Tag: statistics

  • Thoughts on Health & Economic Development, from World Relief

    06.02.11 | Comment?

    “How Can a Church That Cares About Health Change a Community?” by Maurice Kwizera

    The World Health Organization (WHO) uses a broad definition of health “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

    In Rwanda, WR is partnering with many local churches committed to address people health in broad sense – but with a definition that includes “spiritual health” as well.

    Before I share about their work, here are a few facts about health in Rwanda:

    Health Facts for Rwanda:

    ● 43% of households in rural area are headed by women, widows, or children.

    ● 19% of children under 5 are malnourished.

    ● 1 in 5 children will die before their 5th birthday – most from curable and preventable disease.

    ● 3% of adults have HIV/AIDS.

    ● Life expectancy is 52.7 years.

    Churches are well positioned to minister to the health needs of the vulnerable: more than 2/3 of the population attend church at least once a month. Churches are in the remotest areas where access to health care and information can be poor. The community trusts in church leaders and church members in general; any health initiative from them is recognized as a crucial component in successful delivery of health services.

    A church delivers health services with remarkable cost effectiveness: Churches are able to use their volunteers and influence to cascade information throughout the community in a short amount of time. Rwanda has many health success stories on this:

    Maternal and child health: In one district where World Relief empowered 2,800 church volunteers and 350 church leaders in community mobilization for maternal & child health, more than  29,000 households were regularly visited  twice a month for health education. As a result, the use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets increased from 3% to 70% in the target population, severe malaria cases in district Hospital decreased from 570 cases (2003) to 108 Cases (2006), and annual death cases due to malaria among children under 5 years of age steadily decreased from 30 to 0 within a period of five years.

    HIV/AIDS prevention: World Relief worked with the local churches from which 5,800 peer educators were selected, equipped with knowledge and tools and then committed to the education of youth on HIV/AIDS. After 5 years, more than 373,000 youth aged 12-24 years were reached with knowledge and life skills for HIV prevention through small groups regularly meeting at church.

    Fighting stigma & traditional beliefs: Word Relief has also worked throughout the country to help churches overcome the stigma of AIDS and be a leader in the community at accepting the sick for who they are.  Also, church are fighting traditional beliefs and encouraging people to go to hospitals instead of “traditional healers.”

    Where a local church cares about health, a holistic healing is brought to the community.

    Photo: A volunteer from a local church helps weigh a baby as part of a nutrition and child survival intervention in Rwanda.

    (Maurice Kwizera is the community mobilization manager in WR’s Child Survival program and has previously served as manager of WR’s HIV/AIDS program.)

    ~~~

    “Why Is Economic Empowerment More Important Than Giveaways?” by Pascasie Nsanzabozwa

    We’ve all heard the saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” As cliché as it sounds, the concept of giveaways versus economic empowerment is a huge issue in development work. In Rwanda, there are many people with serious and urgent needs and sometimes we just don’t have the ability or resources to take care of the root causes of their poverty.

    As we try to follow Jesus’ example of having compassion on the vulnerable, we instinctively want to help that immediate need as we are able. However, handouts are not going to create a sustainable skill and often rob those we try to help of the self-esteem and independence they could achieve from learning how to improve their economic development.

    “Savings for Life” groups in Rwanda are mobilized by church leaders. WR’s role is to train volunteers from these churches in how to train these groups to save.

    So how do savings groups work?

    1. 15-25 community members are mobilized by local churches to form groups.
    2. Groups meet weekly and each member deposits their weekly savings (usually less than $1) into the group savings fund.
    3. As the fund grows, members borrow from the fund to start small businesses.
    4. A social fund is set aside as an emergency grant for members who experience crisis.
    5. Group members add to savings between meetings using daily savings.
    6. Loans are repaid with interest and the savings fund grows even more!
    7. At the end of the 9-12 month cycle, each member receives their savings PLUS a portion of the interest collected. (They use these funds to pay school fees, buy livestock, and start small businesses.)
    8. The group then decides to disband or begin a new cycle. (Almost all continue for several additional cycles.)

    Because the church is involved, members learn more than how to save in these groups; they form relationships with others who are trying to lift their families out of poverty. Over time, they grow to love and trust each other.

    I visited a group last week called, Twitezimbere which means “let’s prosper.” The 20-member group, almost all of whom are women (78% of the program’s clients are women), are growing in unity.

    Hadidja, a Muslim member has been welcomed into the group. She has been inspired by how the group members, most of whom are Christians, love each other.

    Another women’s husband has been hospitalized for the past three weeks, and the group decided to donate the social fund to his family and spend time together weeding his cassava fields.

    These examples of compassion and caring for people who might have been strangers 2 months ago, is truly moving.

    These savings groups are giving a ministry to churches to empower people to help themselves – rather than making them dependant on support from outside.

    Photo: A savings group gathers at a weekly meeting to contribute to their savings fund.

    (Pascasie Nsanzabozwa is the economic development manager at WR Rwanda.)

  • Water to Run, or Running to Water

    05.17.11 | Comment?

    by Kari Husby

    I’m a wimp when it comes to carrying water.

    While many runners strap water bottles to their waists and backs and arms, I refuse to carry extra weight over long distances, even if that weight is oh-so-vital water.

    If you’ve ever participated in a race, though, particularly a marathon, you know the importance of water to reaching your goal. Your body depends on it to keep itself cool and to break down nutrients into usable forms of energy. Runners who forgo carrying water bottles count on the availability of water along the course, and some races even host “aid stations” or “water stations” at every mile marker to ensure the health and performance of their participants.

    As a runner I need water to get where I’m going. Many people around the globe, though, need to go in order to get water. For them, water is not the means; it’s the goal, the finish line. Individuals in impoverished communities often walk for miles, for hours, to reach any water, let alone clean water, to carry back to their villages; and according to Living Water International, the burden of obtaining water for the community often falls on women, thereby disempowering them. “On average, women in developing countries walk 6 kilometers a day to collect water,” the Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs recently reported. Time these women could spend pursuing an education, earning a wage, caring for their children, or getting much-needed rest, they instead spend journeying toward water, the most basic of needs.

    And the weight these women then trek home with! While I balk at toting a 16-ounce bottle in my hand, many women in East Africa balance 5-gallon jugs on their head. When I think about the women and girls who literally bear the weight of the world water crisis on their shoulders, I’m struck by both their fortitude and their plight.

    Consider these sobering statistics (UNDP 2006 Human Development Report):

    ●  A gallon of water weighs about 8 pounds.

    ●  The daily water need (“international minimum norm”) for a family of 5 is 100 liters (26.4 gallons). The  minimum only accounts for drinking and basic hygiene requirements.

    ●  This 100 liters weighs roughly 100 kilograms (220 pounds).

    ●  In Uganda, the average actual water consumption falls below the “international minimum norm,” at 12-14 liters per day per person of potentially unsafe water—or even under 5 liters per person in parts of East Africa during the dry season, a heavy burden in more than one sense.

    ●  The World Health Organization recommends a water source within one kilometer of a family’s household.

    ●  The average walk to obtain water in developing countries is 6 kilometers (3.7 miles); it may increase to well over 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) during the dry season.

    ●  In rural Africa, households spend 26% of their time obtaining water (UK DFID, 2007).

    ●  Women and girls are typically responsible for fetching water for their families.

    ●  School attendance rates for girls have been shown to increase significantly for those who live within 15 minutes of a water source, as opposed to an hour or more.

    The next time I grab water while running, I hope I will think of those for whom water is not so commonplace, so disposable, so secondary to a greater goal. And I hope I will continually ask myself how I might change my life in ways that help reduce the weight borne by women around the globe. It may not be an easy burden to bear, but that’s exactly why we need to share it.