W
The Winant
Fund
Grants for 2010
Kyrgyzstan: Disabled Children's Counseling and Learning
Center - $1421
Resources for
children with mental and learning disabilities in the former Soviet republic of
Kyrgyzstan are both scarce and expensive.
Decades of neglect under communism created an environment where children
living with these conditions today are too often viewed as sub-citizens, left
untreated, and grossly misunderstood.
Yet there are people in Kyrgyzstan working hard to help these children
and their families get the help they need.
The Psychology Department at the International Slavic Institute runs a
free center dedicated to the diagnosis, development, and education of children
with mental and learning disabilities.
For the past year, licensed psychologists and psychiatrists within the
department have offered free consultations as well as free counseling and
clinical services to children and their families. This is a tremendous step in the right
direction. However, due to lack of funds,
professors in the clinic lack the proper tools, materials, and furnishings to
effectively meet the needs of these children.
The clinic is
partnering with the Peace Corps to procure diagnostic and assessment tools,
developmental and educational materials, much needed furnishings suitable for a
children’s clinic, and local advertisements to raise community awareness. The
Psychology Department and the University both equally support this project, and
through the funding of this grant, the clinic will not only be able to help
children reach their full potential, but the clinic will be able to
significantly extend its outreach to the community.
Central African Republic: Nothing But Nets -
$250
A project of
the United Nations Foundation, Nothing But Nets (NBN)
distributes durable anti-mosquito bed netting to help prevent the spread of
malaria. This disease is the leading
killer of children in Africa, and claims over one million lives every year –
mostly children under the age of five.
Our donation will support the NBN campaign to provide netting to every
vulnerable person in the Central African Republic.
This Peace
Corps sponsored project will assist a group of single mothers and their
children in a rural community of 60,000 people.
Due to the town's remote location, healthcare is inadequate. Many children have lost their fathers to
sickness or accidents, and are growing up in female-headed households with
little income. The local Women's
Association has selected a group of 30 single mothers to become involved in a
poultry farming income generating activity.
The business seeks to empower these women to improve their circumstances
through economics; the project will enable them to provide for their families
and send their children to school.
The 30 participants have pledged their own collective savings towards the
project and developed the project's budget, timeline, production plan, and
training schedule. They successfully
petitioned the Town Administration Office for donations, procured a plot of
land for the project and cleared the property in order to ready it for the
future construction of a chicken house.
The town has agreed to provide a vehicle for transporting construction
materials and the chickens to the site.
The group will receive training from the local Agricultural Office and
the Office of Micro-Small Enterprise. In
addition, experienced members of the Women's Association will help to
implement, monitor and evaluate the project.
Overall, the community has contributed almost $4000, or 35% of the total
project cost.
Panama: Rainwater Catchment System and Composting
Latrines - $250
This project
will take place in an indigenous community of approximately 220 people. The majority survive on native fruits and
tubers that they grow on their land.
Twelve families do not have access to the communal aqueduct due to the
elevation of the residence, and must collect water in buckets from nearby
creeks. Carrying this water is strenuous
and the water is contaminated. In
addition, there are no sanitary latrines in the community. Community members currently defecate in the
creeks and nearby swamp, subjecting themselves and others to dangerous
pathogens.
The local
Peace Corps Volunteer requested funds to support an effort to address this
problem. The project has two tangible
goals: to construct 12 rainwater
catchment systems for the houses that are not connected to aqueducts and to
construct one model composting latrine.
The rainwater systems will improve the health of families and the
latrines will be used as a teaching aid to motivate and show the entire
community that using a composting latrine is a more sanitary and pleasant
experience than going to the swamp. (Due
to the high water table and seasonal flooding, pit latrines are impossible to
build. With composting latrines, no holes in the ground are required and
flooding will not be able to penetrate the concrete block walls. Another benefit is that these latrines convert
human waste into organic fertilizer.)
The families participating in the rainwater project have pledged to contribute
$5 for each catchment tank and the wood and nails for each platform on which
the tank will sit. They will also provide all the labor. For the model latrine, the community will
donate the wood required for the walls and the time for their labor. Our donation will help fund the construction
materials and transportation to realize these projects.
Peru: Multisensory Classroom - $802
The faculty
and parents of the only special education school in this community are planning
the implementation of a multisensory classroom. The school currently serves 32
students, aged 3 to 20, with severe and
multiple disabilities including Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, mental
retardation, and autism, as well as physical and behavioral disabilities. The
local Peace Corps Volunteer reports that the school has a motivated staff of
teachers and professionals including a psychologist, speech-language therapist,
and physical therapist. However, many of
the teachers lack specific training in the education of individuals with severe
disabilities, and the school overall lacks any type of specialized materials or
equipment. The classroom will be a
stimulating environment of lights, sounds and tactile experiences, specially
designed to tap into the unique abilities of individuals with severe
disabilities, helping them explore their senses and interact with the world
around them.
The teachers at the school will receive training in multisensory stimulation
and the use of the materials in the classroom, including adaptive computer
technology. In addition to the benefits
for current students and faculty, it is hoped that creation of this classroom
will motivate more parents to enroll children with severe disabilities, who
often are hidden in their homes.
Finally, the community at large will be invited to participate in an
early stimulation workshop utilizing the materials in the classroom to train
young mothers in the importance of early interactions with babies and young
children.
Vanuatu: Youth Vocational Training - $527
In the
Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, a Rural Training Center (RTC) is a promising
vocational training center providing practical experience and training for
youth that don’t get the chance to finish high school. This group of underprivileged youth is
surprisingly large as only about 15% complete 10th grade. Many local youth would like to continue
school but are unable to pass the entrance exams or can’t pay school fees. The RTC helps these youth develop skills in
useful areas such as carpentry and agriculture so that they can lead more
productive lives.
Our donation will support a Peace Corps sponsored project to acquire three
computers, a printer, and three sewing machines, as well as a new classroom to
house these new supplies. These
resources will allow the RTC to expand its course offerings, help the students
gain important skills to change their lives, provide alternative fundraising
tools for the school, and help the administration better organize. Over 60% of the project's budget has been
provided by the local community.
Washington,
DC: SOME (So Others Might Eat) - $250
So Others Might Eat has operated in
our nation's capital for 40 years. It
works to feed, clothe, shelter, treat, and train the homeless and poor. Over the years, it has helped thousands of
people get off the streets, transform their lives, and live independently. Currently SOME feeds more than 1,000 people
each day and meets other immediate needs of the homeless and poor by providing
clothing, shower rooms, medical and dental care, and shelter for elderly people
who have suffered abuse or neglect. It
also offers affordable housing for families and single adults, addictions
treatment, job training, counseling, and day programs for seniors and people
with mental illness.