FORGE Africa

BIG WEEK

2006-07-24T04:45:00.000-07:00

So next week is the big week! We will officially be kicking off the Meheba Tigers Role Model Program. We will be doing to visits to Meheba Basic schools A and B with each school having around 200 kids involved. I have been training the Tigers almost every day for the past two weeks and I feel that they will be ready. We have a great combination of activities made for the event and we look to provide the children with a fun time while educating them in HIV/AIDS issues.
The contract has been signed for the community center! This week we finally met on an agreement with the building owner for the spot we plan on having our HIV/AIDS community center. We will be refurbishing the center throughout the week and hopefully have it up and running by the start of August.
We should have our first prototype of the Human Powered Generator project made by the end of the day today(August 24)! I have teamed up with a great crew and we are looking to develop some type of program for the generators to be used around the community.
Our community sports league tournament will be held on August 5th. Its going to be for 350 kids from all across the settlement in which we are going to spend the day having a football tournament and an evening of HIV/AIDS workshops and a HIV/AIDS video showing provided by UNFPA. I have also worked out for a possible mobile VCT unit for people to get tested during the tournament. I have arranged for all the players on the Meheba Tigers to agree to get publicly tested which I feel will give a big boost to the lack of testing in the community.
I cannot believe there is only a few weeks left. Time has really been flying by and every day has just been getting more and more jam-packed. I am very hopeful as well as nervous of achieving all of my goals in the provided time. So as for the next blog, I will be sure to let you know how everything goes, for this is the big week, until then take care.

JAMBO-SANA

2006-07-19T03:31:00.000-07:00

I can’t believe how fast time has been moving here. We have gone past our halfway point and it’s amazing to see how much we have already accomplished.
The Meheba Tigers Role Model Program is developing well. I have been so impressed with how serious the players have been with the commitment to the program. We have been training every other day in one end of the zone or the other. The first day of the program is a week and a half away and I am very hopeful they will be ready by then.
We have found a building for our HIV/AIDS community center. After running a focus group at one of the basic schools we found a need for a center in the community to provide a safe and comfortable place to seek HIV/AIDS education and supplies. We are going to totally refurbish the building, which is nicely placed right in the middle of the largest market in Meheba, and then it would also provide an income generation for the Tiger’s program. We have got donations from IOM for dartboards, draft boards and a pool table. We would be able to charge for pool and mange sales of soft drinks and take away by working with our FORGE micro-finance program. The hope for this would be to create a successful center for HIV/AIDS but also create a fully sustainable business for not only the center but for the continuation of the Tiger’ s program.
The human powered generator project has just been getting started. I have been working with a carpenter to make our first stand and we have ideas to use it as a battery charging business in the settlement and then build two more in places for public use in the community.
The group has been doing incredible all around and I am so impressed with everyone’s success. From when we started to now, we have made of initiated:
• A preschool in the vulnerable’s part of the settlement
• A music program that has already had two live performances
• A micro loan office and a fully operational micro-finance education program for men and women throughout the settlement
• A refugee run film documentary
• A vegetable crop management for a new farm in the vulnerable’s part of the settlement
Everyone has been working so hard for the success of their programs and I am amazed to see the outcome so far.
So now I am back to work for time is ticking and I look to make the most of my time while I am here. I will be sure to post again in a week but until then take and thanks again for everyone that has supported.

Jogging in Africa to Peter Gabriel

2006-07-10T07:54:00.000-07:00

So another week has gone by and more progress has been made. I began the week by getting properly trained in Grassroots Soccer by local peer educators Isaac and Mohammed. The training went really well and I strongly feel that this is going to be an effective way of getting the message across of HIV/AIDS awareness to the kids here. The following day I met up with the guys from LWF (Lutheran World Federation) to have talks about the Human Powered Generator. They have really great interest in the project but I am not sure if itÂs for the benefit of the refugees or their own business prospects. They introduced me to a carpenter and we are going to try to make up a frame for the bike generator in the next couple weeks.
The fires at night are always a good time and Robson make it hilarious. Robson is the man. Robson is our driver, handy man, pretty much takes care of anything. He is a Zambian that has been all over Africa working all types of jobs. He is quite a character and he really gets the group going. Robson and I went to get firewood the other day when we came across this huge tree that was knocked over a bit deep into the bush. We went through to get to it and when we started to get to work all I could think was how much of a pain it was going to be to drag all this wood back to the car. Then before I knew it Robson backed the car right through the bush to pull it right next to the tree. We practically brought the entire tree back that night.
So the Tigers role model program is really looking good. I am going to be training the entire team next week in Grassroots Soccer and I have set up and entire schedule of visits to all of the basic schools for the entire year, I also got plans for a condom distribution campaign that is going to have the Tigers be responsible for supply condoms we got donated to the different zones of the camp. The community sports league is still getting the run around on their funding from the proposal they made up which is frustrating to all the refugees that are volunteering. We have another meeting with the proposal people next week so we will find out then. ThatÂs all for now.

Projects are coming along!

2006-06-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

My apologies for not keeping up on my blog, fellow readers! I had no idea I had such a response but now I promise to you to keep up on my status while in Zambia.
It has been nearly two weeks now in the Meheba Refugee Settlement and alot of excitement has been stirring in the FORGE Compound. All of the ambassadors are developing some truly amazing projects that are about to get started in the community.
I have been working alot with the Meheba Tigers coaches and team as well as the community sports league on helping develop their programs. I got properly trained by local peer educators on Grassroots soccer this week and we have successfully dispersed the equipment we have gotten donated to all of the programs. In the next week I am planning to train the Tigers in Grassroots Soccer and begin our HIV/AIDS awareness campaign by organizing a schedule of visits to the local basic schools. We have also gotten a huge supply of condoms (30,000 to be exact!) from UNFPA which I am setting up for the Tigers to disperse in the settlement.
On the personal side of things, I have been really amazed by the people here in the settlement. I went my first church service last Sunday here and it was truly incredible. People sing with such beautiful harmony and the church gets so full of energy. It was a really amazing experience and I plan to go as much as I can for now on.

So I am sorry this post is so short but I will be sure to say more next time. I hope that everyone is well back home and I will send something out again in a week.

Greetings from Zambia!

2006-06-30T08:06:00.000-07:00

What a small world! So after two and a half days of travelling: Boston to Cape Cod, Cape Cod to New York, New York to London, London to Lusaka, Zambia. I finally walk off of the plane and out of the airport to run into a Zambian man(that has no correlation to FORGE) that says, "are you Ben Kneppers?" I say yes and he goes, "hey its me bennie, archies friend!" I couldnt even fathom how far I just travelled to come and run into someone I happened to know through a friend in the middle of Africa!
So I am safely into my second day in Zambia and all is well. We just had an incredible meeting with UNHCR in the Lusaka headquarters and everyone is very excited to get to Meheba tomorrow. We have been staying in the FORGE flat in Lusaka for the past day and a half and it has been very nice. The Zambian people are very friendly and it has been quite an experience feeling the side of being a white male minority while walking around town. People go out of the way to help you alot and it is nice but you want to try to just fit in.I will be travelling to the Meheba Refugee Settlement tomorrow where I will be staying for the next two months. I hope all is well with everyone.

What and Where is The Meheba Refugee Settlement?

2006-02-01T12:31:00.000-08:00

The Meheba Refugee Settlement is a haven for people to come to from outside countries in Africa that have been in danger or under persecution. This settlement gives people a place stay while conflict is hopefully being sorted in their home countries. What we try to do as FORGE ambassadors is go to these settlements and try to help meet the unmet needs to better the camps.

Meheba Refugee Settlemen is located in North Western province, Zambia, about 70 km from Solwezi, the capital of the province. It was created in 1971 in order to accommodate the refugees who were fleeing the colonial and civil wars in Angola.

Left: Damon, our group organizer, at the Meheba Refugee Settlement library. He and and other FORGE ambassadors helped create this library that now has over 25,000 books!