The needs are overwhelming
Adult Learning and Empowerment Fund
ALEF
No18 APR 2012
Donations
The needs are overwhelming
Our income in March dropped drastically compared with the previous two months: January
11 210 kr
February
23 320 kr
March
3 615 kr
Maybe it’s because we didn’t get a newsletter out in March, and also because the chairman was away and couldn’t collect money in the streets. We need to increase the number of regular monthly donors, from the present 15 to at least 50 giving an average of 200 kr per month. Can you consider giving monthly to ALEF? You can pay through a Swedish bank to pg 900217-1 or from outside Sweden to IBAN: SE709500 0099 6034 0557 6020, Swift: NDEASESS
THE NEEDS We need another 4000 kr for the tree planting in Benin in May. Each literacy course participant is offered to buy two tree plants, and get a third plant free. ALEF pays for the distribution and the bonus plants. The fruit from the trees give important nutrition, it can be sold to pay for children’s schooling. The trees also bind moisture in the soil, enrich the soil with the leaves, hinder erosion and pull down rain. We also need money for the costs of running the office: rent, internet, bank fees etc. We would like to offer people to give by automatic transfers, but setting up the system costs 5000 kr, money we don’t have.
Solange, 18, was quite noticeable in the church with her Muslim veil. A small group had gathered in Kayonza, 65 km from Kigali, capital of Rwanda, to tell me why they want to learn to read. ”My family fled to Tanzania, and my mum died in the refugee camp. When I was 5, we moved back to Rwanda. Then my dad died. At 8, I started working as a maid. The husband in the family raped me. Then I became a prostitute. Two years ago I had a baby. Now I live with a Muslim woman, who forced me to become a Muslim. She would throw me out if she knew I was here. But what can I do, I have to learn to read and to make a living.” During my three weeks in Kenya, Rwanda and the South Kivu province in DR Congo, I met several groups of people who highly desire to learn to read and write. Many told about parents killed in war and unrest, about rape, refugee camps and extreme poverty. A Congolese woman told that she can afford to send one of her ten chil-
dren to school, a boy of nine. “But I’m not sure he will make it, because he refuses to go to school when he hasn’t had anything to eat”. During my visit in East Africa I met some local organisations which want to cooperate with ALEF. We held three “mini workshops” where no less that 12 different organisations participated: two in Kenya (one from Uganda), three in Rwanda and seven in DR Congo. During the workshops they learnt about ALEF’s way of working and our method, and I got to know them; as people and as organisations. I was deeply touched by meeting some highly motivated people, dedicated to do something about the extreme poverty they see all around. We now want to carry out a series of pilot projects with these organisations. ALEF gives the training and helps produce the manuals, and they carry out the projects. We have applied for funding from the Swedish Postcode Foundation, and we hope to get started in October. Hélène Boëthius, chairperson
ALEF
New board member
Adult Learning and Empowerment Fund c/o Hélène Boëthius Sorterargatan 12, 162 50 Vällingby Tel. 08-38 04 19 070-630 44 55 [email protected]
At our Annual Assembly on January 18 th, we added three new members to our board. Here is one of them:
PATRICK EL CHEIKH Patrick was born in Stockholm in 1974. His father is Lebanese and his mother is Swedish. In his early childhood Patrick lived in Algeria with his family, but moved back to Sweden in 1979.
www.literacy.se
A civil engineer specialized on international business from Stockholm Univeristy and the University of Stirling, he started an IT business in Stockholm before starting work at the Swedish Trade Council in 1998. At the age of 26, Patrick was sent to Riyadh, where he worked for 8 years, helping hundreds of Swedish companies with practical and strategic business development.
Pg 90 02 17- 1 The board Hélène Boëthius, chair Dieudonné Mparara Ruchogeza Lena Insulander Mikael Kindbom Margareth Harris Patrick El Cheikh Samuel Holst
ALEF and Patrick met at an event arranged by ALEF’s supporter the Internet bookstore Fritz&Ståhl, where we discovered that we share the same ideas of how to work with development. With his background, Patrick has a lot to offer as a board member, and we are very happy to welcome him on the board.
Facts about East Africa If all goes as planned, ALEF will be start cooperation with local organisations in four East African countries this year. Thes countries (except Kenya) have all been involved in the long and painful conflict which has been going on since the early 90’s, and which was especially focused through the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Totally more than six million people have been killed, hundreds of thousands of women have been raped, and millions have fled. In som areas, like Rwanda and South Kivu, overpopulation is rife. Some people have no land to cultivate, others try to eke out a living for a large family from a field of 100 m2 . People have many children, and few can afford sending all their children to school. Below is some statistics* - but the situation can vary a lot from one part of the country to another. Population
Kenya 43 million
Rwanda 11,7 million
Uganda 36 million
Demokratic Rep Kongo 73,5 million
Capital
Nairobi
Kigali
Kampala
Kinshasa
Literacy rate
85%
70%
67%
67%
Literacy women
80%
65%
58%
54%
Children in school**
80%
100%
98%
?
GNP per capita
$1700
$1300
$1300
$300
Life expectancy
63 years
58 years
53 years
56 years
Infant mortality / 100043,6
43,6
62,5
61,2
76,6
HIV/Aids– infection
6,3%
2,9%
6,5%
?
Currency
Kenyan shilling Rwanda franc Uganda shilling Franc Congolais
*www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook **Unesco
ALEF
No18 APR 2012
Donations
The needs are overwhelming
Our income in March dropped drastically compared with the previous two months: January
11 210 kr
February
23 320 kr
March
3 615 kr
Maybe it’s because we didn’t get a newsletter out in March, and also because the chairman was away and couldn’t collect money in the streets. We need to increase the number of regular monthly donors, from the present 15 to at least 50 giving an average of 200 kr per month. Can you consider giving monthly to ALEF? You can pay through a Swedish bank to pg 900217-1 or from outside Sweden to IBAN: SE709500 0099 6034 0557 6020, Swift: NDEASESS
THE NEEDS We need another 4000 kr for the tree planting in Benin in May. Each literacy course participant is offered to buy two tree plants, and get a third plant free. ALEF pays for the distribution and the bonus plants. The fruit from the trees give important nutrition, it can be sold to pay for children’s schooling. The trees also bind moisture in the soil, enrich the soil with the leaves, hinder erosion and pull down rain. We also need money for the costs of running the office: rent, internet, bank fees etc. We would like to offer people to give by automatic transfers, but setting up the system costs 5000 kr, money we don’t have.
Solange, 18, was quite noticeable in the church with her Muslim veil. A small group had gathered in Kayonza, 65 km from Kigali, capital of Rwanda, to tell me why they want to learn to read. ”My family fled to Tanzania, and my mum died in the refugee camp. When I was 5, we moved back to Rwanda. Then my dad died. At 8, I started working as a maid. The husband in the family raped me. Then I became a prostitute. Two years ago I had a baby. Now I live with a Muslim woman, who forced me to become a Muslim. She would throw me out if she knew I was here. But what can I do, I have to learn to read and to make a living.” During my three weeks in Kenya, Rwanda and the South Kivu province in DR Congo, I met several groups of people who highly desire to learn to read and write. Many told about parents killed in war and unrest, about rape, refugee camps and extreme poverty. A Congolese woman told that she can afford to send one of her ten chil-
dren to school, a boy of nine. “But I’m not sure he will make it, because he refuses to go to school when he hasn’t had anything to eat”. During my visit in East Africa I met some local organisations which want to cooperate with ALEF. We held three “mini workshops” where no less that 12 different organisations participated: two in Kenya (one from Uganda), three in Rwanda and seven in DR Congo. During the workshops they learnt about ALEF’s way of working and our method, and I got to know them; as people and as organisations. I was deeply touched by meeting some highly motivated people, dedicated to do something about the extreme poverty they see all around. We now want to carry out a series of pilot projects with these organisations. ALEF gives the training and helps produce the manuals, and they carry out the projects. We have applied for funding from the Swedish Postcode Foundation, and we hope to get started in October. Hélène Boëthius, chairperson
ALEF
New board member
Adult Learning and Empowerment Fund c/o Hélène Boëthius Sorterargatan 12, 162 50 Vällingby Tel. 08-38 04 19 070-630 44 55 [email protected]
At our Annual Assembly on January 18 th, we added three new members to our board. Here is one of them:
PATRICK EL CHEIKH Patrick was born in Stockholm in 1974. His father is Lebanese and his mother is Swedish. In his early childhood Patrick lived in Algeria with his family, but moved back to Sweden in 1979.
www.literacy.se
A civil engineer specialized on international business from Stockholm Univeristy and the University of Stirling, he started an IT business in Stockholm before starting work at the Swedish Trade Council in 1998. At the age of 26, Patrick was sent to Riyadh, where he worked for 8 years, helping hundreds of Swedish companies with practical and strategic business development.
Pg 90 02 17- 1 The board Hélène Boëthius, chair Dieudonné Mparara Ruchogeza Lena Insulander Mikael Kindbom Margareth Harris Patrick El Cheikh Samuel Holst
ALEF and Patrick met at an event arranged by ALEF’s supporter the Internet bookstore Fritz&Ståhl, where we discovered that we share the same ideas of how to work with development. With his background, Patrick has a lot to offer as a board member, and we are very happy to welcome him on the board.
Facts about East Africa If all goes as planned, ALEF will be start cooperation with local organisations in four East African countries this year. Thes countries (except Kenya) have all been involved in the long and painful conflict which has been going on since the early 90’s, and which was especially focused through the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Totally more than six million people have been killed, hundreds of thousands of women have been raped, and millions have fled. In som areas, like Rwanda and South Kivu, overpopulation is rife. Some people have no land to cultivate, others try to eke out a living for a large family from a field of 100 m2 . People have many children, and few can afford sending all their children to school. Below is some statistics* - but the situation can vary a lot from one part of the country to another. Population
Kenya 43 million
Rwanda 11,7 million
Uganda 36 million
Demokratic Rep Kongo 73,5 million
Capital
Nairobi
Kigali
Kampala
Kinshasa
Literacy rate
85%
70%
67%
67%
Literacy women
80%
65%
58%
54%
Children in school**
80%
100%
98%
?
GNP per capita
$1700
$1300
$1300
$300
Life expectancy
63 years
58 years
53 years
56 years
Infant mortality / 100043,6
43,6
62,5
61,2
76,6
HIV/Aids– infection
6,3%
2,9%
6,5%
?
Currency
Kenyan shilling Rwanda franc Uganda shilling Franc Congolais
*www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook **Unesco
