Thursday, January 26, 2012

Changes for Change One - Please read

Dear Friends,

We cannot begin to thank you for your support for Change One over the past few years. It has been such a blessing to partner with you and ministry projects in Sierra Leone. Thank you for your faithful and generous giving to our brothers and sisters across the ocean.

Since founding Change One in 2006, your donations have provided:
  • two water wells (one in an amputee community, another for a home for mentally ill)
  • many families business opportunities through micro-loans
  • two communities with bathroom facilities
  • many children the opportunity to attend school through sponsorships
  • support for a community Christian school with materials and supplies
  • support for International Missionary Center and their operating expenses
  • materials for two pastoral training conferences which reached several hundred pastors in rural parts of Sierra Leone
About 95% of all our donations have gone directly to projects in Sierra Leone. We have worked to see that your gifts have had the maximum benefit – each dollar counts!

We also wanted to let you know about some changes that are coming soon. We have decided to close the books on Change One over the next couple of months in order to partner with an organization called Touch the Nations (www.touchthenations.com). This is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that also works closely with Pastor Menyongar and projects in Sierra Leone, very similar to what we have done through Change One. By turning over the administrative responsibilities to another organization, we feel we can be better advocates for the ministry in Sierra Leone.

Many of you have met Pastor Menyongar and have been encouraged by his testimony and the work that he does in Sierra Leone. We would like to encourage you to continue giving by sending your support to Touch the Nations, rather than Change One.

There are 3 ways to give to Touch the Nations:
1. Paypal through their website: http://www.touchthenations.com/
2. Send checks to Touch the Nations, PO Box 4922, Omaha, NE 68104
3. Set up automatic bill pay through your bank (many banks provide this service through their online banking)

In the meantime, we have one final fundraising drive through Change One to help build an orphanage in an amputee community. This entire project is estimated to cost $12,000, and we would love to be able to fund as much of this as possible. If you would like to contribute please send a check to our PO Box before March 15.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment and we'll get back with you.

With love,

Keith and Laura

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Change One conference this week

Change One and IMC are hosting our first conference for rural pastors in Sierra Leone this week. November 9-11 there will be around 300 pastors from rural villages and communities gathering to learn more about how to study, interpret, and teach the Bible. Many of these pastors do not have access to study materials or Bibles - we will hopefully be able to provide helpful resources to them. Please pray for the those leading and attending the conference. I'll try to post some pictures and updates soon!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

some staggering stats

In Sierra Leone life expectancy is 46 (men), 49 (women).

One in eight women risk dying in pregnancy or childbirth.

For every 1,000 children born, 140 die.

Sierra Leone has the highest mortality rate in the world for children under five.

Sources: UN, Amnesty International

Sierra Leone gives new hope to mothers and children


Sierra Leone has launched a new healthcare program that will cover pregnant women, new mothers, and children under 5 years old. There's an interesting article on the BBC's news website that provides more info.
I hope this new program helps more moms and babies live and thrive in Sierra Leone.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

World Malaria Day

"This coming Sunday is World Malaria Day — a day when we focus our attention on the fact that more than 2,000 children die every day from a disease contracted through a simple mosquito bite.

In this day and age, that's unacceptable."

Please visit World Vision's End Malaria website for more info: www.endmalaria.org. You can click on the "Act" tab to write your senators and represenative in Congress to encourage them to do what they can to end this terrible disease.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Divine Chocolate from Sierra Leone cocoa

THE FIRST FAIR TRADE COCOA COMING OUT OF SIERRA LEONE IS DIVINE


Divine Chocolate, the pioneering social enterprise co-owned by the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Cooperative in Ghana, is delighted to announce that, for the first time chocolate lovers can enjoy premium Fair Trade Certified cocoa from Sierra Leone in all of Divine’s chocolate delights. This exciting move is the result of many years of hard work by cocoa farmers, partnership with Kuapa Kokoo, Twin and Divine Chocolate and a testament to Divine’s commitment to great chocolate and farmer advancement in the marketplace.

Sierra Leone was ravaged by a decade-long brutal civil war which ended eight years ago. Rebuilding has been difficult. This first Fair Trade shipment of cocoa out of the country is a sign of hope that the fortunes and prospects of the country’s farmers can be turned.

The first container of cocoa from Sierra Leone’s only Fair Trade Certified cooperative Kpeya Agricultural Enterprise (KAE), was purchased by Divine Chocolate and is of the required quality to be included in the Divine recipe. Kuapa Kokoo, the Ghanaian co-operative that significantly owns Divine Chocolate agreed to include this shipment in their brand as a sign of support for fellow cocoa farmers in Sierra Leone.

Erin Gorman, Divine Chocolate’s CEO in the USA says:

“The partnership between KAE, Divine and Kuapa Kokoo is a shining example of the power of Divine’s farmer ownership model. Not only did Kuapa Kokoo offer technical support and advice alongside funding from Divine, they offered KAE a market for their product. Since Kuapa Kokoo profits from sales of their Divine branded chocolate the move makes financial sense as well.

Divine’s mission has always been to improve the livelihoods of West African farmers by pulling farmers higher up the value chain. We believe our mission and excellent chocolate is what keeps Divine fans coming back. With this cocoa from KAE we are extending our reach beyond Ghana and increasing our impact.”

KAE is based in Kenema, 200 miles out of Freetown, and has over 1200 members and 50 village committees. It was first established in 1996, during the civil war, and its growth and achievements are in part the result of the determination, passion and tenacity of cocoa farmer Ibrahim Moseray – the organization’s general manager. Against enormous odds, Moseray has convinced farmers of the benefits of being part of a cooperative with farmers’ welfare at its heart. With the help of Twin (the Fair Trade NGO behind Cafédirect, Divine Chocolate and Liberation Nuts), and other organizations such as the UN FAO and German Agro Action, KAE has trained farmers how to produce good quality cocoa, developed democratic structures, and learned how to export its own cocoa. Representatives from Kuapa Kokoo have come to Sierra Leone to share their expertise both in terms of running a cooperative and, importantly, improving the quality of their cocoa. Exchange visits have also been arranged with KAE representatives visiting Kuapa Kokoo.

Ibrahim Moseray says: “I am a cocoa farmer myself and my mother and father before me. During the war I saw the struggle of my brothers and how we were cheated by traders, and I wanted to do something to make a better life for us. Kpeya means ‘Give Way’ in Mende – and we are asking the traders to ‘give way’ and let us farmers trade for ourselves”

The challenges facing a fledgling cooperative are much greater in Sierra Leone than they were in Ghana when Kuapa Kokoo was first set up in 1993. The economy is liberalized, so anyone can trade cocoa, and there are many competitors wanting to buy farmers’ cocoa. Most farmers have little understanding of world market prices and often receive low prices for their cocoa. In Sierra Leone there is only one harvest and in between harvests, July through to August, is known as the Hunger Season for obvious reasons. Cocoa farmers are often cheated, and many have also become dependent on traders who buy their cocoa in advance during the ‘hunger season’ before it is harvested, in exchange for rice. Rice is the staple food, but there is hardly a local market for it as American imported rice undercuts pricing on home-grown product. Some cocoa farmers grow a little for their own use, but often need more to tide them over. The farmers are very conscious that the traders don’t have the farmers’ interests and welfare at heart – and this is why they have started joining KAE – an organization run by farmers for farmers. KAE has been offering a good price and other incentives, which other traders cannot match.

The cocoa exported from Sierra Leone each year is generally of a low quality – intended for bulk use. The members of KAE have been learning how to improve the quality through more careful fermentation and drying, and how to do their own quality checks. As a result their cocoa is now good enough to be used for premium Divine Chocolate.

Kpeya has already helped its members with a number of initiatives – including building a school in Batiama village (and arranging for a teacher to come every day to teach there) so the children there no longer have to walk four miles to the nearest school, building a cocoa depot and food store, and coordinating Farmer Field Schools. The farmers agreed to spend their first Fair Trade premium on the buying of land for KAE to build its own HQ offices and store in Kenema.

• For more information about Divine Chocolate, its wide range of products, and its unique story visit www.divinechocolateusa.com

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Sierra Leone's crises have global reach - latimes.com

There was a really informative article in the LA Times about Sierra Leone recently. Below is a just a little bit of the article. Click on the link to see the rest on the Times' website:


Sierra Leone's crises have global reach - latimes.com: Sierra Leone's crises have global reach

"The public health system in the West African nation is a shambles and the government teeters on the edge. Some fear it could become another Somalia."

The hospital's maternity ward. World health officials fear that West African countries such as Sierra Leone are unequipped to identify and cope with new diseases that could spread globally. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)