Making connections

by: Lazarus Nyatsanga, ASAP : Field officer for the Kufusa Mari Urban Project

Over 600 entrepreneurs in Sakubva, an urban area near ASAP’s office in Zimbabwe, are actively involved in savings clubs today, thanks to a project call “Kufusa Mari” – save for the future – ongoing since 2006. About 80 miles away, in the remote rural farming area of Tombo, over one third of the families have been involved in savings clubs since 2004.

In an effort to create market linkages, this week 12 urban Kufusa Mari savings club members traveled to Tombo area to meet their rural colleagues - where they received a warm rural welcome.

The rural farmers shared the schedule of times when they are able to offer a variety of items, such as beans, potatoes, onions, garlic, wheat, sunflower seeds, maize, chicken and rural handicrafts. The urban savings club members offered to exchange grocery items such as cooking oil, salt and sugar, as well as farming inputs (seeds and fertilizers) and cash.

Having shared notes on demand and supply modalities, both parties went away pleased with the results with a business action plan for future business in the works.

Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism.

Muhammad Yunus is author of a new book Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism.

Recently interviewed by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, here is a notable quotation from one of our mentors.

"Human being is not a robot. It’s not a money-making machine. A human being is much bigger than making money. Money-making is an important part of a human being, but certainly it’s not the totality of human being. Human being is much bigger than that. It’s also caring being. It’s a sharing being, wants to make a difference in the world. That part is not included in the business world, in the economic world.

Click here to link to the entire interview

Life in Zimbabwe Today

This submission is from Junior Gwitirwa, who started working with ASAP Zimbabwe in January 2003 as a "tea girl". With ASAP's help, Junior has attended various computer courses and is now helping out with general office work and as receptionist at ASAP's office in Mutare. She shares this insight into daily life.

Life in Zimbabwe is now like a very tough journey,

Only the toughest will get going.

It is like climbing a very steep mountain,

And only those with tight, grip shoes will reach the climax.

But, most of the people are falling on the way.

We cannot find basic commodities in the shops but,

We can only find them on the streets, fetching very high prices,

This is not affordable to most of us,

Only those with tough pockets will afford.

Prices of basic commodities are going up every day, day and night

The value of our Zimbabwean dollar is deteriorating.

To worsen the matter, we cannot get cash in the banks

Cash withdrawals are now very limited, due to this,

The amount of corruption in Zimbabwe is now very high.

ASAP works with Ministry of Education and Other NGOs to Improve Education

On January 23 ASAP’s Zimbabwe Country Director, Regai Tsunga attended the Ministry of Education workshop on the Ministry's Key Result Areas, goals and objectives as well as to create some interaction between MOE and its’ education partners.

Here Regai is pictured with Dr .Stephen Mahere, the Permanent Secretary in the MOE – who attended all sessions. Being a Mathematician himself, Dr. Mahere was pleased to hear more about the positive results being achieved through ASAP’s Bridge The Gap (BTG) project - that aims to improve teaching and learning of mathematics – a very challenging subject worldwide. Below, Collins Mutsvairo, BTG Project Manager introduces himself and discusses the project.

With many NGOs in attendance, a decision was taken to develop a database of education projects and initiatives in order to reduce duplication of partner effort as well as to identify areas of need.

"I Have A Dream"

by Martin Luther King, Jr,

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Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. Source: Martin Luther King, Jr: The Peaceful Warrior, Pocket Books, NY 1968

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.

One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.

So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.

The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. we must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

ASAP begins year 2008 with expansion

by Turai Mandiambira
The year 2008 started with a wave of happiness as the organization expands its programming. The Bridge the Gap is expanding to cover Mutasa North, including most of the Honde Valley area, with effect from January 2008 whilst prospects are that there will be capacity building of other organizations in the implementation of the project. The Mutasa District will also benefit from new funding for the Health and Nutrition Development Initiative, to strengthen rural families to care for those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

On another note there is the birth of Income Generating Activities project in Nyanga North, a project funded by Concern World Wide, where ASAP will be working in joint venture with CWW, Family AIDS Care Trust and Mission Hospitals in Nyanga area.

Due to this expansion two new data capture clerks have been hired namely; Future Nyamupinga and Sarudzai Kurehwatira.

Zimbabwe experience by André Carrel

Comment from The Nelson Daily News (Canada), 21 December

People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage - John Kenneth Galbraith

On our way to the Eastern Highlands in the morning after my arrival in Zimbabwe, we stopped at the general store in a small town south of Harare. My friend had delivered a few crates of produce from his garden on his way to the airport the day before, and he wanted to pick up the empties. A queue, mostly women, many with babies on their backs, had formed in front of the store. I did not pay much attention to the queue; I wanted to see the store’s empty shelves, empty coolers, and empty freezers. My inspection was interrupted by the sudden sound of yelling and screaming coming from outside. I went to see what the commotion was all about. The women in the queue were visibly upset about something. The yelling grew louder and the gesticulating more agitated when a man wielding a bull whip appeared. A few well-aimed lashes into the throng of protesting women restored order and silence in the queue. I had never seen anything like it! As the women were being bullwhipped, a uniformed police officer walked by clutching two loaves of bread under his arm. He walked past the scene as if the mini-riot and bullwhipping of women and their babies was of no concern to him. The scene was surreal. Shortly afterwards my friend returned with his empty crates. As we stashed them in the pickup, he pointed to two loaves of bread hidden in one of the crates. "That’s all I could get," he said, half apologetically.

As we drove away, I asked him what the commotion had been all about. The women had learned that there would be bread in the store, and they had been queuing since before 6:00 a.m. There was no bread on the shelves; the bread was "walking" out the back door. "It’s how the black market works," my friend explained. The commotion was triggered when one of the women discovered what was happening with the bread. Several days later, sitting at the breakfast table eating the last of the bread and not knowing if there would be bread tomorrow or where it would come from, I reflected on what I had witnessed. The bread I had been eating for the past few days should have been eaten by a child. The only reason that bread had ended up on my table was that I had connections and money. I have read reports about the disproportionate share of the world’s resources consumed by the developed world. I have heard arguments that one world is not enough to support 6.6 billion people in the style to which the wealthiest 2 billion are accustomed. There are not enough of all the things the developed world takes for granted to allow everybody on earth to consume resources at the pace and rate of the wealthiest 2 billion. As I sat in relative comfort in the midst of Zimbabwe’s misery, I understood the bullwhipping of the women and their babies that I had witnessed as the embodiment of the global reality of the disparity in resource consumption. I talked to my friend about this disparity and about my feelings of guilt for having eaten the bread. He tried to console me: "You have to be practical about such things."

Our First World lifestyle is sustained by millions and millions of people in Africa and Asia who work for peanuts, literally, and sometimes for much less than peanuts. I spent a month living in the home of people who work hard for long hours and are paid not just less than $1 per day, but much less than $1 per day. I am a bit over-weight, but I did not lose one pound during my month in Zimbabwe because I had money in my pocket, hard currency, and friends with connections to convert my hard currency into food, fuel, and other necessities to which I am accustomed. As a member of the First World, I am at the front of the queue; I get what I want; I consume what I want, and if "they" get unruly, somebody will whip them back into line. I don’t have to lift a finger; I can simply drive away. It is not my responsibility. My position in life allows me to be practical about such things. How do I live with the image of hungry women and babies being bullwhipped? Can I assuage my feelings of guilt by looking the other way? What is the humanitarian response? Selling everything I own and giving it to them would ease their plight for a moment, but it would not change the harshness of life under Mugabe-style regimes. If I want to make a change to the lives of people living under intolerable conditions, I have to start here - at home, in my town, in my province, and in my country - and work to change the focus of our political ethics from "me" to "us."

ASAP says farewell to Rose Makhamadze

ASAP staff had the year 2007 end with a double celebration. It was a nice time for the organization when they had the 2007 end of year party on the 14^th of December while anticipating the most waited for day when Rosemary Makahamadze tied the with Clifford Nyamutsambira on the 29^th December. Rosemary has left for Botswana to stay with her husband after her resignation. ASAP staff wishes Rose the best in her marriage and new endeavors.

Please read more about ASAP in our Winter Newlsetter

New Year = New Currency in Zimbabwe

All Zimbabweans know that each day brings new challenges and survival is a test of both will and wit. The end of the year was particularly so, when the currency (the Zimbabwe Dollar) was recalled. This description was sent to us on New Year's Eve from a dear friend - Jenni Westlake.

All $200,000 (our largest denomination) notes have been recalled by the Reserve bank by the 31^st and we are VERY slowly being issued with 250,000, 500,000 and 750,000 dollar notes…..and we have minimal inflation!!!!!! The banks were told to be open all weekend from 8.30am - 6.00pm and all public holidays to help ease the cash crisis but nothing has helped and there are still people sleeping in the pouring rain trying to get some cash out of the banks. I have been trying since the 15^th to get some new money and have not yet had a note!

All this seems to have done is double the price of everything out there….bread is now 1 million dollars a loaf.

Happy New Year to all our friends in Zimbabwe.

Arnold Tsunga Honored Again

U.S. Secretary of State Condolezza Rice on Monday honored a Zimbabwe lawyers' group for fighting government repression in the southern African country.

"In Zimbabwe, civil society remains under siege amid a political and economic crisis caused by the irresponsible policies of the regime," Rice said at an award ceremony to mark International Human Rights Day.

Rice gave the State Department's annual "Freedom Defender Award" to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. She said the lawyers' group, represented at the ceremony by its president Arnold Tsunga, had taken on the dangerous task of defending those persecuted by Mugabe's government.

"We thank you and your colleagues for your courage," Rice told Tsunga as she handed him the award.

ASAP's Country Director in Zimbabwe, Regai, is Arnold's brother, who is a regular recipient of awards these days! We congratulate Arnold on his work and his much deserved international recognition.

How Bad is it ???

Have you heard that inflation is really bad in Zimbabwe?

How bad is it?

It’s so bad - that the government statistical office can no longer calculate it! Wow, that’s bad. But how can that be?

Inflation is calculated by comparing the average cost of a set basket of goods - the cost of margarine, flour, sugar, milk, maize meal, salt, tomatoes, transportation etc. In Oct 07 inflation was officially recorded at 14,800% in Zimbabwe - so prices go up daily and even hourly.

The government decided to take action and mandated all prices be cut by 50% and held there. Of course there is a relationship between cost of goods and selling price in order to make a reasonable profit. So when this cost cutting was declared, shops could no longer afford to buy goods since they are now required to sell at a loss.

The goods in the shops quickly sold out with the new lower prices but there were no replacement goods being purchased. You can guess how this ends up; yes the shops are all empty now!

Now let’s get back to the cost of that basket of goods... what goods? ... That’s right; there are no goods to put in the basket! There is no way to calculate inflation on an empty basket.

On the positive side - at least everything is reasonably priced!

Books Ready for Distribution

The books have arrived and the fanfare starts on November 21^st! ASAP now has two containers of very useful text and supplementary books in our warehouse in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Some have already been handed out to schools but the official handover to the Ministry of Education will be on the 21^st of November. Then the real work of distribution to the 110 schools we work with begins.

ASAP has also purchased over Z$3.5 billion worth of Mathematics textbooks (published in Zimbabwe) ranging from Grade 1 to 7 for use by schools in the Bridge The Gap (BTG) in Mathematics program.

Most schools where ASAP works are quite poor and may only have 3 to 4 books of a subject for a class of fifty students. It makes it pretty tough to teach not to mention learn! Here you see the joy of getting books on the faces of some teachers at Selbourne Primary School.

These books are the result of a joint Rotary project between the three Fayette County, Georgia Rotary Clubs and the Borrowdale Brooke Club in Harare, Zimbabwe. On the right ASAP Country Director Regai Tsunga hands books to Deputy Head Edward Masaiti.

Good Luck to Raymond Mereta

We were please to hear from Raymond Mereta on the ASAP blog today and wish him every success in his decision to focus his expertise in agriculture and food preservation to continue to benefit the African people.
Raymond Mereta, now a Development Studies student in Namibia, was an employee of ASAP in 2003. Raymond helped ASAP develop our ongoing Health and Nutrition Development Initiative Project. The HANDEI project includes growing and using medicinal herbs to help alleviate the symptoms and suffering of those suffering form HIV/AIDS.

ASAP is prepared for Rain and Growth

As ASAP expands our work to assist more communities during these challenging times, existing staff are proud to share their knowledge and skills with new staff members.

Here Mary Dzvifu, ASAP Finance and Administration Manager, provides training to ASAP’s newest office staff member, Assistant Accountant Joe Mbendana.

The newest ASAP project partnerships with Catholic Relief Services and Concern World Wide requires more vehicles and drivers. Preparing for the upcoming rainy season with a new canopy on the ASAP truck, Michael Nemaunga and ASAP’s newest driver, Charles Tumbare, will be able to keep both staff and goods dry during the upcoming season - full of bumper harvests!

ASAP DISPLAYS AT EXPO

ASAP recently participated in a Zimbabwe Women’s Bureau Workshop and Expo at Queens Hall in downtown Mutare. ASAP staff were dispersing information on our Savings and Lending Program which has recently been piloted in the urban Mutare area. In the photo, Collins Mutsvairo, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, is shown at the ASAP booth promoting ASAP's programs. ASAP’s urban Savings and Lending Program is conducted in partnership with CARE with funding from UNICEF and has proven to be very successful so far.

BOOKS ARRIVE IN MUTARE!

We have heard that teachers are already getting excited as word is quickly spreading to the rural areas about the two containers of school books that arrived in Mutare this week! Many of ASAP's Mutare staff were out there helping to offload thousands of books into ASAP's warehouse for distribution to the schools we work with.
The shipment left the US in early July so it has been a long journey to Mutare. These books are the result of a Literacy Project that ASAP conducted with Rotary Clubs in Fayette County Georgia and this project even won Best Cooperative Projects Award from Rotary International! Many thanks to all the Rotarians in Zimbabwe and Georgia that made this project possible. More updates will follow as books are distributed.

Jeanette Batiste in Malawi for ASAP

We are real excited here at ASAP because Jeanette Batiste will be in Southern Malawi during the month of October to do the groundwork for ASAP’s new Malawi program. Jeanette was a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi and speaks Chichewa, the local language. She has recently acquired her MSc Environment and Development at the London School of Economics and is now employed at EDGEWOOD HOLDINGS LLC based in Vermont.

Jeanette will be gathering the statistics and local information we will use prepare and conduct a more successful Poverty Alleviation pilot project in Malawi. The Shire Valley, south of Blantyre in Southern Malawi will be the initial target area. This is one of the poorest areas in Malawi. ASAP has been invited by the government to establish a program in Malawi and we expect the it to be underway by early to mid 2008.

Enjoying the week-end in Africa

Labor Day is celebrated with a New Project Launch

ASAP Africa and CARE Zimbabwe launched a new Kufusa Mari (KM) program partnership in the rural district of Mutasa today. The new five year project will help over 17,800 people improve and diversify their income as well as to mobilize savings and manage internal lending activities.

According to Regai Tsunga, ASAP’s Zimbabwe Country Director “ We had a wonderful KM launch at Sadziwa in Mutasa today.

The Deputy Minister for Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Mrs. Damasani, gave a perfect address with full of praises for ASAP. She is a great motivator. She led women into song and dance and encouraged everyone to work hard. She said she wished KM could spread to her native Matebeleland. I90 clients graduated and were awarded with certificates and T shirts. The function was also very well attended by locals and government officials led by the DA for Mutasa Mr. Maronge. There was also entertainment galore with music, dance, drama and poetry.

Mr. Goran Engstrand, the Swedish Ambassador to Zimbabwe, and Steve Vaughan, Country Director CARE were present and also expressed profound satisfaction with our work. They encouraged locals to form KM groups and benefit from the project. The Mutasa Council Chairman, Mr. Gowa welcomed ASAP to his District and hoped that the project would spread quickly to all wards in Mutasa. Both SIDA and CARE remarked that this function was bigger and better than last year's and thanked ASAP for a job well done. All said and done, we are officially in Mutasa with Government and Local Authority blessings. Thanks to Joseph Miti, (ASAP’s KM Project Manager) and all KM staff, ably supported by Admin, for a job well done.”

Catholic Releif Services Partners with ASAP Africa to help Children affected by HIV/AIDS

42,000 children will benefit from the new Out of School Adolescents Support Project. ASAP Africa has partnered with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and four other consortium partners on a new project to identify and address the needs of out of school adolescents in Zimbabwe affected by HIV/AIDS. The OSA-SP project will work to improve the economic, food security, health and psychosocial well being of 42,000 out-of-school children in Zimbabwe. Currently, more than 60% of the targeted adolescents have lost one or both parents to HIV and AIDS. Many youth are dropping out of school due to the economic hardships. Without parental guidance, these children lack understanding of HIV and AIDS, sexuality and need relevant vocational skills that will enable each one to earn a basic living.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS FUND RAISING KICK OFF AT ASAP'S ROASTERY

The Fayette County Special Olympics held their fund raising kickoff at The On Safari Coffee Roastery in Peachtree City, Georgia Monday night 27 August. The Sailing Team, The Star Hitters and The All Stars were represented and the excitement grew as everyone realized how easy it is to sell Gourmet Coffee for fund raising.

This venue gave them the opportunity to better understand what they will be selling and you could sense the growing competition building between the three groups. Keep in mind that other groups are welcome to hold their fund raising campaign kick off at The Roastery at no cost as long as the date is open.

On Safari Coffee Initiative is an income generating project of ASAP so Coffee for YOUR Cause is a win-win for everyone. The fund raising group earns $5 on every bag of coffee sold and the best part is that each organization gets its own custom label for the coffee they sell. We look forward to even more groups who want to partner with ASAP to reach their fund raising goals.

Words of Wisdom

A recent email from ASAP’s new Country Director, Regai Tsunga, contained some words of wisdom that are worth passing on. “When looking at a large and complicated task, one should approach it as you would go about eating an elephant – one bite at a time.”

Yes, some good advice for those of us working together towards our goal of 'A World Without Poverty'.

OPEN HOUSE THIS SATURDAY

HELPING NON-PROFITS – ASAP!

With no up-front costs, organizations can easily raise needed funds to meet their goals. A Self-help Assistance Program (ASAP), now offers church groups, schools and civic organizations an exciting new and valuable fundraising service through coffee.

ASAP President Tom Arsenault, describes the new program - “Coffee as fuel for Development.” On Safari Coffee Initiative, (previously On Safari Trading Co.) is now an income generating project of ASAP. “Our primary focus is helping other non-profits conduct successful fundraising campaigns, as we work to fund our own operating costs.”

There will be a fundraising open house, featuring coffee roasting demonstrations and sample tasting at the On Safari Roastery this Saturday August 25^th, from 9:00 until 12:00 noon. Everyone is welcome especially church or school groups interested in easy and profitable fundraising.”

On Safari Fresh roasted coffee is very easy to sell as most people use coffee. The organization selling the coffee earns $5.00 profit on each bag of coffee sold. Once the group sells 200 bags of coffee, their customers can reorder on the On Safari web site and $1 for every bag sold on-line will go to the organization for an entire year. This keeps the funds coming in for your organization for a full year with no extra effort beyond the original campaign. To date, CIVS, Civitan, YMCA Cape Anne, have already reached Hall of Fame status.

The address is 189 Fulton Ct., (off Huddleston Rd. near Best Buy) Peachtree City. For more information contact On Safari at 770-632-7357 or 770-632-7451

Or email: mary@onsafaritrading.com

ASAP WINS AWARD!

ASAP has won the “Best Cooperative Projects Award” from Rotary International in partnership with the Peachtree City Rotary Club for ASAP’s Zimbabwe Book Drive Literacy project. Two containers of books left Georgia in early July and arrived in Durban, South Africa on August 3^rd. They had to be reloaded into a rail car for the continuing journey to ASAP’s warehouse in Mutare, Zimbabwe.

The books are mainly mathematics and science books, with about 10% novels and miscellaneous reading books. These will be distributed amongst the 111 schools that ASAP currently works with in the Bridge The Gap Mathematics Project.

Members of the Peachtree City Rotary Club helped to load one container at ASAP’s US office. With their help, the container was loaded and locked in less than 2 hours!

Our BTG field officers are eagerly awaiting these books because they are so badly needed at the schools where ASAP is working. ASAP is proud to work with Rotary in this project. In fact, the Borrowdale Brooke Rotary Club in Harare, Zimbabwe, is helping on the Zimbabwe side of the project.

Detour

I don’t have any deep thoughts today. I just saw this sign as I was driving home and had to laugh. After bumping along over pot-hole-ridden dirt roads for a few hours and seeing another car approximately… never, the concept of a lane, let alone a lane closing, struck me as pretty funny.

Meet ASAP's New Country Director, Regai Tsunga

“The past is our inheritance, the present is our reality, and the future is our challenge.” A sign bearing this quote and the names of several Kufusa Mari Savings Clubs hangs in the corner of Regai Tsunga’s office. He keeps the sign as a reminder of the community’s hopes for positive change in the future. As ASAP’s Country Director, Regai frequently has the opportunity to meet and talk with those who are directly benefiting from ASAP’s projects. He is eager to share stories of the joy and success he has witnessed.

“One woman shared that she had not eaten meat for several years, but once she participated in the KM project she was able to buy beef. Imagine! Everyone in the family celebrated the consumption of beef! Having decent meals should be something so ordinary, but it was something they had only imagined in the past,” Regai relates empathetically. Other women involved in the project used the money to meet basic needs, earning enough to pay for school fees, farming implements, or even shelter. For Regai, these stories are sustaining; “In this organization results matter a lot, so you are really focused in everything that you do. It’s a big inspiration to see the results of your efforts. No wonder we put in so many extra hours!”

Regai is himself a native Zimbabwean and is no stranger to the problems currently facing his country. As both someone working to alleviate suffering and someone who is experiencing the same problems as the rest of his neighbors, Regai has evident motivation to make ASAP’s programs successful. Regai and his wife Jane have three children. Their commitment to their children’s future happiness is clear, “We must ensure that we leave something for our children for which they can thank us. I feel that the children deserve much better. I can’t remember the last time I bought a pair of shoes for my own children. I would love to save for my children’s futures, but I can’t save money because inflation is eroding its value too quickly. I had saved something like 80,000 in the early eighties and used it to buy a house, but if I had continued to save that amount until today, I would be able to buy only a kilogram of beef. In effect, we are working only for today- nothing for our kids, nothing for our future. This is a very great concern.”

In the midst of such difficult issues, Regai celebrates the progress ASAP Africa is making and the sustainability of the projects. Regai explains, “The goal is for the community to perpetuate the project after ASAP’s exit. In the case of Kufusa Mari, we train cluster facilitators who are resident in the community with the internal savings and loan methodology. Long after we leave, the cluster facilitator is there to train her community. Eighty-five percent of the groups formed in 2003 were still functioning in 2005— two years after we had left! In fact, those groups had trained second and even third generation groups. That’s the beauty of our projects; the community is involved through and through and becomes empowered.”

When asked how ordinary Americans could help Zimbabwe, Regai responded, “Ordinary Americans should know that we are also only ordinary Zimbabweans. Here at ASAP, we are trying to alleviate suffering of ordinary people and need any help anyone can provide, whether prayer, words of encouragement, or donations. All our interventions uplift the standard of life for ordinary people. They are already making an effort to help themselves, we just provide the resources they need to do it.”

There are Many Gaps to Bridge

“So what is your favorite part of school?”
“Writing the tests that ASAP brings us.”

When fifth grader Hardlife Dirorimwe answered my question in this way, I thought he was just trying to give the scary American woman the answer she wanted. As I was walking home with Bridge the Gap Project Manager Collins Mutsvairo, I joked that I had never met a child whose favorite part of school was taking tests.

“No,” he corrected me, “his favorite part of school isn’t taking tests, it’s writing the diagnostic tests that ASAP brings.”

Apparently, taking ASAP’s tests is something that excites many of the rural students. Why? Because it’s the only time each student gets a piece of paper and a pencil all to him or herself. Even more exciting, the paper has the questions printed right on it!

Usually, three or four students share a writing utensil and a notebook of newsprint. Textbooks are even scarcer. As many as ten students can be forced to share the same book in some subjects. Teaching aids like maps, protractors, rulers, and charts are all but non-existent. Further complicating matters, inflation has raised school fees out of reach of many students and teacher pay has become low enough to make teachers wonder if they should come to work at all.

In light of so many difficulties, ASAP’s education programs provide a ray of hope. Bridge the Gap adds much needed energy and enthusiasm to math education through quiz competitions, after school math clubs, and teacher training workshops. Kufusa Mari Junior attacks a different, but equally important issue by helping students form savings clubs and raise money for their school fees. ASAP field officers are deeply engaged in the schools they serve and work hard to supplement the existing educational system. With programs like these, ASAP is giving the most marginalized students a chance to succeed.

What does a pair of shoes really cost?

Brian Sabeta, a participant in ASAP’s Bridge the Gap Education project, when asked what one thing he would change about his life if he could, said that he would ask for shoes. He walks six kilometers to school everyday, and he said, quite simply, that his feet hurt.

A year ago I would have seen a simple answer to this problem. I should buy Brian a pair of shoes! I have a closet full of shoes I don’t even wear, so certainly I can afford to buy a pair for a boy who really needs one. But during my time with ASAP, I have begun to look at the problem differently. What happens next year when Brian grows out of those shoes or wears them out? Do I buy him another pair? What about the year after that? What about when he grows up and has children- do I buy them shoes as well?

I’m learning that buying shoes for every barefoot child is not feasible, nor is it sustainable. Further, it may not even be desirable. By giving Brian a pair of shoes I would be telling him that he needs me to provide for him and that he, his family, and his community all are incapable of taking care of themselves. I would be perpetuating the dehumanizing cycle of donor dependence.

Of course, this theory doesn’t make Brian’s sore feet feel any better. Then what can we, as cultural outsiders, do? We can support programs that train, equip, and empower local communities and individuals to meet their own needs. In Brian’s case, the answer is Kufusa Mari Junior, a program that teaches kids a simple form of savings and lending methodology. The children of adult Kufusa Mari participants form all-kid clubs and learn to save money to pay for their school fees, school supplies, and uniform. Participants can even use the money to buy, you guessed it, shoes.

Yield to Oncoming Zebras

Every day on my way to work I pass this sign, which reads Zebra Crossing. And every day when I see that sign I smile to myself at how bizarre and exotic living in Africa is. Where I’m from in Atlanta, all we have are duck crossings!

Last week I asked my coworker Michael to stop the car in front of the sign so that I could take a picture of it. He looked a little confused, but pulled over to the side of the road. When I got back in the car he asked me, “Don’t you have crossings in the United States?” I replied, “Yeah, for people, but not for ZEBRAS!”

He looked confused for a moment and then burst out laughing. In between laughing fits he explained to me that a zebra crossing is not for zebras. It’s just a normal crosswalk named “zebra” for the black and white diagonal lines that mark where people should cross. Every since then whenever we pass a zebra crossing, Michael smirks and says, "Stephie, look out for the zebras!"

Sigh. This picture is yet another symbol of how much I still have to learn about life in Zimbabwe.

Snakes on a Plane, Zimbabwe Style

At field day celebrations, ASAP staff members and leaders in the community give short speeches or tell stories to encourage the project participants. Since I don’t speak Shona, I have to rely on whoever is sitting next to me to translate what the speaker is saying. Usually my translator gets tired of repeating everything in English and starts to give me somewhat garbled snippets of the stories. I try to link them together, but often I just end up laughing to myself about what in the world the speaker could be saying. Here are some of the best explanations translators have given me:

-“When the mermaid returned Robert to his home, he had to go back to grade 4 even though he was old enough to be in grade 6.”
-“Stay in the middle of the river so that an animal won’t drink you and keep you from getting back to the ocean.”
-“You wouldn’t let a rabbit join your savings club would you? No, of course not! Rabbits are sneaky and will steal all your money!”

Usually I don’t bother the translator to explain the stories that don’t make sense to me. I just laugh and clap when everyone else does and it all works out fine. But at my last field day, I had to get the story behind Project Manager Joseph Miti’s speech. The field officer who was translating for me leaned over and whispered, “Okay, so there are these snakes… on a plane.”

I thought surely Miti hadn’t seen the cheesy Samuel L. Jackson movie, Snakes on a Plane! Of course, he hadn’t and was happy to retell the story to me later.

Two American scientists were visiting Zimbabwe to conduct research on a rare type of deadly snake. Once they collected fifty of the biggest and meanest snakes they could find, they packed them up in breathable boxes and got on a plane back to the United States.

Unfortunately, the take-off was a rough one and the turbulence caused the boxes to break open just as the plane reached its cruising altitude, releasing the snakes into the cabin of the plane.

People began running around the cabin screaming, jumping on top of their seats, and clinging to one another for safety. Even the scientists were afraid to be enclosed with so many snakes on the loose!

Immediately, the pilot radioed the control tower and asked for permission to land. The control tower replied that another plane was already on the runway and there was no where for the plane to land. The pilot again asked for permission to land, indicating that there were severe problems on board, but again the air traffic controller told him that there was nowhere for him to land. A third time, the pilot begged to land. “This is an emergency!” he yelled into his radio. But the air traffic controller yelled back, “You’re not coming down here! The only direction you can go is UP!”

Faced with no other options, the pilot did as he was told and steered the plane up toward the clouds. The plane flew higher and higher until the cabin temperature began to fall. With each minute the cabin got colder and the snakes began moving more slowly. As you know, snakes are cold-blooded animals and they cannot move if they are not warm. As the snakes began to fall asleep, the American scientists quickly gathered them up and secured them back in their boxes. All the passengers began to cheer and thanked the pilot for flying UP!

The morale of the story is this:

When you begin your Kufusa Mari savings club it is like boarding a plane. Without a doubt you will encounter difficulties on your journey, just like the snakes, but you must not give up because there is no place for you to land once you have begun. Instead, fly so high that the problems lose their energy. If you continue to fly too high for conflict, then you will make it to your destination!

Not even Samuel L. Jackson can beat that.

Stephanie

What Life is Like in Rural Africa

Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to travel through some of the more rural areas of Zimbabwe as I have visited project beneficiaries. The beauty of the mountains and grassy fields is tempered with the desperation of those who inhabit this scenic place. As I walked along the side of the road there were many waiting for scarce transportation, searching for scarce work, or haggling over scarce food. Maybe that is the theme for rural Zimbabwe right now: scarcity. Everything seems to be in short supply from grocery items to electricity.

People cannot afford their own cars or even bikes, so public transportation is important. In the city, many people wait to pay high prices to squeeze into small buses. Those in the rural areas are less lucky and routinely have to walk to their destinations many kilometers away. Walking presents a unique challenge to women who must carry large bundles on their heads, strap babies to their back, and lead their other children along by the hand.

Many in the rural areas do not have running water. Some have always lacked the necessary plumbing, but others just recently have been deprived of water due to power cuts at reservoirs and water pumping stations. In order to cope, families must walk to the nearest river, sometimes very far from their homes, and bring back water in buckets. The water must then be boiled before it is sanitary to drink.

Since money is scarce, families grow their own vegetables to supplement what they are able to buy. The gardens must be carefully tended and protected from roaming animals. If the crops do not grow or are destroyed, the family will suffer.

There are, however, some things that are not at all scarce. There is no shortage of children who have lost parents to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, nor is there a shortage of price increases as the country faces 4000% inflation, and certainly there is no shortage of the unemployed, who currently compose 80% of the country’s population.

Nothing about daily life in rural Africa is easy, but Zimbabweans continue to persevere and work hard to improve their lives. The situation here is often bleak, but it is not hopeless. Many of the challenges rural Africans face today are similar to what farmers in America struggled against less than a hundred years ago. The United States has taken giant leaps forward in national health and prosperity and I believe that Zimbabwe can do the same.

In spite of all the difficulties in providing even the most basic standard of living, there is something beautifully complex about seeing life in rural Africa as an outsider. To me, it is like being at a party where everyone is dancing to a song that I can’t hear. All I can do is copy their moves and hope to be only a beat behind. There is so much I don’t understand that I could embarrass myself with examples. That’s why any foreign imposition of how Africa “should” be will inevitably fail. As cultural outsiders, all we can do is assist Africans in changing their own lives. They are ready. Are we?

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Sadza

"When I don’t eat sadza for a day, it’s like… something is missing in my life!”

This is how Field Officer Lovemore Manjoro described sadza, a thick maize-based paste that is the staple food in Zimbabwe. I can safely say that I don’t feel like anything is missing from my life on days when I don’t eat sadza. It has been a challenge to adapt to eating this food everyday, but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it! I’m learning strategies for finishing my sadza and not looking like a wimp or food snob. So, here’s my guide to eating sadza… and maybe even liking it.

(1) Wash your hands. You will be eating with your hands and nothing kills an appetite for sadza like dirt on your finger-utensils. There is always a chance to rinse your hands off in a basin, but believe me, that doesn’t do much.



(2) Try to get sadza served with lots of sauce, meat, vegetables, and, if you are very lucky, rice. Here is an example of a very small portion of sadza with lots of extras:


(3) Dip each bite of sadza in the sauce and get a piece of something else with it. Put the something else on the tongue side.


(4) Take big bites.

(5) Don’t eat the stuff in the blue bowl.


6) Sit next to someone who really likes sadza. Miti is always a good choice.

(7) When you think you can’t possibly take another bite, take another bite.

(8) When the meal is over, sit back and thank those who prepared the sadza for you.

And the key to liking sadza? Keep eating it! It gets better every meal.

At First Thought...

“I thought first of killing myself. I kept asking God, ‘Why me?’ I tried to think of my kids, but all I saw was my death ahead of me,” Netsai Chikohomero explains emotionally as she described the day she found out she was HIV positive. That was seven years ago.

She lights up when I ask about her Kufusa Mari Savings Group, which is composed exclusively of HIV-positive women; “We’re just like a family when we’re here. We are all in the same boat, so we can give each other physical, emotional, and spiritual support. We share ideas and help one another.” For Netsai’s savings group, Kufusa Mari has already begun to turn their lives around after only eight months of internal savings and lending. “Some of us used to beg, but now none of us beg. If you use the money properly, you can raise money to buy things for your own. The project is especially important for those of us who are single mothers. Some of us used to be prostitutes, but now we don’t have to do that anymore.”

Still, the current economic climate continues to create struggles for Netsai and her family; “The hardest part is telling my kids that I don’t have money for them. My youngest daughter is only five, but she is trying to understand. I’m trying to raise money for her education, so when she asks for a sweet, I have to ask her, ‘Do you want a sweet or do you want to go to school?’ She thinks about it and decides that school is better. She is starting to understand the reality of the world.”

Though she has huge financial needs, Kufusa Mari has already helped Netsai to earn her own money to pay for food and her medical costs. She is hopeful that it will continue to help her as her group’s combined income grows each month. So far, she says the most helpful part of Kufusa Mari was the initial training in savings and lending methodology; “I learned how to budget, how to buy first what is most important. I have already taught my friends and relatives about how to save and lend money. Most importantly, we learned that we don’t have to beg. We learned how to work hard, use our heads, and fend for ourselves.”

When I ask how she can have hope in such difficult circumstances, she smiles broadly; “I want to see my kids grow up. I have this vision,” she gestures excitedly, “I want to leave my children in their own homes, able to take care of themselves. I want to see my grandchildren.”

I ask her how she feels about her disease now and she pauses for a moment to think. “Now, I feel that I am just like anyone else. When I die, I will die like any other human.”

Stephanie