African Projects
Candace Cole and Eric Field have travelled to Africa regularly since 1999, and are deeply involved with several grass roots community initiatives there. Proceeds from Ango help support, in particular, the children of these communities.
Among these is a group of Maasai living on the very remote high plateau of Kenya, who for the first time, are trying to send their children to school, and are taking the initial steps towards equal education for girls. A tree nursery project has begun, to provide sustainability for these programs. The next stage of the plan is to acquire land on which to build a nursery school for the youngest students, who must now walk 3 hours to the government school.
Additionally, connections with Kenyan Maasai health, permaculture and women's rights educators are being fostered. Some of these activists have recently made the difficult journey to this remote community, and have conducted the first much-needed workshops on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and other STD's.
In Swaziland, where the AIDS toll has left hundreds of orphans in the community of grandfather Sipho Mamba, he and his family have opened their hearts and their homestead. They have personally started a school for 100+ of these children, where they also provide 2 meals daily.
They are also linking with other groups to assist further with this dire situation, in a culture which previously did not even have a word for 'orphan'. Plans are for the creation of a medical clinic, which the community lacks, and the provision of greater support for the grandmothers - who are now the primary caregivers due to the deaths of their own children- by teaching agricultural practices that both renew the soil and grow more food in less space.
On Salt Spring Island, Candace and Eric are active members of SOLID - a community-based non-proft organization dedicated to supporting & empowering HIV/AIDS affected families in Sub-Saharan Africa. |
250.537.0022
angoretreat@shaw.ca
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