RE-THINKING POVERTY

Different people have a different understanding of what poverty is: lack of basic needs and necessities to survive, poverty of the mind- on grounds of how they think about themselves and lack of knowledge and understanding of what’s around them, living in the slum etc. All seem similar but quite different. On the other hand, the same applies to the solutions. How do we end poverty, make it history? Different approaches, strategies and ideas exist. The good news is, a significant number of people are really trying to create change and solutions to poverty. The bad news is, though some have succeeded, most have failed. Lasting change is a process and the answers are deeply rooted in those most affected. That is why building relationship[s and involving the communities we work in is important. Community Organizing! To end poverty, we must re-think it, ask difficult questions on why it exists and  be willing to work on the root causes . Natalie Finstad, co-founded of Tatua Kenya talks about community as the path to the future and as a way to developing sustainable and just solutions to poverty  on Natalie’s TEDex

How can we begin to examine the identities that we are assigning to people based on where they come from, their neighbourhoods etc?

How do we begin to engage in meaningful relationships with others?

Liz Njeri- Tatua Kenya community manager

LETS DO OUR LITTLE BIT OF GOOD WHERE WE ARE: We owe it to humanity

“This morning, I suddenly began to think about the primary reason why I am a community organizer. Why am I in Tatua Kenya doing what I do and not any other place? What draws me to Tatua? I began to think about the issue- what hurt me so much and made me so angry that I had to ACT. At the end of the day, when you ask people to do this or do that, it all boils down on the action. I came to a conclusion. It’s not just because I wanted to feel better about doing some good in society but because despite the existence of so many charities and philanthropists/ well wishers there is still so much that needs to be done by all of us to create real impact. I was curious about how to create real impact instead of short-term charity

The truth about Community organizing

Being an organizer takes a keen awareness of where energy exists and moving on that energy. It means seeing how a community works, what resources it has, what its needs are and helping match already present resources to existing needs. It’s about helping people see that they already have the answers to the problems they want some one else to solve. It’s looking at the community with a different sense of eyes.

The job isn’t about me or you doing everything. It’s about the community doing everything or at least as much as we can do together. This isn’t always the easiest thing to ensure. People often want you to do everything (I often want to do everything) but if we (me or you) do everything it leaves a lot of time and a little responsibility on everyone else’s plate. The truth is, we ALL have something to give to this world. This is our home and the other people living here are our community members, our neighbors and it’s time we act like it.

We may be thousands of miles apart or living in drastically different place but deep down, we’re all in this together, that’s the truth. And, to see change, we’re going to need to start living by that truth.

Helping you realize that truth, helping me realize that truth, helping the global community realize that truth – that’s my job as a community organizer.

UPDATE: COMMUNITIES LEADING SOCIAL CHANGE”Letting Children be Children”

Gabriel Odhiambo(Gabby) is a fellow with Tatua Kenya from Mukuru kwa Njenga  running a campaign on child labor and Education. In his community children engage in manual labor at a very tender age at the expense of their education. Their parents also seems to be comfortable with that worrying trend due to the economic hardships of life, this being the primary reason for allowing their children to find work instead of going to school.What Gabby wonders is whether the parents are aware of the consequences of this action. For the last two months, the 2014 Tatua Kenya fellows have been conducting listening projects