Willing Hearts
in Canada
Reaching out
to Africa
Opening doors to sustainable agricultural development, rural micro-enterprise, participatory education and training.
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Willing Hearts International Society – Canada
News
· Spring 2010
· January 2010
Dear Willing Hearts,
Happy New Year! I hope you have been enjoying the Holiday Season and are looking forward to 2010 with high expectations. I know that I can't wait for even greater things that lie ahead for us, even on the heels of WHISCA'S best year ever.
The Official opening of Lugari Community Resource Centre in Lugari Kenya is just around the corner, and we can't wait to see community members, WHISCA members and friends present for the formal opening of the centre and launching of the programs. Please read some important updates below.
Lugari Community Resource Centre (LCRC) was founded in 2008 in Lugari District of western Kenya and merged with WHISCA in 2009 to provide the local community with access to information and to develop a range of programs for alleviating poverty within the region.
WHISCA will facilitate resource mobilization in promoting and strengthening both groups and individuals in sharing and exchanging information on appropriate technologies focusing on agriculture, literacy economic skills training and supporting income generating activities to alleviate poverty.
The new year proves to be very exciting for our members. On our fact-finding mission of three incredibly hectic weeks, I mapped out a plan to present to our board members during the first week of January upon our return to Vancouver. We have been enormously impressed with the Community Management Committee on the ground in Musembe. They have seen the near-completion of the centre, now with window panes as protection against the unseasonable torrential rainstorms of December. Room dividers assure privacy for the committee member administrators as well as the program developer and coordinator, all in time for the anticipated grand opening of July. The farmers are ecstatic over the promise of programs that will help them to develop new crops, new farm products, and to re-establish the forest. Proximity to the highway also ensures a good market outlet, this under the direction of a retired marketing expert.
More good news is that we have just discovered that the centre is within the allowance area for rural electrification--and that an official of the electric company has retired in our area. The electricity connection will be necessary when solar energy is not available during the dark days of the rainy season.
The Community Management Committee meeting with us
For the present, individual donors have not waited for the grand opening celebration to begin their work but have already donated moringa seeds in time for planting in March with distribution to three of the poorest village families; we have received funds for three sewing machines so that local women can start learning to use them; another donor allowed us to network with the local health clinic for a family-planning training program that will reach ten villages; donors also gave us the thrill of awarding a university scholarship to one bright young man, Nichodemus Masinde Moss, and high school scholarships to two of the highest ranking orphan girls of the village: Joan Khandasi Wanyonyi and Grenda Olukuti.
Nichodemus Masinde Moss, Glenda Olukuti (in pink) and Joan Khandasi Wanyonyi (in green) receive scholarships.
It was indeed a very happy new year for them and us. We thank you with all our hearts!
Khayanga Jenipher Wasike
President
· Fall 2009
Dear Willing Hearts,
What a year this has been! In August 2008, a little group of friends met in Vancouver to discuss their hopes and dreams for establishing a community resource centre in the Lugari District of Kenya. At the same time, in Powell River, another small group was expressing their hopes of completing their community school in Chad. The story unfolds with the two founders of WHISCA and the Lugari Project meeting by accident—or Providential Design—at a conference in January in Vancouver.
Khayanga Jenipher Wasike is the founder of the Lugari Community Resource Centre and new president of the WHISCA Board of Directors. For information about other WHISCA board members, see below.
Who would have believed that in August of 2009, a year to the day later, those same Vancouver people would be meeting as the WHISCA Board of Directors to discuss the continuation and expansion of a WHISCA project in Kenya? That is indeed what happened. In August of 2009, that board passed around a photo of the completed shell of the first three classrooms of the Lugari Community Resource Centre (LCRC), with thanks for some of the funds from former WHISCA donors.
Now that the roof is on the building in Kenya, what are WHISCA’s priorities for 2009 and 2010? Scholarships continue to be our first concern. One Chad orphan boy, Eléazard, remains to be educated, and his schooling has been ensured through the past generosity of WHISCA supporters. Under the guardianship of our faithful Bartholomew in Cameroon, he can take computer training along with his three-year high school programme.
In addition to Eléazard’s scholarship, one Kenya boy has received a designated secondary scholarship, and one girl’s scholarship will be awarded in January 2010 when Khayanga Jenipher Wasike visits Kenya.
Projects for income-generation, food security and health are also high on the list of priorities, particularly projects to do with farming methods. The finishing touches are being made to the LCRC's first building, and a tree nursery and experimental crops are in the ground. We hope to have training programs up and running for the official LCRC opening planned for June 2010. The LCRC will also contain a library, and books and teaching materials are on the wanted list.
The village women will be blessed with two industrial sewing machines donated by Lunapads of Vancouver when a Rotary container heads for Kenya next year. Weatherproofing at least one room for the library before the sewing machines and books arrive in the container is another priority.
Please note that this year membership is included in any donation above an annual $50 (also payable in instalments). All other donations are welcome. Direct deposits may be made to:
Account 417147,
VanCity Credit Union, Branch 12,
1675 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC V5L 3Y3,
or by cheque to WHISCA (see address below).
Thank you for your faithful support. Bless your hearts!
Click to meet the WHISCA Board of Directors
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