The primary reason for these statistics is that families depend greatly on their girls to help run the house and their mothers’ businesses. They generally fetch water (sometimes a several-hour trip) before and after school, take care of younger siblings, and help sell products on the street. If a girl does manage to stay in school through junior secondary school (9th grade), she often has no help preparing for senior secondary school entrance exams and applications. Scholarships for tuition, books and uniforms are the starting point for helping these girls. The Village Net also provides tutors when needed, and has emergency stipends for families facing adversity that would keep their daughters home.

Because many of the village women are illiterate and innumerate, The Village Net offers literacy classes. TVN’s definition of literacy is broad.. It not only encompasses language, but financial, health and civic literacy as well. The first goal may be to help borrowers sign their names (about 75% of the applications are now signed with a thumbprint) and do the basic arithmetic that will allow them to track expenses and revenues. Financial literacy, including the concepts of saving and budgeting, is critical. Health literacy will incorporate any programs related to health initiatives and implementing healthy lifestyles. For example, malaria nets may be misused or not used at all if recipients are not educated about their necessity. Civic literacy is often overlooked, but no less important. It is a mandate of The Village Net that borrowers learn to utilize the resources at hand to effect change. That includes the very basic responsibility of understanding the local process for change and voting.

One difficulty with education is that the women (and often girls) feel that they have little time for classes. The Village Net will incorporate education with other activities, such as loan repayment days or association meetings, to take advantage of time commitments the women have already made and are keeping. TVN respects the life priorities set by the borrowers, and will work within their constraints. While educational initiatives may be made prerequisite for borrowing, they will be offered in a way that does not complicate the women’s desire to learn. The Village Net is also working to implement a mentorship program utilizing accomplished women from nearby Accra to exemplify the many life paths that may be taken by the girls.

Community Health nurses, if they are supplied by the government, are often undertrained and overwhelmed. The villages are located near hospitals, but transportation in an emergency situation is difficult, and villagers are often unable to pay for their care. Due to the exceptional generosity of one WomensTrust donor, The Village Net is able to provide health insurance for its borrowers in Ghana. We do not yet know how much this insurance will be utlitized, and under what conditions. We have heard anecdotally that the insurance may actually impede a hospital’s ability to treat the most critically ill patients, as those who receive the insurance may use the hospital for minor conditions (as happens in the United States, by the way).

Diseases such as HIV/AIDs, malaria, typhoid, dengue fever, and many more have been targeted as critical situations in Africa. Some private companies and non-governmental organizations are making vaccines, malaria nets and other medical tools available in the effort. But the need is enormous and the efforts have reached few of those who need help. The Village Net model involves partnering with the organizations that have tools to fight these diseases, and helping to implement the education programs and distribution systems to make the tools availabe to the villages.

WomensTrust has implemented a volunteer program in Pokuase, in which members of the New Hampshire Nurse Practitioner Association donate their time twice a year to serve the villagers. They conduct blood pressure and anemia screenings, both of which have a dire impact on the village women. They work with the government-employed community nurse to provide training and supplies. The volunteers have collected excellent data that will help increast the impact of their services.

We are looking for a similar group of health care professionals who would be willing to come and work in Ofankor. Ofankor does not have a community nurse, but we believe that the use of our volunteers would help build the case for significant need to have one supplied by the government.

We are also interested in involving naturopaths and similar practitioners of homeopathic medicine. There are many local remedies in use, but we don’t know exactly what plants are used, in what doses, and how they are obtained.

The Village Net can help secure donated supplies. The volunteers would need to pay their own travel expenses.

This is care at its most basic. Come and practice medicine as it was practiced many generations ago. See the direct results of your work and know how much your contribution matters to this community.

104 Ofankor borrowers include 63 very active members of Love from God. There are some 100 additional women that were members prior to the loan program who may now return and begin paying dues.

Most of the women are traders. They travel to larger markets and return to the village with food and household goods, which they then resell. Many sales take place from the top of one’s head as one walks along the horribly congested and dirt-clogged highway in the beating sun. Then, there is graduation to an open shelter, sometimes made of chicken wire and pieces of wood or metal. Finally, the trader sets her sights on a kiosk, preferably of metal, that can be secured (and is often slept in). The village also has some services businesses, such as hairdressing or sewing, and a few villagers raise small livestock.

Tears of Women is highly organized, with representatives elected every 3 years. With its approximately 300 members, TOW offers a good training audience. They currently provide basic business training, and have offered classes related to HIV/AIDs education. TOW operates a small shop in Makueni where client products (baskets and handbags) are offered for sale. Some poverty alleviation training is offered through the Mwaani Catholic Church.

We found the Mwaani residents to be hardworking and optimistic. But the climate fails them, and the hope for rain is constant. Women run small businesses, and the men look for day jobs (digging, harvesting, making bricks). Of course, the infrastructure needs around water, power and sanitation are great. We are working with Tears of Women to prioritize these needs and start developing solutions.

Emayian Women, a Community-Based Organization (CBO)
Emayian Women was registered at the Narok district level in 2007. Members are Maasai pastoralist women located in Narok North, Enoosupukia and Suswa. This district has a population of 365,750.

Emayian Women currently has 100 members. An additional 900 women live in 3 villages near the Suswa sub-location. LIteracy among the women is very low. All resources are owned by men, so women have been denied involvement in development initiatives. Our borrowers say that “women..are culturally considered as children.” The CBO was formed to empower women and enable them to expand their businesses. As women have sole responsibility for household budgets, this initiative is considered critical.
The CBO currently operates a curio shop, from which members sell their beaded products, textiles and baskets. As the recent drop in tourism has shown, this is a tenuous venture with no real possibilities for sustainability. The women are interested in raising their own cattle and other animals (as men currently own the livestock and resulting profits).

The Greater Accra Region
This region is considered the gateway to Ghana, and it is the location of the country’s Capital City, Accra. It is the smallest of the 10 regions, but is the most densely populated (largely due to Accra and the port city of Tema). The region lies along the Atlantic coast and stretches north into the interior, so the climate varies from hot and humid to dry. The University of Ghana at Legon is located approximately 14km from Accra.
For more about the greater Accra region visit http://www.ghanatourism.gov.gh/regions/region_detail.asp?id=11

Ofankor Village (personal observations)
The village lies about 8 km from Accra on the highway between Accra and Kumasi, a rail stop and trading center. This highway is currently being rebuilt by a Chinese construction company and is expected to be completed within a few years. This will be a great asset to Ofankor, but it is currently a huge disruption. Ofankor is within walking distance of the other WomensTrust Villages, Pokuase and Amasaman, and business owners and customers do move among the villages.

Ofankor’s population is estimated at 20,000 people, and about 12,000 of those people live within families that earn $2 or less per day. The village also plays host to the Barrier, a checkpoint that was established years ago and remains today. It is easy to spot Ofankor from the market activity that takes place on both sides of the highway. The village does not have a chief, but is led by an elder member of the royal family. A women’s association was formed last year so that “women’s voices will be heard.” The women in Ofankor support their families largely through trade of products purchased in Accra or Kumasi, or through sales of prepared food. Some are service providers such as hairdressers or seamstresses. They are proud of their hard work.

The people we met are very welcoming to Americans. We experienced graciousness at every turn, with hotel staff offering to take us to appointments, people stopping to engage in conversation and answer our unending questions, and even one acquaintance who took our melting shoes for repair. We have made friends that we look forward to seeing for many years to come.

But the village faces challenges. We learned that Ghanaians are very sensitive to how they are portrayed in the west, and they asked for care in our sharing of information and photos. The following is offered simply to illustrate the many areas in which we could become involved in supporting Ofankor to sustainability.

Kenya’s population is currently 35 million. The population is very diverse, and includes most of the major ethnic and linguistic groups of Africa. Kenya has also served as host to refugees from Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia. The official languages are English and Swahili. 45% of the population are Protestant, 33% Catholic and 10% Muslim. Literacy is high, with some 80% of the population over 15 estimated to have the ability to read and write. Life expectancy is about 49 years. The mortality rate for infants is 79 per 1,000 live births. Female genital mutilation is widely practiced. Per capita income is approximately $680 per year (2006). Learn more about Kenya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DemographicsofKenya andhttp:devdata.worldbank.org/external/CPProfile.asp?PTYPE=CP&CCODE=KEN

The Village Net has identified two villages, on the east and west sides of Nairobi, as the starting point for its Kenyan HUB. These villages are located in the Eastern and Rift Valley Provinces.

Eastern Province
The region is semi-arid and is the second largest of Kenya’s 7 provinces. Inhabitants are mostly Kamba, with some pastoral communities. Our village of Mwaani is located in the Machakos district. For more information about the province, and district

http://www.answers.com/topic/eastern-province-kenya?cat=travel

http://www.answers.com/topic/machakos-district?cat=travel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamba

Machakos Town (on map), Makueni Village (Wote), Mwaani
Machakos, while located only 35 miles from Nairobi, is a two-hour drive due to the horrible condition of the roads. This is a town of some 35,000 people, and is the closest commerce center to Mwaani, Our banks and internet capability are located in Machakos.

The next village, Makueni (or Wote) is the capital of Makueni district, and home to about 56,000 people. Many shops are located here, as is a local market where residents buy produce, textiles, used clothing, furniture and other home needs. Wote received electricity about 3 years ago.

Mwaani is a collection of far-flung homes ranging from huts with straw roofs to brick homes. Most of the homes do not have electricity, and none have plumbing. The most prevalent tribe here is Kamba, which is a Bantu ethnic group. The villagers are traders, farmers, herders (of their own cattle) and basket-makers. To learn more about the Kambahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamba

The Rift Valley Province
The second village targeted by The Village Net is Suswa, located in the Rift Valley Province. This province is the largest of Kenya’s seven provinces, and is inhabited by 7 million members of intertwined tribes. The most famous of these, due to their colorful clothing and strong identity, is the Maasai. The Rift Valley is a center of farming and agriculture (especially tea), and livestock rearing. For more information on the Rift Valley, click herehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rift_Valley_Province,_Kenya

The Narok District and Suswa
The Village Net is working with the Emayian Women’s Group in Suswa, located in the Narok district. These women are Maasai, and they run a number of small businesses such as basket-making, beading, textiles, and raising of small animals. The men are typically involved in construction, or may serve as livestock herders (the traditional view of a Maasai man is herding cattle). This area has the highest rate of female genital mutilation in Kenya, despite the fact that the practice was outlawed in 2001. The town of Narok, home to about 40,000 people, is the location of banks, internet and places for staff to stay.

The loan program is a peer-lending model that is offered within an existing women’s association. As members of the village association, the women are eligible for loans. They generally have existing businesses, but struggle to make profits. The women apply for loans in groups of about 5. They each guarantee the loans of the others in their group; no other collateral is required, although the women’s association provides an additional level of guarantee by collecting dues that may be used in case of default situations. The loan cycle is 16 weeks, with a two-week grace period at the front of the repayment period. The loans start at very small amounts (about $55 US), but increase as loans are repaid according to requirements. The cycle will take a woman to about $250 US, at which point alternative loan sources may be used. At WomensTrust, those borrowers who reach the $250 ceiling are graduated to the Entrepreneur’s Club level, and are provided technical assistance in creating jobs for others. The Village Net will most likely incorporate this model when our borrrowers achieve this level.

TVN is also exploring a savings and/or insurance component, so that borrowers begin preparing for continencies. This is a relatively new piece in microfinance, and many organizations are currently experimenting with options. While microloans have been utilized for some 30 years, the industry is constantly evolving. New services, new outcomes measurement, new business models are all in process, making this an exciting time to be involved in microfinance.