Camfed International

A Camfed/Credit Suisse partnership is bolstering the quality of education in the Chinsali district of north-eastern Zambia. Funds from Credit Suisse helped Camfed to equip two secondary schools with computers, solar panels to power them, and a mobile chemistry laboratory, providing students with invaluable hands-on learning. The result: between 2009 and 2010, pass rates in Chinsali district increased by 20 percent.

Watch the video now.

For the mothers of students supported by Camfed in rural Africa, education has a special significance. Most were forced by poverty to drop out of school when they were young, limiting their opportunities. But they have converted that experience of exclusion into a passion for ensuring that their own children are educated.

“I was a very bright child, but my parents could not afford to send me to secondary school,” says Onesta Paul, the mother of two children in the Iringa district of Tanzania. “Since then, I have lived to support my children to go to school no matter what.” Onesta’s daughter Ester is acutely aware of her mother’s dedication. “My mom has worked so hard with the little she had to put me through primary school. She has always dreamed of me going further than she was able to go. I want to make her proud by becoming a doctor, so I can give back to her as she has given to me.”

It’s a sentiment that parents around the world share: the hope that their children will have better lives than their own. This Mother’s Day, give your mother a gift that honors the love and dedication of mothers everywhere: send a child to school in her name.

Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at Camfed!

Four intrepid runners took part in the London Marathon this weekend to raise funds for Camfed. Between them, the fab four ran more than 100 miles and raised over £3,000 to help send girls to school in Africa.

One of the runners, 50-year-old Sue Kumleben, was the fourth woman to cross the finishing line in her age group – after taking up running just two years ago. Sue achieved an impressive time of just over three hours and 13 minutes. And she has raised an equally impressive £1,300 for her efforts so far.

“I started running in order to run a marathon,” says Sue. “It was my birthday present to myself for starting my 50th year. (Don’t ask what I give other people!). ”

A mother of three teenagers, Sue ran her first London marathon in 2010 in support of the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital. Much to her surprise, she loved both the running and the fundraising. And when she earned a good placing for her age group, she decided to run the London Marathon again in 2012. This time she chose to support Camfed, which dovetails well with her own work as a parent coach in London. As she puts it: “we teach the parents; Camfed teaches the kids”.

Sue has some words of advice for anyone thinking about pulling on their running shoes for Camfed in future.

“For anyone who considers the sheer insanity of running a marathon, what can keep you going through the proverbial wall is all the support you get and give in fundraising,” she says. “It’s really that simple, and that important.”

Also running for Camfed on Sunday were Christine Caldwell, a university lecturer from Stirling, and husband and wife team Tom Aldred and Claire Thornhill from London. Tom completed the race in an incredible 2hr 36mins, placing 97th overall in the men’s race, while Christine, a keen runner, took part in the London marathon for the first time and finished within four hours. She chose to combine the experience with raising money for Camfed as education is a cause very close to her heart. Between them they have raised over £1,600 for girls’ education in Africa.

A big thanks to Sue, Christine, Tom and Claire for supporting Camfed!

• If you would like to pull on your running shoes for Camfed, we still have places left in the British 10K London Run on Sunday, July 8th. It’s a fantastic opportunity to run along some of the Olympic marathon route just days before the London Olympics begin. Drop us a line at info@camfed.org if you’d like to join the Camfed 10K team!
• Or if Sue’s story has inspired you to run a marathon, we also have places in the New York marathon on November 4th. For more details, send an email to nycmarathon@camfed.org.

In today’s Huffington Post, Skoll Foundation CEO Sally Osberg responds to a recent column on social entrepreneurs in The New York Times by David Brooks. Brooks refers to social entrepreneurs’ “refreshingly uncynical” approach to social change, but criticizes them for neglecting to engage in the political process. Not so, Osberg responds, citing Camfed as an example of an organization that forges robust partnerships with governments, particularly around the issue of child protection.

Read the Huffington Post article.

by Alison Fischman

Camfed supports as many children as possible in the rural communities where we work, but with so many vulnerable children in those communities, inevitably there are children we cannot reach.

That’s where Mother Support Groups come in. Across 2,500 Camfed partner communities, mothers and grandmothers – many of whom were unable to attend school themselves – are devoting tremendous energy to income-generating projects and advocacy so that the children in their community are able to complete school.

Since its inception in 2007, the Pepukai Mother Support Group in the Chiredzi District of Zimbabwe has expanded from a group of ten to nearly two dozen members. Camfed provided the group with basic business training and $100 in seed money to get them started – and then they took the reins, developing five small enterprises over the next four years.

With their start-up grant, the women began baking and selling buns. They used their profits to purchase four goats and start a small butchery, which provided them with enough revenue to then purchase 100 chickens. The group continues to expand their enterprises, and they now weave mats and brooms, and grow carrots, okra, onions, and leafy greens.

Today, the Pepukai Mother Support Groups is sending eleven children in their community to school, as well as donating school supplies to their local high school. They have also had success at a policy-level: by partnering with Camfed’s Child Protection Committee they have helped ensure that children who were forced to work can return to school.

The MSG’s treasurer, Mrs. Rangarirai Musasanuri, says she has acquired valuable business skills through her involvement in the group – but what she values most is the passion it has sparked for community engagement. “I have learned that a child is everyone’s child,” she says. “I have also learned that we do not have to wait for donors to give us aid, but that we ourselves can work with our hands and become donors. It’s important to help each other in the community because it makes life better.”