Original post can be found HERE.

Meeting :

For our last meeting’s program we welcomed Britton Tuck of Baldwin County’s Communities in Schools program, who presented some amazing stories about her work and living experiences in Kenya during her internship with the Foundation for Sustainable Development.

Today, history is being made. Congress is telling President Obama in no uncertain terms that his administration needs to do much more to end the threat to international peace and security represented by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The passage of this legislation takes us one step closer to that goal. Congress is playing an increasingly important oversight role in demanding more action from the Obama administration in ending deadly conflicts in Africa, and Congressmen McGovern and Royce and Senators Feingold and Brownback have been at the forefront of these efforts.

Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA), one of the original co-sponsors of the bill, wrote this guest blog post, which originally appeared on the Enough Project’s blog, Enough Said.

I am very pleased to report that the House of Representatives passed the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act (S. 1067/H.R. 2478) today, sending this important piece of legislation to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law. This is a very significant day for U.S. policy in Africa.

For the first time the U.S. will be required to design and implement a comprehensive strategy with our multilateral and regional partners to address the violence of the LRA. This bill will help protect the victims of LRA violence in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, southern Sudan, and the Central African Republic. Importantly, this bill will help strengthen state presence and capacity in these regions to the benefit of vulnerable civilian populations who have long suffered at the hands of the LRA, and it will help advance the recovery of northern Uganda from decades of violence.

I want to recognize the work of my friend and colleague from California, Congressman Royce, who introduced H.R. 2478 with me one year ago. To mark the bill’s passage today, Congressman Royce aptly said, “The LRA’s objectives are threefold: kill, capture and resupply for its next pillage. There is no other reason for its being. The removal of Kony and his top leadership would decapitate this group. This legislation ensures U.S. leadership in making that happen. The day can’t come soon enough.”

In the Senate, Senators Russ Feingold and Sam Brownback sponsored the same bill, S. 1067, and have worked hard with their colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure its passage.

But perhaps most of all, I want to highlight the crucial impact of the scores of young activists to whom we really owe today’s victory. A great deal has happened across the country to ensure that this bill is before the House chamber in scarcely one year. I want to especially thank the national networks, organizations, and grassroots activists of Invisible Children, Resolve Uganda, the Enough Project, and many other religious and human rights groups who have rallied in support of the people, and especially the children, of this region of Africa.

These Americans, thousands of them high school and college students, understood that the children and people northern Uganda, the DRC, southern Sudan and the CAR have no voice in Washington. So they were determined to become their voice. They realized that these African children and families were invisible to Washington policymakers, so they decided to make them visible.

They realized there is too much suffering, too much pain, too much destruction, too much killing in this region of Africa so many thousands of miles away – and that there was just too much silence here in Washington. So they built a grassroots and national movement of hope for peace, for justice, for reconciliation, for reconstruction, for the recovery of the human spirit. They believe that the people of northern Uganda – the children of Uganda, the DRC, southern Sudan and the CAR – have a right to protection and to have a voice in their own destiny.

The unresolved crisis with the Lord’s Resistance Army is one of Africa’s longest running and most gruesome insurgencies. It has morphed into a sadistic force, wreaking terror on the local populations, filling its ranks with abducted child soldiers and slaves.

Within the next 10 days, President Obama will sign this bill into law and set in motion the process to develop our comprehensive approach to the region. It is critically important that we build upon the momentum of today’s victory on Capitol Hill and stay engaged with the Obama administration as the U.S. begins to generate concrete plans to operationalize the proactive strategy we’ve called for in this bill.

So congratulations to all the supporters who mobilized to get this bill passed. Now, let us turn our attention toward ensuring meaningful follow-through as our government works to help see this conflict to its end, protect vulnerable populations, and support and strengthen recovery efforts in northern Uganda and the region.

John Prendergast is Co-Founder of Enough, the anti-genocide project at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C.

Follow John Prendergast on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JP4Enough

Elizabeth Pisani uses unconventional field research to understand how real-world behaviors influence AIDS transmission — and to overhaul antiquated, ineffective prevention strategies.

About this talk:

Armed with bracing logic, wit and her “public-health nerd” glasses, Elizabeth Pisani reveals the myriad of inconsistencies in today’s political systems that prevent our dollars from effectively fighting the spread of HIV. Her research with at-risk populations — from junkies in prison to sex workers on the street in Cambodia — demonstrates the sometimes counter-intuitive measures that could stall the spread of this devastating disease.

An alumna of various government health agencies, Elizabeth Pisani is now an assumption-busting independent researcher and analyst, polling transgendered sex workers, drug addicts and others to illuminate the surprising (and often ignored) demographics that belie traditional studies.

Pisani is fearlessly outspoken on the global failure to understand and manage the realities of AIDS, decrying the tangled roles that money, votes, and media play in the public health landscape. She shows how politics and “morality” have hogtied funding, and advocates for putting dollars where they can actually make a difference. As the Globe and Mail wrote: “Pisani is lucid, colourful, insightful and impatient.”

“We are still not focusing our energies where they are truly needed.” – Elizabeth Pisani

Want more? Check out Elizabeth Pisani’s blog, The Wisdom of Whores.

For more info check out these two great sites:

VDAY

2010 Spotlight Campaign – Democratic Republic of Congo

Want more? Check out this interview with CNN!!

CNN’s David McKenzie reports on the inspiring story of Kenya’s Kibera Film School (Feb. 16, 2010)

Project Designed by: Peter Khamusali, FSD Program Director and Kenyan native, in close collaboration with the Shikokho Water Resources Users Community Group; FSD intern Abigail Papé.

Total Project Cost: $23,000.00

Community Contribution: $4,000

Raised to Date: $14,000

Additional Funds Needed: $9,000; $4,598.54 of which we are trying to raise now for phase two of this project!

The village of Shikokho is among the many villages in Kenya and Africa, at large, that currently is without appropriate access to a sustained clean water source. Women spend several hours each day collecting water for washing clothes, cooking, and bathing. The sources from which the water is obtained are open to the air and subject to contaminants that affect the health of the villagers and families.

This initiative aims at getting clean, accessible and sustainable water to this community. Electricity was recently brought to the village and is helping to improve the lives of the villagers. Additionally Peter Khamusali, the project leader and Kenyan native, would like to see running water flow into the community. Not only will running water be brought through the project; drilling a borehole and installing a submersible pump, Peter has a vision to protect the wells and springs within the community and its surrounding area.

So far Peter reports the first stage of the project, the geophysical /hydrological survey, has been completed and he is now in the process of training a committee of 12 community members in the practical dimensions of managing the water source. The next phase after training will be drilling and the third will be the installation of tanks. He reports the community had a goal to raise approximately $4000.00 USD toward the project, with an estimated cost of $23,000.00 overall. He recently reported that funding is now over 50% complete for the project. My goal for this campaign is to raise $4,598.54 which would cover the expense of drilling to establish the clean water source. Having lived in the village adjacent to Shikokho and participated in gathering water, boiling water, using it for washing clothing and dishes, as well as working in a health clinic for nine weeks, I am acutely aware of the necessity for accessible clean water sources and believe this project will sustainably improve the lives of the villagers in western Kenya.

If you would like to contribute via check, please send to:

Kirsten, I’m so glad that the D Session orientation went well for you!! I know that you are setting high standards for the International Program Coordinator position!!

I miss you!!

Kirsten McConnell graduated in 2008 from Queen’s University, (Kingston, Ontario, Canada) with a BA in Global Development Studies. She first came to Kenya in the summer of 2007. At that time she was an intern, through FSD, with FIDA (Woman Lawyers Federation of Kenya). At FIDA her responsibilities were varied but her main project was starting a child therapy center for young girls that were victims of sexual violence. While in Kenya she also worked on an art therapy project directed at those affected by HIV / AIDS and was asked to give leadership training to a locale youth group. Upon returning to Canada she served as a peer mentor for Queen’s counseling and disability services and treasurer for the Global Development Studies department student council.

Erin, I know that your conference was splendid!! I wish I could have been there to gain more insight into your expertise!! All FSD site teams wish they had a site team member like you!! I love and miss you too!!

Erin Hersey, previously FSD’s AlumniConnect and Events Coordinator in San Francisco, joins the Kakamega Team as our first International Programs Fellow. She graduated in 2005 from The George Washington University with a BA in International Relations double concentrating in Latin American Studies and Comparative Political, Economic, and Social systems. During college she studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she volunteered her time with a grassroots human rights organization that focused on youth and education. This experience influenced her to become involved in grassroots development work, and in 2006 she left her paralegal job with a law firm in DC to move to San Francisco and pursue this interest. Erin enjoys rock climbing, biking (she did the AIDS Lifecycle in 2007), and food (she really, really, really loves food).

And Damaris, how could I forget you? I couldn’t and never will. I think about you and Donnel every day!! You are missed greatly!! Damaris Gitau is driven by a desire to improve peoples’ lives, while positively contributing to effective solutions on sustainable development issues and challenges. During the recent post-election violence in Kenya, she worked with the Red Cross helping the internal displaced persons. She worked towards seeing that all people understood that despite their differences in religion, tribe, and political affiliations of power, they are all equal. As a volunteer in youth affairs, she realized the strength in working with people living with HIV/AIDS and worked with the communities that have both been affected and infected. In addition, she facilitated the design, implementation and monitoring for both strategic and action plans in the community. Damaris loves cooking, swimming, listening to music, traveling, meeting different people, watching movies. She has a five year old son called Donnel, who is the joy of her life.

I had butterflies in my stomach days before I left my host family. I lost sleep thinking about leaving them and missed them before I had even said goodbye. I was very overwhelmed at the thought of seeing my biological family again. I spent 45 hours in total travel time from Kakamega, Kenya to Macon, Georgia. I spent a lot of my layovers reflecting on the past three months of my life. I knew that traveling by myself allowed for me to stay quiet and assimilate my thoughts about the past and the future and, most importantly, how these two were going to merge.

I was happily greeted by my family at Macon Groome. We exchanged hugs and took pictures before we loaded my suitcases up and drove to Logan’s Steakhouse nearby. I chose the restaurant before I even left Kenya since I had been craving a nice, juicy steak. I wanted a good cut of meat as the main entree of my first meal back in the States!!

I sat down with my family at the table and everyone began looking through their menus. I looked down at the menu in front of me and became instantly overwhelmed with emotion. Just seeing the options for any meal of my choosing brought on a huge gush of tears. I kept thinking about my family in Kenya and how they will never see a place like this or ever get to experience a meal like this one. I thought of the drought and the hundreds of starving families that I’ve been helping in the forest for the past 3 months. I thought of how easy it is for us to get food – how we demand large portions of grub in short amounts of time and want a variety of it to choose from. I thought about how we often don’t even finish the food on our plates because we are full; that we don’t eat every bite because we don’t have to worry about when our next meal may be. All of these images rushed through my brain within a matter of seconds.

I considered leaving the restaurant but didn’t want to upset my family. I ordered a steak and ate it all with a feeling of guilt. What I thought would bring me happiness and a true sense of being back in my native country ended up making me feel guilty and alone.

I always think about Mama, Saph, Jose, Wilkister, Pauline, Baby Britton, Praxides, Soya, Amiza, Rheinhart, Titus and his family, Evans, Polycarb, Eric, Patrick, Bettasita, Phyllis and everyone else who has become family to me over the past three months. But thoughts of them arise every time I go to the grocery store or to the fast food joint up the road. I find myself making decisions that I never even crossed my mind before this experience, especially when it comes to food and water.

We have more than we know and what we know isn’t nearly enough.