Doors of Knowledge Opened in Tola, Nicaragua

In 2010, former FSD intern and Tola IPC, Steve Merritt, catalyzed change in the small rural community of Limon 2, Nicaragua. Steve identified the nearby luxury resort, Rancho Santana, as an untapped asset to the local community, and sought to make connections between the luxury homeowners and local village leadership. Through a series of community meetings, representatives from Limon 2, FSD, and Rancho Santana decided that a great way to move the relationship forward was through the creation of a library that would expose children and adults of the community to literature, as well as host free activities such as art projects, tutoring, and sports.

Today, two years later, the library—now named Doors of Knowledge (Puertas del Saber) after a community vote—caters to over 20 children per day and has hosted a number of community events, such as the Day of the Book, where over 80 people gathered to honor books and reading. The Puertas del Saber library is now an official FSD Tola community partner that has hosted interns and serves as a hub for community organizing in the town of Limon 2.  Ruth Obando is the town’s ‘reading promoter,’ who rides her bicycle from household to household engaging families in the art and entertainment of reading and focusing on inspiring young children and adolescents to read stories. Ruth says, "I get a very positive reaction from the children who show much interest and satisfaction when I share stories with them. The children do not want me to leave and beg me to read just one more book." She has said to the parents, "take advantage of this opportunity that is being offered to you", that parents can be "a great help in the education of their children and they should help them in any way they can."

The library president, Sonia Noguera, has been invited to attend the second largest book fair in the world, the International Book Fair in Guadalajara, Mexico. Hundreds of thousands of scholars, teachers, professionals, adolescents, and children come to this iconic event to share stories, debut publications, and network. Through support of donors, FSD is sending Sonia to help her further develop the Puertas del Saber library in Limon 2  From a part of a brainstorming session in a community meeting to a full-fledged community center, the Puertas del Saber library has come a long way, and FSD is proud to have been there for every step!

New Approaches to End Child Trafficking in India

The trafficking of humans, whether for sex or forced labor, is without a doubt the darkest of black markets that exist. Indeed, the non-profit Doctors at War estimates that “human trafficking is the second largest criminal enterprise in the world” and that over 50% of all victims are children. As many as 40 million men, women, and children in over 135 countries are functional slaves in this global trade (UNODC estimate). The heightened media focus on their human tragedy has resulted in a positive development: substantial contributions in the fight against trafficking are made everyday by individuals, organizations and the partnerships they build.

This past summer, FSD intern Amy Koch submitted an ambitious, multi-faceted proposal to evaluate the nature of trafficking in Udaipur, India, where many children are forced to work on cotton farms during the harvest season. Under the guidance of a local NGO, the Prayas Centre for Labour Research and Action, Amy helped develop a strategy for testing the familial link to forced child labor. She used an existing survey of 5,479 children in 2,867 households of Udaipur to determine how poverty status, missing parents, and school attendance impact participation in the cotton field. Amy and the Prayas Centre also initiated a series of public seminars to inform the local population of the human rights issues involved in child trafficking. In addition, the community distributed literature to commercial farmers to discourage the use of forced labor. Finally, Amy’s proposal called for the implementation of vehicle checkpoints at the Udaipur border to intercept trafficked children brought in during the harvest season.

Since Amy’s departure in August, the Prayas Centre has continued the campaign against human trafficking in India with a variety of partners and measures aimed at raising awareness. The Dakshini Rajasthan Majdoor Union (DRMU) is an ally of the Prayas Centre that organized a high-profile sit-in last month in front of the Udaipur Collectorate, a state government building. This event drew media attention and gave Prayas and DRMU a platform to condemn trafficking and demand the rescue of children working against their will. Additionally, Prayas and the DRMU are conducting ongoing visits to commercial farms (where child labor is known to take place) in order to apply pressure on the owners and force a humanitarian solution. FSD’s partnerships with NGOs like Prayas enable interns like Amy to make tangible improvements in young people’s lives. We look forward to sharing new developments in the legacy of their work.

Challenges of Gender Equity and Health Education Facing India

FSD's interns Julian Cooper, Caroline Patterson and Jessica Nelson took to the web to share the outcomes and challenges of their work abroad and spread awareness about the issues facing the communities they worked with this summer. Julian spent his internship working with the grassroots organization, Vikalp Sansthan (JVSS), in Jodhpur, India. Their mission is to fight the gender-based inequality and violence that is still prevalent in India’s patriarchal society.

For his project, Julian organized a cricket tournament for the boys in the community that included sports training, but also workshops on the importance of female education, improving the boy-girl relationship in society, and violence against women. The recreational backdrop provided a safe, comfortable atmosphere for the boys to open up and discuss these sensitive, but pressing issues. “I felt the biggest achievement of the workshop was the shift in the way the boys discussed gender-based violence and gender-based inequality,” Julian recalls. “They no longer looked at girls as though they were objects controlled by Indian society and tradition, but as individuals with dreams of their own.”

Jessica and Caroline interned with our partner PCB Trust to tackle limited health education for female sex workers in the surrounding communities of Jodhpur. They interviewed one hundred sex workers and documented their difficulties in accessing HIV testing and treatment. Distance and transportation costs prevent these women from taking advantage of the only free HIV testing center in the area. The interns were surprised to discover that one tenth of the sex workers they interviewed did not understand the causes of HIV, while one fifth had never heard of condoms. Working with PCB Trust, Caroline and Jessica developed strategies for the many complex obstacles facing sex workers.

Although these challenges may seem insurmountable at times, they had a good perspective on the roles of interns in the field. Comparing their challenges to a parable about a boy’s effort to save hundreds starfish that washed up on shore, she said, “We certainly can’t expect to clean up the whole beach in a 9-week internship, but maybe our educational materials can help throw one starfish back into the water. That would be enough for us.”

A Poultry Farm for Sustainable Community Development in Kenya

Sustainability Times Three!

Aman Bali of Duke University spent nine weeks in Mombasa, Kenya, working with the organization Total War Against AIDS Youth Foundation (TWAAYF), based in the Likoni district. Together, they designed and developed a community project that embodies the spirit of sustainable development and FSD’s model approach.

In the Likoni district, widespread poverty and disease have affected community members of all ages. Children, though, are especially impacted: many parents are either afflicted with disease or unable to provide them with an education and basic resources. TWAAYF works to support these youth by offering them a haven from the streets, basic education--and a chance at a better future. However, a lack of sufficient funds can sometimes hinder their mission of youth empowerment. Using a grant awarded through FSD, Aman and TWAAYF put a project in motion that will both empower these children and produce consistent funding for the organization.

The idea—creating a poultry farm on TWAAYF’s grounds based on egg laying—reflects a tridimensional approach to sustainable development. First, the program will be a source of reliable income generation for the NGO. Second, it will teach children about nutrition and improve their diets, and it will give them valuable professional experience through capacity building and skills training. Third, by reinvesting a portion of the profits into the maintenance of the project, its sustainability is assured.

Aman helped to build the coop and led health and diet education classes for the children, and TWAAYF will continue on with poultry farm training sessions and the development of the program. Aman reflected that although he encountered several obstacles and complexities over the course of the project, the experience was extremely rewarding: “The most inspiring part of my work was probably just seeing all the good that was being done by my organization through the children. Between their orphanage, their community school, and their project rehabilitating street children, I saw first-hand TWAAYF's dedication to the children they are helping. Not a single child I came across during my time there seemed unhappy, a testament to the work they are doing.”

Beekeeping Brings Financial Freedom in Kenya

Thanks to the efforts of nineteen women from the Lihalakha Women's Group in Kakamega, Kenya, the Sustainable Beekeeping Empowerment Project (SBEP) has made tremendous progress since its inception a early 2012. Prior to the project's execution, the self-dubbed “community-care group” exhibited strong commitment to managing an income generating activity that would serve as a means of financial empowerment and support. The FSD intern Supriya Prakash conducted interviews of several women's associations to assess their business experience, project goals, and group dynamics. At the conclusion of all surveys, Supriya's host NGO, the Western Education Advocacy Empowerment Program (WEAEP), plucked Lihalakha from twenty-two similar women's associations.

The idea for an apiary unfolded in May as Moses Mckaya, a Kenyan intern with prior experience with honey production, noted how lucrative the industry is in Western Kenya. Aside from constructing the hives and training the beekeepers, caring for a bee farm is quite manageable. Bees are efficient and hardy insects, so the women's primary responsibilities are harvesting and selling the honey.

FSD's Peter Ingosi, the former Program Director in Kakamega, introduced Honey Care Africa to the project to install the hives on Lihalakha's compound, an often tedious and sticky process. In the symbiotic union between Honey Care and Lihalakha, Honey Care staff will train the women on harvesting techniques and hive management while Lihalakha will become one of their honey suppliers.

In early July 2012, the hives were constructed and placed around the compound to attract and capture bees, which can take up to two weeks. After bee colonization, Lihalakha's seven beehives can be formally placed on the apiaries, marking the beginning of the harvesting phase. In addition to hive construction, the projects also serves to further strengthen Lihalakha's group dynamics through collective seed-planting. From an economic standpoint, the initiative expedites honey production—and provides a source of sustainable income in the time to come.