"Our unity and togetherness will greatly improve and enhance our [ability of] cooperation to achieve our goals on a large scale"
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LOCATION:Kalacha Dida Oasis- Northern Frontier District,
Kenya
MEMBERS: 50-60
Goals:
PAY
SCHOOL FEES FOR NOMADIC CHILDREN WHO DESIRE TO ATTEND THE NOMADIC GIRLS
SCHOOL
INCREASE THE GROWING CAPACITY FOR THE SHAMBA (GARDEN)
SELL PRODUCE FOR INCREASED INCOME
KEEP THE TRADITIONAL PALM WEAVING AND INCREASE MARKET FOR WOVEN ARTS
CREATE A CACHE OF DONATED BASKETS TO SELL FOR INCOME FOR THE GROUP
PERFORM TRADITIONAL DANCES FOR THE TOURISTS WHO VISIT THE SHAMBA
RENT THE SLEEPING BANDAS (HUTS) FOR INCOME
ACCOMPLISHMENTS!!
AID TO WIDOWS, DISABLED AND
THE AGED IN THEIR COMMUNITY ($1000 KSH)
DUG WELL IN THE GARDEN TO OVERCOME THE PROBLEM OF WATER INADEQUACY/ORDERED NEW HAND PUMP
BUILT HOUSE WITH KITCHEN, TOILET ADJACENT TO THE GARDEN TO ALLOW THE WOMEN TO WORK INSIDE INSTEAD OF THE SUN AND TO STORE THEIR GOODS THEY SELL TO THE TOURISTS ($12,000 KSH)
PROVISION OF BURSARIES FOR THE BRIGHT CHILDREN FROM POOR FAMILIES ($5800 KSH)
ASSISTED DISABLED/AGED MOTHERS WITH NEEDED FOOD ($1000 KSH)
PAID HOSPITAL BILL FOR PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED PEOPLE IN COMMUNITY ($1200 KSH)
Site Visits:
February 2002
No disbursement. Follow up on previous funding, and goals accomplished
August
2001
Disbursement
$15,400/= Ksh (US $200.00)
CONDUCTED YEARLY AUDIT AND BUDGET PROJECTIONS FOR FURTHER PROJECTS AND
FUNDING
ASSISTED STUDENTS WHO ARE UNABLE TO PAY SCHOOL FEES (BURSARY FUND)
ASSIST INDIVIUAL MEMBERS IN THE FORM OF SOFT LOANS
RECOMMEND HEADMASTER OF PRIMARY SCHOOL TO WILDIZE FOUNDATION FOR SCHOLARSHIP ASSISTANCE
October 2000
Disbursement:
$22,000= Ksh (US $300.00)
Drought
has come to this area and the animals are mostly dying. The relief program
is giving them food and this further stresses the thin economy. The women
strive to pay school fees with their funds and have expanded their awareness
to include widows, disabled and the aged in their community. During El
Nino in 1997 they lost 100 bags of unrefined salt and 85 baskets and 50
woven mats were destroyed in the rains.
They need a way to protect the goods used in microenterprise and increase
education in the community
to break the cycle of underdevelopment and marginality.
The
Group reports that they used the funds for:
(1) Dug a well in the garden to overcome the problem of water inadequacy/ordered
a hand pump
(1,800/= Ksh)
(2) Built a house with a kitchen, toilet-bathroom adjacent to the garden.
This will be used for the women to work in instead of outside in the hot
sun, and aDining shelter has been built next to the house.
(12,000/= Ksh)
(3) Provision of bursaries ( school fees) for bright children from poor
families
5,800/= Ksh
(4) Assisted disabled/aged mothers with needed food
1000/= Ksh
(5) Paid hospital bill for physically handicapped people in community
1,200/= Ksh
(6) Paddlocks for guarding salt and goods
200/= Ksh
(7) Cultivated and planted the garden with drought resistant crops not
widely found in Kenya.
October 1999
Disbursement:
$6000/= Ksh (US $80.00)
GROUP REQUIRED REGISTRATION WITH KENYAN GOVERNMENT ACCOMPLISHED IN 1997
We first met the Kalacha Women's Group in October of 1999. In 1997 they registered with the Department of Culture and Social Services in Kenya to be able to receive funds from NGO's and other donors. This is the first step in building relationship between group, government and foundation. They also opened a bank account. Each year, they are audited and they build a budget with the little funds they receive for the coming year.It was an incredible experience meeting these women who live in the Northern Frontier District. They made a great show of grace and style in their agreement to meet with the 'muzungu' (white women). We spoke with the entire group, explaining who we are and thatwe would like to help. The women kindly explained their needs to us, and we were highly impressed by their temerity and tenacity, living in this extreme environment.
Sponsorship of students in
the primary/secondary years of school. Fees are too high for parents with
little or no income to provide for their children.
Another request during this year was a store for warehousing salt and
also to use as a meeting hall by residents.
Request for support for one of the Teachers to complete his University
education. This teacher is educating the group on Gender Balance issues
and Group formation. He is now a field officer and has been mentoring,
monitoring and evaluating teacher's performance in different locations
in Kenya. The changes, reforms and restructuring has made it necessary
for him to go to University level to receive proper training.
Their needs:
1) A lorry (truck)-- to haul salt mined from the nearby Houri Hills, and the abilty this would give them to take it to market and sell. We explained that a lorry might not be the best use of funds at this time, as the maintenance of a vehicle would be a tremendous strain on their already tightly stretched econonmy: what it would require to fuel, spare parts, keep safe, and the resulting wear from the roads ( or lack thereof!) We suggested perhaps that more donkeys would be beneficial, as they cost less to feed, can carry the salt and require much less maintenance. They said they would think about it!
2) A salt shed
s3) chool fees
4) group bursary emergency fund
WHERE and WHAT IS KALACHA DIDA?
The words "Kalacha Dida" are Gabbra,
meaning 'place of open space"
Kalacha is vital because it is located at a natural underground spring
fed oasis. The village and area is a two day drive North of Nairobi. By
camel, it takes a week! By bus, or the overlander, it will take 3 days.
From Nairobi, you start out on some relatively good paved road, then this
turns into dirt tracks and lightly traveled trails, then into out and
out open rock on non existent roads through vast lava fields.
The Oasis is vital to the nomadic camel herders and is populated by the
Gabbra community of 3000 that dwells there year round. The settled community
is no longer nomadic,and does not keep animals for wealth or trade, relying
mainly on their community shamba (garden) and microenterprise for sustainance
and sustainablitly. In this harsh arid environment a rich traditional
tribal life has endured for centuries. The Gabbra are a part of the Galla
peoples, a migrating drift of pastoralists who arrived in Northern Kenya
several hundred years ago from the Horn of Africa. Over the years the
traditional nomadic life has been dwindleing, being replaced by a more
centralized village lifestyle bringing many new challenges. In the Kenya
Rough Guide the area is summed up in one phrase…"this is hard
country".
To learn more about the Gabbra, please read Fr. Paul Tablino's excellent account of Gabbra history and culture; "The Gabra- Camel Nomads of Northern Kenya" published by Paulines Publications of Africa. It can be purchased through the Catholic Bookshop, Nairobi, Kenya.