November E-Newsletter

A day in the life of an Indonesian girl 

Many children around the world, specifically girls, cannot get an education, generally because school fees and gender inequality prevent countless children from attending primary school. On average, 95% of boys and 95% of girls of the relevant age are enrolled in primary education in North America and Western Europe*, but in Burkina Faso, West Africa, only a shocking 42% of girls and 52% of boys attend primary school.** 

The gap between boys and girls clearly varies from country to country, but World Neighbors strives to educate communities to eliminate the gap. Helping families learn ways to generate more income so they can send ALL of their children to school, and also helping communities understand the practical benefits that result from women’s equitable participation in family and community decision-making are key to advancing communities and closing the gender gap.  

Children in America may not realize how different their lives are from children in a developing country. They don’t know that if they lived in another country, they might not be able to go to school and how that would affect their future. World Neighbors knows that sending a child to school not only affects the future of that child, but also that of his or her community.  

The story of 10-year-old Mety Pala from Indonesia portrays what a typical day in the life of a girl living in a World Neighbors program area is like. 

She wakes up at 4:45 a.m. with her mother and grandmother already in the kitchen. Her mother stirs the ashes from the night before, coaxing the fire back to life between the three large stones that support the cooking pots. Mety picks up two empty containers and goes out into the cold morning to fetch water for the day. By the time she reaches the spring, a 15-minute walk away, there is already a line of women and children waiting. It is the dry season, but the spring is still flowing well. Before the villagers learned to plant trees from World Neighbors, which protected the water source during the dry season, the spring would slow to a trickle.  

Then, Mety helps her mother and grandmother prepare breakfast – rice, cucumbers and sambal (chili sauce). When everything is prepared, the family sits and eats together in the kitchen. At 6.30 a.m., Mety and her brothers leave for school, about a 20-minute walk away. Although school is free, parents have to pay for uniforms, books and pencils. This is the first year she has been able to go to school because there was no money to send all the children to school, so only her older brother went.

A few years ago, World Neighbors helped Mety’s father’s farmers group set up a small cooperative. The cooperative have provided loans which have helped farmers like Mety’s father invest more in their farms. The benefits are starting to show as the loans, along with learning about improved farming techniques facilitated by World Neighbors, have meant that this year Mety’s family had an excellent harvest and the family was able to make more money.  

At 1:00 p.m., Mety walks home and helps her mother cook lunch - the same as breakfast, but with a little dried fish, something they could never afford before. Her brother goes to fetch water.  

Once a month, a midwife visits someone’s home in the village, so mothers and children come to learn, however, many times the mothers are too busy to attend the training so the children go and listen. Today, Mety sits with all the mothers and their children and listens to a talk about healthy food from the health volunteers. Mety likes attend because the volunteers use lots of colorful pictures and sometimes they play games. The volunteers never used to give these talks, but since they received training through the World Neighbors program, they are more confident and active. Mety would like to be a midwife one day.  

In the evening, Mety fills and lights the kerosene lamps in the house before helping her mother cook. Her father has visitors that evening so he sits and eats in the other room with them. After she and her brothers have served dinner to their father and his friends, they eat in the kitchen with their mother and grandmother. After the meal, Mety practices her reading by the light of the lamp in the room she shares with her grandmother. Now they have more money for kerosene so her mother is not angry if she uses the lamp for this.  

All of the children in World Neighbors programs areas are learning how to change their lives and their future through education, inside and outside of the classroom. Give today and help parents around the world learn the necessary skills that lead to improved livelihoods. By training a parent, they are better able to meet the family’s basic needs and can then work toward other income generating activities that can help pay the fees for their children’s education. 

*North America and Western Europe: http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/document.aspx?ReportId=134&IF_Language=eng&BR_Region=40500

**Burkina Faso: http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/document.aspx?ReportId=121&IF_Language=eng&BR_Country=8540 

Stop your holiday shopping! 

World Neighbors will soon be unveiling its alternative gift catalog, Beyond the Box – a Better Way to Give. Your gifts will do extraordinary good works with World Neighbors programs that reach far beyond the end of the road. 

Now, instead of wondering what fruit basket to send Uncle Steve … or deciding what tin of popcorn to send your cousin in Florida… you can find the perfect gift for everyone on your list. After all, who wouldn’t love a goat, a cow, a llama, a garden, a mango tree or another unique gift? 

Gifts like these will transform lives from one of grinding poverty to one of nutritious food, full harvests, increased income and a better future for families and their children. So, keep your eyes out for this unique gift catalog in the coming weeks and make plans to give a gift that will bring smiles to both your recipient and those working hard to lift themselves out of poverty.    

If you would like to receive the print version of this catalog and are not currently on World Neighbors mail list, please contact Jean Felix at jfelix@wn.org.  

World Neighbors receives grant for vulnerable children and women in Tanzania

World Neighbors won a two-year, $70,000 grant from the McKnight Foundation to improve the livelihoods and economic status of 200 vulnerable women and 100 orphans and vulnerable children living in seven villages in Northern Tanzania.  

The work undertaken by World Neighbors and partner organization TARDTF will directly benefit 200 of the most vulnerable women and 100 orphan vulnerable children. It will support them in improving their techniques to grow crops, strengthen their access to markets, perform community-level gender analysis and encourage savings among participants. Additionally, 1,176 other women, children and men from seven villages located in the Tarime District, will indirectly benefit from the project. 

The present initiative will focus special attention on pregnant women, widows, persons living with HIV and AIDS and orphans. Other high risk groups will also be targeted, including women who migrate in search of work and orphaned girls who have resorted to exchanging sex for money or food.  

On the Shelf  

The Trouble with the Alphabet is unique and powerful. This 128 page hardcover coffee table book is a true work of art produced, using eco-friendly materials. 

This book highlights 26 different countries, one for each letter of the alphabet. The countries selected represent the wide range of human rights abuses and injustices that plague the world and prey on the smallest and youngest in society - the children. Each chapter closes with a respected non-governmental organization working in that country to provide every reader an opportunity to move from apathy to activism…one reader at a time. 

World Neighbors is proud to be chosen as the organization representing "I" for Indonesia in this one-of-a-kind book. 

Click here to learn more about this unique book and when you order, World Neighbors will receive 10 percent of the purchase. This book is another perfect gift idea!