Creative Synergy

ASAP is honored to be a part of Seeds to Cedars a beautifully inspiring creative endeavor by Jessica Davis. Please click here for a preview.


About the Film Maker
I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. My father was employed
by an oil company based there and I did not come to live in the
states permanently until I was 13. During my time there I was present
to witness the Gulf War. Since that time I have felt strongly drawn
to philanthropic causes and ending global suffering. The task felt so
large, and impossible. During the course of my life, I have witnessed
the “impossible” become the possible. This inspired me to have the
desire to make others aware of how they can not only make the impossible
happen, but allow others to also experience the miracle of it.
Assisting one life can in turn assist the world.

Jessica Davis – Film Maker, Small Business Owner
filmmaker@seeds2cedars.com

".. by looking at the children"

ASAP field officers live in the rural communities where they work, becoming a resource and asset to that very community. From this perspective, the positive impact of the village savings and lending, small business and agricultural skills training are obvious, just by looking at the children in the village. But to donors from the outside of these communities it may not be so obvious. Zimbabwe is experiencing unprecedented hardships, with inflation reaching over 400,000,000%!
During a meeting last week between ASAP, Concern World Wide (CWW) and the European Commission, the question posed after the first year of the three year project - does active participation in savings clubs REALLY improve lives in this environment?
Joseph Miti, ASAP’s Field Operations Manager had to do some convincing, explaining how the 500 resilient and resourceful women already involved the project have adapted the savings club methodology to meet the unprecedented challenges and hardships of life in Zimbabwe today.
The meeting ended on a happy note as ASAP’s Country Director Regai Tsunga and CWW’s Adgar Montalbaa agree to continue the project partnership to work together to benefit an additional 1,000 women and girls in the Katarere area of rural Zimbabwe in the next two years.

Savings and Sorghum in Malawi

Nellie Chisale & Lingstone Ganamba, ASAP Africa Malawi field officers are ready to go out to the communities for a series of progress review meetings.

Getting there can be half the battle now, during the height of the rainy season.

Pictured here, Lingstone and Nellie monitor fertilizer application and scout the garden for a possible attack of pests and disease. This is part of ASAP's sorghum seed multiplication project at Jailosi in Ndakwera area. There are fourteen community members that are participating in the sorghum seed multiplication project in Ndakwera area alone. Each community member has a 0.2 of a hectare. All the fourteen are members to different Village Savings & Lending savings club groups which will be trained by ASAP in managing internal savings and lending and small business skills training.

A Picture = 1,000 Words

Saving Lives in Zimbabwe

For many of us it is difficult to visualize what exactly Cholera prevention looks like in rural Africa. Knowledge is the key where resources are scarce. Life-saving re hydration for someone stricken by Cholera can be as basic as sugar, salt and water. Alfred Jagada, ASAP's Project Manager, shares these photos from a recent staff training session in rural Zimbabwe where over 3,300 have already died from the disease. ASAP is working together with Catholic Relief Services and UNICEF to help prevent the spread of Cholera in the Eastern districts of Zimbabwe.

ASAP Working Together with TLC

In order to ensure food and economic security at household level, ASAP works in close collaboration with Total Land Care (TLC) an organization which specializes in conservation agricultural technologies. TLC, through ASAP, recently supplied twenty-eight community members with sorghum and pigeon pea seed for multiplication. The rural farmers entered into an agreement with ASAP to buy their yield at an agreed price with a view to ensuring that the seed benefits more households within the community. ASAP provides technical support to the participating community members and pictured here is a happy farmer (in a white T-shirt) explaining to ASAP Field Officers Lingstone and Nellie (from left to right) how the pigeon pea crop is fairing in his garden at Kabwatika in Chikwawa district. This was during one of the recent monitoring visits.