Hed: From the Ground Up Subhead: How The Akola Project is helping women in unfortunate circumstances pave new paths ------- A widow named Babwetenda Scovia sits in the dark on the dirt floor of her home watching her son and two daughters sleep. Her husband died of HIV/AIDS, a virus she now lives with herself. Struggling to balance medical payments and provide food and education for her children, she again makes plans to visit relatives the next day to beg for food and money. She has no choice. --- Thousands of miles away in Dallas, Annette is in a different place—stuck in a cycle of prostitution and drug use—a life she cannot break free from. She is an addict and struggling to make ends meet. She has spent time in jail as well as in rehab. …show more content…
It didn’t have the same kind of impact we were looking for. It was mismanaged. Kids were taken from extended family members who could’ve kept them in their homes,” she says. “The more we learned about the model, the more we realized that this is a model that hadn’t been employed in our own country for years and for a reason.” This created a moral challenge. She could either continue raising money at this opportune moment and continue on the same path or forge a new path that truly would create sustainable change in these communities. Brittany pivoted and began creating an entirely new model in an effort to make a lasting impact. This moment was the birth of the Akola Project. Fifteen women, who Brittany now refers to as “the first Akola women,” sat under a tree in Uganda in 2008 to discuss a plan of action. They needed a starting point and decided on making a product for a profit. Jewelry seemed like the most logical option because it could be made at a low cost and was an easy craft to teach. “We realized that if we can help them generate an income through this product, then we can give them what they need.” Brittany says. By 2010, the Akola Project had 200 women. Roads, wells to provide clean water and an official facility to house their growing workforce were …show more content…
Brittany and her team were approached by community leaders in Dallas—where Brittany was living—who wanted to see if this model could translate in their own city. There was a need to help women in Dallas. Women who were escaping domestic abuse, were victims of sex trafficking, or were formerly incarcerated and struggling to enter the workforce. Akola ran a pilot in 2015 and found its model translated well in Dallas, but was in need of a few adjustments. “The snafu was that a living wage in Uganda is obviously much different than in Dallas. Women working in our mass retail line [in Uganda] were making $7 to $8 an hour for jewelry that’s under $100,” Brittany says. Their goal was to provide women with a $15 wage in Dallas. In order to make ends meet, an elevated jewelry line was created with pieces ranging from $295 to $500—prices that could support a $15 wage. Although the Uganda line was now retailing at hundreds of stores throughout the U.S., finding retailers to carry the luxury line was a different challenge. For the most part, the line was only available at local luxury boutiques in
On a hot July day in 1965, Gertrude Baniszewski was living on the edge. A once beautiful woman, she was worn out from parenthood and poverty. With practically no income, she had to raise seven children by ironing and
The novel Ordinary Resurrections, written by Jonathan Kozol, focuses on an area in south New York called the Bronx, which is a poor community composed of mainly African-American and Hispanic people. The author, Jonathan Kozol, focuses the novel specifically on the children who live in a section of the South Bronx called Mott Haven, which is America’s “epicenter for the plague of pediatric and maternal AIDS” (Kozol 3) and is “one of the centers of an epidemic of adult and pediatric asthma.” (Kozol 3). The people of Mott Haven do not have sufficient access to healthcare, live in extreme poverty, and are malnourished.
This story, while centered on Maries struggles with addiction and family support the story we also hear from two social workers in DCF; Ilia
The United States is known for the “American Dream”, the material items, our breakthroughs in medicine, our employment opportunities, etc. These are just some of the things the United States has to offer, but the United States also has a downfall to all of the “good” things in life: we think our way of life is better than everyone else’s, and we often judge other countries, especially Africa, for their way of living. We often ask the questions, “What if we go to help them?” or “How can we help them?” when the real question is: “What can we learn from them”?
Of course I knew what is was it was where children were taken away from their parents because they couldn't give them a healthy life, and if the parents showed signs of improvement they were gonna have the chance to keep their child. This short movie made me realize all the things a child can go through when going through the hardship of finding a new home. First of all the trauma a child can go through with abusive irresponsible children since children who have little support by their parents tend to not have a bright future. Second children go through the hassle of going from house to house looking for a new or temporary home, but as shown in the the movie a lot of the foster parents do not know how to handle a child's behavior when they are acting up and think they are behaving badly because they want to, but in fact may act poorly because they may be reminded of previous encounters they had with their biological parents that made them emotional. For example Zoe the foster child is given a dress by her foster mom and instead of accepting it like most young girls would it reminds her of when her father was being abusive to her mother and how her father was saying negative things about her mothers dress, therefore she did not accept it.. Obviously when her other foster parents saw the behavior Zoe showed when she was given the dress they would punish her. But this foster mom that gave her
Brenda Combs is a strong, determined women who has experienced the roughest parts of life and who has made a positive impact on people around her. When Combs developed a partying habit, she also got into the dangerous habit of taking drugs. Combs eventually became a cocaine addicted who would fall in and out of bad relationships. Then, one day when she got her shoes stolen from her, Combs decided to turn her life around and gain her dignity back. The first challenge she faced while changing her life around was to try and stay strong in rehab as it was “the hardest she had ever known” (paragraph 18). Combs determination eventually led her to a bachelor’s degree from the University of Phoenix and a job at the StarShine charter school.
Africans have a long tradition of melting old gold jewelry to make new gold jewelry
One of my all time favorite musicals as I was growing up was always Annie, about a sweet little orphan who through determination and a little positivity found a better life. But sadly as hard knock as Annie’s life was, it is nothing compared to the actually reality. The early foster system was established in the 1500s in order to care for children who were removed from their parents. Foster care was intended to be a short-term solution until the child is either adopted or reunited with their family. However, because of how few people there are willing to take in these kids, the average child will spend over two years waiting to be adopted. But the flaws in this system run much deeper.
Therapeutic sessions assist in enhancing the member’s individual’s thoughts as well as those they are building relationships with. The support that they have from family, friends, significant others and the community is essential in their well-being as interactions with others are crucial for development of a sense of self (Meyer, 2003).
Florence, a 24-year-old Houston woman, suffers from a life-threatening genetic disease. She has been in and out of hospitals her entire life and has a pile of medical bills she can’t pay. Her partner left after she recently became pregnant, saying he couldn’t handle her constant illness. Then Florence, who did not want to be identified
Chapter 5: Victim-Offender Mediation covers the concepts, components, elements, methodology and history of VOM. In this chapter the authors described the dimensions of VOM Effectiveness. This covers restitution and repair of damage, recidivism, diversion, cost fairness participation rates and participant satisfaction. The others even covered concerns and ongoing issues like compromising the separate preparation of the victim and offender prior to the mediation session, pressuring participation and controlling the dialogue, applying VOM in cross-culture contexts, and cultivating a referral base. (Umbreit, M. and Armour, M.P. 2006 p. 136) VOM remains central to the restorative justice movement because it serves to remind us of the centrality of the victim and the victim’s harm and the power of the victim’s voice and story to advance the dialogue, creating the context for offender’s accountability and deep learning. (Umbreit, M. and Armour, M.P. 2006 p. 137)
A moment caught my attention when Carolyn was making her own individual progress through her depression and role in the
“The first incident took place on the night of December 20,1968 a 17-year-old David Faraday, and his girlfriend 16-year-old Betty Lou Jenson, were shot to death by their car. The morning of July 5, 1969 Darlene Ferrin 22 and her boyfriend Mike Mageau 19, were sitting in their parked car, when a man approached them with a flashlight. The figure fired multiple shots killing Ferrin, and Wounding Mageau. Within about an hour of the incident, someone called the Vallejo Police Department, telling them the location of the crime and taking full responsibility of the murder and the 1968 murders. On the evening of September 27, 1969, the Zodiac struck again, Cecelia Shepard, and Bryan Hartnell, they relaxed on an isolated part of the shore of Lake Berryessa
Employment agencies will provide clients with help to find and keep a job. These agencies include rehabilitation services for people. By locating jobs for young adult women could relieve some stress as well as give them the opportunity to live a better life. Food and nutrition agencies help clients get healthy meals and the skills to prepare a nutritious meal. Food banks and food delivery are examples of these programs. Housing and shelter organizations help find temporary or permanent housing. Also youth development organizations would help because women need a place where there children both boys and girls can explore. By providing these services light will shine at the end of the tunnel for these women. They will be able to reach the top of the pyramid of self-actualization. By providing these resources a woman’s confidence will increase, the feeling of worrying will diminish, the feeling of belonging will take place and the self-esteem of women and children will change for the
Overall, the KidsCan programs work well in making children who can’t afford food or clothing feel better about themselves as well as improving their school performance and likelihood to do well in school and then move on to a good job. Other people may think that these programs just make the children feel worse about themselves, or that it’s the parent’s job to care for the child, not strangers. Although, the aim was to ensure that kids less fortunate than others can have the same opportunities as others to take advantage of their education and reach their full potential, and improve the educational outcomes of children who aren’t very wealthy and attend low decile schools where it may be harder to get a good education when one lives in poverty. From the results of the research, it’s clear that there was definitely an improvement in the self esteem and pride of the child, as well as their school performance, which is crucial for the child to reach their full