International news briefs - 29 December
International news briefs - 29 December
The installation of solar panels on the roof of the Shiloh Boys’ Home in Pakistan, has made a huge different in the lives of its young residents.
Solar panels help secure food and education at Pakistan boys’ home
At the Shiloh Boys’ Home in Pakistan, The Salvation Army continues to help to make sure the boys who live there have every opportunity to learn and excel. Recently, this assistance came in the form of raising $60,000 to install solar panel arrays on the roof of the home’s building.
The solar panels were needed to help shed some of the electrical load and expenses being created in Pakistan’s small cities and villages due to the heavy demands placed on the electrical grid during the hot summer season.
Because of the global pandemic, these expenses came not only in the form of higher than normal electricity bills, but also increasing food and supply costs due to increasing inflation.
Now that the solar panels are installed and working, the children who live at the home can do their schoolwork and prepare for exams without the worry of losing power or going to bed without food.
With the success of this project, two similar projects are being planned – one at The Salvation Army’s Joyland Girls’ Hostel in Pakistan and the other at a Salvation Army children’s centre in Punjab, India.
WORTH project empowers women in Kenya
Through The Salvation Army's WORTH program, women in Kenya are starting businesses and building a future for their families.
Women in rural Kenya face a variety of challenges. In the African nation’s male-dominated culture, a woman’s husband is often her sole source of support. If she loses her husband or he loses his ability to provide, the entire family can spiral hopelessly into poverty. That’s what the Salvation Army’s WORTH program, a microfinance banking and skills training program for rural women, seeks to address.
Women not only gain access to a system of savings and loans that empower them to become entrepreneurs and leaders in their communities, but also learn the skills they need to take advantage of those resources and succeed.
WORTH also provides a curriculum for participants to teach each other basic literacy, mathematics and bookkeeping. The women meet regularly to make their deposits, learn valuable new skills, and support each other emotionally and spiritually.
Members are also asked to commit a portion of their income earnings to the group savings account, which in turn offers loans to other participants to start their own businesses. The interest earned is then returned to the women in the group.
Roseline Esendi Mkubwa is one such woman who has benefited from the WORTH program. At the time of joining WORTH, Roseline, 51, and her husband and two children lived in a one-room house made of mud and grass thatching.
With the funds Roseline received, she was able to start her own business providing chairs to those who run the local food markets each Friday. With the income Roseline has made, she not only has been able to repay her WORTH loan, but also helped her family build a more permanent home with proper windows, a door and tile flooring.
Football field in Costa Rica serves current and future mission
The Salvation Army's football field in Costa Rica is both a location for mission and an income generator.
The Salvation Army in Costa Rica provides critical, wholistic services to vulnerable populations across the country.
In the pursuit of greater operational sustainability and freedom from potential donor dependency, the search for new sources of local income, which can also be channelled into mission, is ongoing.
The International Business and Economic Development (IBED) department partnered with the Army to help discover, test, and launch new social enterprises which result in both financial returns and social impact.
Just outside the capital of San José, The Salvation Army has a training centre with an adjacent cement outdoor meeting area. Market research, competitor analysis, and surveys with potential clients revealed the potential for a rentable sheltered turf soccer field. This can be used during the day for social programs, and in the evenings for income generation.
The location, at the top of a tall hill and no nearby flat ground alternatives, was ideal. A business plan was completed, testing and marketing carrie out, and a small investment made in artificial turf, netting, goals, and some new lights. The Salvation Army now has the best available soccer field for rent in a sustainable and unique market.
The new resources generated will finance the ongoing social mission. Based on 60 per cent of current monthly income (40 per cent of profit goes directly to the mission of today), the field will repay its seed investment cost to a reserve fund in less than two and a half years years. This will generate further funding for tomorrow’s mission opportunities.
Sweden supports exploited women from Ukraine
Many Ukrainian refugees enter Sweden after first travelling to Moldova and Romania.
Since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine, Sweden has become home to more than 34,000 refugees. It is one of the many areas of the world that has seen a dramatic increase in human trafficking and exploitation because most refugees are women and children.
Since April 2022, police in Stockholm continue to find that most sex workers in local brothels are Ukrainian refugees. Many refugees are well educated and were employed as veterinarians or nurses before having to flee Ukraine. The biggest bottleneck, and something that can easily lead to human trafficking, has been the time it takes to get a temporary identification number from authorities to start work in Sweden.
As part of The Salvation Army’s relief response, officers, staff and volunteers continue to provide not only necessities like food, water, clothing and housing to the thousands of refugees, but also proactive assistance against the threat of human trafficking.
This assistance comes in many different forms, including helping women to register with police and other local authorities to gain access to shelter accommodation, health care and education. Job coaching also ensures that the refugees have as many options available to them as possible.
As part of their anti-trafficking response, The Salvation Army in Sweden opened three shelters specifically for human trafficking victims, and works with the police to provide continued support and protection to this vulnerable group. Support services for the children of refugees are also provided.
In several locations, the Army opened as many facilities as possible to provide accommodation for families to keep them together.
Generating solar energy in Nigeria
The USA Southern Territory and Salvation Army World Services Office (SAWSO) are working with the Nigeria Territory on a project to generate solar energy for the territorial headquarters (THQ) and officer training college in Lagos, Nigeria.
Over recent years, electricity prices have been steadily rising and rationed supplies dwindling. In 2019, the average electricity bill for THQ was approximately A$1440. This year, the bill has been around $5400, and is soon expected to reach $7200.
Solar energy experts surveyed THQ facilities, including the college, and advised that installing solar panels, inverters and a battery storage system would put an end to the exorbitant electricity bill and diesel consumption.
These will soon be installed to help both make significant savings in the territory and make it more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
These stories are courtesy The Salvation Army World Service Office (SAWSO) Annual Report 2022. For more information and additional stories, click here.
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