The New Communities

INTRODUCTION
Well, I have been to both new communities which AKF is working with, and I have some thoughts on this whole process.  In retrospect, as I told Elena, I am kind of amazed that I did not quite understand what was going on here until I was actually in the middle of it.  I've been to the meetings, and read all the documents - but I didn't get a real feel for it and how it works until just this week.  Maybe you just have to walk through it, but I am going to try to share it here.  Slides and a video would probably work better.  Here are some of the kids:

Kids and Staff - Good grins all

I have been reluctant to take any pictures of the houses - although people have been very willing to have me take photos of themselves.  I didn't want to offend them in any way.  But here's one.

NOT A PROJECT
The Rotary Fast For Hope Presentation makes this point - many times.  This is NOT about projects.  And we had a good example of it today.  We were visiting with one of the community families, and the man of the house was talking about some of the others that have come into town to help them out.  Note - AKF has not said anything about helping them out.  More on that later.  But he described this gringo couple that appeared one day, and spent time in the town. They had some connection with some church in town, and they wanted to help.  They were worried about childhood nutrition, so they decided to start a feeding program for children.  They also wanted to start a preschool program connected with that.  These are clearly "projects".  They had money, and they were going to raise other money to sustain these things.  They bought a bunch of food, they set up to serve meals to the kids - and kids showed up. And there is a clear need here - there is no question about that.  When young kids do not get proper nutrition, their brains do not develop fully, and they suffer many more health problems later in life.  I am almost always the tallest person in the room here - and I have shrunk to about 5'10".

But, the way they prepared the food was not wonderful as far as the kids were concerned.  And the parents voiced some concerns about how the school was working.  Net, bottom line, after some indeterminate period (my Spanish is not that good yet), the food was spoiled, the couple felt unappreciated and left, and the whole thing stopped.  The guy said, that's your typical project.  Somehow, he said, our community does not measure up so that the help continues.

I have several other, similar stories which I have encountered.  Some are heart rendering. Their is one project that is feeding people and building homes for people here that just did a really nice fund raising video.  The work they are doing is adminrable.  People are fed, houses are constructed - but it all depends on a sustained outside contribution. When that stops - as it must eventually stop - the people will have a few more homes, but that is about the extent of the permanent change.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The problem is, of course, that the whole thing creates a dependency on outside help, not only to get started, but to continue in operation.  What the Rotary Initiative is about is sustainable development.  The root idea is that people are capable of helping themselves.  They may need some initial help, some education, some ideas, but they have the potential to improve their own lot in life. When and if the outside help does stop, they are better off, and they will continue to improve their community.

HOW DOES ONE DO THIS?
OK, now, think about this a minute.  How does one do sustainable development, without creating an entire dependency relationship.  AKF has been working at this for years, and I think they have a way to do it.  But I didn't see all of the pieces until this week.  Here are the major tasks that I think one would undertake, somewhat in order.

1. You identify a community that has some basic community sense, so that your first efforts do not take forever to get off the ground.
2. You visit with the people in the community - using a wide variety of techniques.
3. You build up the trust relationship between the team and the community.
4. You identify the potential leaders in the community.
5. You get to know and talk with as many families as possible.
6. You identify all of the family relationships.
7. You suggest ways that the families in the community might get to know each other better, create relationships and fellowship that would benefit all of them.
8. You talk with the people frequently - several times a week - asking them how things are going, how is their health, their crops, the weather, their families.  You keep your ears and eyes open to what kinds of things they are worried about.
9. You play games with the kids in the street.
10. You help people plant, or harvest, or fix their homes.
11. You talk about your school, and how you accompany other communities.
12. You describe other types of work you have done for other communities.
13. You suggest that families meet with other families in informal settings, which you help to facilitate, so that they get to know each other.
14. You gather people together in informal meetings and celebrations.
15. You ask the community if they want to participate in the work of the farm school.
16. You invite them to meet with representatives of other communities you are working with.
17. You provide community building education.
18. You visit with them other communities that are in the process of building their dreams, of improving their communities.  You give them ideas as to what they can accomplish.
19. You help them determine what their community needs - what their dream would be.
20. You help them identify strengths and weaknesses in their community toward creating that dream - what resources do they have, what resources can they obtain elsewhere.
21. You help them understand that they have the power in themselves to achieve their dream.
22. You introduce them to some outside resources that could help with that dream - legal groups, farm schools, people with the skills they might need to accomplish their dream. 

Conclusion

That's as far as I've gotten.  I trust it helps a bit.  We are building a community, improving their relationships, their social capital, and empowering them to do things.  Not a project.  Comments?