Soccer Jerseys in Rural Kenya

Recently, Local Initiatives for Education (LIFE) sent sport jerseys to the Asembo rural community in Kenya. The boys could not wait to put on the jerseys and have been using them for local soccer matches since then. The coaches did however put some conditions in regard to stewardship that would extend the life of such jerseys.

1. The jerseys would only be used for official soccer matches, after which the team leaders would collect them, wash and keep them for future soccer matches.

2. No player would go home with the jerseys after soccer matches but they will immediately be handed over to the team leader for safe custody.

3. No player would use the jerseys for day to day purposes other than for the soccer matches.

The coaches wanted to help the boys understand that it took a sacrifice for the jerseys to reach them and they may not have that opportunity again in their lifetime and hence the need for the diligent stewardship.

While the team in Asembo was lucky to receive the jerseys, the coaches would still like more. "I don't want to ask for more but i am tempted to do so because the team that we played against was also in terrible need. I was also humbled when I saw the whole opposite team made up by young boys from the local secondary school playing bare feet. Some of our team members also played bare feet...I wish to take this opportunity to thank you so much for the huge investment in the form of soccer jerseys that you donated for the Asembo rural community! The investment was very much appreciated and it lightened up the village!"

Building Latrines

Water is vital for life but without good sanitation disease will spread and kill.

Large numbers of people flowing into refugee camps need an organized system for waste disposal that will not contaminate water supplies and will not attract flies. Without latrines, the people will use any open space. We build pit latrines (“long-drops”) for these circumstances.

Blanket Distribution

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.

Skills Training: Djibouti

Training is given to many groups, some in refugee camps, to enable them to earn their own income and support families. Skills include baking, sewing, making ornaments, making aloe vera soaps and making cosmetics. Trainees are taught marketing skills and sales opportunities are created to help them get started.

Medicine Supplies in 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 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

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.