#empowerment

Jun 23, 2015
2 min

How do their lives change?

Last week I highlighted the 5 most common businesses that Small Business Fund (SBF) grant recipients typically start. The groups received $150 and are mentored over the course of a year. This week I received a batch of final One-Year Reports from our two SBF local coordinators in Uganda. These are shorter reports that check in to see how each business is doing one year after receiving with grant. The report also asks how the lives of the groups members have improved and what

3 views0 comments

What kind of businesses do people start?

SIA Team

Jun 16, 2015
2 min

What kind of businesses do people start?

One of the unique parts of our SIA Small Business Fund program is that groups can start the business of their choice. We do not choose a business for them. Before they receive the initial $100 grant, the new business groups work with the local coordinator to evaluate their strengths, interests, skills, and current assets to help them decide on a business. They also look at market demand in the area. Sometimes the families already have a business that needs an injection of cas

5 views0 comments

SIA Team

May 26, 2015
3 min

The Power of Hope

Finally! This week there was some great news about aid programs that really alleviate extreme poverty (less than $1.25/day). And – yay! – the programs with this long-term, positive impact are very similar to our Small Business Program. A recent multi-country study evaluated a program with range of interventions, including “cash to meet basic needs, training on how to earn a living, access to health services, and frequent check-ins from field workers.” In the same vein, our Sm

2 views0 comments

Wisdom from Del: Co-creators with the Divine

SIA Team

May 12, 2015
2 min

Wisdom from Del: Co-creators with the Divine

“God will not do for us what we can do for ourselves. We are not created as puppets to be manipulated and controlled. The Holy One does not force us to make certain decisions or to take specific actions, but honors us as co-workers and gives us free will. We are created as junior-partners, ambassadors, and co-creators with the Almighty. The work is not complete until we fulfill God’s divine plan and destiny in our lives by expressing and manifesting “God’s kingdom here on

6 views0 comments

SIA Team

Apr 21, 2015
2 min

Success Story: “Darkness is cured”

Back in October 2012 I shared the success story of Hastings and Ruth Fuvu in Malawi. They had received a $150 Small Business Fund grant in early 2012, ramping up their business of selling tomatoes and onions in the market. This expanded business increased the family income enough to buy school uniforms for their children and seek medical attention for their daughter Miness, who experiences periodic seizures. The 2012 post ended with Fuvu’s dream to build a house of their own,

5 views0 comments

SIA Team

Mar 31, 2015
2 min

Honoring Del and Lucile Anderson

With hearts full of gratitude, we extend this invitation to celebrate the life of Lucile Anderson (wife of Spirit in Action’s founder, Del Anderson) on April 25th in Oakland, CA. Please see the invite from Lucile’s family for details and how to RSVP. Lucile’s son, Rob Hanford, shares that in her last days Lucile was “still growing, still teaching. It was amazing and uplifting to see the genuine love that the staff at Windsor had for mom, and the deep sadness at her passing. W

5 views0 comments

SIA Team

Mar 10, 2015
1 min

Video: Gratitude for what we do

First, I’m grateful for our amazing volunteers. People like Carmen Hernandez who share their skills with SIA. Carmen put together this video of me telling her why I choose this work and this organization, and mixed it with photos of me during my visit to SIA partners last summer. Just watching it brings back such heart-warming memories of shaking the hands of Small Business Fund leaders, hearing testimonies, drinking tea, and dancing along to their songs. To find what else I’

4 views0 comments

SIA Team

Feb 3, 2015
2 min

Fostering dignity in myself and others

Brown Ngoma is expanding his family’s store, building a home, and now “when his family is sick he can pay for a private hospital.” (Manyamula, Malawi) “If I fail to treat someone with dignity, it is me, not them, who is undignified.” In other words, to keep my own dignity – that sense of self-respect and pride in oneself – I must honor everyone else’s dignity. Just because someone is poor it doesn’t mean they can’t or don’t have self-respect. In fact, as an article in the Gua

3 views0 comments

SIA Team

Jan 13, 2015
3 min

4 Quick Grant Updates!

1. 35 Women Trained in Zambia One of the women who received a small low-interest loan from Welfare Concern International to establish her hair braiding business. (SIA funded Welfare Concern International, a grassroots organization, to coordinate a capacity-building workshop and small micro-loans for women in Livingstone in 2014.) From Moses Chibanda, Director: In the last six months, we have trained 35 community women and we have empowered 18 of them with small loans. Our big

10 views0 comments

SIA Team

Dec 30, 2014
2 min

Opening a Savings Account in Uganda

Rehema us tells about how the savings group keeps their funds secure, and their records accurate. We sat on very small wooden stools and faced a group of about Ugandan 25 women sitting on woven leaf mats. In between us sat a green metal box with three locks. I listened with growing excitement as Rehema Mutesi told me and the other Small Business Coordinators about the Kasozi Village Savings Group. If the women kept the profit from their business endeavors in their houses, the

5 views0 comments

SIA Team

Dec 16, 2014
2 min

4 new grants. 4 thank you letters.

In the beginning of December, the Board approved four new Community Grants and I received four very enthusiastic and grateful responses to the good news. It felt only right to share their joy, so that we can all celebrate and pray for this good work! 1. Community Mobilization Against Poverty – Kitale, Kenya Sustainable agriculture training. Model bio-intensive, organic farm. Seeds. For 200 farmers. ($3,000) From Moses Mukongo, CMAP director: On behalf of CMAP I want to thank

5 views0 comments

SIA Team

Dec 9, 2014
1 min

*See* Spirit in Action! New video!

SIA Volunteer Extraordinaire, Carmen Hernandez, created this beautiful film for us using footage and photos captured by Boyd Cothran during our visit to Africa (Summer 2014). Her aim was to show what we do, and how we try to have a positive attitude in all our endeavors. Thank you, Carmen! (For more of Carmen’s non-SIA work, visit her website: http://www.isntitbeautiful.co.uk) #AfricaTrip2014 #Kenya #Malawi #Empowerment #Uganda

7 views0 comments

SIA Team

Aug 12, 2014
3 min

Mbwenu, Innovator

Tanya with Mbwenu, Wangwa, and one their sons. Mbwenu heard about the Manyamula COMSIP Cooperative after moving home and immediately became an active member, including volunteering to be the group’s bookkeeper. The cooperative was initially started with a Spirit in Action grant in 2009 and now has over 150 members who can save and borrow within the locally-run cooperative structure. Sometimes it’s not easy moving home. Once you’ve been out to see the world you look at home th

6 views0 comments

SIA Team

Jul 29, 2014
2 min

All together again!

The SBF Coordinators all together! (L to R) Back Row: Godfrey (Uganda), Dennis (Kenya), Boyd (Board member). Front Row: Canaan (Malawi), Ofonime (Nigeria), Tanya (me), Nalu (Uganda), Wambui (Kenya) We’re all home, safe and sound! A little (ok, a lot) jet-lagged and sifting through the 1,200 photos from three weeks in Africa. There’s so much to process – so many moments of joy, pride, learning, gratitude, and exhaustion – and overall I return with a sense that Spirit in Action

3 views0 comments

SIA Team

Feb 4, 2014
2 min

Success stories from Kenya!

As promised, today we have real stories from the new business groups in Kenya. These groups are truly modeling the spirit of SIA. They are eagerly trying new things, realizing the benefits of their hard work, and paying-it-forward to help others in need. ‘We Build Ourselves’ Josephine works with high-quality basket materials. Josephine and her two daughters, Martha & Dorcas, started a basket-making business called the Tujijenge group, which means we build ourselves. The small

6 views0 comments

SIA Team

Dec 10, 2013
2 min

Education and a New Job for Gladys

Five classic sewing machines and one high-tech machines are available for students. Jobs, jobs, jobs. Even more than in the US, people in Kenya are desperately seeking jobs that pay the bills and help their families thrive. Also like the US, people in Kenya turn to education to increase their job opportunities. Samro Polytechnic school in Eldoret Kenya, supported in part by a SIA grant, is focused on providing training in marketable skills, like tailoring, sewing, and compute

5 views0 comments

Bottom Line: Generosity and Micro-Grants Reduce Poverty

SIA Team

Nov 5, 2013
1 min

Bottom Line: Generosity and Micro-Grants Reduce Poverty

Winkly and Jane with their pigs in Malawi. By the time I launched into my opening story about Winkly and Jane in Malawi the classroom at Illinois College was pretty full. About 60 students and faculty were there for my discussion of micro-finance and my passionate defense of micro-grants as the best pathway out of poverty. In the three minutes before I remembered to press record on my iphone, I started with some thank yous to Joe Genetin-Pilawa (who invited me) and IC’s Leade

6 views0 comments

SIA Team

Oct 22, 2013
2 min

Why we take time to listen

Listening to Kubadwa Tembo in Malawi tell us about being a farmer in Malawi. Visiting and listening helps us understand the context of the work there. Are you surprised that what many people really want is to be listened to? How are we really going to understand people and interact compassionately and effectively if we don’t really know the other person? We recognize that listening is essential for international aid. Spirit in Action focuses on creating lasting partnerships a

5 views0 comments

SIA Team

Sep 17, 2013
3 min

The case for giving grants, not loans

Micro-grants? Micro-loans? A conversation with a friend about how our Small Business Fund grants compare with micro-credit programs gave me the chance to explain why SIA gives grants and not loans to help alleviate poverty. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It used to be common sense that micro-loans were the only way to ensure the sustainability of a micro-finance program and that the act of paying back the loan would instill the sense of “ownership” in the gran

8 views0 comments

SIA Team

Sep 3, 2013
2 min

The stories we tell (about Africa)

Photos not usually seen: Celebrating birthdays in Kenya. Stories we tell about ourselves have a tendency to get stuck in a rut. Do you have friends who tell stories of moving from one ailment to the next – back pain, traffic, too much to do – never stopping to appreciate the good things in life? On the other hand, you know that person who seems to have it all perfectly worked out? They tell stories about smiling children (and grandchildren) and fancy vacations, never letting

6 views0 comments