ONE to one - Letter 3!
December 20th, 2007 at 11:38 am | posted by Virginia SimmonsONE member Pamela Kombe of Kissimmee, FL, wrote this letter to a likely Iowa caucus-goer as part of our “ONE to one” campaign. We thought it was great and decided to maximize her voice by mailing to 8,000 more Iowans.
My name is Pamela Kombe. I’m writing today to talk about extreme poverty and global disease - issues I care deeply about.
First let me tell you I grew up in a suburb of Pittsburgh, slightly upper middle class. In the beginning I saw my parents struggle and I thought we were poor. But as I grew up, I understood more about poverty. In 2004 I married a man from Kenya, Africa, a wonderful man, with strong family values and an unbelievable work ethic. This man knew first hand of poverty in its ugliest meaning. All of my husband’s family still lives in Kenya, the challenges they face everyday are unlike anything you and I could ever imagine.
To imagine your own mother missing meals for days, to be sick with malaria, and not be able to get the medication because it’s so expensive. To not have clean drinking water. To watch her 25 yr old son die of AIDS, in an agonizing way that is preventable with affordable medical care. These are things we deal with, and we do everything we can to make their life easier in any way possible.
As a concerned ONE member, an organization with 2.4 million members including thousands in Iowa, I am asking you to find out where the candidates stand on issues of extreme poverty and global disease by visiting ONE Action’s On The Record campaign at www.onevote08.org/otr<. This is a way that you can have a say in the life of someone not as fortunate as you and I.
You may have seen ONE members at campaign events or our ads in newspapers or on TV. We're committed to making sure the next president of the United States is a strong leader in the struggle to end global poverty, and I hope you will join us and caucus for the candidate that you think has the best plan.
Sincerely,
Pamela Kombe, ONE Member
Kissimmee, FL
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:25 am
My names are George Owiti from Kenya. I am writing to share my first hand experience about extreme poverty and global diseases, especially HIV and AIDS, their impact on families is great, particularly women and children - people I care and work to improve their lives..
I am a founder member and Program Manager of ACFORD GROUP, a local community based development organization founded in 2005 in Kisumu, Kenya.
I was born and brought up in a very poor family by any standards, my father having died when I was 12 years. As I grew up, we could not afford a better house: the grass thatched and mud walls and floor that my father left crumbled.With Mum’s wage of Kes 300 per month in 1980s as a subordinate staff in a training Institute (Currently US $5 per month), you can imagine how many basic needs we could meet!! Poor housing conditions, lack of food, lack of fees, lack of clothes and to see my younger sister die of HIV and Aids because of lack of access to life saving drugs due to lack of financial resources, including current post election violence are issues I have experienced.
Right now small and medium business owners have suffered about Kes 60 million losses in revenue due to missed business opportunities and destruction of property. The losses resulted from violence sparked by the Electoral Commission’s declaration of Mr. Mwai Kibaki as President on December 27, 2007 amid disputes in poll tallying. Close to 80 percent of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) were affected by the violence; most have lost their businesses completely while others might have salvaged little. Over 1000 lives have been lost and over 300,000 thousand people displaced with houses and property destroyed…
During the fracas, over 200 shops were looted and destroyed in Kisumu, in addition to an estimated loss of about 6000 jobs.
Currently I have the following key Professional qualifications: Diploma in Cooperative Management, Certified Public Accountant - C.P.A (K) PART II, Kenya Accounting Technician Certificate –K.A.T.C I&II.
I also have thorough working knowledge of computerized Accounts: Sage Financial Controller, Quicken Accounting Solutions, Spreadsheets; Excel and Lotus Approach.
I had earlier on applied and successfully completed the rigorous recruitment and training process to join Kenya Air Force where I served in the positions of cashier, Accounts Assistant, Cashier and Bills Officer (1994-2000).
My assignment at Mildmay International-Kenya involved assisting Programme Manager in rolling out Mildmay’s HAPAC III Home Based care model project sponsored by both Department of International Development (DFID) and the Government of Kenya (GoK) in Nyanza, Western and Central Province for the period 2003-2005. The work involved, among others, training and supporting the districts on financial management and reporting on expenditures for funds allocated to them. Facilitating the same for CBOs involved in Mildmay-Community REACH Project on Stigma and Distrimination of PLWAS.
He has facilitated other organizations in Organizational Development including Rural Agency for Development, involved in micro-finance and supporting women groups with micro-loans for business, school fees, farming and savings facilities in Kisumu slums and Nairobi.
I have also attended various workshops including Financial Management workshop facilitated by Community REACH Inc. in collaboration with PACT Inc and funded by USAID in Dar-e-salaam, Tanzania (2004).
I continue working very closely with Community Based Organizations particularly women groups in areas of capacity building, formation of ‘saving clubs’, facilitating Official registration, training basic accounting for their groups covering establishing plans, constructing budgets, bookkeeping and summarized accounts to provide the information the groups needs.
My current work assignment includes capacity building assistance to strengthen community based options for protection, care and support: for World Vision-Kenya involves facilitating Financial Management and Human Resources Training for KAKO-KIPKEU, MUNAKA, BUSCODAT and AMATSI Community Based Organizations. The outcome is development of Financial Management and Human Resources Policy Manuals in response to the request from members having successfully completed phase four of their capacity building funded by SOIN ADP and Bunyala ADP and coupled by urgent need for project implementation in Bunyala and Baringo Districts, Kenya (Sept-November 2007).
As a very concerned ONE member, with membership of well over 2.4 million members, I am requesting you to contact us on email address: acford_kenya @yahoo.com for more information about our current program titled SCOPE! ( Strengthening Community Based Options for protection, care and support with focus on orphans and vulnerable children and their caregivers in Kisumu, Western Kenya.
We hope the next American President will be a person who is committed to tackling global poverty and with strong committment on issues of good governance and real democracy.
Faithfully,
George Owiti, ONE member
Kisumu, Kenya