FY 2017–2018: Evolve, Reflect, Celebrate, Repeat
At MAMA HOPE, we strive to strengthen complex ecosystems. We work closely with our partners to learn about their communities, and listen to their hopes and dreams. We know that every community is unique, and what works for one won’t necessarily work for another. So, we adapt strategies. We learn from our partners. We evolve. We innovate. We test. We mess up . . . and we try again. We embrace complexity, because complexity makes us human. Complexity makes us resilient. Complexity makes us beautiful.
To our supporters that have stood by us in our complexity: thank you. To our community partners who have taught us how to adapt and thrive, even in some of the hardest of circumstances: thank you. To our Global Advocates who showed up with their whole hearts and trusted us with their time and energy: thank you. We wouldn’t exist without all of you, and the beautiful ecosystem we’ve created together.
June marked the beginning of our fiscal year, and we’re excited for everything that lies ahead. Before rushing forward, though, we want to take a moment to celebrate all that the MAMA HOPE family has accomplished this year! We’ll send out our yearly annual report in December, but consider this a sneak-peek.
At MAMA HOPE, we work in service of grassroots leaders who have big dreams to change the world.
To date . . .
We’ve provided 730,000 people with access to education, healthcare, clean water, food, and livelihoods training.
We’ve worked with 26 community partners across 9 countries.
We’ve trained 115 Global Advocates who have raised $2M for our grassroots partners.
We’ve funded 144 projects around the world.
This year . . .
MAMA HOPE projects directly impacted 57,366 people.
Our partners provided 12,491 people with quality health care services and health education.
221 babies were delivered safely in Uganda.
Our partners educated 1,945 young people across East Africa, Ghana and Central America.
SPOTLIGHT: COMMUNITY PARTNERS
Queen Elizabeth Academy: An Ecosystem of Support
Meet Mama Sara, a member of the Queen Elizabeth Academy Women’s Group in Mlali, Tanzania. Mama Sara is proof that working holistically by prioritizing relationships and fostering deep connections is the most impactful way we can support our community partners. Not only does her daughter attend the school, but Mama Sara also has access to permaculture trainings that have helped her build confidence and knowledge of how to feed her family and generate income. The women’s group gives her emotional support, a community that comes together to help during hard times, and celebrate when things are good.
Suubi Health Center: Sustainable Service
The Suubi Health Center in Uganda has spent the year investing heavily in income generating businesses — such as a motorbike taxi lease-to-own program — that has allowed them to cover 55% of all of the clinic’s costs with local revenue. As a direct result of this stability, they have been identified by Marie Stopes as a model implementation partner. Suubi’s extra income allows them to fill in funding gaps that plague many other small clinics, and keep their doors open to the community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Their hope is that soon they will be able to cover 100% of their costs via sustainable local income.
Akili Girls’ School: Building a Storytelling Culture
David and Erick, founders of Akili and its parent organization, the Riley Orton Foundation, have been piloting a storytelling program at their new Literacy Garden. David said the girls have been loving it. At first they were shy and struggled to recall stories they know well. But after some practice, their confidence has increased — now they’re excited to share more and more. The next step is to incorporate plays and poetry to help the girls further develop their storytelling abilities.
Tejiendo Futuros: Decolonizing Education
Recently, the team at Tejiendo Futuros decided to establish a student government at their school, El Árbol Del Niño. Students were nominated, then ran in an election. The teachers discovered that the nominees quickly began reflecting the corrupt politics of the adult world around them. “If you vote for me, I’ll give you pizza”, was one of the election promises. The teachers stopped the process and established a program for the kids to learn about Guatemalan history and culture — especially the history of colonization and the recent civil war — so that they could learn about the damage that corruption in politics brings. Knowledge about history and human rights is very rare in Guatemala — these subjects are not taught in government schools; even teaching about their civil war is actively discouraged by authorities. As part of the program, the students visited Grupo Sotz’il — a new MAMA HOPE partner — to learn about traditional Mayan culture, music, dance, and spirituality. Now, the students at El Árbol del Niño are learning about their rights, the importance of voting, and how to be a good citizen. When they hold the next student election, students will no longer run on the promise of things — only on the promise of change.
SPOTLIGHT: GLOBAL ADVOCATES EAST AFRICA
Our second class of Global Advocates East Africa excelled during their fellowship and have each evolved their positions into permanent roles within their partner organizations.
Julita’s girls’ empowerment and vocational training program, Free to Dream, continues to grow. She recently selected mentors for the tailoring program and is currently building a partnership with another women’s support organization. She will be hosting her second fundraising event in Moshi, Tanzania in August which will be centered around the theme of female entrepreneurship.
Vincent has been helping to develop the Kisumu Children’s Rescue Center school curriculum, as well as implementing sack gardens. Right now, his primary focus is facilitating an educational exchange between the Our Lady of Perpetual Support (OLPS) teachers and another MAMA HOPE partner, Flying Kites. He recently began his role as M&E Accountability and Learning Officer for the Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) program at OLPS.
Kennedy will continue with the Akili Girls’ School, heading up their sports program. He has big dreams for the program, and is looking to establish a sports center in Obambo, Kenya that will serve the community, local athletes and teams.
SPOTLIGHT: GLOBAL ADVOCATES
Jess was partnered with the Queen Elizabeth Academy in Mlali, Tanzania. She raised $30,000 for the construction of a boarding home, to support and attract more students to the school, directly impacting over 1,000 people.
Our second US-based Global Advocate Jamall partnered with the Lakewood Neighborhood Alliance (LNA) in Charlotte, North Carolina. He’s raised $26,065 to support the organization’s mission of bringing the residents of Lakewood together to build a stronger, safer, and healthier community.
Kalie worked with one of our newest partners, the Destiny Foundation in Kolkata, India. She raised $40,071 to support their work of providing economic empowerment programming for survivors of human trafficking.
HIGH-IMPACT MEDIA
This year, our team rallied around amplifying our “Stop the Pity” campaign and ethos through creating workshops, facilitating talks and building partnerships. MAMA HOPE partnered with Tides, The Battery SF, One World, Yellow Co, and Ethical Storytelling on everything from events and screenings to panel discussions, podcasts and webinars. We’re even teaming up with our friends in Norway at SAIH to facilitate a research project into the effects of guilt-based “poverty porn” marketing on grassroots communities across Africa.
FOURTH ANNUAL SILVER & GOLD GALA
We were thrilled to host Erick Otieno, the co-founder of the Akili Girls’ School & Riley Orton Foundation in Kisumu, Kenya, at our Annual Silver & Gold Holiday Gala. He shared his personal story, inspiring those in the room to be bold and dream big for their families, their communities and our world. And as if that wasn’t enough, the crowd also received a surprise transmission from one of our most prominent supporters — Diddy!
SPOTLIGHT: NEW PARTNERS
Grupo Sotz’il is our newest partner in Sololá, Guatemala. They are an organization and cultural center that promotes the Mayan performing arts and culture. Sotz’il is a Mayan-Kaqchikel term meaning “bat.” The bat, in Mayan tradition, is the home and protector of the Kachiquel people. Their vision is to create an energetic community and reference space for the creation and projection of Mayan art, artists and culture in all its manifestations.
“Art is the fusion of intellect and heart. It touches all areas of human experience — it can be used as a significant tool to represent the scientific, the political, the historical— you can synthesize everything into art and teach people through it. It is also one of the foundational blocks of every society along with science and spirituality.
Through art, you experience the earth through all of the senses. It is life in symbols and in Mayan culture, art gave birth to life.
The Catholic church used art to colonize our minds, and we want to use their strategy in reverse. To decolonize minds. We want people — including children — to reflect because to think independently is to be free. Our work is about freeing thoughts, and giving more and more people access to the art that can do this.
Reflection is revolution.”
-Daniele Guarcax , Co-Founder, and Rafael Olivares, Cultural Center Manager
Global Advocate Alumni James founded his own organization, the Ndoto Hub — “Dream Hub” — in Tanzania. His dream is to build a community hub that is being created for local leaders to work together to solve problems and come up with innovative solutions for their communities. James is currently raising funds to supply health insurance cards to women-led families and families affected by HIV.
Nguzo — “pillar” in Swahili — was also started by two Global Advocate Alumni, Mercy and Aika. They currently provide menstrual health education and supplies to schools in Tanzania and are looking to expand their services to more schools throughout the country. They will be distributing reusable pads to the girls at MAMA HOPE partner schools St. Timothy’s and Queen Elizabeth Academy later in the year.
MAMA HOPE will take on both the Ndoto Hub and Nguzo as our newest community partners in East Africa — we are so excited to see them grow from dream to reality!
UP NEXT
- We just launched Global Advocate Class 16! This class is comprised of eight traditional Global Advocates, one Media Resident and three East Africa Advocates. Follow us on Facebook to keep up with their journeys as they travel to work with our partners in Guatemala, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
- Our 4th Annual Partner Sustainability Conference is next month! Our team is excited to continue the work of the past three years, exploring and challenging the definition of sustainability and discovering strategies we can put to use to encourage sustainability within organizations and communities.
- Planning is underway for our next Impact Trip to Guatemala in October in partnership with Tejiendo Futuros and Purposeful Nomad. Contact us at info@mamahope.org if you’re interested in joining October 7–13!
YOU DID IT! As a reward for making it to the end of this post, please enjoy these goats.
