ITS THE SIMPLE ACTS THAT MAKE THE MOST DIFFERENCE

CHECK OUT MY VIEWS ON WHY I THINK SIMPLE ACTS MAKE THE GREATEST DIFFERENCE.

http://evanswadongo.tumblr.com/post/56783264680/its-the-simple-acts-that-make-a-difference

Design to Save the World: A Kenyan Engineer’s Solar-Powered LED Lamp Is Going On Sale at Friedman Benda | Object Lessons | ARTINFO.com

Design to Save the World: A Kenyan Engineer’s Solar-Powered LED Lamp Is Going On Sale at Friedman Benda | Object Lessons | ARTINFO.com

Simply Saying You Empower Women Is Fashionable But Can Be Vague.

On my recent visit to Western Kenya, I met so any people living in dynamic villages, with different economic conditions. Some of the villages have power lines passing along the main road, but the families living just fifty meters from the power line cannot afford the cost of connecting to it. Although I saw the worrying trend of a rapid decrease in the size of land owned by each family, some families grew sugarcane, while others grew maize. My friend and I visited one of the villages my organization has been in working for several years where we met women of Mumashi group holding their usual meeting. I saw kids going to school, more healthy women and children, and more importantly, happy faces. The women were learning how to bake cakes. My friend asked the women how the baking of cakes was going to change their lives. The women were so eager to answer- but the group leader, mama Ruth explained,

“ When we got solar lamps from SDFA, we started saving the money that we were using for kerosene and then we used the savings to start bee keeping project and horticulture farming. Now those projects are doing well and expanding. We sell vegetables and honey to pay for our children education in high school, and even pay for medication. And as you can see, we are every smart now since we can afford good clothes which make our husbands love us more. With money from the honey and vegetables, we can afford cakes and better things. We are now learning how to bake cakes so that we can keep our husbands in the home “.

My friend and I were so confused. But on my way back to Nairobi, I reflected on what Ruth had said. I learned that however much the women in the rural villages become economically empowered, and can afford better education for their kids, they still value the importance of having a happy family. The women will stop at nothing to make sure their husbands happy and children happy.

Under our program dubbed ‘Use Solar, Save Lives’ at Sustainable Development For All, we have a project that aims to empower women economically. We use simple locally made solar lamps called ‘MwangaboraTM’ to ensure improved education for children, and ensuring women increase their spending power. We train and use youth with informal education in making the solar lamps. The solar lamps are made from at least 50% recycled materials and are customized based on community needs. We distribute the solar lamps to poor rural communities through women groups. We then train the women in micro-enterprise development and help the women set up income projects from the money they would have otherwise spent on kerosene. The women can then use the income ventures as collateral to access financing to expand and to start new ventures.

Considering that teaching a woman how to fish is far much better than giving her fish, projects that aim to uplift the lives of women must ensure they create long lasting change. Simply setting up a school will not make girls get an education or simply setting up a health clinic will not improve healthcare for mothers and children. In some of the areas in northern Kenya where my organization is working, the geographical scope is so vast, the area is dry and the infrastructure is extremely poor. I asked, Naisula, a mother of one of the shepherd students we are supporting in one of our projects that her community needs to reduce maternal death. She told me she wants better medication and skills to be availed to the village ‘doctor’ because she trusts the ‘doctor’ and she doesn’t have to walk long distances to reach her. It clearly shows that some of the approaches being taken to empower women like Naisula only good on paper but not effective in the community.

To most women in Africa, having happy families is part of empowerment, irrespective of how much they are educated or how much money they earn. It is therefore important for organizations to ask the women they target to impact what really makes them happy and what do the women really want instead of assuming that what works elsewhere will automatically work in each community. We should therefore simply aim at making the lives of women happier.

All in all, everyone who is involved in projects to improve the lives of girls and women should engage the communities first and specify achievable and practical activities that the women themselves agree with rather than simply hiding in the blanket called ‘women empowerment’.

Written by Evans Wadongo, Founder & Executive Director, Sustainable Development For All (www.sdfa-kenya.org)
Twitter @evanswadongo

Happy New Year and My personal Highlights in 2012!

2012 has been a year of many blessings but it did not lack its ups and downs. I sincerely thank all my friends and supporters, from many different countries, different races and different cultured-who believed in me and helped me achieve so much. I also sincerely thank all the team at Sustainable Development For All (www.sdfa-kenya.org) for their dedication and hard work.

Here are some of my personal achievements in 2012, all thanks to friends and supporters.

1. Travelled to Malawi on several occasions to launch @sdfakenya partnership with Jacaranda Foundation to train orphans in making solar lamps.
2. Received the SEED award by UNEP/UNDP in Pretoria, South Africa on behalf of @sdfakenya.
3. Was among the 6 finalists for the inaugural Innovation Prize for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
4. Featured in China Central TV (CCTV) documentary, Faces of Africa.
5. Was a mentor at ChangePilotz program for young change-makers in Canada and spoke at Capilano University in Vancouver.
6. Spoke at TEDxCibeles event in Madrid, Spain.
7. Received the Africa International Achievers award.
8. Was among 3 finalists for the global Humanitarian Hero award.
9. Attended the Africa Development Forum by UNECA in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
10. Attended the World Innovation Summit on Education in Doha, Qatar.
11. Presented at the 2nd meeting of entrepreneurs at The Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Bucaramanga Colombia.
12. Attended my 2nd CNN Heroes all star tribute event in Los Angeles, US.
12. Spoke at screenings of documentary about @sdfakenya's work in several states in USA.
13. Spoke at various schools and colleges in Kenya, Other countries in Africa, and USA.
14. And more importantly-carried the Olympic Torch for the London 2012 olympics in UK!

In 2013, i look forward to meeting new people, new challenges, and engaging a higher gear forward.
Thank you and a happy and prosperous New Year!

Lastly, finish of the year by supporting us to educate bright shepherd children in rural Kenya- http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/education-for-50-shepherd-girls/

Evans Wadongo
Twitter@evanswadongo
www.facebook.com/evanswadongo
Skype:evans.wadongo

On a not so serious note: A letter from the Queen to US citizens

A MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN

To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictio

nary.)

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except North Dakota, which she does not fancy).

Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

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1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.' Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').

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2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.'

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3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

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4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse.

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5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

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6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

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7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.

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8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

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9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable, as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

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10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialect in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

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11. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).

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12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

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13.. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

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14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

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15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.

God Save the Queen!

PS: Only share this with friends who have a good sense of humour (NOT humor)!

 

(adapted from Michael Yon facebook page)

'Conferences and Social Media' Women Activists promoting bad gender equality debate.

" As much as I want to earn my own money, I also want to have a happy family so that I can spend the money to educate my children and treat my husband well" . Quote from a woman Leader in Eastern Kenya.

I am one of the greatest supporters of empowering women and girls and I have been implementing projects that are improving livelihoods for them. I do firmly believe that for the rural communities, women play a vital role in feeding their families etc. I do however feel that wrong attention is being given to the girl child. Even in projects that entirely involve women as primary beneficiaries, we work with men all along to ensure greater harmony and success that often leaves happy families. Its important that both men and women appreciate that they were created differently and can never replace each other.

Men are wrongly blamed for the woes that face women and yet on the contrary, its men who are aiding women to rise up economically, socially and politically.

From my interaction with both women and men, it is common knowledge that most women are more jealous of their fellow women than men. In most corporate companies,female bosses would rather promote men than women and are more than happy to be the only ones in an environment surrounded by men. Female bosses are known to treat female employees badly. In politics, it is widely known that women prefer voting for men than women.

I have seen some organizations trying to use the issue of women empowerment to promote the idea that girls are denied a chance to study sciences which I totally disagree with. Sometime last year, I gave a talk at a girls high school and I asked why there ain't many girls studying Engineering. The girls simply answered that they think Engineering is hard and involves more masculine duties. On the contrary, many of the girls wanted to study medicine. Would you blame men for having less women Engineers?

Some women activists have argued that its lack of education that is causing sexual exploitation in women. I have always insisted that its not about education but rather values and poverty in some cases. Most of the female prostitutes in cities are educated. Most have at least high school education and some are college students and even working women. Its women allowing themselves to be portrayed as 'sex objects' and hence we cannot blame men for this. Do you blame men for women exposing their bodies in order to sell music? Do you blame men when most women will jump at every rich man around?

Most  of the women activists talking about women empowerment are alienating girls by pitting them against men. Some activists set a bad precedent and often want to use young girls as a tool to revenge against their own relationship problems with men. When girls get pregnant when they are still in school, is it because they are not educated?

Many women activists are only seen in conferences, on social media and in cities and towns. Having grown up in the village, and now working in many villages in Africa, I have seen few women in the communities being involved in the debate about women empowerment. Many of the women in the villages have no idea about the issues that are often propagated by a few women activists. Why do most women both educated and uneducated not agreeing with the message being propagated by most of the women activists? Majority of own female friends, who are well educated and have good careers and are even helping their own communities totally disagree with most of the messages often said by women activists in the media, in conferences and on social media. Why is it that we have very few women, educated in Africa, working in Africa and raising stable families, who are actively involved in some of the issues being talked about by the women activists?

From my experience working in pastoral communities, women empowerment means different things for different communities depending on the culture and way of life. If you tell most women in pastoral community about equality it may just seem like playing a Michael Jackson song to a donkey. If the men stay awake at night to protect the families, and are required to protect the community during conflict,  are their women ready to do that?

Neglecting the boy child isn't going to make girls to be empowered. Will the girls live in a vacuum without men?  Check out the following article in the Daily Nation: http://bit.ly/PFNwM4

If indeed all the efforts and money being pumped into women empowerment in Africa was working well, we shall be having many women speaking loudly about women issues. The fact that in Africa, most of the women activists are either foreign nationals, or Africans schooled abroad or women with unstable families; is totally worrying and will not serve to ensure more women and even men join the crusade on gender equality.

In conclusion, I believe a more radical shift needs to be taken to ensure equality in our society. Both men and women should be given equal rights and I believe instilling right values both at the family level and as a society is what will ultimately help in ensuring everyone prospers happily. Most men have continued to support women for so many decades and it will be wrong to totally ignore them. We should also ensure both men and women at grass-root level understand the issues we talk about or else we shall just continue 'making noise'.

visit our website to learn more about our work: www.sdfa-kenya.org

Lessons to consider for all 'heroes' in our society

Conjestina Achieng's sad story  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-RN2LDIBCs) is a true refection of how Kenya and many other African countries, treat their heroes, who often help build Africa's image. Its so sad considering that few positive stories about Africa, are highlighted in the world.

Governments, corporates and many people will promise you heaven when you are doing good and deliver nothing. The media will adore you, people will admire you but few will stand by you when you start falling down.

Drawing from my own experience both in Kenya and on my travels around the world, here are a few lessons to consider:

• Build your dreams based on goals and vision, but not on people. Beleive that you can make it without having some form of 'connection' with the right people. More often the 'right' people are selfish and are looking for every opportunity to enrich themselves at your expense.
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• Make most of your partnerships with institutions, not people.
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• Surround yourself with people who value you as a person, not by what you do; irrespective of how much money or connections or power or influence they have.  People who will stand by you irrespective of your status
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• Be professional and know your value. 
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• Don't be intimidated and stand firm on your values irrespective on how lucrative everything looks.
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• Be patient and but steadfast.
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• Don't compete or try to impress the society or your friends and family.
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• Believe in what is right and don't listen to detractors, and don't hesitate to stand by your belief.
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• Always evaluate your strategy and know when you need to make changes to your goals and the people around you.
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• Remain humble irrespective of how much success comes your way.
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• Listen to all views, but follow your heart in making decisions.
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• Don't seek publicity or seek attention but rather concentrate on what you do.If you can, avoid unnecessary publicity.
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• Allow criticism and learn from mistakes.
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• Believe in yourself and in your potential. 
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• Always follow your dream, not by what is expected by the society, but by what your goals are.