’s life changed.  Her new goats began producing milk in less than a month and her children have enjoyed the benefits of nutritious milk since that time.  But it is even better than that!   

Tume, having completed the ‘pass-on’ requirements of the program, helped another needy widow in her village by giving her the first female offspring from her donkey and goats.  After Tume received her livestock and completed the pass-on, she was lifted-up as a recognized and respected member of her village community.  The tables had turned, and now Tume was able to assist other households by giving livestock, milk and water brought by her donkey.

Two years later, Tume having nurtured her livestock through a long drought, now has a thriving herd of 21 goats.  Tume’s livestock have not only given her children milk and community status but have provided her  the ability to pay school tuition fees and buy other needed food supplies through the occasional sale of a male goat on the market.   Tume has certainly proven that Sauti Moja donors are not giving to a ‘rusty bucket’ and Tume thanks God and the Sauti Moja community for their compassionate support. 

For additional information on the Livestock for Sustainable Livelihoods program please go to www.sautimoja.org

 

Livestock + Education = Empowerment

by Tim Wright

Though we strive for excellence, using approaches that are proven effective, I am sometimes surprised with unexpected impacts on the lives of marginalized women. Five months ago, we initiated the Family Health component of our 1000 Widows Initiative to complement the livestock component. This week, Lucia, our Coordinator, told me about the enthusiastic participation by our beneficiaries - single moms and widows with young children. 

Lucia, Sauti Moja's Family Health Coordinator, counsels single mothers on reproductive health.

  Information is power, and understanding family planning options is empowering to women.



They had minimal understanding about reproductive processes and health, but now know about and discuss male and female condoms, injections and implants for birth control, HIV and STD symptoms and prevention, and child health and nutrition. Women now seek personal counsel concerning family planning. 

 

The unanticipated result is the psycho-social transformation.  A widow told Lucia, “We are not the women that you met on the first day.  We were at risk of HIV and unwanted pregnancy.”  When I asked further about this, Lucia explained that the women are economically empowered with the food and income that they get from the livestock we provided. They no longer need to engage in sexual relations for survival; like every woman would wish for herself, intimacy is a choice, not driven by economic necessity. Reproductive health training and support enables women to protect themselves.

Further, beneficiaries of livestock and family health training testify that their social status is improved from being least in the community to feeling appreciated. First off, they gained respect and had a voice immediately upon receiving livestock – a pastoralist without livestock is a ‘nobody’!  They gained further respect by the economic change from being a community dependent to becoming a benefactor of others by providing milk and a donkey to carry loads.  They've also gained self- and community respect by being able to choose whether or not to engage in intimate relations, an outcome we had not foreseen. Further, these women have become a prime source of information about reproductive health and child care for other women.  A widow said, “We are no longer least in the community. After every meeting, others come to ask me what I learned. They ask if they could come, too.” 

For me, it is humbling and rewarding to be part of economic, sexual, psychological, and social empowerment of women.  I trust that our donors will find satisfaction in having made a great difference in the lives of marginalized women and their children.

For additional information on the Livestock for Sustainable Livelihoods program please go to www.sautimoja.org