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August 2008
Women Investing in Business Together in Malawi, the "Warm Heart of Africa"
Posted by: Phil Borges at 6:27PM EST on August 30, 2008
If I could summarize what I have seen in Kaundama village in just a word, it would be "harmony". I have met the delightful, inspiring members of the Namirazi women's association (named for a local river). I was instantly drawn to them because of their joyful singing; I thought it was just to welcome us, but they continued to sing as they walked to and from their fields, as they cooked lunch, after they ate they just clearly loved the camaraderie and companionship they have found in their savings and loan group.
The group works so well together, they have undertaken a major investment in a new business. In the next couple of months, they will start raising poultry. Each member has already committed 3,000 Malawian Kwacha (about $20) to have the coop constructed. It stands at the ready. After they have saved a total of 110,000 Kwacha ($760), they'll be ready for CARE to help them arrange the purchase and transport of the chicks, feed and other supplies to start the new venture.
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Women Advancing Women in the Warm Heart of Africa ─ "If I Refuse to Help Because I Am Overloaded, We Will Not Get Ahead"
Posted by: Phil Borges at 2:38PM EST on August 28, 2008
I watched a woman named Rhoshida harvest her groundnuts – you might recognize them as peanuts – as the sun sank behind mountains south of Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe. It was a beautiful scene for a couple of reasons. First, the setting was spectacular. More importantly, there before me was a woman who was harvesting the fruits of her labor, part of a plentiful growing season that would feed her family throughout the year.
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Women Helping Women in the Warm Heart of Africa ─ Creating Access to Credit Where There Was None
Posted by: Phil Borges at 5:28PM EST on August 21, 2008
Photographer Phil Borges traveled for two weeks in May to Malawi with colleague filmmaker/photographer Smith Patrick to learn about how women's village savings and loan associations impact families and communities. It was Phil's seventh trip with CARE.
A village savings and loan association is a group of 10-20 members – usually women – who save small sums of money each week to create a fund from which they can access loans. The loans are used to start or expand small businesses, and are repaid with interest. With the income from interest and their individual enterprises, women are able to improve the health, education and well-being of their families.
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A Rat a Day Keeps the Hunger Away - a New Solution for India's Poor? -
Vijay Prakash, the principal secretary of Bihar's
welfare department, has proposed a new idea to cope with the food shortage in India's poorest
state - rat meat.
Prakash's proposal includes not only popularizing rat-eating in urban areas
(rat catchers will only improve their livelihoods if demand grows), but
encouraging rat farming as well.
As catching rats is not easy, people will be trained in the best rat trapping techniques, and food festivals are being planned to showcase the versatility and
tastiness of the meat.
"There are twin advantages of this proposal. First, we can save about half
of our food grain stocks by catching and eating rats and secondly we can
improve the economic condition of the Musahar community," he told the BBC.
According to Mr Prakash, about 50% of total food grain stocks in the country
are eaten away by rodents. He argues that by promoting rat eating, more
grain will be preserved while hunger among the Musahar community will be
reduced.
Many of Bihar's extremely poor Musahar
community are already rat eaters. At the bottom strata of the caste system,
less than one percent of their 2.3 million population in Bihar
is literate and 98% are landless.
Prakash, who claims that rat meat is tastier than chicken, has not tried it
himself. "Unfortunately, or fortunately, I haven't had rat yet but my
mother has and she says it is very nice," he said.
Notes From a Conference Veteran
Helene Gayle, MD, MPH, President and CEO, CARE USA,
shares her thoughts from the ground at the XVII International
AIDS Conference in Mexico City.
The International AIDS conferences have been a
running timeline for the response to the epidemic and a marker for evolution in
my own career, and this week's International AIDS Conference is one of the
biggest – almost 25,000 delegates. I remember the first International AIDS
Conference, in 1985 in Atlanta,
as a gathering of a few hundred people, mostly scientists, just coming to grips
with a new and baffling disease.
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Growing Responsibly
For me, meeting with CARE colleagues and leadership here in Mexico City has been crucial. We need their support, as our work fighting the HIV epidemic in Côte d’Ivoire continues to grow exponentially.
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A One-Stop Shop
This is my first time at the International AIDS Conference, and I have to admit it's a bit overwhelming! But I'm learning a lot, especially about how we can improve our work with children affected by the epidemic.
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Nurturing Partnerships
I have the interesting distinction of having been to every International AIDS Conference for the past 18 years. Every time, I learn more. It's a rare opportunity to stand back from our daily work and look at the big picture of the worldwide response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
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Standing Together at AIDS 2008
At the 2008 International AIDS conference in Mexico City,
an event the size of a small city, it is a relief to see some familiar
faces. I already knew a handful of the 30 colleagues from around the CARE
world who gathered for a meeting before the conference, but the others, too, were like
family.
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Give Me A Chance
July 27th was national Election Day in Cambodia. It was the fourth
mandated election since the 1st UN-backed one in 1993. However, I couldn't join
the election this year. I'm in Germany
working on my two-month internship with CARE. But I am a Cambodian and I want
to have a leader that can reduce poverty and cement democracy.
To me, voting is not just casting a paper in a
box in a few minutes. It is a long, long process. I have to observe many people
and select the strongest leader. That person will be responsible for my family
and others for the next five years. Sometimes I feel a headache just trying to
figure out the better candidate.
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