Thanks to generous contributions made as part of the 2009 Global Giving Access Challenge, the Candlelight computer lab project is a success! Candlelight School now has a fully functional computer lab, with fourteen computers networked and connected to the Internet.

Candlelight School was able to partner with local craftsmen to construct quality workstations to create a productive and private work environment and computer covers to protect the machines from dust. The concrete facility has been secured by installing metal doors and windows.

The lab is being integrated into the curriculum at Candlelight School, allowing students the opportunity to obtain computer skills that are essential for employment in Kenya. Candlelight School has brought in an additional instructor for the lab and continues to work with experts to refine the curriculum.

As a testament to the need for computer skills in Kenya, the lab continues to have several community members visit the lab after hours to receive computer training. Candlelight has been able to hire a night supervisor for the lab, which provides a vital service to community members at a reasonable price and provides valuable revenues to the school. Cyber cafes and computer training centers are very popular and profitable businesses in Nairobi, and Candlelight hopes to fulfill this need as the only such facility in the Matopeni area. So far this project has been a great success, and one that we hope to use as a replicable model for some of our other partners in Kenya.

Once again, thanks to our donors for their generous support of The 1010 Project and Candlelight School. Their contributions have undoubtedly improved the prospects for hundreds of hard-working and grateful students in Nairobi as they develop the job skills necessary to create a better life.

Thank you for joining the story as we learn and work together to break the cycle of poverty for life!

Nairobi is the capital of commerce and influence in East Africa, and one of the foremost cities on the continent. It is a compelling center for any Social Enterprise both because of what it has…as well as what it lacks.

• Dichotomy of Affluence and Poverty: In the same city you have large global corporations and some of the largest slums in Africa.
• Continental Influence: From one of the biggest stock exchanges to headquarters of many global NGO’s, Nairobi is a center of innovation for the whole continent
• Urbanization & Rural Poverty: beyond the creation of sprawling slums are Kenyans leaving poor rural areas. This urbanization dynamic typifies a global problem. Kenyans strong, lifelong ties to their rural roots makes them prime candidates for poverty alleviation initiatives that address both urban and rural poverty.
• The 1010 Project: we partner with people through business and community development, with strong roots cultivated over seven years into the Social Enterprise community of Nairobi. This makes us excellent partners for any African initiative utilizing Nairobi as it’s base.

Thank you so much for your interest in volunteering with the 1010 Project!

We would like to invite you to our new volunteer information meeting on Monday, May 17th at 6:30 pm. We will have light snacks and refreshments, as well as a presentation on the 1010 Project and our current volunteer opportunities. Please, let us know if you will be able to attend.

Agenda:
Introduction and Icebreaker
Culture: Vision, Mission, Values
Video
Overview of Organizational Operations
Current Volunteer Opportunities

Location:
1101 S. Washington St
Denver CO 80210
The 1010 Project office is located inside Denver Community Church, just north of Whole Foods. We will have signs posted to direct you.
Questions? Call: (720) 663-8441

Due to some scheduling conflicts outside our control, we have to cancel DazBog Trivia Night. Please look for other upcoming events on our “Get Involved” page

Get your thinking cap on!

(note the new time and date!)

Trivia Night @ Daz Bog Coffee

Friday, May 21st
Doors open @ 7:30
Trivia Starts @ 8:00

Daz Bog Coffee is located at 1200 Clayton St

It’s been a long week and now its time to loosen up those ties and kick off the heels!

Join us for a fun night of trivia. We are always bragging about how smart and well-educated our supporters are so come show us what you know!

$10 suggested donation at the door gets you entry onto a trivia team, eligibility to win the grand prize and FREE coffee, wine and beer all night long!

Teams will be made up of 4 people or less. Bring your friends, bring your neighbors, bring your strangers, all are welcome!

For more details please email events@the1010project.org

A quick thought today, in an email I received from Michael Nyangi of LOMORO.

“Together we can make it because poverty is not permanent.”

Recently a friend asked about African culture, and specifically our Kenyan Social Entrepreneurs: “does their laid back attitude actually contribute to their poverty?” Now I know this friend well enough to know he was genuinely asking, not trying to pass judgment. In answer to this question, I present to you: a washing machine.

When I see that pile growing in my laundry basket I feel a dread come over me. I will have to budget time to address the burgeoning pile or risk wearing gym shorts as my underpants (not that I’ve ever done that).

I will have to throw the clothes in the washer, be around an hour later to move them to the dryer, and…the part I always screw up…remember to take them out of the dryer before they are a wrinkled mess (sorry honey). Oh ya…and folding. So, all in all about 30-45 minutes of work spread out over a 3 hour period.

Now let’s contrast this process with the work of a prototypical Kenyan social entrepreneur named Joy:

• Water: the more fortunate might have indoor plumbing which works 3 or 4 days out of the week. The less fortunate go to a community filling center, and can only purchase what they can carry (this is almost certainly a woman doing this work)
• Bucket or tub: pour the water in the tub
• Soap: If you’ve ever washed your clothes camping, you know hand washing isn’t glorious. There’s no hand-friendly organic soaps available, and you certainly can’t afford the luxury of gloves
• Hands: It strips your hands of oils, and getting out those tough spots requires more than a little elbow grease
• Drying & Folding: Drying is done on outdoor lines, which leaves clothes stiff…not to mention the rain conspires to set back the drying process several days

All in all, I have to guesstimate, a 6-8 hour process spread over 3 days. “Ok,” you say, “they have a harder time washing their clothes.” But this isn’t an isolated incident, this is every basic task of living

• Without online or telephone banking, going into town to check your bank balance could take 2-4 hours
• Getting to the market for food could be a 30 minute to 2 hour walk
• Preparing food over a charcoal fire, with most elements starting from “scratch” could take 1-2 hours
• If a child gets sick, and you can’t afford health care, everything else could go on hold for days

Now imagine you are trying to run a social venture with the rest of the time you have left? If you are trying to be productive and task-oriented, how long would you last? Is being strictly task-oriented unquestionably a good thing, even in our culture? The fact is, the utter lack of what we would consider “basic infrastructure” conspires to complicate every basic task.

Every time you throw some clothes in a rinse cycle, remember the cycle of poverty and ask yourself how you can responsibly intervene.

Another update from Executive Director Brian Rants during his service learning in Kenya.

Mama Bidii (Active Women) and the Crafts They Created

The women sang around my wife, Shannon, gave her a green “Mama Bidii” shirt, and wrapped here in their black and white skirt. Then we looked at their truly beautiful handiwork, and bought Christmas gifts for the year!

A truly beautiful experience.

Chips That Changed Her Children’s Lives

A loan of 1000 Kenyan Shillings (ksh), about $15.

She built a 5000 ksh/month business selling chips (french fries), about $75.

This helped her pay school fees for 6 kids, pay the rent, and change the future of her family. This my dear friends, is social entrepreneurship.

Small is the new big.

An update from Executive Director Brian Rants during his service learning in Kenya.

One resounding lesson from this experience is something built into the DNA of The 1010 Project: it is more important to have the right questions than the right answers.

Exempla Gratis (E.G.)

Over the week I’ve spoken with two Kenyans possessing 30 years of development experience between them. One of the first partners I visited was Pastor Brown and his wife Josephine, founders of Fair Oaks Academy and leaders of Redeemed Gospel Church. I also joined Michael Nyangi of LOMORO in visiting the small businesses started with capital he lent, and discussing the role of The 1010 Project.

I asked them each some form of this question: “How can The 1010 Project improve our partnership with social entrepreneurs in Kenya.” The answers I received were remarkably consistent. Chiefly, that partners have access to business training, and create solid business plans for their ventures.

My former business coach Chuck Blakeman explained this principle to several Nairobian women. Business is like water; you simply need to know where you are and where you are going. Michael Nyangi pointed out that many social entrepreneurs have not received any kind of business training, and some very little education at all. Having access to training and building a business plan first both defines sucess and increases the likelihood of reaching it.

This confirmed and clarified for me my belief that in any culture, three things are needed for the success of a social entrepreneur

• Skill: this could be a private sector skill like jewelry making, or a social sector skill like building an orphanage
• Capital: access to startup funds either from one’s own means, or an outside source; e.g. small grants from The 1010 Project
• Training: acquiring basic competence in fundamental business practices like marketing and accounting

Questions are Primary

As you can see above, the end result was an “answer:” business training being essential to fostering social entrepreneurship. Discovering answers to the challenges of poverty is both noble and essential, but questions must always be primary. In other words, it is impossible to answer a question for someone that has never been asked of them.

Here is an update from Executive Director Brian Rants in Kenya.

Half-Built Houses and the Problems of Credit

The growing Eastlands of Nairobi is dotted with half-built houses. As you walk through the brick/cement/stone structures so typical of the developing world, you will see neighborhoods where perhaps 3 out of every 4 houses is roofless and vacant. The doors and windows will be piled up with loose rocks, to discourage squatting. One of my hosts explained that Nairobians build as they have money. So the building process is lengthy and at times unpredictable.

This was another of those visual reminders of the importance of credit in a healthy economy.

The United States is coming off triggering a massive global recession for the opposite reason: the excess of credit. Multitudes of homeowners were sold mortgages they had no business receiving, without having to prove adequate income.

The density of population here is staggering. And unlike the dense urban centers in the US like New York, there is vastly inadequate infrastructure. That last sentence just doesn’t convey how utterly overburdened Nairobi is, like a bicycle carrying 40 mattresses. Fred Afwai, our Kenyan Country director, explained that the city planning for Nairobi was for 200,000 people. Think Boulder, Colorado. The current population is somewhere close to 5 million. Think the entire population of Colorado.

Bank accounts and loans are only available to those who already have money. To open an account is costly, and simply out of reach of our friends here in the eastern, poorer part of the city. This means that overcrowded population centers in Nairobi will remain crowded while half-built houses remain empty.

The “Problem of Credit” is Simply an “Opportunity”

Charles Owino of YOCHAN (Youth Challenge Network) corrected one of his youth when she spoke of a “problem,” saying it was not a problem but “an opportunity.” I imagine he would similarly advise here. Partners like Mother’s Concern and LOMORO are tackling this “opportunity.” Michael Nyangi is already “The Banker to the Slums,” as one Swiss newspaper called him after he met with a Swiss banking colleague. He has provided savings and loans services through his organization to 210 growing LOMORO so he can become a bank someday.

The good news: The solutions, and the social entrepreneurs who have devised them, are already present here in Nairobi. That is why The 1010 Project is here: connecting these social entrepreneurs with capital. Additionally, as part of this trip we are establishing grassroots business training to help increase their capacity for success.

The 1010 Project continues to grow because the opportunities here are…well, endless. And because our supporters in the United States continue to seize these opportunities for contributing their time, expertise, and resources towards breaking the cycle of poverty for life.

If you haven’t already…will you Join the Story?

At the beginning of February, the 1010 Project’s Executive Director Brian Rants and his wife headed to Kenya for a service learning experience. Two business colleagues, Chuck Blakeman and Charlotte Wells, joined Brian to explore the creation of grassroots business coaching/education for our entrepreneurs, responding to the the invitation of our country director, Fred Afwai. Through blog posts and tweets, Brian and Chuck have been updating us about their amazing experiences: adventurous trips from the airport along dirt (barely) roads, meeting business owners and local nonprofit leaders, visiting schools, playing soccer with kids, witnessing hope amidst extreme poverty, and drinking lots of chai. Stay tuned for more stories from Brian in Kenya.

You can follow Chuck at http://twitter.com/ChuckBlakeman and Brian in Kenya at http://twitter.com/the1010project.

Discover how you can have your own service learning experience in Kenya with The 1010 Project.