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LIFE and Italian Military Distribute Aid
In collaboration with the Italian Military, LIFE did a distribution to a remote village in Djibouti. We gave out soccer balls, rice and bean packets, and school supply kits. This village is located 15-20 km from the nearest medical facility or school. There is not a lot to do there so handing out soccer balls provides the children (and adults) with something fun to do. People love soccer in Djibouti and by distributing the balls it gives them more than just food and clothing; we are trying to show that we care about all aspects of their life.
Fall 2017 Project House Classes Have Started!
Our project house in Djibouti has started their fall training classes. The project house is a place where young women, chosen and vetted by our local staff, come and learn valuable skills such as sewing and baking. Currently the girls are working on sewing camel bags. These bags are made from left over fabric donated to LIFE. The insides are lined with flour bags, which makes them easy to wipe clean. On the outside the girls trace and cut out shapes like camels and the continent of Africa. These bags are then sold at local bazaars.
The Fall 2017 sewing class!
One of the bags the girls are learning to make
One of the summer partcipants learning how to sew
Djiboutian Basketball Teams Receive Shoes
“Donations are the best gift, thank you,” said Mo, the coach of one the girl’s basketball team in Djibouti. The girls that play together have a very tight bond. “It brings people together,” said Mo.
Sports have taught them disciplines that they may not be learning elsewhere. There are girls from all neighborhoods playing together. One of the girls, Farah, age 28, has been playing basketball since age 12. She says they often how to go out and encourage the girls to come to practice despite how others may perceive them.
For the distribution, the federation contacted all the coach’s and basketball teams. One girl’s team plus six other men’s teams were present. Each team received a pair of shoes for each player and one basketball for the team to use. It was held at the basketball gym in town, an open-wall, covered concrete gym with stadium seating. They had decided to do the distribution that day and called all of the players and coaches. The coaches and Farah could not believe how many people had showed up on such short notice. The players were so excited to receive the new shoes, especially since they could be used for basketball.
“Some people don’t have any shoes,” said Mo. “While we may not make very much money being a coach, seeing the girls smiling and having fun is enough money for me.”
Aid Distributed to Families Who Lost Homes
In 2015 LIFE distributed clothes and other aid to around 200 families who became homeless after their huts were intentionally destroyed. the people who required the families to leave gave some advance notice, but the residents did not make appropriate preparations in time. They were not provided an alternate place to live, and in the process, they lost their few belongings. Grateful mothers gathered at the community center to receive clothes and food for their children. Community leaders sincerely appreciated the timely gifts for their people.
US State Department Helps Fund Sewing Project
Financed by the American State Department through the Julia Taft Fund, Local Initiatives for Education (L.I.F.E.) was able to provide a place for 60 students from different parts of the refugee camp to come and learn how to sew. The students, in groups of 20, work three hours a day for three days a week. The students begin with little or no experience in sewing, and are taught by former students of the sewing project. Skills taught include basic cutting, advanced clothes creating, and maintenance of the machines. In February of 2016, 43 students graduated from the sewing center. These graduates are now able to use their skills to provide an income for their family.
Food and Tent Distribution
Generous donors have continued to provide rice, food supplements and shelter.
Generous donors have continued to provide rice, food supplements and shelter. A batch of 440 pink tents has brightened up many shanty areas but more importantly has brightened up the lives of the recipients and provided shelter for cold nights and protection from disease-carrying mosquitoes.
In this world, having employment may not be enough to keep body and soul together and having an illness throws you on the mercy of others. Here are some examples of those helped this year.
Khadija is a lady who has three children, one boy and two girls who are deaf. Her husband is a watchman who earns 15,000 Djiboutian Francs ($83) per month.
She told us, “My husband’s salary is not enough for us. Each month I spend 5,000 df ($27) on milk for my children, and 3,000 ($17) on bus fares for my husband to get to work. That leaves 7,000 df ($38) which is not enough for us to survive the whole month. The rice helps us a lot, because I cannot buy vegetables and meat every day, so when I have rice I can cook it for lunch and for the dinner.”
Hassan and his wife and six children live in a dry wadi in a major city. Last fall it rained and the wadi filled with water, washing all their belongings away. Hassan also lives with TB and is under treatment.
He received a tent, built it up on makeshift stilts and now houses his family there. His family also received rice, which helps feed their family, as his wife does not make enough selling snacks on the street to feed and send her children to school. His wife sells little snacks on the street, making enough money for some of her children to have transport money to go to school.
Blanket Distribution
Even in hot areas like the Horn of Africa, it can get very cold at night.
Even in hot areas like the Horn of Africa, it can get very cold at night. This is especially true in the mountain regions and in certain seasons.
Local Initiatives for Education (LIFE) is one of several local organizations to be chosen by a Japanese charity to distribute blankets to poor communities in appropriate areas. In our case, this was in the hilly areas of northern Djibouti, towards the Eritrean border.
Careful records are essential in distributing goods. Recipients are recorded and marked with indelible ink to ensure fair and responsible allocation and to provide accountability to donors.
Medicine Supplies in Djibouti
A L.I.F.E. International consignment of medicines has been distributed to hospitals and clinics throughout Djibouti.
A Local Initiatives for Education (LIFE) consignment of medicines has been distributed to hospitals and clinics throughout Djibouti. The clinics include the Paul Faure hospital and the Caritas Clinic, shown here. The clinics enable poor people to get medical care and donations of medicines enable the clinics to function.
Medicines are dispensed at the Caritas clinic while patients line up outside.
Optometry Training: Djibouti
A L.I.F.E. International optometrist is training local technicians in eye-testing and in lens manufacturing
A Local Initiatives for Education (LIFE) optometrist is training local technicians in eye-testing and in lens manufacturing with the aim of having an optometry facility in each of Djibouti’s six districts. Five districts are rural and have no facility at present and Djibouti city has no optician’s shop for public use.
Trainee technicians are being taught in a laboratory set up by LIFE worker, Kurt, in Djibouti city. They attend three modules in refraction and lens fabrication.
There is interest from Djibouti City’s two hospitals, which do have optical facilities, as well as the 15,000 population refugee camp and rural districts which have none. Creating optical facilities in each of the rural regions will reduce the burden for the city hospitals and prevent the people having to travel to the city.
Negotiations with the government are under way for us to share facilities, training and expertise within government units, as well as to supply competent technicians from the training course.
Imported glasses are too expensive for much of Djibouti’s population and we would welcome assistance with importing materials for these technicians to make eye glasses at subsidized prices suitable for the local population. Transport/import costs are considerable, even when we have donations of second-hand equipment or materials.
Recent graduates in their new facility for making and selling glasses in a district hospital.
Water Wells: Djibouti
L.I.F.E. International has been able to help with the supply of manual water pumps in rural Djibouti.
Local Initiatives for Education (LIFE) has been able to help with the supply of manual water pumps in rural Djibouti. With increasing modernization and urbanization, traditional nomadic pastoralist lifestyles are changing. People are living in one place rather than constantly moving to find water for livestock. These people are being taught agricultural skills so that they can grow food not only for their families but also to have a surplus to sell and supplement the family income.
Water can be pumped from underground aquifers. These manual pumps will supply enough water for the garden each day without draining the aquifer. The people are taught basic maintenance skills and are able to buy the most often needed spare parts locally.
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