East Africa Site Visit: What I Learned about Courage and Resiliency

My long-held dream of visiting East Africa – and more importantly, meeting and learning about the people who live there – came to fruition during a recent Pangea Giving site visit. For 3 weeks our team of four immersed ourselves in the social, environmental, cultural and economic realities of rural life in Kenya, Uganda and Burundi. I returned home profoundly impacted and humbled.

A few examples:

Who would have the courage to build a desperately needed maternity center in a rural village with no access to a reliable water source? Under the leadership of Wendo Aszed, Dandelion Africa is months from completing the first prenatal and maternity center near Mogotio village, Kenya. Building on the success of their primary care health clinic in addressing the issue of water availability, the new facility will collect and use rain water as part of providing a safe and healthy place for women to give birth.

How do you move on with life after 83 members of your family were murdered in a brutal civil war? In Burundi, SaCoDe’s dynamic founder and executive director, Francoise Nibizi, found the courage and resiliency to address the needs of women and girls in this impoverished nation. Through innovative initiatives, including Pangea-funded reproductive health education programs, production and distribution of thousands of reusable feminine hygiene kits, and a new program to train women in high-yield, bio-intensive gardening, SaCoDe is making a real impact in the lives of women and girls in rural villages throughout the country.

How can you possibly make an NGO that’s operating a girl’s secondary boarding school more financially sustainable? Joshua Machinga, director of Common Ground (long-time partner and friend of Pangea) has developed a successful social enterprise whose profits are reinvested in free education for girls in Kiminini, Kenya, a community where early marriages are common and school drop-out rates are high. After four years of research and development, Common Ground now produces ceramic water filters which are sold in stores throughout Kenya. This successful social enterprise has just won the distinguished Kenya National Innovation Award.

Is there a theme in these three divergent examples? Yes, it’s that dynamic leaders who are committed to addressing critical issues in their own communities are using innovative approaches to overcoming obstacles. In addition to the dynamic leadership we observed, I was impressed with the courage and resilience of the people we met:

• Subsistence farmers who are struggling to feed their families. They are addressing soil depletion and the serious consequences of climate change – unpredictable rains followed by droughts – by embracing new methods such as producing their own bokashi (organic compost) and switching to bio-intensive gardening.
• Mothers who, having experienced “the cut,” bravely speaking to adolescent girls and boys about the importance of ending female genital mutilation.
• Young women, who were forced into early marriages which ended their formal education, participating in vocational training and learning business skills so that they can support their families.

As I return to my life in Seattle, I reflect back on the warmth and genuine hospitality we received, the well-deserved pride that participants displayed in what they have accomplished, and their ability to adapt in the face of adversity. I also return knowing that Pangea Giving’s support to these incredible grassroots organizations is achieving real and lasting change in the lives of thousands of individuals and families in local communities. Learning firsthand about the tremendous impact of our East Africa grants has assured me that our efforts make significant contributions to these communities.

This post was written by Janet Pearson, East Africa Pod Chair and participant in the 2018 East Africa site visit.

You can see more photos from the 2018 East Africa site visit on our Flickr page.

Read more about a collaboration between two of our partners, SaCoDe of Burundi and BIOGI of Kenya.