Omar Kebe

Last time we were in Keur Soce, Senegal, we spent the day looking at projects, doing interviews and video.

And everywhere we went , this young man seemed to appear a few minutes later. He was very sweet and polite and every time we spoke- maybe half a dozen times that day- he would say, in English. "my name is Omar Kebe. My father's name is Al-haji Kebe." over and over. Turns out this was the sum of his English vocabulary, but he really wanted to practise.

So this blog post is for you Omar. We enjoyed meeting you and won't soon forget you( or your name. Or your father's name.)

a Garden in the Desert

After our first round of loans was repaid in Keur Soce last year, some of the women got together and discussed some ways they could pool together their profits in a way that would benefit their families and community.

The result is an amazing two hectare garden with lettuce, corn, okra, carrots,peppers,tomatoes, cucumber and about 50 cashew trees.

180 women are involved in this garden. They have divided themselves into 18 groups of ten. Each group tends it's own area and they have morning and evening shifts for watering.

All of the water for this garden is provided by a well that Andando had dug previously. The women expect this garden to provide income from market sales, improve family nutrition, with enough funds left over to buy a pump for the well so they will no longer have to draw water by hand.

The women also told us that one of the unexpected benefits they have experienced from this garden is that they have discovered a new spirit of unity and cooperation with each other.

This wonderful garden is an example of what a community can do independently when given a small helping hand.

Andando means "walking together" in Wolof the principal language of Senegal. We are so proud to walk together with these strong women!

bad bloggers

We are officially bad bloggers around here....but that's because we've been busy.
We went to Africa in January- three countries in ten days . Check our website and click on news for a few glimpses of that trip. www.andando.org
And we're leaving again tomorrow! Lots of good things happening. and we will try to do better when we return.
For now, please look at this blog and see what these two great folk have been doing on behalf of Andando in Senegal. www.lewisandruby.blogspot.com

AND stay tuned for a brand spanking new website within the next month or so!

summer in Senegal

On our July visit to Senegal, we were so pleased to see how green the country side is. Farming in Senegal is a gamble , always depending on the rains and so far the rains have been sufficient. We were able to visit some of the Andando fields, including the one pictured above. The farmer, Modou Sakho, has planted his peanuts and was hoeing with his two sons the day we visited. He told us the plants were doing well and he was optimistic about a good harvest, providing the rains continue.

Andando has made loans to about 50 farmers like Modou around the Keur Soce area. It is our hope that by helping them to help themselves, they can build a better future for their families.

The story of the lost votes

The Chase Community Giving Facebook Campaign is over.
It was an amazing month for us at Andando as many worked to rally the vote and so many of you responded.
1613 individuals voted for Andando.
Chase took away 658 of these votes citing voting irregularity. We ended the campaign in 233rd place with 955 votes.

We have had communication with Chase concerning this 'voting irregularity' and although the responses have been quite vague, we understand that they deleted many of our African votes because it appeared to them that someone was setting up profiles for the sole purpose of voting for Andando.
The truth of the matter is very different.
In Liberia, Andando is involved in a women's empowerment program. These women heard about the Chase Community Giving program and wanted to participate and support Andando.
They saw this as a way to be involved in helping themselves. These women are all desperately poor and of course have no computers etc. But because they were determined, they rounded up four or five computers, borrowed a generator, (no electricity there), bought gas to power the generator and started voting. They encouraged family members to vote and excitement built as they saw the vote count rise. Then on Sunday night, about 24 hours before the end of the campaign, they saw the votes disappear.
For us this was disheartening and discouraging. For the Africans it was heartbreaking.

Olivia, one of the women who voted- "...We feel like this was a slap in the face. We have gone to great lengths to support our charity by purchasing gas for our generator to power our obsolete computers just to be a part of this campaign. Women queued up in numbers and rallied their family members as a way of saying thank you for their support...."

We have explained to Chase how these ladies voted and are convinced that they have done nothing wrong. We will continue to try to dialog with Chase and at least try to make sure that this never happens again.

But, this is not the end of the story........
On Monday night, after the voting closed, Andando received a call from someone who had voted and had been following the story of the lost votes. This person said " We cannot let things end this way. These people have all worked so hard and have been pushed aside. They must know that hard work is rewarded and that hope follows tragedy. I am giving $20,000 to Andando to make this right."
We were overcome, there were a lot of tears and so much joy! We called our contact in Liberia and told him what had happened. He was speechless (unusual for him!) at first and then just began praising God- " He is our Sole Provider...depend only on Him...to God be the Glory.."
The women have been told, there is much rejoicing today in Liberia, and after work on Friday, there will be a party!!
To God be the Glory indeed.

Once again we are so grateful and humbled by all your support. We had votes from the U.S., Senegal, Liberia, Canada, the U.K., Chile, Australia and Paraguay. We wish we could thank all of you personally but we don't have contact info for many. If you know of people who voted who may not read this, please share it with them.
We hope you will all continue to follow the story of Andando. It looks like there are many chapters yet to be written!

chasing the vote

Andando is currently in the running for a share of a $5 million giveaway by Chase Community Giving on Facebook. If we get into the top 200 charities we will win $20,000!!!

That translates to about 200 micro loans, about 400 farmer loans or 6-7 wells!

All we need is YOUR VOTE!


The voting takes place through Facebook, so you must have a Facebook profile to be able to vote.

We've made it easier for you by providing a link from our website to our Chase Community giving Page.
Here's how to vote;

Go to www.andando.org. Near the bottom left hand corner of the page, you will see a box for Chase Community Giving. Click on this box.

When you get to the Chase Community giving Page, click on the green box that says' Get started to Vote'.

A box will pop up asking you to 'like' Chase. Once you have done this, click close to close the box. (Note: you have not yet voted.)

The green box will now say 'Vote Now'. Click on the box to vote.

Another box will pop up for you to tell your friends. Tell as many people as you can!

Voting ends July 12, so do it now and spread the word!!!

worldbeat!

This coming weekend come see us at the WorldBeat festival at Riverfront Park in downtown Salem. Saturday 10-10 and Sunday 10-6.
There are booths and workshops, food, music and dancing from all around the world. You'll find us in the Africa village.
On Sunday come and enjoy the dragon boat races!
www.worldbeatfestival.org