Care For Life

The mission and structure of Care For Life is truly inspired.  When Care For Life enters a village, they invite the community to chose leaders from among their neighbors.   Then the field officers work with those leaders to help each family set goals (for example, go to school, send children to school, get HIV tested,  improve your house, build a latrine, drink treated water, build a dishes rack, plant a garden, start a small business, etc).   Every 6 months, as they complete goals, they earn rewards like cement that they can use to build a latrine or improve their house.  The thing is all about empowering the villagers with knowledge and skills so that they can continue once Care For Live leaves the village.

Last year I was working with the Income Generation part of the Family Preservation Program (see previous blog post).  This year I'm here with a broader focus on evaluation and leadership training.   In that vein, I felt the best thing I could do this first week is observe.  So I've spent the last two days out in the field with the coordinators, supervisors, and field officers of Care For Life, experiencing their work, hearing their stories, and seeing the change that Care For Life can make.

Community Meeting at the machessa

I walked with Melo, Children Supervisor, and saw his passion for working with children and helping others work with children.  I walked with Chicala, Field Officer, and saw how he calmly worked with the leaders of his area to address problems faced by the families there.  I walked with Carlos, Community Participation Supervisor, who had great ideas on how to serve the most needy in the villages, including children, pregnant women, and the elderly.   Today I walked with Cremildo, Agriculture Supervisor, and shared his excitement for the creation of gardens where there was nothing.   I walked with Regina, Field Officer, and was blown away to see that each of her families had recovered their houses with a layer of mud paint, cleaned up their yards, and were reaching their goals.

Onions and cove and tomatoes, oh my!

Banana dessert at a Chinese restaurant in Africa