FAWCO
Federation of American Women's Clubs

FAWCO Annual Global Conference, Dublin, Ireland

"A Hundred Thousand Welcomes"

March 21–24, 2012

If you are interested in attending the conference, see the FAWCO web site (http://www.fawco.org/); login to get the details.

AWC nominates project for FAWCO Development Grant

As FAWCO, our mother organization, gives away both scholarships and development grants each year, AWC Denmark has nominated a project for a grant, which will be awarded at the FAWCO conference in Dublin at the end of March. As suggested by member Fiona Thomas, AWC’s FAWCO rep and President nominated “Vision Peoples in Mission” for a grant for education projects in Africa. Thanks, Fiona, for giving us the opportunity. Here’s a summary of our application.

Vision Peoples in Mission (VPM) is set in a slum in Nairobi, Kenya called Korogocho (“rubbish dump”) where 1.5 million people live in an area of 1.5 km2, plagued by poverty, substance abuse and AIDs, which creates many orphans and single-parent families.

  • VPM aims to reduce poverty through education and improve health by providing services for the area’s young people:
  • a school called the Haven, which provides food and education for over 300 children who would otherwise be scavenging from the dump;
  • an orphanage called Lucky Summer for 26 children orphaned by AIDS (and supporting 23 in foster families); vocational education for young men and women;
  • a medical center providing basic health services and prenatal care and a pharmacy.
 It depends on donations from western charities but also tries to raise funds by building and renting out housing (called Lucky Summer II). The Haven was badly damaged when a roof collapsed in a recent rainstorm and a FAWCO grant would cover the cost of repairs, enabling the school to continue to provide Korogocho children with education and healthy meals, which can help them escape the poverty and health problems in the area. Missionaries helped VPM director Rev. Franklyn Otwoma to secure education and a career; he “pays it forward” through VPM, in the hope that VPM’s children will do the same.

 

 

    
 

 

 

Mary Stewart Burgher

Mary Stewart Burgher