Hello OWI friends,
The Ordinary Women, Inc. (OWI) Orphan Program which began in January, 2008 continues to run smoothly thanks to your faithful support.
The guardians who are a part of our Orphan Program (OP) have become a family in the last two years. Before the OP started two and a half years ago, most of these guardians didn't even know each other. Many of our guardians are widows. In Kenya, when the husband dies, the husband's family is expected to take over caring for the widow and her children. Most of the time, however, the husband's family blatantly takes any land, house, or personal posessions the widow has and leaves her with nothing but the children. Some widows brought their own children into the program. These orphans are considered half orphans in Kenya which means that the parent is completely destitute and has no way of supporting her children. Some widows have taken in other orphans in our program that are not their own.
Without this program, our orphans would be living on the streets. Someone asked me just the other day, "then the government would step in and take over the care of the children?" My response was, "No, there is no government assistance for these children. They would be turned out to live on the streets, no matter how young they are". We cannot imagine this in the United States, but it happens in Kenya, as well as in other countries all over the world.
So, these guardians have come together and have become an OWI family. They come together each month and are led by the social workers of the OP. They receive the monthly food allowance for the orphans. Then, they are given training on a certain area that helps them be better guardians to our orphans.
About one year ago, I started hearing of a savings program that the guardians were starting for themselves. This came out of the need when one of our orphans passed away last year. The guardian didn't have any money to bury our 8th grade orphan, Lorna. OWI raised the money to give Lorna a proper burial. The guardian wanted Lorna to be buried in her yard (which is still legal in this small village), so that's where the funeral and burial took place.
From this tragedy, the guardians got together and started a savings account. Each month, they each contribute 50 ksh (about 0.65 US) to the account. Then, if there is an emergency or if they have a project they want to do, they can borrow money from the account. They pay it back in payments each month with 10% interest. They now have 30,000 ksh (about $410 US) in their account. Some have borrowed money to buy small items for their homes, while some others have started small businesses like buying and selling of cereal, and vegetable growing and then selling of their crops. This all benefits the guardians and orphans in our program.
So, not only is your support and sponsorship providing the basic needs of food, clothing, education, and medical needs to the orphans, it's also empowering our guardians by being a part of a bigger family, and getting benefits from working together.
Thank you so much for your ongoing support to our program. Without you, this program would be non-existent.
If you are interested in supporting one of the orphans in our Orphan Program for just $35 a month, please go to our website at www.ordinarywomen.org and you can choose your orphan from the profiles. Or you can write to us at:
Ordinary Women, Inc
26861 Trabuco Road, Suite E#146
Mission Viejo, Ca. 92691
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Joining Hands for Global Change,
Darla Morfin
Ordinary Women, Inc.
Executive Director- OWI Orphan Program
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