The path is made by
walking. African Proverb
Walk through the villages in the central Kenyan bush country
today and you will see evidence of the GHNI Transformational Community
Development program - TCD. The new borehole in Attir, the wellness center in
Gambella, enterprising women in Ola Nagle dealing in goats and plastic chairs,
irrigated farming plots in Shambani, sturdy homes in Bulesa Dima, and dorms for
orphans in Gem. Then there are school buildings, a wind pump, the Empowerment
Center training facility, the water spigots in front of modest homes, ... signs
of the program in action.
Here are some examples ...
Before After
Homes
in Bulesa Dima
Before After
Water
supply in Attir
Before After
Primary
school in Gambella
It’s tempting to measure progress with these visible signs
of change. They are important; it’s easy; we are familiar with this approach to
measuring success. But there is this thing ... the most common and meaningful
sign of TCD success:
Before After
People
in the villages in central Kenya
Look all you want; you’ll not find any difference in the two
images. And that is the true power and beauty of TCD.
During the time when GHNI partners with a village, a helping
hand is given to overcome significant obstacles; together they travel a path
where villagers apply themselves to projects, which are designed to be low
cost, low tech and locally appropriate. They use their skills, and, with
coaching from local GHNI staff, learn new ones. Their involvement in the
projects, often requiring them to overcome setbacks, leads to restored
CONFIDENCE. There is also the satisfaction and DIGNITY of providing much needed
changes for their own village, their own families, and themselves.
The TCD partnership will end. It will not be easy for the
villages going forward. The Kenyan bush is harsh, aggressive, and unforgiving.
Walk through a TCD graduate village today, I suspect you’ll see “poverty.” The
material state of things gives that impression. In some cases, it may not have
changed much since the time the village entered the program.
However, the promise of TCD is there. You can’t take a
picture of it, but you can sense it in the attitudes of the people around you.
There is excitement and pride in their voices when they talk about their new
business enterprise or how they are using the wellness training to improve
health in the village. Though the material side of their lives may not impress,
confidence and dignity have been restored in their lives, addressing what those
who live in poverty say are its harshest embodiments: “... shame, inferiority,
powerlessness, humiliation ... hopelessness,
...” (When Helping Hurts; S. Corbett
& Brian Fikkert; pg. 53).
Confidence and dignity are the foundations of success, fully
realized when HOPE is restored. Villages emerge from the suffocating grip of extreme
poverty; the pathway of a sustainable, self-determined future unfolds before
them.
Epilogue
People don’t take
trips, trips take people. John Steinbeck
I went to Kenya for the first time in 2011, a trip I took to
visit Ola Nagele, the village I had already connected with as a sponsor. That
trip took me to a place of new challenges. There was that of helping people who
obviously could use a handout to get by, one that was pretty easy to meet.
But the deeper challenge of providing a helping hand up is
another story. TCD has structure and purpose, plans and reports; there are
successes and there are setbacks. All of these things are its arms and legs. But
the intent to restore confidence, dignity, and hope is its heart.
I returned to Kenya because I believe it is important to experience
the changes in the people. I returned because I have confidence the program is changing
the people there in ways that will benefit them for years after the village
graduates. I returned to experience and share the dignity – the satisfaction -
that comes from being a part of something important. And I will return again, because
I have hope that the work will continue to make profound changes in the lives
of people who, once hurting and hopeless, can now look forward to a
sustainable, self-determined future.
