Phaustine Wekesa is a mother, grandmother, and our friend in leadership at Tumaini Pamoja (With Hope Together), a community-based organization in the Korogocho slum of Nairobi.

Tumaini Pamoja has a 4-pronged approach to breaking the cycle of poverty in their community:

• Encourage self-acceptance and acceptance by community members of HIV-positive individuals
• Help orphans and vulnerable children
• Provide microfinance opportunities to small businesses
• Break the stigma associated with HIV/AIDs

Phaustine explained recently in an email that her friends and neighbors are really suffering from hunger. Phaustine continued her message with a request for support, specifically for those living with HIV/AIDS. For these courageous individuals she explained, the problem is compounded because it is difficult to take antiretroviral drugs on an empty stomach.

According to the World Food Programme:

“High food prices have taken their toll on the daily lives of Kenyans. Poverty and food insecurity are highest in urban slums and among pastoralists and farmers in remote, arid and semi-arid lands, which comprise 80 per cent of Kenya’s land mass. Many households in these areas are chronically poor, and there are persistently high malnutrition rates among children under five. It’s estimated that around 5.6 million people [approximately 16% of the total population] have been made food insecure in Kenya because of high food and fuel prices. In order to deal with the high cost of food, people are cutting back on the number of meals they are eating, and buying less expensive food items.”

Despite these challenges, Tumaini Pamoja continues to grow and meet needs. This community-based organization has recently expanded into three separate groups with a total membership of 185 individuals. With the most recent income-generating grant ($270 USD) that they received, Tumaini Pamoja was able buy three orphaned children new school uniforms, purchase a small plot of land for farming, and provide two loans of $25 to small business owners.

This Mother’s Day weekend, empower the efforts of mothers and grandmothers like Phaustine with a gift of $10 to The 1010 Project!

Humble Hearts School is a child welfare program founded in 2003 in Donholm, Nairobi by Beatrice Anunda. Beatrice has been a partner of The 1010 Project since August 2007.

Humble Hearts aims to promote the welfare of deaf children who come from impoverished families, many of whom live in the slums. Some students have one parent, others have both parents, but quite a few are orphans.

Many in the local community feel that being deaf is an embarrassment or a curse. Their families end up hiding the children at home with no access to an inspiring education. Humble Hearts School provides a support system that feeds and educates these children. After a short time at a caring place like Humble Hearts the students open up - they quickly begin performing well in school, discarding fear and setting aside self-pity.

The mission of the school is to instill moral and quality life into deaf children through the provision of food and education. These students then go out into their communities as responsible and confident learners, working hard to break down stereotypes of the deaf.

Tobias Ochieng is a deaf Kenyan who has had the unique opportunity to complete both high school and secondary school. Most businesses in Kenya are unwilling to employ the deaf due to cultural stigmas. Tobias is a teacher at Humble Hearts School. He has become a mentor to many deaf students who have felt community rejection because of their disability. Tobias has given these students encouragement and hope as they learn that they too can become successful. From the allowance he gets from his teaching profession, Tobias has been able to start a small business selling second-hand clothes in one of the large markets in Nairobi. This expands his income and allows him to take care of his younger siblings.

One challenge for Humble Hearts comes in working with the parents. They think that their deaf children are not capable of learning and becoming independent people. Many parents believe that their children will only be able to do house work, carpentry, or get married.

Since opening the school, the children have really changed. They are healthier, more friendly, and they can read, write, and sign. There are also a number of students who have taken an interest in the arts and through Humble Hearts, they are being encouraged to pursue a wide range of academic disciplines.

The 1010 Project has supported income-generating projects at Humble Hearts including a posho mill, liquid soap making, tomato farming, charcoal sales, and carpentry work.

Last quarter, The 1010 Project sent a microgrant of nearly 71,000 Kenyan Shillings ($900) to Humble Hearts. When Beatrice has prepared a balance sheet for the microgrant, the funds will be distributed to members of the community. In some cases, these funds enable families to send their children to school.

This small piece comes from a speech he gave upon becoming an Ambassador of Conscience. The full text can be found here.

In an effort to catalyze the critical work of YOCHAN, The 1010 Project has funded two separate income-generating projects:

1) Prestige Detergent Production

2) Peanut Butter Production & Distribution

YOCHAN profits $46.15 every month as a result of these income-generating activities. These profits are reinvested into YOCHAN’s HIV/AIDS education programs. Because of this small but significant investment, YOCHAN has grown from an organization with 8 members in 2005 to 17 in 2009. Members of YOCHAN lead workshops, distribute informational materials, and help out with the income-generating activities. Charles and his youth instructors are influencing and educating thousands of young adults and children in the Eastlands area of Nairobi, leading advocacy and awareness campaigns about HIV/AIDs on the grassroots level.

A recent update from Charles indicates that the peanut grinding machine needs some work:

“Our peanut grinding machine has also developed a problem. So for the last 3 weeks we’ve grounded our work till we fix the problem, but all in all we hope to continue and hope for the best.”

Last week, The 1010 Project gave an income-generating grant of $250 to YOCHAN for peanut butter production, allowing them to fix the peanut grinder.

Thanks to you, we are able to meet needs, enact positive social transformation and utilize the power of peanut butter in Nairobi.

Because of your support, at The 1010 Project, a small investment = big change.

$10 empowers the lives of our friends and partners in Kenya and beyond.

Please consider joining our pledge drive and investing $10 per month.

Globally, many women are not able to receive quality health care, support from friends and neighbors, safety, sanitized water, or food to sustain them through medical struggles and daily life. Poverty has many causes, yet for women, what is unique is that many live in poverty due to the lack of rights available to them.

The facts:

* Of the 1.3 billion people living in absolute poverty, 70% are women.
* Two-thirds of children that are denied primary education are girls, and 75% of the world’s 876 million illiterate adults are women.
* Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, produce half of the world’s food, and yet earn only 10% of the world’s income and own less than 1% of the world’s property.
* 640,000 women and girls are trafficked across borders annually for the sex trade.
* Systematic rape is used as a weapon of war, leaving millions of females traumatized, impregnated, and infected with STDs including HIV/AIDS.

(CARE, millenniumcampaign)

Did you know that March is Women’s Empowerment Month? Women’s Empowerment is about giving women a sense of self-worth, access to resources, a voice in their lives, and the ability to influence the society in which they live. Since March is Women’s Empowerment Month, we wanted to introduce a Kenyan partner that strives to empower women in unique ways.

Mother’s Concern, a partner of The 1010 Project since 2004, gives hope to women who face economic hardship. Without an education, job training, or property, many young women in the Kayole slum of Nairobi are forced into the sex trade in order to survive. Mother’s Concern offers hope by providing job training and childcare assistance to orphans.

The women produce fruit juice, make beaded bowls, and operate a tailoring business. Membership has almost doubled in the past year. Since August 2007, they have provided job training to over 100 young women, enabling them to make a safe and healthy living.

The women of Mother’s Concern are creating a sense of self-worth, providing job skills and resources, and giving women and young girls the ability to choose a different life: one that doesn’t include prostitution.

My experience with cancer has led me to a very interesting place in my life. I feel called and compelled to join with people in the sufferings and joys of life, just as many have done for me. My story and the story of Mother’s Concern has empowered me to lend my voice. I encourage you to join us in celebrating Women’s Empowerment Month by helping to give women a voice.

Thank you for joining with me to support The 1010 Project,

Katie Sewell
Advocacy and Outreach Coordinator
The 1010 Project

In 2007 I traveled to Kenya with The 1010 Project on a service learning trip. While there, one of the places I had the privilege to visit was St. Luke’s Ministry in Miwani, near the shores of Lake Victoria. St. Luke’s has been a partner of The 1010 Project since September of 2004. While staying with Joshua and Abigael Atieno, The 1010 Project’s friends from St. Luke’s, I was able to spend time with the widows. Even though I did not spend a lot of time with these incredible women, the impact they left on my life was indelible.

After a long and bumpy drive, the group I was traveling with arrived in Miwani well past nightfall. Most everyone there was asleep so we had to wait until the next day to see all of St. Luke’s. Morning arrived and we woke to the sound of the widows singing and praying in the chapel. We learned later that early every morning and every evening the widows gathered in the chapel to pray and sing praises to God. To this day I have never heard anything more precious than the prayers and songs that came from their lips. It was amazing for me to see these women, who had suffered more hardship than most, find joy and hope in life when it would be so easy to be downtrodden. These women, who could so easily let hopelessness consume them, are filled with hope for their country; it radiates from them and is infectious.

While St. Luke’s does a number of things for the community of Miwani, I think the most powerful thing they do is provide housing for these women who would otherwise be cast aside. St. Luke’s partnership with The 1010 Project allows the grassroots organization to continue providing food for the community, education for orphans and homes for these wonderful widows.

My interaction with these women has left me with a hope that one day their beautiful prayers for their country will be answered.

Thank you for joining with me to support The 1010 Project,

Jessie Laigaie
Community Events Coordinator
The 1010 Project

After doing some fascinating interior decorating and rearranging, we’ve started to settle into the new office. We have many more windows, and we’re closer to the parking lot, i.e. the street. We lost most of our giant, beautiful 5-person cubicle, but as you can see in the pictures, we salvaged three of the major desk pieces and set them next to each other.

We’ve finished up rearranging our things, and we’re getting back to work, so watch this space!

The 1010 Project’s new office

Sometime in 2001, I wandered into a bookstore and picked up a book called The Awake Project. Awake was a compilation of writings from activists around the world concerning the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. The most disturbing factoids of the book for me were not the alarming statistics concerning the afflicted in Africa, but rather the far more depressing statistics revealing the deep inaction and apathy of American Christians. Having already been exposed to the realities of global poverty and disease through my travels, I was embarrassed that the faith community I professed to be a part of was so distant from the hurt and need of this world.

Angered and motivated, I went back to school to learn about these issues from important thinkers. My intention was to find solutions. I traveled with my family to Kenya in 2003 to meet the poor and learn from them what the issues were and, more importantly, what hope there was in such dire circumstances. We spent 6 weeks listening and learning, meeting people with whom The 1010 Project still works with today. It was all at once a difficult and amazing experience.

What emerged from our visit was an organization called The 1010 Project, an idea based on the simple concept that people in poverty need partnerships in order to break the cycle of poverty that so many are trapped in. The name ‘The 1010 Project’ comes from a scripture verse where Jesus says that he came for life, life to the full. Surely the widespread existence of extreme poverty on this planet is an abomination of that promise. I don’t need to repeat statistics here, but deep down we all know that something is wrong when millions die of poverty in a world abundant in resource. The 1010 Project emerged as an effort of some dedicated people to address both poverty and the apathy that contributes to it.

In May of this year, The 1010 Project will be 6 years old. It has been a very difficult journey from conception to reality. The success of The 1010 Project rests in the thousands of people who through effective partnerships and their own efforts are emerging from poverty and providing a future for their families and communities. I work everyday to create opportunities for my children to realize a better tomorrow. In this sense, I am no different from my Kenyan brothers and sisters.

The large organizations of the world are just now realizing what The 1010 Project has known since it started. From the United Nations to the aid programs of countries to some of the largest non-governmental organizations in the world, practitioners and policymakers now recognize that the voices of the very poor must be heard. No longer can poverty reduction strategies be orchestrated and implemented without the leadership and involvement of the people that those strategies are intended to help. The 1010 Project has always operated under this model. Our friends in Kenya are the heroes, the leaders and the pioneers who we are most privileged to be partnered with.

I am an active board member with The 1010 Project and I continue to travel to Africa to see our work. Despite its recent difficulties, Kenya is still a place where people are working everyday to carve out a future. This future is realized through Phaustine Wekesa, who has bought a plot of land and is building a new home for her family. It is realized through Joyce Kamondo, who is being recognized internationally for her work with HIV+ women. It is being realized through Michael Nyangi, who traveled to the United Nations in October to commemorate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. There, he told international delegates to listen to the voices of the poor, for therein lies the future. We could not agree more.

It has been difficult, but nothing important is ever easy. Therefore, we do the difficult things, not because of the challenge alone, but because it is right.

Thank you for your support and activism on behalf of The 1010 Project and especially on behalf of our friends in Kenya. It has been a tough journey to be sure, full of disappointments, setbacks, and unanswered questions. It has also been an amazing adventure that has made a difference in the lives of so many. Thank you for being that difference maker!

Thank you for joining with me to support The 1010 Project,

Andrew Syed
Vice-President of the Board / Founder

I just wanted to get your attention.

F Bombs - refers to the food, fuel, and financial crises of 2008. The poorest and most vulnerable groups and individuals have been hit the hardest. The fight against poverty has taken a step back in some respects.

“Worse than the increase in the number of poor people is often the increase in depth of poverty that is experienced by households, pushing them to the edge of survival. Households left to cope for themselves risk damage to future generations. The poorest households have limited coping mechanisms. Coming on the back of the food and fuel crisis, many poor households have already exhausted their ability to cope with shocks and draw on informal safety nets. Loss of income and employment opportunities may leave them no choice but to sell productive assets such as livestock or equipment. Households may be unable to feed their children leading to a further rise in malnutrition.”
-Background Paper prepared by the World Bank Group
G20 Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy - Washington, D.C., November 15, 2008

In order to mitigate this challenge in 2009, investment in and empowerment of local civil society groups or grassroots community-based organizations must remain a priority. These groups and organizations provide critical services to children, orphans, women, men, the elderly and families on the edge of survival.

If you are wondering what to you can do to help: you can give your time, talent, and treasure to a movement that truly believes the cycle of poverty can be broken.

Join the story of The 1010 Project and the broader story of Global Poverty Eradication

Learn more here:
www.the1010project.org

or let pictures tell their stories here: http://www.panos.org/panospictures.asp

or read about the voices of the poor here:
http://tinyurl.com/2eaemh

or examine the goals here:
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

or appreciate how fortunate you really are:
http://globalrichlist.com/

A little over one year ago, Kenya held heated parliamentary and presidential elections. The results were disputed. Extreme poverty, ethnic rivalries, and a controversial presidential election created a situation where nearly a 1,000 people were killed, hundreds of thousands displaced, and serious economic ramifications were felt throughout the East Africa region.

During the first few months of 2008, we were deeply concerned about our friends:

“We are doing fine but things are not so good in most parts of the country… The bad affected areas in Nairobi are Mathare, Korogocho, Dandora, Kibera and parts of Kayole [all places where The 1010 Project operates] but in our area [Matopeni] not so bad… We have war everywhere in the country as a result and now we cannot even buy anything or go anywhere… We are just in the house but with nothing to eat. Pray for us. We need God to intervene.”

- Fred Afwai, Kenya Country Director, Matopeni, Kenya (written in an email as the situation worsened in January 2008)

As you can imagine, all of our friends and partners were affected by the post-election violence, but thankfully none of our friends and partners were victims of extreme violence. A power-sharing agreement was signed on February 28th.

The journey of healing, reconciliation, and restoration continues and The 1010 Project is on the forefront; providing income-generating grants to community-based organizations that are breaking the cycle of poverty each day.

As this year comes to a close, we are enjoying this opportunity to reflect, appreciate, and look ahead to 2009.

Thank you for joining our story and making 2008 an extremely successful year!

We are continuously grateful to have your support!

Happy New Year,

Adam Delp