The task of writing this post has been haunting me for at least 6 months. I am great at starting projects but terrible at ending them. Many of you probably have not noticed that this publication has been silent; but, some of you, especially my friends in Africa, likely have. And, I apologize for my silence.

Publication Paused But Remains

I have finally gathered the courage to write this post to let you know that I am pausing this publication and paid subscriptions indefinitely. The publication will not be deleted; the posts are such a treasure to me and the people I highlighted, so, no deletion! Just an indefinite pause.

Changing Priorities, Redirecting Inward

Earlier this year, my time, energy, and resources dwindled significantly and I needed to be turned inward to my professional life and my family, but especially my growing children. As a result, I stopped writing on Substack (almost) entirely [but for some poetry in April]. Anyone who tries to juggle work, family, volunteering and creative projects will likely understand that trying to juggle that much ultimately results in one or more of these things suffering. In this case, my inattention to my family and my own self-care were the casualties.

With my priorities shifting back to my family and my own self-care this year [and the job that pays my bills!], my plans to continue writing updates and doing new interviews for RainMakers & ChangeMakers necessarily have had to be shelved, and indefinitely so. I don’t think I will return to writing on this Substack in the future. I also will not be shutting it down, leaving a door open just in case.

I am so thankful for all of your support and encouragement for this publication. It was a whimsical project started June 1, 2024, answering a desire on my part to help more people and also keep up a writing and drawing practice. It lasted well past the 60 day challenge I set for myself. Initially, I didn’t expect that project to be anymore than a fun summer escapade. But, the more I got involved, the more I thought I could turn it into a fundraising and outreach arm on behalf of people doing amazing things.

I’m proud of the outcomes of this project. Changemakers who otherwise would not have a platform on Substack were highlighted, $350 was raised and disbursed to support small but meaningful and impactful projects in Africa, and the GiveBack Stack section and community was created.

As an aside, on the subject of GiveBackStack, I know that many Substack publications are successfully using their paid subscriptions to support community projects. I’m so happy to see that! And, I hope that they continue to receive support. That section and list will continue to stay live but will not be updated.

Fund Balance Donation to Ubuntu International

There is still a balance of paid subscriptions remaining in the RainMakers & ChangeMakers Fund that was not disbursed over the holidays. I am choosing to donate the remainder which totals $139.27 to International as they are doing incredible work supporting many of the ChangeMakers I highlighted on this publication during my Summer 2024 art & storytelling project. Please consider subscribing to them directly and donate!

A Final Thanks

I want to give a big thank you to the paid subscribers who took a chance and donated. Your money went to and is going to amazing projects. Thank you for your donations and support. It meant a lot to me and to the people who benefited that you reached into your pocket and shared your abundance.

I appreciate everyone else who subscribed and commented and read and shared the posts about amazing the amazing changemakers highlighted here last year.

And, of course, I want to thank all of the ChangeMakers who shared their stories. They will remain here for you to cherish, enjoy and share!

Sincerely,

Emily

This is a short note with a LOT of gratitude! There are 7 of you who decided to support RainMakers & ChangeMakers this year with an annual, founding, or monthly donation.

You helped me turn what I thought was only going to be a 61-day art and interview project into a transformational GiveBackStack initiati…

Read more

Welcome to Part 3 in the “Make It Rain For Change” series where we learn how far $10 goes to transforming lives in Africa. In November, I distributed the $350 in the RainMaker Fund (raised from paid subscribers and donors) equally amongst the 35 African activists I interviewed this summer.

RAINMAKER FUND REPLENISHED!

First, I’m excited to share that after our Part 2 article was published we received a founding annual donation of $120! That critical donation plus existing monthly and annual donations puts us closer to repleninshing the RainMaker Fund. Every time we reach $350, we will do another distribution to ChangeMakers!

Would you help us get to $350 by upgrading your subscription today or making a direct donation to the RainMaker Fund?

RainMakers & ChangeMakers is a GiveBackStack. All donations and subscriptions are donated to the RainMaker Fund for direct impact via vetted ChangeMakers.

The ChangeMaker Challenge: What meaningful impact can you deliver to others with just $10?

In Part 1, Bountiful Trees & Chess Accessories, we learned that 5 ChangeMakers transformed $50 into 61 newly planted trees, a chess clock to level up learning for a 30-member chess club in Kibera slums, and a chess table and bench to support game play in rural Malawi! In Part 2, ChangeMakers Choose Children, five other ChangeMakers reported on how they transformed their $10 donation into:

• a hand-crocheted doll for a refugee child in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya

• paper and pencils to support children’s learning and expressive drawing in Nakivale Refugee Settlement (Uganda) and Kakuma Refugee Camp (Kenya)

• and two hens whose eggs and offspring will help fund school fees for young girls in Kenya

• teaching children in Kibera Slums, Kenya how to make 20 litres of liquid soap and then giving each child a litre to bring home

In this edition, Part 3, we find ChangeMakers continuing to prioritize the most vulnerable amongst us: children, youth, and now street dogs!

Addressing Food Security One CowPea At A Time

Congolese refugee, 29-year old Polydord Wasokye of Life Skills for a Better Future in Kakuma Refugee Camp Kenya, turned his $10 RainMaker Fund donation into CowPea seedlings for 5 refugee children to care for and benefit from.

In Kakuma's dry climate, I chose cowpeas because they’re fast-growing and resilient to drought. These crops will not only provide food for the children’s families but also give them the opportunity to sell their harvest, generating income and building their sense of resilience. - Polydord Wasokye

This project is more than just about food—it's about giving these children the skills to sustain themselves, build hope, and improve their futures. I’ve been guiding them on how to prepare the soil, plant the seeds, and care for their gardens. The skills they are learning will stay with them for life.

The difference this $10 has already made is clear. These children are learning responsibility, seeing the results of their hard work, and gaining the confidence to change their circumstances.

Food insecurity is the major challenge in the camp, depending on insufficient humanitarian food aid cannot meet dietary needs. It will be great for them to shift from one meal to 2 a day through this small donation as they are learning the concept of People, Earth and Fair share. - Polydord Wasokye

Visit LSBF's Public Facebook Group

Vaccinating Street Dogs Against Rabies in Kenya

When I interviewed Kevin Kamau this summer, it was related to his work with Roland Van Reenen and Dee J Essy of Kwetu Regenerative Hub in the semi-arid desertified region of Kitui County. Because my interviews were focused on the person, I got Kevin’s personal story and found out he is passionate about animals and dreams of opening a dog rescue some day. We were able to add him as a recipient of the RainMaker Fund to support his dream.

I don’t just look at people. I look at animals. If there is something I wish I could do, it would be the rehabilitation of dogs. There are so many stray dogs in Nairobi and near my home. - Kevin Kamau

Kevin works with his friend Antony Karanja Kimani who is a local veterinarian to vaccinate street dogs against rabies, both to protect the dogs from execution but also to help fight what has become an epidemic in the region.

With his $10 RainMaker donation, Kevin worked with Antony to vaccinate against rabies three street dogs, including his favorite dog Guka (“grandfather” in his language). Guka lives on the streets and is fed when possible by Kevin. Now vaccinated, Guka’s rabies certificate stays with the local butcher where he likes to frequent for treats. Vaccinated dogs are also marked with paint so they can be properly identified and are therefore safe from execution by local authorities.

Kevin has also been rescuing puppies when he can. While the street dogs are friendly to Kevin, they are not easily trained. Kevin looks to the new generation of puppies to train them, ultimately hoping to give them good homes with new owners in the future. Here are two frolicking pups he found abandoned on a farm recently that he has been taking care of with the help of Antony.

Kevin does all of this work on his own when he has the funds available. Reach out via comment or direct chat (or email me at rainmakerdesign4africa@gmail.com) if you would like to support his work with street dogs in Kenya.

Leave a comment

Distributing Indigenous Seeds to Support Adoption of Regenerative Agriculture

Steve Tolo of Regenerative Agriculture for Community Empowerment (RACE) in Kisumu Kenya (on the shores of Lake Victoria) is passionate about bringing permaculture to his community to encourage their self-sufficiency. He transformed his $10 into a sustainable gift to a woman farmer in his community, practicing the permaculture principles of Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share.

RACE aims to empower more smallholder farmers to adopt sustainable farming and to do so, seeds especially indigenous seeds are key to initiating farmers adoption of regenerative agriculture. - Steve Tolo

We have one local smallholder farmer given start up indigenous seeds and local tree seedlings to start a regenerative kitchen garden with the current rains. The package included 10 different indigenous seeds of both vegetables and cereals and 6 pieces, two variety of local wood trees. Our aim is to ensure every month we empower new farmers with a package. - Steve Tolo

Vist RACE's FB Page

TAPA Teaches Permaculture to Youth

While the full project is not yet complete, Ugandan permaculture trainer and TAPA founder (Teso Advanced Permaculture Association) Deborah Aluka is working with her team to create a raised seedling bed to serve as a permaculture demonstration site for the youth groups her organization runs. In the next issue, we hope to have pictures of the seedling bed planted! She used her $10 to purchase the seed packets but first is building this raised bed with the youth.

Deborah Aluka's FB Page

Thank you for reading. I’ll be back in the New Year with Part 4 of “Make It Rain For Change” stories!

Consider upgrading your subscription so that we can rebuild the RainMaker Fund!

Subscribe now

If you’re not interested in upgrading but wish to make a one-time contribution, the button below will take you to the “Buy Me A Coffee” page that I set up specifically for one-time RainMaker Fund donations.

Donate to RainMaker Fund

Until next time, be well! Make it rain, create some change!

Welcome to Part 2 in the “Make It Rain For Change” series where we learn how far $10 goes to transforming lives in Africa. In November, I distributed the $350 in the RainMaker Fund (raised from paid subscribers and donors) equally amongst the 35 African activists I interviewed this summer.

The ChangeMaker Challenge: What meaningful impact can you deliver to others with just $10?

In Part 1, Bountiful Trees & Chess Accessories, we learned that 5 ChangeMakers transformed $50 into:

• 61 tree saplings benefiting a school, a permaculture farm, and a homestead caretaker in Kenya

• a chess clock to level up the learning for 30 children in a chess club in Kibera Slums, Kenya

• a chess table and bench to support youth learning chess in rural Malawi

In this edition, Part 2, we find the following ChangeMakers prioritizing the educational needs of the most vulnerable in their communities: children.

Supporting the Social Emotional Health of Refugee Children in Kakuma Camp, Kenya

Australian educator and ChangeMaker Elsa Lilienfield and her counterpart Matendo Nzika in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya are the duo behind Dolls & Lions. Elsa instigated the Dolls & Lions Project in October 2020 after discovering the lack of suitable toys to stock a childcare room in Kakuma Refugee Camp for the children of trainees in the needlework and English courses at the training centre.

Elsa explained that “apart from the basic and immediate therapeutic benefits of cuddling a soft toy, the long-term impact of imaginative play includes building empathy, which improves social skills such as conflict resolution and parenting later in life. There is also the therapeutic and financial benefit to the toymakers to consider.”

On October 2nd, the Dolls & Lions project handed out their 1,000 doll during a special celebration at the refugee-led Bidii Yetu organization in Kakuma Refugee Camp.

Elsa reported that $10 will provide one additional doll per child at the next quarterly distribution.

We'll add one doll to our monthly quota. With extras, like the handout costs, transport for the team and so forth, it takes AU$15 per toy. So even getting $10 will help… just to know someone else cares. Thank you! - Elsa Lilienfeld

Visit Dolls & Lions FB Page

Learning Essentials: Pencils and Paper

In my world, paper, pencils, and notebooks are ubiquitous. Easy to come by and affordable. But, in places like Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda and Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya - both isolated enclaves run in partnership with UNHCR and serving hundreds of thousands of refugees from war-torn and climate change-impacted East African countries - these basic educational supplies and tools are beyond the reach of most.

Two of our ChangeMakers chose to put children’s needs first buy purchasing supplies for learning and art.

New Talent for Best Future in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda

Muhindo Mutundi, founder of , transformed $10 into paper and pencils to support creative expression for young children, many of whom are orphans, do not know English, and are not attending school. NTBF currently supports 150 children.

At New Talent for the Best Future, we believe that art is more than just drawing or sketching. For vulnerable refugee children and youth it is a powerful way to bring their imaginations to life. Our art lessons give them a safe space to express themselves, beyond the struggles they are current facing.

Art helps these children and youth to dream and map out their futures. It’s a way for them to see past their current hardships and envision a better tomorrow. By elevating their creativity, we are helping them to build the confidence and hope they need to reach their potential and dreams. - Muhindo Mutundi

Visit New Talent For Best Future FB Page

Social Action Center for Vulnerable Individuals (SACVI), Kakuma Camp, Kenya

Andrew Lutula, a Congolese refugee living in Kakuma Refugee Camp (Kenya) and an educator by profession, prioritized the children served by SACVI. that he and his fellow volunteers serve. He reported that he was able to purchase essential educational supplies for the children his organization supports. With most schools in Kakuma Camp cramped and overcrowded, learning during the day is a challenge. Parents came together to teach their children together in the afternoons and evenings after school to ensure that their children develop key literacy skills.

With the $10, we focused on providing essential educational supplies for the children. These supplies—such as notebooks, pens, and pencils—were given to children who did not have access to these basic tools for learning. By ensuring they had the proper materials, we helped to empower them to continue their education and overcome barriers to learning.

We documented this activity with photos and stories, and we are excited to share how this small but impactful gesture has made a difference. Your $10 has helped equip children with the tools they need for a better future, and we are grateful for your support.

Thank you again for your generosity and trust. - Andre Lutula

Visit SACVI's FB Page

Chickens For Change!

Our ChangeMaker, Happy Mthulula in Malawi, decided to gift her $10 to Ruth Akinyi Ochieng of Wasichana Tunawesa [translated from Swahili to English means “Girls We Can”], who is working hard to support the education of young girls in Kenya.

recently wrote here on Substack about how her own experience as a teenage mother and her struggles with education motivated her to find a way to help young girls achieve their educational dreams.

I thought it wise to start raising hens using permaculture skills and the chicken project started scaling up and I started having good sales, and I decided to get back to school. This paid for my school fees until I did my final exams.

Based on my experience, I decided to start helping young mothers who have had teenage pregnancy and were forced to drop out of school and had no hope of ever getting back. - Ruth Akinyi Ochieng

Ruth used her $10 to purchase two hens and sent this report:

About each chicken costs $5, so $10 will give us two hens. We feed this hens, they hatch more chicks which scales up our project. 1 chicken can give us 15 chicks in one cohort and the cycle continues. We get eggs as well that we sell from this one chicken. So 1 chicken can take 4 girls to school because once the chicks grows we sell some for their school fees. We sell each at $9 or $12 dollars depending on their weight and whether it's a rooster (which fetches a higher price). So 3 hens that are well developed pays 1 girl’s school fee of $35 per semester. We sell 12 out of 15 chicks that were hatched and leave the rest to scale up the project by laying and hatching more chicks for the sustainability of the project and paying the girls' fees for the rest of the semesters. - Ruth Akinyi Ochieng

Visit Wasichana Tunawesa WordPress Page

Fighting Preventable Diseases by Making Liquid Soap

Calvin Juma of Future Within CBO in Kibera Slums, Kenya used his $10 donation to purchase supplies to make 20 litres of liquid soap. From my interview with Calvin this summer, he explained to me how critical it was to teach hygiene to children and make soap available.

In Kibera Slums, most sewage runs downhill in open ditches, resulting in stagnation, breeding insects and environmental pollution. The unsanitary condition becomes a breeding ground for water and airborne diseases such as typhoid and cholera.

Children bear the brunt of the conditions of poverty, explained Calvin. “As the most vulnerable, thousands of children live through no fault of their own in extreme poverty without access to sanitation, electricity, medication, clean water, electricity and adequate education… which are the basic rights of any child.”

"We managed to use the funds to purchase ingredients for making liquid soap and made 20 litres of liquid soap that we later distributed to the kids to help fight preventable diseases through hand washing programs. We realized that this not only helps them to gain soap making skills but also helps in improving their overall health, hygiene and educational performance. Thanks so much for making all this to be possible." - Calvin Juma

Visit Future Within's FB Page

Thank you for reading. I’ll be back soon with Part 3 of “Make It Rain For Change” stories!

Consider upgrading your subscription so that we can rebuild the RainMaker Fund!

Subscribe now

If you’re not interested in upgrading but wish to make a one-time contribution, the button below will take you to the “Buy Me A Coffee” page that I set up specifically for one-time RainMaker Fund donations.

Donate to RainMaker Fund

Until next time, be well! Make it rain, create some change!

The first reports are coming in from our ChangeMakers on how they have transformed their $10 RainMaker Fund donation into positive change in their community.

This Fall, thanks to paid subscribers and donations from other supporters, the RainMaker Fund reached $350. In November 2024, I distributed the $350 evenly to the 35 different community-based organizations in Malawi, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda I highlighted this summer.

The challenge? What impact can you make in your community with just $10? I quickly learned that $10 goes much further than I imagined.

RainMakers & ChangeMakers is a GiveBackStack. A GiveBackStack is a Substack publication that donates all OR a portion of paid subscriptions to a community or charitable cause. A GiveBackStack also clearly states the cause, frequency, and kind of donation and provides some form of written accountability on a regular basis to its subscribers. RainMakers & ChangeMakers gives 100% of all subscriptions (I pay Stripe & Substack fees) to African ChangeMakers every time we reach $350. Find other GiveBackStacks here!

Caring for the Caretaker - Kwetu Regenerative Hub, Kenya

Since highlighting them this summer, ChangeMaker duo Van Reenen and Dee J Essy of Kwetu Regenerative Hub have made incredible progress in building a homestead, syntropic agroforestry demonstration site, and dragonfruit farm in Kitui County, Kenya (one of the driest parts of Kenya).

Roland recently gave this report on how they used their $10 RainMaker Fund donation:

We bought 3 different varieties of trees: the famous Kenyan apple variety, Pixies orange tree, and a Grevillea robusta timber tree which we donated to our caretaker of our homestead, Masua (means sunshine).

Dee J chimed in:

I’ve never seen him this happy... slowly but surely we'll turn his farm into an edible forest!

Read more about Roland and Dee J here:

Tree Planting for School Children - Kakamega, Kenya

Jenipher Nyangah of Days for Girls Kakamega and Moses Makachia of Shisaba Water Resource Initiative combined their $10 to purchase 8 trees to plant at Kamashia Comprehensive School in Kenya, a Grade 1-9 school serving 780 children.

Shade, fruit, and other beneficial trees planted at the school include: Elgon teak, Aprunas Africanas,, Zanthoxylum Gillette, Neem (mwarubaini), Wabugia Ugandensis (Uganda green heart), Mahogany (Omunyama), Mvule (African Tik), Akrocaper, and Lookward (mzambarau).

Below: Jenipher and Moses plant one of their donated trees. Apologies for the challenging audio in the below video. It was recess time!

Learn more about Jenipher, a permaculture trainer as well as a reusable pads and other home goods social entrepreneur, and her husband Moses, a permaculture practitioner, water resource expert, and pastor, here:

Eucalyptus Trees for Shade and Income - K5Village, Kenya

The first ChangeMaker I highlighted this summer was of K5Village Project in Kenya. His farm serves as a village farming demonstration site for children and community members. He also uses profits from his general store to provide supplies and school fees for needy children in the village.

Omito reports that he transformed his $10 into 50 eucalyptus saplings to plant along the fence of his farm, providing timber, building materials, and shade.

Read more about Omito Abraham here:

Chess Clock for Agape Hope for Kibera Chess Club

McDawn (Don Wasonga), co-founder and Director of Entertainment at Agape Hope for Kibera school in Kibera Slums, Kenya, used his $10 donation to purchase a chess clock for the 30-member Agape Hope chess club.

Earlier this year, Don shared this about chess:

Don explained that chess is a game for the rich in Kenya. When Kibera kids go to chess competitions and play with the rich kids, brings up negative emotions becaue they can see the stark difference between the haves and have nots. But, that the exposure to other people and different environments is positive.

According to the website www.chessdelights.com, “The importance of a chess clock is that – it will build urgency for chess players and for beginners I believe this will help you become a stronger chess player and very strategic in playing chess games once you get used to playing with a chess clock.”

You can read more about McDawn and Agape Hope for Kibera here:

Chess Table/Bench for Thuchila Youth Empowerment Program, Malawi

Jonas Chabroka Fedweck of Thuchila Youth Empowerment Program in Malawi turned his $10 RainMaker Fund donation into a table and bench for chess. Recently, he received funds from an international supporter to purchase a chess set (I learned that a chess set in Malawi currently costs USD$30). Without a table, youth had to sit on the floor to play. Now they have a chess table to sustain long sessions in comfort!

Chess is a wonderful game for the youth recreation and I was worried when they were playing on the floor. At first the youths were playing on the floor which broke their backs but now are happy to play it on the beautiful chess bench/table. - Jonas Fedweck

You can read more about Jonas here:

Thank you for reading. I’ll be back soon with Part 2 of “Make It Rain For Change” stories!

Consider upgrading your subscription so that we can rebuild the RainMaker Fund!

Subscribe now

If you’re not interested in upgrading but wish to make a one-time contribution, the button below will take you to the “Buy Me A Coffee” page that I set up specifically for one-time RainMaker Fund donations.

Donate to RainMaker Fund

Until next time, be well! Make it rain, create some change!

It’s time to make it rain!

This week, I counted up our RainMaker Fund dollars plus my contribution and realized we could do something fun, innovative and impactful. And, we could do it this year.

With $350 in the RainMaker Fund thanks to the paid subscribers to this very publication (wow!), I have asked our 35 ChangeMaker organizations:

And, so the challenge begins. How far does $10 go in Africa? We will see! All ChangeMakers participating have agreed to send me back their written reports with pictures. So, you can look forward to lots of intriguing updates the rest of this year as reports come in.

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Choose your own adventure…

For those of you who are new to RainMaker & ChangeMakers, stay for a little background and context to the project, premise, and proposition.

If you’ve been here from the beginning, feel free to skim to the end for a preview of what some of our ChangeMakers are planning. Or just wait for our “Make It Rain for Change” Challenge Posts!

The RainMakers & ChangeMakers Proposition

It was a 61-day challenge… project… definitely a challenging project!

I drew and wrote 61-days straight featuring 61 individuals affiliated with 35 organizations doing incredibly community development work in the fields of permaculture, climate change, arts, education, and skill building. Almost a quarter of the interviews were refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo living in settlements/camps in Uganda or Kenya. Click here for the directory of people and posts!

Here’s my original post before the madness began!

After I completed the 61-day portrait and storytelling project on July 31st, I realized I had so much content and there was so much potential, that it was worth kicking it up a notch. With the support of the people I interviewed, I… well, really, we… decided to launch an experiment.

The need

ChangeMakers are operating on thin to no budgets. Resources are scarce. I’m in no position to fund all of them. Our ChangeMakers, due to many obstacles and challenges, are unable to start, sustain, and/or receive paid subscriptions on Substack (read why here!)

The question

Could I successfully leverage my Substack publication’s paid subscription function to raise funds to support these groups going forward?

Without the answer in front of me and nothing to lose (and only gains in sight for people who need it the most), I decided it was worth a shot.

CrowdFunding, Substack Style: RainMaker Fund

So I did it. I turned on paid subscriptions in August. And, I committed to sharing the challenges and successes of these amazing people here on this publication going forward.

I also launched the GiveBackStack Directory as a side project, hoping that there were other Substack publications out there with a charitable giving mission. Turns out there are! Check out the Directory which is now 17 strong (including my two publications).

I requested readers and supporters to consider upgrading to a $5/month subscription, annual or founding membership. Here’s my post from August 8th, just 8 days after finishing my marathon art and interview project.

Here’s a short visual explaining how the Fund works:

Six RainMakers Stepped Forward!

Honestly, I was shocked. For people to step forward with donations meant the world to me and our ChangeMakers. It meant we had a chance at meeting the need.

One is a founding member, three are annual subscribers, and two are monthly subscribers (one at $5/month and the other at $15/month, which was my original paid subscription amount; they kindly kept their contribution at that level).

While our goal is still the equivalent of 70 monthly subscribers, we are all so thankful and appreciative of the generosity of these six. Consider joining us, we have big plans! Read on for more!

Fund Status Report

Paid subscriptions received to date have built a RainMaker fund worth $335 (gross subscription fees; I contribute the Stripe and Substack fees back to the Fund).

While we have not (yet) hit the paid subscriber level I was hoping for (the equivalent of 70 monthly paid subscribers), I decided this…

It does not do anyone any good to hold onto the funds we have already raised.

So, I added another $15 to the pot to top it off at an even $350. With $350 in hand, each organization I highlighted this summer1 will get a one-time donation of $10 by the end of November.

Preview of the “$10 Make It Rain for Change” Challenge

Already ChangeMakers have been telling me what they plan to do. Here are a few of their ideas already:

• Belinda Akongo of Ubuntu Ghana has a “Slippers for Street Kids” fundraising initiative.

• Jenipher Nyangah of Kakamega Days for Girls plans to purchase 4 fruit tree seedlings for a local school.

• Polydord Wasokye of Life Skills for Better Future hinted that he will be supporting his child artwork and psychosocial support activity program.

I can’t wait to see what they all plan to do with $10! Can you? Subscribe now so you don’t miss the updates! Or upgrade your subscription so that we can start to rebuild our fund for next year’s “Make It Rain for Change” Challenge!

Subscribe now

If you’re not interested in subscribing or upgrading but wish to make a one-time contribution, the button below will take you to the “Buy Me A Coffee” page that I set up specifically for one-time RainMaker Fund donations.

Donate to RainMaker Fund

Full List of ChangeMaker Organizations

Wondering who our 35 ChangeMakers are? Here is the list! More information and the full directory of articles can be found here and in the Archive.

1. GoGreen Social Initiative, Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda

2. K5 Village, Kenya

3. Iganga Women & Children Center, Uganda

4. Kotengu Village Project, Kenya

5. Hope for Ethiopia Permaculture, Ethiopia

6. Thuchila Youth Empowerment Network, Malawi

7. Kakamega Days for Girls, Kenya

8. Kunyasa Dimba Eduplant Inspired, Malawi

9. Life Skills for Better Future, Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya

10. Kwetu Regenerative Hub, Kenya

11. Nakivale Crafters Collective, Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda

12. Dolls & Lions, Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya

13. SHISABA Water Initiative, Kenya

14. Social Action for Vulnerable Individuals, Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya

15. SheGenerators Hub, Kenya

16. TeleMed, Uganda

17. Nakivale Young Talent Community, Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda

18. Healing Circle Arts, Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda

19. Stella Amuge, Social Impact Researcher/ Sector 39 Permaculture

20. New Talent for the Best Future, Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda

21. Regenerative Agriculture for Community Empowerment, Kenya

22. Future Within CBO, Kenya

23. SURE, Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya

24. PermoAfrica Centre, Kenya

25. Sustainable Innovations, Kenya

26. Uganda Permaculture Institute, Uganda

27. Agape Hope for Kibera, Kenya

28. Ubuntu Ghana

29. WasteFree 23, Malawi

30. Teso Advanced Permaculture Association, Uganda

31. Life Foundation, Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya

32. Folona, Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda

33. Never Again International, Canada/Democratic Republic of Congo

34. Yesterday Today Tomorrow, Uganda

35. Kevin Kamau’s Animal Rescue Initiative, Kenya [see below for our 35th]

Thank you for reading. I’ll be back soon!

Be well! Make it rain, create some change!

This month, I’m returning with a feature article on another ChangeMaker: Tehuti Ra Wahinya of . I plan to bring more interviews like these to you while continuing to offer updates and in-depth articles returning to the work of the original 30 ChangeMaker organizations.

Meet Tehuti Ra Wahinya, Herbalist Healer

Tehuti Ra Wahinya, is an accomplished Kenyan organic farmer, herbalist, health and wellness professional, and creative living in Mombasa (along the coast of Kenya, by the Indian Ocean).

At 40 years old, Tehuti is the proprietor of WeGrow - on Substack - an organic herbal products company, run from his home, providing oils, teas, and other healing products to support the health and wellness of community members and clients.

I became acquainted with Tehuti through his work as a volunteer at the Kwetu Regenerative Hub, a syntropic agroforestry initiative started by Van Reenen and Esther Njeri in Kitui County, Kenya (who I wrote about here and here respectively).

He also toured this summer in Kenya as an advisor to Antoinette , Pato Banton and others on their International “Perma-cultural Tour” visiting several of the ChangeMakers featured on this publication.

Antoinette spoke so highly of Tehuti, I couldn’t wait to interview him.

“The way he treated the women that we were interviewing with such love, respect, and compassion to hear what their needs were really resonated with us. That was the true spirit of Ubuntu. He went above and beyond to want to go the second mile of loving service so he could address their needs and he didn’t ask for funds to help them either. Not many are willing to help someone else without getting paid for it. That’s why he’s such a great example for Ubuntu International.  We need people with integrity and who are willing to walk the talk.” - Antoinette of International

I was born on the side of the road.

We all have an origin story. This is where Tehuti’s story really begins.

"I was born on the side of the road. I stayed there for three days before I was taken to the hospital. They treated me. After two weeks, my mother left me. She didn't come back until I was in grade 5."

Tehuti was raised by his grandparents; but it was far from a loving and supportive environment.

“I could have opted to be a street child. I came from a very abusive family. They did not accommodate me as the son of their daughter, who became pregnant with me at the age of 16. I realized though that they were also suffering from abuse themselves and were passing that abuse on to others."

When Tehuti's mother did return she had other children in tow. She had married and gotten divorced. Years passed and the relationship never improved. She passed away in 2005. "We never had a good relationship" says Tehuti. "She was very stressed and I was an unwanted pregnancy."

As is often the case with children who grow up under harsh circumstances, Tehuti was thrust into survival mode, caring for himself from an early age.

In fact, when I asked him at the end of our interview who he wanted to name as his personal ChangeMaker, he couldn't think of anyone. He hesitated for a few moments, and then said… “Myself. I am my own ChangeMaker.”

Despite the fact that he didn't have parents or suitable guardians around to care for him, Tehuti reflected that his life wasn’t all hardship and heart ache.

"I was able to acquire positivity and keep negativity away. I learned to experience the love from the community. I used to go to Catholic Church before I turned to spiritualism. The Church helped me so much with studies and exposure to life."

He would leave school for stretches of time to do odd jobs so he could find clothes and food. Money for school fees and books were not available.

"I decided to leave when I was 15. I ran away to the nearest town. I surivived on my own, sleeping outside with the watchmen. During the day, I got jobs as a waiter. I never completed school."

Personal Transformation

When he was in his early 20's (between 2006 and 2008), he realized he had another calling, a higher purpose in life.

“I wanted to give back what I have inside me to the community. But first I needed to search for what I have, what has the universe equipped me with so I can serve other people.”

He realized his skills were as an artist, mosaics, painting, sculpture but also a farmer. But, he had lost touch with his farming roots. He needed to go back but also realized the need to reinvent the old way of farming for a new age.

"I started farming in class 3 and 4. I would grow tomatoes, sell them and buy books for myself to attend class. I went to other people's farms like fetching water for them; they would give me an avocado, I would sell it."

Tehuti also realized during this time (2008), that his given name was not serving him well. And, that he could in fact give himself his own name.

"I remember a lot of things, including past lives. I started to stand in that power of mind. There is a god of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding named ‘Tehuti.’ And, ‘Wahinya’ means someone with energy."

By taking that name, Tehuti was communicating to himself and others that he is someone who can channel the energy of the universe with wisdom and understanding.

A Healer at Heart

Tehuti realized in his young adulthood that he is an herbalist. He knows the herbs by name; knows their beneficial uses without consulting books. “Those are things that come from inside of me,” he said. He realized that he has a gift to share.

Sickness is a multi-million industry. Noone is getting healed in the hospitals. You can see a lot of the conditions are caused by a ruined immune system that lacks minerals. Hormonal imbalance is prevalent. Our people need healing, liberation and freedom.

Tehuti recently finished a one and a half year program at a school for preserving indigenous trees and medicinal herbs. He applied for it so that he could be certified and have a legal document showing his credentials to be an herbal medicine practitioner. He finished in August 2024.

Planting the Seeds for “WeGrow”

Tehuti owns and operates a business out of his home called WeGrow that has an extensive line of dried herbs, skin care products, and cooking oils. It is more than a business; it is the manifestation of his passion to share with others the powerful healing nature of herbs, particularly with others who suffer.

He started WeGrow after learning he had the capacity to heal himself with plants. Tehuti experienced a lot of health problems as a young man. And with his knowledge of herbs that he accumulated along the way, in 2008, he started healing himself.

I realized in 2013, after healing myself for 5 years that I could help other people. So, in 2013 I informally started advising people, referring them to herbs. If someone said they were ailing, I would share with them my knowledge.

In 2021, Tehuti was employed managing a farm. He shared with them his ideas of healing and wellness. They wanted him to apply his method of farming. He did and with great success. But, he never had a written employment contract. It was just a verbal agreement. When they started to see the results, they took his idea and started to market it.

He decided to part ways with the farm, but soon realized he could do it by himself. He started simply by foraging and harvesting the herbs, drying them and preparing them on his table. He started WeGrow formally in August 2022.

WeGrow - A Social Enterprise

The herb that Tehuti processes and sells are sourced from local women. He taught them how to identify the herbs and forage for them. They dry them and he gives them a percentage of his sales for their work. Packaging for all of his herbs is made from ecofriendly material that is biodegradable.

For instance, the Baobob powder is sourced by women and prepared by them as well. They also collect Moringa leaves, dry them, and grind the herbs. He packages and sells the product.

With WeGrow, Tehuti gives 20% of his profits to the community. Recently, he used the profits to help children buy books, school uniforms and bags.

Dreams for the Future

Tehuti is now 40. He has four children and has adopted two others. Four boys and two girls. He is separated from his wife. He tries to balance his social, family and work life. "I take care of children around me, whether they are mine or not."

“I want to make life more harmonious and easy for everyone. Especially for those who cannot afford a better life. I want to be a more practical person. My vision is to help more people, impact them, encourage their freedom, sustainability, social growth so that we can all achieve goals in life.”

A Creator

Tehuti is incredibly creative whether it's beadwork, necklaces, sculptures, bags or crochet, or art, he is always creating.

As an avid crocheter myself, I asked Tehuti what he likes to make. He makes hats, scarves, bags and gives them to friends. Sometimes he sells his work as well.

As we traded our favorite things to make out of crochet, Tehuti stopped and said, you know, I can do something. What’s that? I asked.

“I can crochet while I walk.”

Tehuti, with everything you have accomplished in life so far, I am not surprised my friend!

If you enjoyed this interview…

Leave a comment, share it with friends, and restack. Give Tehuti and WeGrow some love!

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Did you know that residents of Africa are unable to monetize their Substacks? Stripe is unavailable. It’s one reason why I monetized this publication: I leverage this publication for the benefit of others like the organizations I highlighted this summer and Tehuti Ra Wahinya. Should you wish to support Tehuti’s work, you can drop a donation into the RainMaker Fund link below that I manage. Just ensure his name is listed on your donation. All unnamed donations will go into the general RainMaker Fund (read more here).

Donate to Tehuti Ra Wahinya's Efforts

Next Up? ChangeMaker Roll Call!

My next post will share some of the impacts ChangeMakers have made in their communities since I last wrote about them this summer. Stay tuned!

Until then, be well, stay strong, and love one another!

This past summer, I posted interviews and portraits for 61 days straight highlighting the incredible work of 30 African changemaker organizations impacting people’s lives through their compassion, resourcefulness and cooperation. That project ended July 31st. It was amazing but exhausting!

After a month of rest in August, I spent September promoting an online youth art exhibit and auction benefiting two of the organizations featured here (Nakivale Young Talent Community & Future Within CBO).

Now I am ready to return to interviewing, writing, and drawing/painting, bringing you articles on ordinary people doing extraordinary things on a less-than-shoestring budget.

What to expect from this publication going forward

Every other week I will post a feature interview, original art by me (I’m transitioning from colored pencil to my preferred medium watercolor for portraits), as well as updates on the incredible individuals behind the 30 organizations I profiled during this summer’s series.

They have been busy these last few months and there is so much to share! And, I know that they are eager for me to share too!

Coming soon…

My first new interview is about someone who is tangentially involved with some of the organizations I wrote about this summer. I’ll be sharing the story of Tehuti Ra Wahinya of in Kenya who brought incredible insight and value to the International Perma-Cultural Tour in Kenya this summer.

The article will focus on how Tehuti, born on a roadside, became an herbalist healer infusing ancient, native plant wisdom into a contemporary herbal products company serving his local community and beyond.

A little rebranding to boot

I’ve decided to do a little rebrand as well. The name is the same, but the logo is now artwork from Congolese refugee artist Javan Musafiri (instead of my face!).

“The Shape of Us” is a strong image that encapsulates everything I want this publication to be: all of us reaching in together with our hands and from our hearts to make a difference in the lives of others.

Speaking of making a difference, I not only paid a fee to Javan to use this image, but I also purchased the original art piece. It now hangs on my wall! 100% of the proceeds went to Javan.

Javan participated in the September 28th art expo and auction (more to come on that event!). Here is a promotional 60-second video I made to introduce Javan…

If you are interested in supporting refugee art…

Visit and subscribe to my other Substack The Creative Convergence where a special section called “The Refugee Support Circle” offers readers a way to learn more about what it’s like to live as a young refugee artist in a refugee settlement in Uganda as well as support their art education program and their professional careers as artists.

Upgrade to paid, build the RainMaker Fund! All proceeds distributed to ChangeMakers!

While all content is and will remain free, if you choose to upgrade to a paid subscription, you will become a RainMaker!

Subscribe now

All RainMaker subscriptions (I cover Substack and Stripe fees) will be pooled to provide the 30 original organizations I highlighted this summer with a small monthly donation. Read more here about how your paid subscription to R&M will be used to support ChangeMakers in Africa once we reach the equivalent of 60 monthly subscribers at $5/each.

Thank you for reading. I’ll be back soon!

Be well! Make it rain, create some change!

This is a long-anticipated visit for all. Ubuntu is in the process of launching their Empowerment Fund, raising funds to support the 10 organizations featured in their documentary “The Spirit of Ubuntu.” Their 8-day trip to Kenya serves as a site tour to visit 13 additional individuals and organizations that are under consideration for the Empowerment Fund.

ChangeMakers visited this week by Ubuntu include:

• Anne Okelo of (article here)

• of K5Village (article here)

• David Otieno of Kotengu Village Farming Project (article here)

• of Kakamega Days for Girls (article here) and of Shisaba Water Resource Initiative (article here)

• of PermoAfrica Centre (article here)

• MCDawn of Agape Hope for Kibera School (article here)

Many of the individuals and organizations started preparing for the Ubuntu site visit weeks ago. So I asked them what they were looking forward to sharing and showing. What follows are some of the updates I received.

Anne Okelo of (article here)

Anne will be joining the Nyanzah region portion of the Ubuntu Perma-Cultural tour (Nyanzah is in Western Kenya). But, first, Ubuntu representatives will visit her farm which is the pilot farm for all of the activities she trains on.

I look forward to sharing with them my commercial poultry farm with over 900 birds, energy oven using charcoal for cooking and baking, horticultural gardening, permaculture and bakery.

They will then visit energy cook stoves production center for women’s group in Kisumu, another production center where we focus on girl child project using energy cook stoves and then finally meet the widows group.

Our visit will cut across two counties, Homa Bay and Kisumu where my groups are. In Kisumu I produce chicken meat and I work with women and train them. On entrepreneurship.

Check out Anne’s “broilers” in the video below including indigenous chicken varieties.

Omito Abraham Owuor of K5Village (article here)

The K5Village permaculture demonstration site is aflurry with activity. Chicks and chickens to care for, planting new crops, and taking care of the children who are home from school for holiday. When school is out, many of the local children come to K5 to try their hand at growing vegetables and learning permaculture design principles and techniques.

When Omito first heard about the Ubuntu visit he purchased tree saplings, prepared a bed full of organic matter, and planted them temporarily. Charles, Omito’s younger brother, waters the saplings.

They now await Antoinette and Pato’s visit to replant the saplings together in specially prepared holes on the K5 Village. Omito’s long-term dream is to launch a tree nursery so he can help his community mitigate climate change as well as address food security and poverty.

David Otieno of Kotengu Farming Village Project (article here)

David reports that the last two months (June & July) have not been favorable in terms of weather for his crops. There was not enough rain to support his farming.

During the end of June, as l know that early preparation is good and only a little water is needed to maintain the seed bed, l decided to make seed bed of tomatoes which l knew would take one month (July) to germinate and transplant. I was targeting August which is our month of rainfall. By good luck, l managed to transplant tomatoes in the month of August.

For the visit of Pato Banton and Antoinette, I am happy to give them a warm welcome, tour the farm project, explain to them what I have been doing, why I am doing it, and my vision for the project.

Jenipher Nyangah (article here) of Days for Girls Kakamega and Moses Makachia of SHWARI (article here)

This husband and wife duo anxiously awaits Ubuntu’s arrival to share their progress in addressing girls’ menstrual health and sharing their progress in promoting permaculture amongst local schools.

Jenipher is a Days for Girls partner, addressing period poverty and generating income through the production and distribution/sale of reusable menstrual pads in rural Kenya. She is also a supported partner of Permaculture Education Institute’s Ethos Foundation.

Realizing the challenges that girl children face, I have developed programming around the following 3 issues: menstrual education, reusable washable sanitary towels production, and social economic empowerment.

We address these issues through schools, community forums and youth groups and women groups. It looks unique because in the community we’ve few people addressing it. It’s really clean and intensive as a new venture and a new technology that needs a lot of engagement, capacity building and production.

I am glad Ubuntu is coming in as a partner. I look forward to welcome Antoinette and Pato’s trip in Kenya and share the experience. I shall take them to visit some of women permaculture project farms and also show them what I am doing to support girls in schools. - Jenipher Nyangah

Moses of Shisaba Water Resource Initiative (SHWARI), looks forward to sharing the permaculture projects he has helped start and maintain at local schools. His efforts address primarily climate change, food production, water conservation and indigenous tree conservation.

The world is really affected by environmental issues caused by high deforestation, drainage, pollution and interference of ozone layers. The issue needs a lot of attention with immediate action using whole affected communities including youth, women, men and all other ages. The problems should be addressed with the 3 ethics and principles of permaculture that is care for the earth, care for the people and fair share. We’ve got to change the community mindset, behavior and attitude. The world is facing food shortages and the developed world is heavily affected by industrialization.

I wish to share the experiences with other communities for attitude and behavior change. I am looking forward to welcoming our Ubuntu friends Antoinette and Pato to Kenya. - Moses Makachia

RainMaker Fund Update

The RainMaker Fund was launched earlier this month. The goal is to raise through paid subscriptions and one-time donations the equivalent of 70 monthly paid subscribers or $350 per month. That would give us the ability to distribute $10 per month to each of the 35 organizations highlighted here. Subscribing to RainMakers & ChangeMakers is like joining a Donor’s Club or Giving Circle, but Substack Style.

The short story is: these folks are doing amazing work with little to no support. And, while they could attempt to publish and monetize their own Substack publication, there are too many obstacles to make that feasible. To learn more about why I’m doing this, check out my GiveBackStack Origin Story post.

Welcome to our First Founding Member!

Recently we received our first founding member contribution! Thank you to of Creative Mystic for becoming a RainMaker Fund contributor! Lenaleah was kind enough to share these words of support:

Upgrade to a Paid Subscription

100% of your Substack subscription (I pay Stripe and Substack fees) will be pooled with other subscribers to build a fund!

Or Make A One-Time Donation to the RainMaker Fund

One-time donations will be pooled together with paid subscriptions.

Donate to the RainMaker Fund

Want to know how far $10 goes for our ChangeMakers? Check out this post (more entries will be added as they come in).

What’s Next on RainMakers & ChangeMakers? New Content Coming in September!

I’ll be back here in earnest in September with more content, updates, and new interviews with experts and ChangeMakers impacting their communities in Africa.

Until then, be well! Make it rain, create some change!

Not for my financial benefit or gain, but rather for the benefit of 35 grassroots organizations in Africa that I featured here over 61 days of art and interviews.

Why? Because the people behind these 35 organizations cannot (yet) do the same for themselves (more on this later).

Leveraging the paid subscription feature on Substack for the benefit of others is not a novel idea; it’s like a Giving Club or Donor Circle. With a Giving Club or Donor Circle, friends get together, agree on a charitable cause and recipient, pool their funds, and start giving. Someone manages the donation process and reports back to the group. They meet monthly to celebrate and learn. They donate again and the cycle continues.

The same concept is happening here, but with a twist. With RainMakers & ChangeMakers, we all contribute via our $5 monthly paid subscriptions into a giving pool. I curate the list of recipient organizations, share their stories with you, pool our collective paid subscriptions, add my contribution (I cover Substack & Stripe fees plus add my own contribution), distribute the funds to each organization monthly, and then provide accountability in the form of ongoing engaging and interesting updates, stories, videos and pictures back to you, the “Substack Supporter Subscriber”.

Will I actually be able to monetize my Substack on behalf of these amazing ChangeMakers and their organizations? Will it be enough to make a difference?

I’m only two months into my experiment. The answer is: I don’t know but I’m hopeful. So far, RainMakers & ChangeMakers has five paid subscribers, four of whom joined Substack just to access and support my content. I’m shooting for 70 so I can send $10 per month to each of the 35 organizations.

Call me crazy (you won’t be the first!), but that’s my goal and I might as well state it up front.

Wondering how far $10 goes for each of these organizations? I asked the question and my friends are answering with video and text answers (the “Ten Dollar Question” post is being updated daily as I receive their answers).

Ultimately, if I can even raise a small amount of support for each of the ChangeMakers I’ve highlighted with this Substack, I’m committed to giving it a go.

The Launch of the GiveBackStack Directory

Early on, when I launched my “paid subscriptions for the benefit of others” mission, I felt alone and a little like an outsider. Naturally, when I feel that way, I start searching on the edges for my people. I remember the day I came up the moniker “GiveBackStack”. It was literally a shower thought moment. In towel and dripping hair, I sat at my dining room table, quickly drew a GiveBackStack logo, and posted a note asking for help in finding my people. While there wasn’t an overwhelming response, there were enough people who answered in the affirmative for me to take the next step. Thanks are due to and specifically for their help!

As a result, a whole new world of writers who donate a portion or all of their paid subscriptions opened up. It seemed important to not keep this to myself. Sharing is caring, after all!

And, so, the GiveBackStack Directory was launched here in August as a special section on RainMakers & ChangeMakers complete with a badge and instructions for getting listed. As of this writing, we are approximately 15 Substack publications strong! You too can be a GiveBackStack; listing instructions are here.

My Substack Activist Story: Why I Give Back

Why am I doing this? The reason is simple. I have a network of friends who work in the climate justice, arts, education, and permaculture activism space who are from Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Democratic Republic of Congo who want to start up, mantain, and monetize a Substack for themselves, but can’t. At least not easily.

I’ve identified three primary obstacles that prevent them from doing so. Two, to some extent, are within the control of Substack to address. The third obstacle is straight-up poverty and poor wi-fi infrastructure in remote areas of Africa. I’ll share how we are working together to overcome those obstacles.

First, a short explanation of how I even came to know there were obstacles. Halfway through the 61-day RainMakers & ChangeMakers art and storytelling project (launched June 1st and ended July 31st), International, a growing movement of community-minded individuals that has a presence on Substack led by Antoinette , was simultaneously encouraging permaculture practitioners and other community activists in Africa to join Substack, many of whom I was interviewing.

Together, Antoinette and I were not only encouraging but helping (and training) them on how to set up reader accounts on Substack and how to launch their own publications. The hope was that they could join this amazing growing platform to tell their own stories in their own words and their own voices.

We were also hopeful that they would be able to accept paid subscriptions as a way to support their community-based efforts.

We were hopeful, until we realized they couldn’t. We ran into an obstacle we could not overcome. That’s when we scrambled to research the obstacle, stumbled on a few more obstacles, and began to implement alternatives.

Stripe is not available in 50 of 54 African countries

Stripe is the only third-party payment app available for paid subscriptions on Substack. If you can’t set up a Stripe account, you can’t accept paid subscriptions.

While Stripe offers “Stripe Global” to residents of Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, the service is only accessible with a US bank account which for all of the people we are collaborating with in Africa is not only challenging but financially impossible.

There is, however, an alternative. Substack’s “Custom Button” which is available on every Substack post and page offers writers the ability to share a URL such as PayPal or BuyMeACoffee (although those options are also not available to everyone in Africa) to accept one-time donations.

While the Custom Button option is not as ideal as the “set it and forget it” option afforded by Stripe-supported Substack subscriptions, it is a workable solution.

I’m dropping this Custom Button here as an example. Donations to the RainMaker Fund, managed by me, are pooled together with paid subscriptions and get us closer to our goal of raising and donating $350 per month ($10 per month to 35 organizations).

Donate to the RainMaker Fund

It turns out Stripe isn’t the only problem…

While my GiveBackStack mission is primarily about leveraging my ability to accept paid subscriptions to help my friends in Africa raise money for their community-oriented projects, I found there were other obstacles preventing them from starting and maintaining their own Substack publications.

Obstacle #1: It’s Nearly Impossible to Start and Maintain a Substack Publication Using A Mobile Phone. Writing on Substack requires access to the web-based Substack interface. While it’s possible to access the writer’s dashboard from a mobile phone web browser, it takes forever (have you tried it?) to compose a post and manage all of the settings from a phone. Substack is set up for desktop and laptop web browser interface, period. And, many of my friends do not have access to a laptop. I know nothing about app development, but could the Substack App be improved to include at least the basic components of the Writer’s Dashboard?

Obstacle #2: Publishing on Substack requires regular and consistent access to the internet and a data plan. Even in the cases where a community activist in Africa has access to a laptop, wifi infrastructure particularly in rural areas or in refugee settlements or slums like Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya is unreliable. Wifi availability is intermittent and the data required to stay on Substack long enough to compose a post is cost prohibitive. Let’s be clear: this is an access to resources problem that Substack cannot address. Even so, we’ve been working on a few ways to overcome this obstacle:

• I serve as an “Admin” for other Substack publications. As an Admin, I can help others navigate their settings and compose/publish a post. They send me what they want me to post via What’s App and I post with their permission. I have only offered this to one organization so far.

• Guest posts and/or bylines. I’ve offered guest posts on both of my Substacks, like when I posted a short story by Congolese refugee artist . I’ve also done a few “In Their Own Words” posts like this one with . I’ve also used the “byline” feature like this one where the post I wrote about Muhindo Mutundi of shows up on his organization’s Substack profile post feed.

As a result of these obstacles, my GiveBackStack mission has grown to not only leverage my ability to accept paid subscriptions but to literally leverage my writing platform as well. By doing so, I’m helping my friends in Africa overcome persistent technological and data bundle obstacles in the short-term. These are stop-gap measures and unsustainable solutions. But they are viable for now.

Without Diversity of Voice, We Miss Opportunities for Cross-Cultural Understanding and Relationship Building

These three reasons combined - lack of access to Stripe, technology limitations, and wifi availability + data bundle costs - effectively limit the ability of people in Africa (and likely other parts of the world) to use the Substack platform to share their stories, opinions, experiences. While certainly there are voices from Africa here - and to name two that I really enjoy - millions if not billions of other voices are not here.

This is, of course, not just an issue for folks living in Africa but elsewhere in the world where Stripe is unavailable and resource constraints limit access to technology and data bundles.

I think that the lack of diversity in voice is also an issue for “the rest of us.”

Without diversity of voice here on Substack, there are fewer chances for readers, the majority of whom are from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, to brush up against, connect with, and get to know people around the world, particularly those who are working in extreme, climate-impacted and war-affected environments, who are doing incredible things in Africa on less than a shoestring budget or none at all.

To me, we are all better off when there is easily accessible diversity of voices, opinions, and experiences in the media we consume. And, it’s a better situation for all when the people who are living the experience, can tell their own stories.

But, when they can’t, we work together. This is what we do. I leverage what I have on their behalf. And, we do it together.

Two Substack Solutions

Here are two ways that I think and Substack could make it easier for more people from around the globe, particularly those who lack the same level of resources as the primarily US, UK, and Canadian Substackians, to participate:

1. Offer PayPal (for instance) as a secondary option to Stripe. While PayPal is also not offered everywhere, it may be more accessible to more people in Africa than Stripe.

2. Tweak the Substack app to include more Writer Dashboard features so that people can post without having to use their web browser on their phone.

Do you have other thoughts on how to mitigate or solve these problems?

Leave a comment

Despite the challenges, some of my friends from Africa have made it here! Let’s welcome them!

On the flip side, my friends DO have access to the Substack App and they CAN interact via posting, liking, and restacking notes. We are interacting there regularly. Have you seen them here? If not, please seek them out, welcome them and consider interacting!

• Anne Okelo of not only launched her Substack just a few months ago, but recently celebrated reaching 100 subscribers! Now, if she could only monetize her Substack through paid subscriptions! If you want to help her, you can join me in becoming a paid subscriber to her YouTube channel.

• of GoGreen Social Initiative in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda has written two posts, one is his poem titled “Peace & Ubuntu” and another is an essay on humanity as a religion.

• of Ghana writes about her love for the Urantia book and Ubuntu.

• of Ethiopia runs the Yawente Children’s Center and uses Substack to talk about their programming as well as highlight Rastafari repatriots like Ras Kella Walla.

• , a rural school in Zimbabwe written by Sharleen and Moses Machipisa has shared one post so far and we can’t wait for more describing what it’s like to provide education to very young children in rural Zimbabwe.

• of PermoAfrica Centre in Kenya, a permaculture trainer and practitioner who has trained thousands of people in the design concepts, is also here, practicing notes and posts.

• of K5Village in Kenya, also a permaculture practitioner, is also here practicing restacking and commenting.

• And, a handful of others have accounts here such as , , and Van Reenen.

Give A Little, Get A Lot

I am definitely biased. I love the people that I highlighted here for 61 days. Having drawn their likeness and interviewed them, I am definitely attached. But, I think that’s a good thing. And, I hope you think so too. We need more connection in the world. Not less. And, that’s what I hope to provide here.

Substack is home to thousands of socially-conscious, community-minded, and internationally-attuned people. I hope that some of them (perhaps one of them is you?) will find the content and the “give back” mission of RainMakers & ChangeMakers worth the upgrade from free to paid at $5 per month. In return, I offer opportunities for you to broaden your perspective, develop relationships (if you want), and pool your funds with other likeminded people (including me!) to make a significant impact.

Thank you for listening to my GiveBackStack Origin Story!

We are all busy and pulled in a million different directions. In acknowledgement of that, I thank you for taking the time to open this post and read this far. If you have, will you leave a comment? What do you think about the prospects of leveraging paid subscriptions and the Substack writing platform in general for the benefit of others?

Leave a comment

I also want to take a moment to give thanks to the people I’ve been talking about here with a lot of “they’s” and “them’s”. Many of you who are reading this post right now are indeed one of those 35+ people. So, time to address you directly:

I see you. I appreciate you. And I value our friendship! Leave me a comment here so we can “hear” your voice here as well!

In closing, as my friend Antoinette and many other friends in Africa say…

We are stronger together!

They are also resourceful. Since none of the people I highlighted are able to start, maintain and sustain a Substack to request the money directly, I’m serving as an intermediary and asking for your support in supporting them.

The goal? To bring together a community of 70 monthly paid subscribers (or the equivalent thereof since we have annual and founding subscribers) to contribute $5 per month. That $5 per month contribution will yield a $10 contribution to the 35 organizations I highlighted during this 61-day art and storytelling project.

$10 might not seem like a lot. But, I asked the question “How could you use $10 per month to further your mission?” of each organization and learned that nothing could be further from the truth.

MCDawn, Agape Hope for Kibera School, Kibera, Kenya

Ten dollars per month funds one food basket of staples such as maize flour, sugar, rice, and oil to benefit two families.

Omito Abraham Owuor, K5Village, Kenya

Ten dollars per month funds sanitary pads for girls who come to K5Village to learn permaculture skills.

Brenda Katushemererwe, TeleMed Organization, Uganda

With ten dollars, Brenda reports she will purchase data bundles for the Internet to support my weekly Mindset shows. Brenda is also raising funds to provide a group of women in Kabaare village with materials for their handcraft work as well as to start a savings and loan program to sustain themselves.

Steve Tolo, of Regenerative Agriculture for Community Empowerment, Kenya

With ten dollars, Steve can purchase indigenous seed packets and seedlings to support the regenerative agriculture efforts of 12 community members per year.

Jonas Fadweck, Thuchila Youth Empowerment Network, Malawi

Ten dollars will help Jonas purchase eggplant seeds, the harvest of which he will sell in the local market to support his community efforts to support youth in his community.

Patrick Harry, Kunyasa Dimba Eduplant Inspired, Malawi

“Currently my main challenge is to raise funds to help to continue to mold 10,000 mud bricks and burn them to construct a long-lasting and strong classroom. I will need to purchase the firewood to burn the bricks. I will also use the support to help build my food forest garden project in Malawi.”

DJ Essy and Roland Van Reenen, Kwetu Regenerative Hub, Kenya

Ten dollars per month purchases two dragon fruit plants to plant at the Kwetu Regenerative Hub in Kenya.

The end of a project, the beginning of a network…

It’s been a week since I completed the RainMakers & ChangeMakers art and storytelling project! Did you miss me?

This post is part reflection, part preview of “what’s next”. I hope you’ll read both!

Over the sixty-one days of the “Small Art, Big Heart” series, I had the honor of highlighting 35 organizations, all doing incredible, transformative work in Africa in the areas of poverty relief, climate change mitigation, food security, education, and lots of art!

Did you have a favorite article? Which person or organization did you find the most fascinating? Have you made any new connections as a result of reading RainMakers & ChangeMakers?

Leave a comment

If You Read Nothing Else, Read This…!

While the 61-day project has come to end, there’s more content to come so stay tuned!

I plan to post here 2 to 3 times per month, digging deeper into the stories of the thirty-five organizations I highlighted during the 61-day project. You can look forward to updates on each organization, art and stories highlighting the team members and people served by each organization, interviews with RainMakers, and likely a few new ChangeMaker interviews in partnership with other organizations.

Become a RainMaker by subscribing, donating or purchasing merch!

Upgrade to a paid Substack subscription for $5 per month or $50 per year. Your subscription dollars will be pooled to seed a RainMaker Fund. You’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that your $5 is having a REAL impact on the ground in Africa (I’m covering Substack & Stripe fees so 100% of your donation goes directly to these organizations). Once we reach the equivalent of 70 monthly paid subscribers (we have 4 as of this writing!), we can start distributing $10 per month to each of the 35 organizations.

My goal is to get to this magic subscription number of 70 by September 1st. Regular monthly support is not only a meaningful way to recognize the incredible work of these ChangeMakers but it also helps each of them know that someone is paying attention and has their back. Stay tuned for a “$10 Impact Story” post where each organization will share what they intend to do with $10 per month.

Here’s our first! From MC Dawn of Agape Hope for Kibera School in Kibera Slums, Nairobi, Kenya who will use his $10 per month to feed two families of five children each.

Or, make a one-time donation to the Fund using my “Buy Me A Coffee” site:

One-Time Donation to RainMaker Fund

Or, purchase the RainMakers & ChangeMakers poster on my RainMaker Design Etsy site, notecards (to come!), or Mini-Zine series (stay tuned!). The unframed poster is available for purchase in three different sizes and three different finishes on my Etsy store. Net proceeds from every poster sale ($10) will be added to the RainMaker Fund.

A Few Reflections…

I’ve had a week to rest, reflect, but also talk to some of the people that I interviewed. Here are some of my reflections and theirs!

This was a passion project. As such, there were no goals really… just two hopes that I articulated early on. I think they were achieved!

Hope One: Celebrate and elevate awareness

I wanted to use my drawing and writing skills, however amateur and unhoned, to celebrate the work of the amazing people I had come to know working in the area of poverty relief, climate change mitigation, and ultimately, art and education. In doing so, I wanted to bring more attention to the lives and work of all of these amazing humans. They weren’t getting their fair share of the social media limelight. And, their stories weren’t being told. Here’s what I said early on in my introduction to this series:

My hope through this concerted and intensive effort is to elevate awareness of all of the unsung heroes making significant changes in the lives of others, whose stories go unwritten and whose faces are never seen in social media or elsewhere.

It was a lofty hope, but I believe it worked. My Facebook, Instagram and Substack feeds (and even LinkedIn when I was brave enough) were full of faces and stories unfamiliar to most of my family, friends, and their friends. Not only did my network see these faces and get a taste of their stories, but the next concentric circle outside of my circle - friends of friends - saw the posts through shares, tags, and comments.

Hope Two: Create a visual directory of ChangeMakers

In my first reflection piece on June 4th, I realized that by combining portraits and stories on Substack, I was creating a directory of ChangeMakers. Those who were interviewed would have their very own article to share with others interested in their work.

What is materializing before my eyes is a visual map of a large network of interrelated humans whose reach and impact goes much further than I ever imagined!

I learned about everyone I interviewed as I went through the 61 days. That is, I had only planned the first dozen or so people to interview and relied upon recommendations from other people to complete the 61 days. People like , , Antoinette , and were an incredible resource to help me fill out the full 61 days. I could not have done it without them!

To see the directory organized by country, click here for the ChangeMaker Directory. And, for the list of posts in order from most recent to oldest, click here for the Archive.

Unexpected Outcomes: Collaboration, Connections, Networks

There were a few unexpected tangible outcomes. Not only was a Directory created, but the beginnings of a larger connected network of ChangeMakers started to take shape. ChangeMakers interviewed one day started to pay attention to who came after them (and before them). People began to make connections and have conversations. Sometimes, I noticed similarities between two organizations and connected them.

Take for instance, Nakivale Young Talent Community and Future Within CBO in Kibera Slums, Kenya. Both provide youth arts education. Introductions were made, a few zoom meetings held, and they and are working on a grant together to implement a cross-cultural art and storytelling project.

Initial Feedback from Interviewees

I’ve reached out to all interviewees to obtain their feedback on the project, asking them questions such as: did they make any new connections, did they like the story, did they have any feedback for how I could have done better? How did it make them feel to be interviewed and drawn? Also, what could they do with $10 a month?

I’m still gathering feedback on the project from interviewees, but here are a few of the responses so far…

From Calvin Juma of Future Within CBO in Kibera Slums, Nairobi, Kenya

I want to take this opportunity to extend my deepest gratitude for your unwavering support towards compiling stories from different people making change and working for a better world. However, I must admit that through your interviews, I have gained new friendships with fellow African people who have inspired me to continue working for a better world. It's with great pleasure to be able to know you and the project you're carrying out with Akon of Nakivale Young talent. I really hope our collaboration will be more successful as we continue learning and sharing ideas and skills with each other. I was so overwhelmed with joy to see how you exactly drew my portrait, it came out clearly and beautifully sketched. In fact, the drawing inspired even our artistic kids with a good rating from them.

And, from Deborah Aluka of Teso Advanced Permaculture Association in Uganda:

I am just delighted and greatly honoured to participate. This came as a surprise to me and it has downed into my spirit that "no matter what little thing you do here on earth whole heartedly, many eyes are seeing and appreciating your work and you will be greatly rewarded by God." As a result of participating in this series, the connection or friends made so far is You "Emilly" because I had other connections and friends already like Steve Jones and as we continue bonding our relationship I believe many people will be drawn near and for them to also participate in the next phase if possible. - Deborah Aluka, TAPA, Uganda

What Makes A ChangeMaker…?

When I had just a few days left to go in the project, I started to take note of a pattern forming. Every ChangeMaker I interviewed seemed to exhibit a similar set of traits that you would expect of a community leader or social entrepreneur. They were:

• passionate about their cause

• solution-driven

• action-oriented

• natural leaders with a capacity to organize and mobilize others

They also exhibited other attributes and behaviors which separated them from the rest of the crowd. They exhibited:

• a high degree of empathy

• a strong compulsion to serve

• an unmatched level of generosity, cooperation and collaboration

• a selflessness that prioritizes others and community needs before their own

They also brought a level of humanity and compassion to their work that inspires others to emulate them. They all expressed an inability to NOT turn a blind away. They were compelled to do something about the problem, to find a solution. Many of them lose sleep, are up late or up early, trying to figure out a way to improve the lives of others. They will undertake even the smallest of actions even if its just to mitigate negative impacts of larger problems or ameliorate intolerable conditions impacting the quality of life of people, families, and communities in the present.

I’ve learned over the last few months that there is a name for this particular set of qualities. It’s called…

Ubuntu, “I Am Because We Are”

This week, I took my sons to New York City to see the film “The Spirit of Ubuntu” with International, Antoinette , and . It became clear to me after watching the documentary that all of the ChangeMakers I interviewed are putting Ubuntu into practice, just like the ten organizations highlighted in the documentary. For more on the meaning behind the word and the concept of “I Am Because We Are” check out this informative and inspiring post from Ubuntu International. Subscribe to them if you haven’t already so you can learn more about what they are doing to build their own Empowerment Fund!

Ubuntu International

The Spirit of Ubuntu

In an era marked by divisiveness and individualism, Ubuntu emerges as a timely antidote. Ubuntu in various spheres of life, including restorative justice, interpersonal relationships, community building, and global cooperation. This movement aims to equip individuals with the tools to integrate Ubuntu into their daily lives, fostering a sense of share…

Read more

2 years ago · 13 likes · 5 comments · Ubuntu and Rootsdawtah

After all of this reflection, I am still left with one question. Why? That is, what influenced the ChangeMakers I interviewed to become who they are? It wasn’t always clear. Some people said they learned it from their parents. Others said they went through so much they can’t imagine not doing anything to prevent others from going through the same pain. Maybe it comes down to the age-old question: How much of who we are is nature versus nurture? What do you think?

Leave a comment

Thank you for staying with me for 61 days!

Thank you all for subscribing, reading, and sharing the art and stories of these amazing individuals. Many of you who have subscribed were interviewed! Your friends and supporters subscribed as well! Some of your supporters are now Paid Subscribers! As a result, this Substack publication reached 100 subscribers just a few days after the end of the project. What a feeling!

Share RainMakers & ChangeMakers

A final (for now!) note to the ChangeMakers…

To all of you who were part of this project, I hope you can FEEL the appreciation that everyone has for your consistent and passionate efforts to transform the lives of people, families, and communities around you.

YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE! AND, WE SEE YOU!

Meet Melanie Tomsons, originally from Newfoundland, living in Nova Scotia, Canada. She is the the founder and director of Never Again International – Canada, an initiative that she started in 2007 to prevent genocide, eliminate the proliferation of child soldiers and defend human rights through education by building the next generation of humanitarians.

Never Again International - Canada delivers peacebuilding programming together with trusted partners, youth groups and human rights organizations in Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The organization is a 17-year long labor of love for Melanie; 100% of the funds she raises are directed to the youth projects on the ground.

I met Melanie through a mutual friend, who is also a peace advocate and trainer, who had shared my post about the June 1st Young Refugee Artist Expo featuring the artwork of ten young refugee artists living in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda.

It piqued Melanie’s interest given her own art practice (she paints!) and the integration of art and other modalities of self-expression used in Never Again International - Canada’s programming.

I was curious about her too! The more time that went by (and the more pictures I saw on her Facebook page of Congolese children drawing, playing, and dancing, the more curious I was. I knew she had a story to share and am so pleased she agreed to participate on this my last day of the 61-day art and storytelling project!

I was particularly interested in her work, given the many Congolese refugees I’ve highlighted here in the last 60 days: Polydord Wasokye, Neema Chiribuka, Matendo Nzika, Andre Lutula, Liz, Pat Sabag, Elijah Astute, Muhindo Mutundi, Jules Shengo Faraja, Akon Deograce (and many of the Nakivale Young Talent Community artists), Musa Munga, and Ansiima Casinga Rolande.

The Making of a ChangeMaker

Melanie comes from a multidisciplinary background, starting university with a desire to major in Chemistry and then switched to Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. She then studied for several years at McGill University and was a research student with the Study in Africa program where she helped engage fellow students on how they could participate in the program as well as travel to Africa.

In the early to mid-2000s, she got more involved in efforts related to human rights in Africa. She volunteered with the African Canadian Cultural Heritage Centre in its fundraising efforts to establish a presence in Winnipeg. She also became active in campaigning for action to assist Darfur and was asked to sit as a member of the Save Darfur Canada Coalition to work to end the atrocities there. In that capacity, she organized a Prayer Vigil and March for Sudan on the Global Day for Action on Sudan in 2006.  She also volunteered with STAND Canada and helped them organize a Winnipeg rally devoted to raising awareness of ongoing human rights violations in Sudan.

I have always been actively involved in international development and youth-related issues and have always wanted to make a difference by alleviating the suffering of others.

While at McGill, she arranged for Canadian Romeo Dallaire, the force commander for the UN peacekeeping force for Rwanda between 1993 and 1994, to come and speak about his experiences.

The talk he gave inspired me to work towards genocide prevention and African development and to focus on what I could do for those who were victims of these atrocities. I realized I needed to go to Africa to discover where I was needed most and first went to Rwanda in 2007.

1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda Fueled the Founding of Never Again International - Canada

Melanie travelled to Rwanda in 2007 with the idea of “getting her boots dirty” and solidifying youth partnerships in Rwanda in preparation for launching Never Again International - Canada in earnest.

The hearts of the youth of Rwanda have fueled my desire to work towards genocide prevention. In Rwanda, I had the opportunity to see, first hand, some of the devastation caused by the genocide.  

After walking through the dirt roads of Rwanda in the countryside where children now use their machetes to cut back the grass, I continue to wince at the thought of how the children and machetes were used as instruments of war just 30 years ago.  

The atrocities that occurred in Rwanda while the world turned a blind eye continue to haunt me. The images stick with me, continue to motivate me in my work in Canada, and affirmed my resolve to be a part of the force ensuring that nothing like the Rwandan genocide ever happens again.  

I want to eradicate the use of children as an instrument of conflict and focus on engaging youth leadership in creating a sustainable peace.  I want to act as a voice of the people who were silenced during the genocide. 

After speaking with youth across the country, I began to realize I had found my calling.  I wanted to work to help youth and other disadvantaged people in Africa find their own voice in their own development.

I have found that one of the most powerful ways to promote peacebuilding advocacy is through music, theatre, dance, art and sport.

When she returned from Rwanda, one of the youth peace leaders who had been instrumental in helping her build connections with youth groups in the country needed to complete his education but lacked the funds to do so. It was at this point that she realized her mission had to be inclusive of an "education" component. She arranged for him to finish his schooling but soon found a similar situation but on a much larger scale when she expanded programming into the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2014.

We originally started small, only sending 8 of the 350 children in the peacebuilding centre to school. But, I have have been increasing how many kids are able to afford an education by supporting more childrens' school fees every year. 

DRC: Trauma Reduction Therapy and Artistic Expression

Since 2014, Never Again International - Canada has been working to advance the protection of children in the DRC in the midst of a global humanitarian emergency. 

I worked hand-in-hand with our youth leaders in the DRC to organize a peacebuilding camp to educate war-affected youth, including former child soldiers which examined the role youth can play in becoming engaged global citizens who advocate for social justice initiatives and genocide prevention in their communities.

Year-long after-school programming (for children in or not in school) as well as a summer-long Peacebuilding Camp are offered through a collaborative international leadership team of former child soldiers, youth who have lived through genocide, and survivors of gender-based violence. The team includes youth leaders on the ground who are trained in emotional therapy, particularly for working with war-affected children and youth in fragile contexts. 

The Peacebuilding Camp runs all summer long (depending on the funds raised) and engages war-affected and vulnerable children in a positive way to participate in activities around the themes of stopping the use of child soldiers and preventing the spread of genocide ideology. When the camp ends, several of the children are empowered to start school and participate in afterschool engagement activities.  

All programs integrate trauma reduction therapy and opportunities to exercise their capacities holistically through theatre, arts, music therapy, cultural dance and sports.

The art therapy portion of our programming has proven to be particularly effective for children in conflict zones to express their fears and trauma and also hope for the future.  

Youth in conflict zones are learning to express their emotions, advocate for peace and prioritize gender equality. 

By educating children to become human rights advocates we are planting seeds of hope and training children to become advocates of global peace with an understanding of humanitarianism, environmental stewardship and social justice.  Youth ChangeMakers promote peace and gender equality worldwide, and advocate in their communities to mitigate the effects of climate change. 

The positive feelings of empowerment that the children feel when they share their original artwork with the world and realize their creative works are being viewed around the world uplifts the children as they educate and inspire others and can have a powerful impact on affecting change.

Outreach and Education in Canada

Melanie travels to schools, universities and churches in Canada to speak to students about genocide prevention and stopping the exploitation of child soldiers as weapons of war and encouraging youth participation in peace building activities. 

Sharing learnings with Canadians has been something she has done from the beginning.

When raising funds for my trip to Rwanda, I was fortunate enough to be supported both by a Ukranian man by the name of Michael Koziar who had lived experience of the Holodomor and by members of Trinity United Church who even shared special messages to connect with the children I was working with in Rwanda.  Upon returning to Canada, I gave a powerpoint presentation about the trip and that started me on my journey to reach out to schools and churches to raise awareness about how youth have the capacity to make an incredible difference.  

When I give presentations, I generally start with stories from youth on the ground who are advocating for a better world.  When the audience listens to the story, they often want to find some way to become more meaningfully engaged.  

Melanie’s ChangeMaker: Dr. Denis Mukwege

Dr. Mukwege is perhaps the finest example of how one person can make a difference in the fight to stop mass rape in conflict zones. 

Dr. Denis Mukwege is at the forefront of the battle to protect women against the brutalities of sexual gender-based violence in the DRC. As the founder and medical director of the Panzi Hospital, a facility that has treated over 85,000 women who are survivors of sexual gender-based violence, Dr. Mukwege is a devoted advocate for the rights of women.  In a country where rape is a recognized weapon of war, the Panzi Hospital exists as a beacon of light for the survivors.   

As a result of his inspiration, youth of Never Again International – Canada are working to educate their peers about sexual gender-based violence, end impunity and advocate for gender justice. 

My passion for peace and helping victims of sexual gender-based violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo directed me to partner with Make Music Matter to coordinate the inaugural visit of gynaecologist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege to Canada. Funds raised were donated to the Panzi Hospital, a DRC-based institution dedicated to helping victims of sexual gender-based violence in the DRC.

Dr. Mukwege’s advocacy work inspired me to shape the goals of Never Again International – Canada - to prioritize gender equality as a fundamental component of building peace through human rights advocacy to achieve justice for all. 

Dr. Mukwege inspired me to work on empowering youth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to raise awareness amongst their peers of the ongoing oppression that violates women’s human rights and to galvanize the international community not to be complicit in the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.  

Melanie’s Advice to Next Generation of ChangeMakers

Melanie’s advice to aspiring changemakers is to dig deep and never underestimate the power of compassion in helping to make an impact and change the world. 

I would encourage aspiring changemakers to embrace the idea of radical hope and to each day wake up and ask themself the question:  How can I make a difference in someone else’s life today?   

Everyone can inspire hope through their actions and use their unique talents and gifts to help turn their dreams into reality.  Each and every one of us has the capacity to shape a better world and play a role in advocating to build a culture of peace. 

I would encourage aspiring changemakers to harness their capacity to empower others with hope and to create an organization that inspires compassion without borders by embracing our common humanity. 

I would encourage all aspiring changemakers to ask yourself how you can best use your gifts and talents to act as a beacon of light in someone else’s world.  

Where in the World is Melanie?

Meet Ansiima Casinga Rolande, “Rolande”, a 21-year old permaculture, health, and nutrition educator, trainer and activist living in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in southern Uganda. She is the founder of FOLONA (“FOr the LOve of NAture”), a community-based organization established in 2022. I highlighted her younger brother Josby on Day 47 of this series.

Rolande and her family hail from North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). DRC has been in a constant state of armed conflict and war since 1996. Over 6 million people have been killed, more than 7 million are internally displaced, and 1 million have escaped the country as refugees. The conflict is the bloodiest since World War II and has been called “Africa’s World War”. North Kivu, in particular, has been in a state of protracted conflict with dozens of armed groups clashing, fighting and committing human rights abuses since at least 2004.

The family left DRC at the end of 2017 to seek safety at the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. At the time, Rolande was just 15.

Life before coming to the camp was different but challenging. In the beginning, at Nakivale, everything was new and different. I didn't have any friends, I didn’t know anyone, I had to figure out how to live in this new live. We needed to find ways of sustaining ourselves.

As the eldest child, Rolande found herself responsible for many things. She tried to work as much as she could early on to help the family make ends meet.

We started by selling fruits in the evening in the market. We would stand with a basin and fruits and vegetables inside. We had purchased the produce from a Ugandan market that is part of the Settlement but primarily inhabited by Ugandans.

Over time, she saw that some people were able to find and sustain jobs like teaching in schools, interpreting for UNHCR or working for nonprofit organizations.

I was curious. How did they get those jobs? First people said I needed to study English and have a Certificate.

Rolande already knew English and it turned out the Certificate requirement wasn’t true, but she studied and obtained one anyway. After school, she attended English classes from 4 to 6 pm and then at 6 pm she would sell fruits and greens on the roadside.

A few months into her English courses, her teachers recognized her advanced proficiency and gave her an opportunity to be a primary and nursery school teacher. She was 16 at that time. While she wasn’t paid, some of her siblings were able to receive free education in exchange for her service.

Education & Networking Opens New Doors

Rolande left her teaching at the primary school; the timing wasn't working out and she realized that going to school would unlock opportunities.

She enrolled in a school of entrepreneurship and business called Opportunigee. Opportunigee is a project incubator, an entrepreneurship hub & a free-learning space for Nakivale refugees based on life coaching and business mentoring.

While studying with Opportunigee, she got a research job for a company called NewLab. According to their website, NewLab is a company that “mobilizes startups, industry leaders, governments, and investors to accelerate tangible progress against the world’s most pressing challenges in energy, mobility, and materials.” They were doing an assessment prior to building model homes in Nakivale. Rolande was tasked with documenting the daily life of a refugee. She would go from village to village (Nakivale is made up of 79 villages) asking families about housing needs, education, normal life, jobs, opportunities. food, gardening.

The job with New Life brought her face to face with the multitude of challenges facing her fellow refugees as they struggled to live a life of dignity. She started to wonder what could she do as an individual to help? She was determined to do something. But what?

While on her quest for ideas of how to make a difference, Rolande found and connected with Morag Gamble of the Permaculture Education Institute and Ethos Foundation. Rolande earned a scholarship to learn permaculture online through PEI which she then supplemented with practical training alonside Bemeriki Bisimwa Dusabe of Rwamwanja Rural Foundation. Under his tutelage, she gained valuable experience working in different refugee settlement environments.

Following her permaculture practicum, Rolande’s journey continued with several other volunteer and education opportunities including with WeEmpowerHER, a menstrual health advocacy organization, and YICE Uganda (Youth Initiative for Community Empowerment) from 2022-2023. She also received a scholarship to attend Strategia Netherlands, a humanitarian school, where she earned a Diploma in Food Security and Nutrition in Humanitarian Emergencies and a Diploma in Nutrition.

After this I decided I had gotten enough experience in nutrition, permaculture, apprenticeship, and working for other organizations, that I was equipped with enough knowledge to start acting.

That action was the founding of the community-based organization, FOLONA.

For the Love of Nature (FoLoNa)

By the end of 2021, Rolande and seven of her colleagues with whom she had been working in Nakivale started to offer programs, ultimately registering FOLONA in 2022. FOLONA’s activities are wide reaching and include:

• Basic Nutrition Training: Educating the community on the importance of nutrition and healthy eating. Knowledge gained through these sessions empowers individuals to make informed choices about their diet and lifestyle.

• Women's Reproductive Training: An essential program designed to address and educate women on reproductive health, ensuring they have the knowledge and resources to make autonomous decisions about their bodies.

• Arts: the arts are a powerful tool for expressing and sharing the message with a wider community; a group of teen artists generate beautiful art and make money to support their families

• Permaculture for Children: Through creative and interactive courses, children learn about permaculture principles and the importance of living in harmony with nature. This program cultivates a sense of responsibility towards the environment from a young age.

• Reusable Hygienic Sanitary Pads Making: A vital initiative that promotes women's health and hygiene while addressing environmental pollution by providing a sustainable alternative to disposable pads.

• Cooking Sessions: These sessions not only teach the art of cooking but also emphasize the use of nutritious, locally-grown produce. It’s a step towards self-reliance and promoting health through diet.

• Practical Climate-Smart Agriculture: Engages community members in modern agricultural practices that are resilient to climate change. This program is designed to ensure food security and sustainability.

This visually stunning and informative video produced by Ethos Foundation is full of footage of the FOLONA team in action and interviews with Rolande.

Ethos Foundation continues to help FOLONA. It is our mother organization. They trained me and my team. Through their charity, we receive support for FOLONA’s projects.

Rolande’s dream is to grow a big team that can continue work even if she is not there and to scale up activities to empower more people. She also wants to be able to provide stipends to FOLONA members; currently they all volunteer their time but need income to feed themselves and their families.

FOLONA is a volunteer effort for Rolande and her team but she also works at the education center called Full Circle Learning Uganda where she is a trainer on food, climate, nutrition.

The Making of a ChangeMaker

As I’ve done with all of the ChangeMaker interviewers, I asked Rolande what motivated her to take the path of service? Her answer was short, genuine, and needed no further explanation:

She wants life to be easier for others, to help them find their way through difficulties, and to live a dignified life.

Even if you have everything, you don't enjoy it knowing someone else outside is missing everything you have. You are not any better. You can be in their place someday and you will need to be helped out too.

For now, she doesn't see any other better way to live than to work in this sector. Maybe it will be different in the future, she says. But for now, she doesn't plan on doing anything different or leaving.

Instead she is leaning in and trying to grow FOLONA even more. She has built an extensive network of connections but says it’s still not enough. In fact, she was just in South Africa attending a summit for youth active in climate change.

It was for youths from different countries in Africa, hosted by the BeVisioneers, the Mercedes Benz fellowship. It was an amazing journey. I met with other youth like me and a lot of connections and conversations emerged.

Her personal dream is to get a scholarship to go to University and continue her studies. She would like to continue exploring opportunities in the humanitarian world and to find solutions to integrate technology and agriculture to make life easier for local farmers.

Rolande’s Personal ChangeMaker is…Morag Gamble

Morag met me when I was still trying to find my way. I didn't know many things, not even how many things worked, but she saw big things in me and gave me the chance. She didn't need any degrees or experiences. She is an Angel. She believed in me and helped me light the fire within me.

Where in the World is Rolande?

Bryan Mc Cormack is an Irish-born contemporary artist living in Paris since 2000 with over 40 group and solo art exhibitions to his name. He is the Founder of Yesterday Today Tomorrow (YTT), a Paris-based global, human rights and gender equality education nonprofit.

I first learned about Bryan in early May 2024 when searching on the internet for international nonprofit organizations supporting refugee artists. My search was prompted by the June 2024 Online Young Refugee Artist Expo that I was preparing to cohost with and , showcasing the art of ten Nakivale Young Talent Community artists.

I found Bryan’s 2017 TEDx Talk called “Art That Gives A Voice to the Refugees”. In this 12-minute thought-provoking talk about his visits to dozens of camps and squats in Europe and North Africa in 2016, he shares the pictures that refugees and asylum-seekers drew after he encouraged them with three sheets of paper and colored pens to communicate in the most common and universal human language - art - three pictures: a picture of their life before (yesterday), one of their current life (today), and one how they can imagine it in the future (tomorrow).

The experience for him was profound, haunting and impossible to forget. The people who engaged in this exercise, many of them children, had endured inexplicable trauma, pain and suffering. Some of them left the third paper (for tomorrow) blank, returning it to him without any mark made.

The horror in the drawings; you just cannot not react to that horror.

The project he described was part of his preparation for the 2017 Venice Biennale in Venice, Italy, the world’s largest art festival. He knew he wanted to do a refugee-focused installation, given that 1.3 million people had attempted asylum/migration in 2015 to Europe, the most in a single year since World War II. He just wasn’t sure what exactly it would like like… at first.

I knew I only wanted to do the Biennale if the topic was on the refugee crisis that was happening at that time. But I didn’t know what. I was in Paris then. There were Chechen children on the streets. Noone could communicate with them and they were turbulent. I decided to do drawings with them. And, I realized adults and children who live through trauma can visualize and revisualize their life.

That’s when he came up with drawings in “three tenses”: yesterday, today and tomorrow (YTT). He pulled together a volunteer team of psychologists, researchers and educators to conduct this simple YTT drawing exercise with thousands of refugees in over 30 camps and squats in Europe and North Africa. He soon had a large database of drawings (see YTT’s Drawing Blog) which he then transformed into a mass art installation co-created with thousands of migrants and refugees.

He also shared the drawings daily on social media as he collected them as a way of reflecting back to the refugees that their voice was heard and they are seen. He then presented his installation at the Biennale, a curated collection of refugee voices called “Yesterday/Today/Tomorrow: Traceability is Credibility” (referring to the marks made on paper by the refugees document their existence and give them voice and value).

From 2016 to 2020 (up until COVID), Bryan was driven to continue exploring how art and education could change both the lives of refugees as well as shape the attitudes and perceptions about refugees of the next generation. This included founding the YTT nonprofit in 2017, conducting more research, and partnering with professionals to develop a teaching and learning methodology that could be delivered within refugee communities and the larger world to build empathy, connection, and understanding while also promoting gender equity and human rights and preventing gender-based violence.

Leading up to the COVID pandemic the team was conducting trials and testing various elements of their methodology.

With our University partner, we thought that a universal learning approach through drawing that could touch different themes could be beneficial. We started to test and were surprised at the results. Working with two groups of school children from public schools, we pretested through questions, applied the learning methodology to one group (and not the other), and then did post testing. We discovered the approach reduced all forms of implicit prejudice and increased empathy. The project was based on the concept of “If you want to understand me walk in my shoes; all through drawing.”

Bryan’s words from his 2020 Speech at Reggio Emilia in Italy sum up four years of research:

Through drawing, children can express clearly their thoughts and feelings independent of dialect, nationality or education.

The resulting images transmit a distinct and individual voice from children living in extreme inhuman conditions and produce the visual storytelling that is intense and brutal but exceptionally coherent and clear.

They use these drawings to create and develop a universal human rights and gender equality education program. Using specific visual storytelling techniques and a teaching methodology.

The methodology was developed over three years with assistance from leading universities. Presented and taught in several hundred schools in various places around the world with a team of over 40 international volunteers, pscyhologists, educators, researchers. We can prove that it removes all forms of discrimination and give a profound understanding of human rights and gender equality.

Just last week (July 21-26, 2024) during the International Congress of Psychology in Prague, YTT researchers presented a study conducted in partnership with Roma Tre Universita Degli Studi and Sapienza Universita Di Roma with the title “Reducing Gender Stereotypes in Primary Schools; A Multi-Faceted Educational Program.” The study which used a control group showed that YTT Program delivery significantly reduced children’s implicit and explicit gender stereotypes and bias. The group receiving the intervention also showed an increase in the gender egalitarian attitudes.

YTT in East Africa

While YTT has delivered its teaching and learning programs in various parts of the world (e.g. Bosnia, Italy, US), the focus of my interview with Bryan was about YTT’s programming in East Africa, specifically the Bidi Bidi and Rwamwanja Refugee Settlements in Uganda since 2022. The two settlements collectively are home to 500,000 refugees from a dozen or more East African countries including Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

Bryan explained that they chose to locate YTT programming at these settlements based on the premise that the most marginalized people in the world are refugees and the most marginalized refugees in the world are young girl refugees living in proximity to conflict zones.

YTT works with local partners in both settlements and specifically women refugee-led programs when possible like Alpha Elimu in Rwamjwana.

We develop the programs locally always. While we have the approach they are tailor made. The gender equality program at YTT is in the broadest sense, gender equality is the main issue. Young girls are facing child trafficking and forced marriage. And, not finishing primary school is biggest issue. If we can show that the economic value of a girl increases once she learns, once she has learned to read and write once she finishes school there is personal empowerment. The wish and desire to go forward.

In 2023 alone, YTT collaborated with 17 refugee schools reaching 26,000 schoolchildren and training 92 teachers and 37 educators. They also held 14 community interventions and 9 online teacher trainings.

YTT is currently conducting a pilot program with I Can South Sudan to implement trainings of trainers and education in schools in all four sectors of Bidi Bidi (finishing the project by April 2025).

I don’t even think about it. I just want to aid as many as people as I can.

Bryan is a contemporary artist who has used his art to bring attention to social justice issues. As such, he has been playing the role of ChangeMaker for decades.

I asked him whether his art has always had a social justice message and why. His answer was more about the role of art… “good art,” he added as a qualifier:

All art should be political. All contemporary art should speak about the world in which we live today. At the very least it should be proposing something.

I then asked what propelled or compelled him to expand his reach from artist to humanitarian, and specifically focus on refugees. Were there any watershed moments in his childhood, as a young adult or later that caused him to not only not look away from the refugee crisis of 2015 but to do something, anything?

He started his answer with a smile and the statement, “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but…” followed by:

I don’t even think about it. I just want to aid as many as people as I can. It’s such an effort to do just that. I never said to myself, “Why am I doing this?” The goal is the next step - more, bigger, more.

The amount of effort required to raise the funds to deliver YTT’s programming is what he’s focused on, not why he’s doing the work. “L’argent, c’est le nerf de la guerre”, he said in French. Translated into English, “Money is the nerve of war,” meaning money is what makes everything happen.

He then rattled off YTT’s stats, a significant accomplishment in a short period of time: since April 2022, in 2.5 years, YTT has taught 60,000 school children and 180,000 family and community members. They’ve trained more than 250 teachers in over 100 schools in the YTT method. And, tested the program for 7 years. On top of that, 80% of their funds raised go directly to programming, one of the highest rates of funding-to-program delivery in the international NGO world.

We’ll give the last words of this interview to Bryan who during his interview at the MeltingPot convening in Prague in July 2018 said:

Meet Musa Munga, a 26-year old Congolese refugee living in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Northwestern Kenya, Turkana County. He is the founder and director of a Community Based Organization called Life Foundation Aid. Musa is a multi-talented community leader, organizer, and entrepreneur. Read on and you’ll be treated at the end with a YouTube video of Musa singing a song that he wrote and performed with Australian-British musician activist Keyna Wilkins.

Musa comes from a family of eight. His father graduated with a bachelor degree and prioritized education and learning for his children but the decades-long conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has prevented several generations now from achieving their full potential. 

As of March 2024, the 30+ year war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC has had devastating impacts: 6 million people have died, 1 million have fled as refugees to more than 22 countries, and 7.2 million people have been internally displaced making the war the second largest internal displacement crisis in Africa. The conflict is considered to be the world’s bloodiest war since World War II and is sometimes called “Africa’s World War.”

The conflict along with the depressed economy and lack of job opportunities made the future unclear for Musa in the DRC. In 2015, the two brothers crossed the border into Kenya and found a new home in the Kakuma Refugee Camp.

Life was not easy in DRC, but also not easy in Kakuma. And, it still isn’t. At the time he arrived, Musa was only 15 years old. Nonetheless, he started to depend upon himself out of necessity as soon as he arrived. The food assistance received in Kakuma, says Musa (and others I’ve spoken to at Kakuma), can't even sustain a person for one week. Earlier this year, World Food Programme food rations stopped completely for two months given chronic underfunding. In June 2024, the WFP reported that they welcomed $37 million in United States aid to increase food to 60% of the minimum ration and resume cash transfers after experiencing chronic shortfalls that had forced a reduction to an unprecedented low of 40 percent. Meanwhile, Kenya has experienced a 60 percent increase in refugees and asylum seekers since 2019.

Despite all of the challenges of living in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Musa kept his sights on education. When he left DRC, he was in high school. When he reached Kakuma, rather than continuing at that level, he decided to backtrack and start primary school, demonstraing his commitment to getting a solid education. He has since completed primary, moved on to secondary, and this November will finish sitting for the Form 4 exam and graduate.

I didn't give up because I knew that education was that important. My motto is that even though I am passing through different circumstances, it doesn't mean it’s the end of life. With knowledge there is no limitation.

Earning a living in Kakuma is difficult for most refugees. For Musa it was no different. He first started by making bricks and then working as a loader for trucks that were bringing in trees to build facilities in Kakuma. Day-laboring was the only way to earn enough shillings to stay alive.

I consider myself a survivor. Through every part of my life, I didn't give up. I would work morning to evening and then try to join other courses like English, computer courses, and graphic design skills.

In addition to working daily and learning at night, Musa sought out volunteer work with community based organizations. In 2019, he started working with Youth Assistance Refugees, addressing hygiene and sanitation concerns, picking up rubbish, and volunteering for other projects. But there was no funding to continue. People became disappointed and the initiative dissolved.

The Genesis of Life Foundation Aid

After all of his work experiences and volunteer work with nonprofits, Musa wanted to take all of his learnings and his dreams about building self-reliance opportunities amongst refugees and create his own initiative. He decided to found Life Foundation Aid.

It started with what should (or could) have been a simple visit to the UNHCR office to enroll his case number. I went to the office early in the morning, starving, and waited from morning to afternoon time. By 1 pm, the officer came out and said “I'm tired because I don't have someone to help me with the computer.” There was some procedure that required you enter numbers on your own. There were 35 people waiting and noone was able to operate the computer. We all had to go back home; none of us were served.

I went home and took time to brainstorm. The first picture that came to mind was the UNHCR design logo which is a cover with people inside. I thought the person who invented that logo was very intelligent and creative. And, I realized that even though we are refugees and we have certain limitations as a result, our imagination has no limitation. I can imagine anything. So I decided to create a name for an organization - Life Foundation Aid.

Musa called together his friends and convinced them to join him. They worked together to design a vision, mission and objectives. Their aim was and still is to create learning opportunity to build capacity for refugees through vocational skills and individual training. The organization operates with an underlying value that each and everyone should live in self-awareness of happiness for life long learning.

Life Foundation Aid became the umbrella for other initiatives that Musa had started informally with friends. For instance, the Youth Stand for Permaculture initiative which for a time trained and supported individuals in permaculture concepts (including seed saving) and even trainings in Community Inclusion Currencies like Sarafu.Network).

Networking little by litte brought Musa new partnership opportunities with overseas nonprofits, including Connection Ubuntu, a United States technology nonprofit, to start a computer lab. Musa was able to apply and receive 10 laptops in 2022 and then received another 10 laptops in November 2023. Refugees are now able to learn the skills that were so needed that fateful day at the UNHCR office when noone knew how to work the computers!

His organization is also working with African Virtual Bridging School on a Works Orientation Workshop (WOW). Participants have acquired valuable skills throughout their journey, including self-discovery, self-value, skill refinement, mental health awareness, soft skills enhancement, entrepreneurship readiness, and competence development. This has been a pilot project and he hopes it will be permanent by 2025.

What Makes A ChangeMaker a ChangeMaker?

I asked Musa, “what is it about him that makes him a ChangeMaker?”

Musa explained first off that he likes to share his skills because he believes everyone has a special gift, aptitude or aptitudes. Musa in this way is a catalyst. He’s also a RainMaker (which I think is truly the case for every single ChangeMaker I have interviewed since they are all pooling, leveraging and raising resources to achieve their mission).

When talking about how he became the person he is today - someone committed to educating others and opening up and unlocking doors of opportunity for others - he pointed to his father as his role model.

Musa’s father had completed University and was working as a teacher in high school. But, it wasn’t just that he was focused on education. Musa’s father was not selfish.

What inspires me is that he took responsibility to sponsor some of the children to carry on with their studies. He even gave people an opportunity to stay at our home. I saw what my father did and how he treated people. And, me as his first son, I try to do the same thing, to integrate that into my life.

Musa also referred to the African proverb “Instead of giving a fish every day, better to teach how to fish. Because maybe tomorrow you will not be near him.”

Even now, all my programs focus on how I can work hard and make sure we have programs that teach people how to sustain themselves to become self-independent.

Musa was inspired by his father and the empathy that his father showed others to create not only benefits in his own personal life but to also make it so that others benefit.

His hope for the future is to build his skills in graphic design. It’s already clear that he has been working on his graphic design skills as evidence by the program flyers and testimonials he posts on his group’s Facebook Page.

Two Inspirations: Elsa and Jessica

Musa chose two people who inspire him: and , both Australian based development workers but in different fields - Elsa in faciltiation and online education and Jessica in permaculture and graphic design.

Elsa Lilienfeld

Elsa taught me a lot. I am where I am now because of her. I learned faciltation from her so I could facilitate my first Permaculture Design Certificate. I asked her for a template for a proposal; she provided it and I was able to apply for funding from an organization. She gave me a chance to learn skills. Elsa inspires me a lot. Whenever I asked for help, she would respond.

I asked Elsa to share some thoughts about Musa and provide context about their work together. Here is Elsa’s response:

“Musa is very talented and an absolute natural at facilitating. He presented a program (JN Femme) I developed in part and commissioned in part to a group of fifteen young women where they did an intensive twelve week set of courses. Initially the plan had been that he would only present the IT, geography and office skills parts, but it soon all fell on him as he was brilliant at it.

A year or so later, in October 2022, Musa was a facilitator working alongside me presenting the Positive Parenting course (that I developed) for Farming & Health Education. He did most and eventually all of the presentation on his own. He then went on to present the course to another 8 cohorts in 2023.

Musa's English is very good and he could confidently translate to Kiswahili, interpret and anticipate any potential misunderstandings, a great skill. He is highly intelligent and also very musical. An absolute pleasure to work with. He should go far!”

Jessica Perini

I feel the same about Jessica. She inspired me a lot. She is the first person to involve me in graphic design. I attended a Canva workshop online. From that was able to get the skills. Now I can do advertisements and success stories.

I asked Jessica to provide some context to the relationship with Musa. And, I’m so glad I did. Now I want to know more about tree bogs and I want to hear more Musa Music (scroll down for Musa’s song). Here is her response:

“Musa and I met when he and Marcelin Petro started running the tree bog training in Kenya with Farming and Health Education "FHE". They needed someone to run the Introduction to Permaculture sessions and I was only happy to oblige. I did the sessions over Zoom, and got to learn about tree bogs along the way. Since then I've been advocating for the use of tree bogs in other communities like Nakivale, and Kakuma, as they're a wonderful advancement on regular composting toilets.

Tree bogs are like elevated composting toilets, only they grow fruiting trees around them, and allow refugee and other communities to harvest those fruits, and sell them if they have excess. The system was designed by Jay Abrahams a British microbiologist and permaculture designer.

After that time I got to know Musa better and learned that he is a very talented composer, singer and musician. He sent me a song he had composed and I thought it was so wonderful that I told a friend of mine, Australian composer Keyna Wilkins about it. She knew of a producer who might help, so together they worked on the song and produced it for Musa. You can see and hear Musa's wonderful song here!”

Where in the World is Musa?

Meet Deborah Aluka, a 35-year old Ugandan permaculture practitioner, trainer, coordinator of the Teso Advanced Permaculture Association (TAPA) in Northern Uganda, mother of two school-aged children, and so much more!

Deborah’s story has already been told in great detail by of Sector39 Permaculture Academy and (his Substack publication). Steve also wrote another piece chronicling the activities and outcomes of Sector39 PDCs held in the region from 2016 to 2019, the research behind which was conducted by whom I featured on Day 36.

Teso Advanced Permaculture Association (TAPA)

TAPA (Teso Advanced Permaculture Association) launched in September 2020 following a Permaculture Design Certificate training that was held by Sector39 Permaculture Academy at the Kumi Happy Home Centre in Teso, Uganda.

Fast forward nearly four years: TAPA now encompasses a network of 50 villages all practicing and spreading the values and practices of permaculture. As TAPA Coordinator, Deborah is responsible for liaising between S39 and TAPA members, planning, programming, and accountability.

Since becoming a certified permaculture trainer, Deborah has trained over 1,000 people in permaculture principles, values and practices.

Read that again: 1,000 people in four years!

I am so passionate about what I do because I've seen a great change in my community and it's this passion that drives me and has motivated a profuse number of people to seize or embrace the activities that we do.

The goals of TAPA are two-fold: 1) To create sustainable livelihood and community development and 2) to envision the stakeholders with Permaculture Principles, Ethics and Design tools. Deborah outlined the outcomes of TAPA activities to date:

• Acquisition of knowledge. Many people have acquired knowledge on how to grow food using modern methods.

• Food security has been realized in families that I have trained. Many people have learned how to secure food.

• Reduced deforestation because now people use Lorena Stoves for cooking which has reduced the use of much firewood.

• Reduced conflicts among families.

• Change in the fertility of our soils. This is because of the adoption of compost manure use and planting of cover crops.

• Healthy living has been realized through the use of organic farming which has taught us not to use chemicals and rather to use organic fertilizers and pesticides.

• Reduced soil erosion because of the new farming techniques.

The Association is strong and it's so motivating. I am more optimistic of more positive results in the course of the project. I personally have been overwhelmed by changes realized in my community. The association has been formed and several demonstration sites have been established in the Teso region. For example: Okoboi Cell, Serere, Omuriana, Abatai, and Angod demonstration site.

Deborah has other roles in her community as well. She is a VHT (Village Health Team) community leader as a health entrepreneur and a board member for one of the farmer-led cooperatives in her district organized under Heifer International’s East African Youth Inclusion Program (EAYIP). EAYIP works with 25,000 youth from communities in Tanzania and Uganda as they set up youth groups, complete financial and technical training and identify income-generating opportunities within their own communities.

Permaculture Principles & Practical Knowledge

Deborah is a natural teacher. When I asked her to share something about her knowledge and skills, she sent me a several-page brief on various permaculture designs. While I cannot include all of them, I so enjoyed reading them, that I’m providing a sampling of her write-ups here along with pictures and video she provided on how kitchen gardening, raised beds, nursery beds, and Lorena Stoves are used to enhance sustainable living in rural Ugandan villages.

Kitchen Gardening

Kitchen Gardens are small gardens that are grown around a person’s home. They are the cheapest gardens to make and you can put them anywhere. These gardens are mostly used for growing green vegetables. There are so many ways and skills of making kitchen gardens but I want to share a few listed below.

Step gardening. This type of garden is made out of a mixture of "Compost Manure" plus top soil. It's called step garden because you can use bricks or stones for making it's steps (boundaries).

Sack Gardening. This type of garden is easy to make. It is called a sack garden because soil is mixed with manure (compost) and put inside the sack. The sack is put on leveled ground to prevent it from falling as the soil is put inside. A corridor of stones is put in the middle of the sack as the mixture of soil and manure is applied around the small stones. The reason for putting these stones is to aid in watering (sprinkling water) around the sack garden because the corridor of stones will allow the water to flow smoothly all around the sack from top to bottom. This skill of Kitchen Gardening is good because it can be used even in dry areas because it's easy to water a sack than a full acre of land.

Mandala Gardening. Mandala is another type of Kitchen Garden where the garden is positioned in an area where rain water flows around your compound. It is designed in such a way that water can be accommodated in the hole that is dug or put in the middle as the compost and soils surround the hole with stones or bricks as it's boundaries. Other techniques for making Kitchen Gardens include: Key-Hole method and Double Dug among others. In the video below, Deborah (in the blue jumpsuit) and Simon Peter Okello teach trainees the purpose of a key-hole garden.

Raised Beds. Raised Garden Beds is one of the techniques for making larger gardens. The ground is measured before digging. A meter is measured as its width and the length depends on where you want it to end in your garden. You can now dig the soils from both ends to raise it up. This is how I train my community members to make their raised gardens, but there are many types of raised gardens, and as per Permaculture Principles, we use available resources.

Nursery Beds. This (see below picture) is a raised nursery bed. Soil is put in the elevated bed. It is only used for seeds to germinate and then they are transplanted to where they are supposed to be planted. The nursery shown below has some fire burning on it. The reason why the fire is used is to kill the germs that might be in the soils before seeds are planted. After burning the nursery bed, it is then left to cool. After cooling, seeds can now be applied.

Lorena Stoves (Smokeless Ovens)

Deborah has been responsible for helping 600 households construct Lorena Stoves which reduce the use of excessive amounts of firewood that are commonly used for cooking. Lorena stoves consume little firewood. As a result, fewer trees are felled for cooking purposes, thus staving off deforestation.

This energy saving stove can accommodate two saucepans at a time. One hole is for putting firewood and two of the other holes are for saucepans. It takes little time when cooking and there is not as much smoke compared to other cookers used locally. Sand and clay are mixed with water. Deborah shared a short video where she teaches TAPA trainees how to build a Lorena Stove. A must watch!

On the Horizon: PDCs plus a Savings & Credit Organization

Deborah is looking forward to growing TAPA by inviting women, youth and schools into the association. She also is eager to participate in or host another PDC in her area soon. Efforts are also underway to create a SACCO* and establish a seed bank.

(* A SACCO, or Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization, is a member-based financial institution that promotes the economic and social interests of its members. SACCOs are democratic, self-help organizations where members own the organization, save their money together, and decide how to use it. Members can also offer each other loans at reasonable interest rates.)

Hobbies Outside of ChangeMaking

Deborah leads a busy life as a farmer, organizer, activist and mother of two children.

When I'm not doing my community work, my other hobbies include "Reading the Bible, Singing and Counseling people" because I discovered that God hid a gift of making peace within the hearts of people who are burdened with the issues of life because a peaceful and a healthy heart is a healthy environment.

Deborah’s Advice for Aspiring ChangeMakers

I asked Deborah what advice she would give to aspiring ChangeMakers which also prompted her to reflect on what constitutes a ChangeMaker.

Becoming a ChangeMaker is not something you just wake up one day and become. One has to know what changemaking is all about.  First of all you need to ask yourself these questions; Why do I want to become a ChangeMaker?  What is that thing that I want to make changes on? If a thing needs to be changed, how did things get to such a point that now a change mechanism is requred?

Once these questions are answered, Deborah recommends coming up with proposed solutions and an action plan. Speaking from experience, Deborah encourages aspiring ChangeMakers to not get discouraged when (not if) they face obstacles.

When you attempt to implement your solution, circumstances/challenges will arise and this then calls for one to be Patient, Persistent, and Persevering. In almost all aspects of life that call for time and energy, Persevering is a key for one to succeed and in such work where one volunteers for the love of the community, Perseverance even becomes more vital. This reminds me of my former secondary school motto that says: "Perseverantia Progressioni" (which means 'Persevere for Progress').

Deborah also acknowledges that being a ChangeMaker requires having empathy and a deep love and respect for those who you are impacting.

For any change maker, there must be "Agape" (God kind of love) in them. Anything that he/she gets has to be channeled well for or to the benefit of the community not for one’s self. Therefore, here, sacrifice must be in the hearts of aspiring ChangeMakers. They must be willing to sacrifice even their time and resources. They must also volunteer.

Deborah’s Personal ChangeMaker: Steve Jones

An inspiring ChangeMaker in my life is Steve Jones. He's one of my trainers and the one who introduced to me the knowledge and skills about Permaculture in the 2020 PDC. Since then, Steve Jones has been supportive to me and our association in different ways, such as sending seeds for our demonstration sites, teaching both physically and online, and he also supported me on my PDC. There is effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) because he always sends a representative to do M&E and this has motivated people to work hard.

Where in the World is Deborah?

Meet Florence Owino, 25-year old mother and wife of Calvin Juma featured on Day 32 and a member of Future Within, a Community-Based Organization serving youth, teen mothers, and other vulnerable populations in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya.

Florence grew up in the Kibera slums in Nairobi, Kenya and still lives there today with Calvin and their daughter Larissa. I’ve had Florence on my list to feature ever since I interviewed her husband Calvin, but we found it challenging to connect given the ever-pressing duties of motherhood, childcare, and other family responsibilities. This is what made me want even more to make sure I had space for her in this 61-day project.

Motherhood & ChangeMaking

Mothers are already ChangeMakers in my book. They are raising, shaping and impacting the next generation of leaders often with insufficient support and recognition. But then there are the mothers who go above and beyond and impact their communities. Some of these mothers have been featured here. Some, like (Day 27) and (Day 53) have infants with few or no childcare opportunities while others like (Day 37), Dee J Essy (Day 11) and (Day 26) have school-aged children with hefty school fee responsibilities.

Each of them has a story to tell about balancing the responsibilities of caregiving, trying to earn a living, and effecting some change in the community. I’m amazed that any of them are able to able to find the wherewithal to even give back to their communities given the responsibilities they face as well as the societal and cultural norms that are not supportive of gender equity. This is why not everyone rises above the fray to be a community ChangeMaker. It requires sacrifice and persistence to go above and beyond to do something in the world, however small or limited, that tangibly benefits others or the environment. These women do it. Back to Florence!

She Comes From A Humble Background

Florence started our interview with the statement “I am from a humble background.” Born and raised in the Kibera slums, Florence has the lived experience to know that context. I didn’t. Having already interviewed Calvin, already had the benefit of his “insider’s perspective” (click the link to read the section of his interview on Kibera).

It’s worth giving a brief backdrop. An estimated 200,000 people live in Kibera (for years, 1 million or more residents has been repeated but recent studies have reduced that estimation downward significantly). While Kibera may not actually be the largest slum in Africa, it is still a place replete with challenges and difficulties: high unemployment (some put it at 50% although there is significant informal day laboring), lack of public infrastructure, insufficient sanitation and access to clean water, inconsistent access to electricity, regular fires, crime, cartels, teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, and the list goes on.

With that rough sketch for context, knowing the kinds of challenges Florence and her family were running up against daily, let’s return to her story:

We were a family of 6 members. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters. I was brought up by a single parent, that is my mother. My dad died in 2006 when I was 7 years old and left me behind with my youngest sister at the age of 2 months.

Florence’s family struggled with life after her father’s death. The children went to bed hungry countless times because her mother didn’t earn enough as a casual labourer. Florence and her siblings would attend school but sometimes had to stay home due to lack of school fees. This caused her two brothers to drop out of school.

Florence struggled to stay in school but managed to graduate with the assistance of international friends who helped her pay her school fees. In 2019, she was able to enter college to pursue a diploma in Social Work and Community Development. Her schooling was interrupted in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.

During COVID, her international friends dropped their support.

I was left hanging and nowhere to turn to.

In 2021, she married Calvin and gave birth to their daughter Larissa. Her dream was to continue with her studies at college so that she could give back to her community.

Florence Graduates From College, But Employment is Scarce

I was praying to God to help me go back to school. Luckily, God sent me someone who helped me pursue my course. That person was Toni Starr who supported me to go back to college.  I always thank God for this angel He sent in my life.

I was so happy for the milestone I had achieved in life, graduating from college.

Florence graduated December 2023 with a diploma in Social Work and Community Development and began using her skills immediately - but not as an employee or an entrepreneur. With a young child at home to care for, no childcare opportunities, and unemployment high, it was difficult for Florence to find a job. Instead, she sought out volunteer opportunities.

This - volunteering when employment is unavailable - is a recurring theme with many of the ChangeMakers I’ve interviewed who live in areas facing extreme hardship and poverty. There are so few opportunities for income generation that volunteering can be a way to gain experience and possibly open up doors for employment in the future.

After college, I was a volunteer in a community based organization by the name of Kibera Mpira Mtaani (Kimmta). This is an organization dealing with education, football (soccer) and empowerment.

Florence also spent time volunteering at a library, organizing the books.

I used to go there at 6:00 pm in the evening and come back home at 9:00 pm. Because of the baby, I really struggled and made sure that I went to school during the day, came back home and went to the library to offer my services.

Florence has also volunteered with Tumikia Mtoto-AVSI, a local partner of World Vision Kenya. The project dealt with children affected and infected with HIV/ AIDS.

Now, Florence helps primarily with Future Within Community Based Organization (see Calvin Juma article Day 32). Her role is to empower young girls on various topics like period poverty, adolescence, and self esteem. But, like with other Kibera-based CBOs (such as Agape Hope for Kibera featured on Day 52) and so many other groups I have featured here, Florence’s ability to help is dependent upon external donations of support.

Unfortunately, we do not hold sessions each and every month on menstrual hygiene due to lack of a specific donor to help in funding the purchase of sanitary towels. We do it once in a while.

I asked her to identify the most pressing problem in her community. She identified “period poverty” (the inability for girls and women to afford menstrual pads) as the persistent problem. The statistic commonly cited for Kenya is that 65% of girls and women go without menstrual pads due to the cost and availability.

I would like to get support to help the girls with sanitary towels. Some of them go a long time missing school due to lack of sanitary pads.

As featured in other stories during this 61-day project, it seems that everywhere in Kenya this is a pressing and persistent issue. (See in particular the interview with Anne Okello of on Day 47).

New taxes on a variety of essentials including diapers and sanitary pads had been proposed as part of the President of Kenya’s recent Finance Bill - the bill which for over a month now has been protested vociferously by many across the country but most significantly in Nairobi; which protests have been and continue to be met with brutal State violence and repression.

An article by the Fuller Project in late June on the topic entitled “East Africa’s Finance Bills Deal Heavy Blow to Women’s Wallets”, said that even though the taxes in the Finance Bill (and the Finance Bill itself) were withdrawn, the cost of imported sanitary pads are still too high for most to afford and the locally-produced supply of disposable menstrual pads is limited.

As mentioned above, Anne Okello of whom I interviewed on Day 47 also advocates for girls’ menstrual hygiene and sanitary pads in Western Kenya, Nyanza region. During my interview with Anne, I asked about whether reusable pads (sewn from cloth) were being widely adopted by young women as an alternative to disposable. She indicated that this new generation of young women are particularly reticent to use reusable sanitary pads and adoption of the pads is low particularly in communities where some or most of the girls are wearing disposable pads. Disposable pads are preferred and the idea of using reusable pads are considered by many young girls, she says, to be a throwback to “our grandmother’s time.”

There are plenty of experts who could opine on the challenges and opportunities here (I invite you too!). I’m certainly not one of them. However, I felt it might be helpful to at least provide some additional perspective on the topic of “period poverty” as I have come to understand it. This subject was also discussed in the article featuring of Days For Girls Kakamega on Day 8, Deborah Achieng Nembi on Day 18, and more recently in the interview with MCDawn and Agape Hope for Kibera on Day 52.

What are your thoughts on the issues? Is “period poverty” a pressing issue for young girls and women in your community? Are young girls accepting of reusable pads if there is a part of the population that is using disposable? Did you know that two in five women in the United States report struggling to afford pads?

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Whatever our opinions and experiences are - whether we hold them in common or not, it’s clear that the young women Florence knows are going without. And, going without means staying home from school. And, staying home from school often leads to a whole host of other problems, in addition to the obvious one of not getting an education.

Meanwhile, Florence is also staying home, but raising an adorable, not-yet-old-enough-for-school toddler. She is trying to find ways she can make an impact in the lives of the girls in her community in the here and now while also dreaming of the day when she can do both - serve her community and find employment to help support herself and her family.

Who is Florence’s ChangeMaker?

Florence chose Toni Starr as her ChangeMaker. Toni helped Florence return to school and graduate with a college degree in December 2023.

Where in the World is Florence?

Florence is located in the Kibera Slums five kilometers from the center of Nairobi, Kenya.

Meet Happy Mthulula, a 37-year old volunteer community coordinator and resource mobilizer with Waste Free in ‘23. She lives in the Zomba District, south of the capital of Lilongwe towards the southern end of Malawi.

Throughout this art and storytelling series, I’ve asked (almost) each ChangeMaker “Why do you do what you do? What is it about your upbringing or your experiences that compels you to serve, to make a difference?”

Happy’s answer echoes that of many other ChangeMakers: some combination of lived experience and a high degree of empathy calls her to serve.

I come from a patriarchal society as many African communities are. Being a woman, I experienced first hand how vulnerable communities are left behind in development initiatives. I decided to be their voice whenever I can. This is why I volunteer my time to try and give a voice and visibility to neglected communities.

She has witnessed the disproportionate negative impact that pollution and climate change has had on vulnerable populations. Happy points out that plastic waste affects those living in slums or those living in rural communities and are therefore not much of a concern for the authorities who are looking out primarily for those in higher classes. This is what drives her to advocate for inclusive climate justice.

Waste Free in ‘23 Climate Justice Journey

Climate issues have always fascinated Happy. She has always felt a compulsion to leverage her skills as a grant writer and organizer to be part of the solution to this specific problem that is disproportionately impacting vulnerable and disadvantaged populations. As a natural networker, she had been seeking organizations and people with whom she shares common environmental concerns. That’s when she found Waste Free in ‘23.

For my climate justice journey, Waste Free in ‘23 is the network I collaborate most with. This is because the volunteers in this network are professionals from all development aspects worldwide. We have engineers developing new clean energy technologies, climate justice advocates, and researchers on clean energy and many organizations worldwide interested to drive the climate justice agenda.

Waste Free in ‘23 is a peer-to-peer network that empowers individuals and communities to reduce the cost of recycling and processing municipal waste. Waste Free in ‘23 was created in January 2023 by the waste pickers, waste collectors and informal community residents in Nairobi. It has since expanded to Malawi and Uganda, providing expertise in resource mobilization and installation of new clean sustainable technologies to recycle all common trash in cooperation with organizations in three countries.

I met Dan, one of the volunteers at Waste Free in ‘23. We had the same outlook on waste management; especially how it is affecting the vulnerable communities. He and other volunteers at Waste Free in ‘23 are experts in different fields ranging from researchers to engineers. I thought, “Wow, I can contribute to this! Maybe I can help these hardworking people get funding and or resources for their work towards climate justice.”

In less than one year, the Waste Free in ‘23 initiative has enabled 10,000 homes to become waste free, created 100 jobs, and is currently preventing 3 tons a day of household trash from being burned, trucked or dumped. 300 kilograms worth of plastic trash is being removed from the oceans and recycled into reusable products on a daily basis.

In my development work we are constantly doing advocacy campaigns on waste management and recycling. We also encourage community groups like the youth to participate in Black Soldier Fly Larvae cultivation (BSFL) to reduce household waste. A youth group in Mulanje Malawi is successfully cultivating BSFL as a result of our efforts at Waste Free in ‘23.

Waste Free in ‘23 points to BSFL cultivation as a “remarkable solution for addressing both food security and organic waste management.” Larvae are raised on organic waste from households and then become food for chickens. BSFL is considered a nutritious supplement and source of protein for chickens.

The youth volunteers are also gaining quite a bit of visibility on their work on climate justice through the Waste Free in ‘23 network. The network with few well-wishers has also managed to establish a few plastic micro-recycling centres in Kenya and Sierra Leone. These micro recycling centres recycle up to 300kgs of trash on a daily basis.

Micro Self-Funded Programming

Happy explains that as a Waste Free in ‘23 volunteer she is working with others across borders championing many projects and especially those that motivate the youth to take center stage in cleaning up the environment of plastic and household waste with zero to no funding.

These micro self-funded projects on recycling started in 2023 and are continuous because they are sustainably championed by the grassroots volunteer communities we work with in the communities.

In fact, Happy goes on to say that a $50 donation to a GoFundMe organized by a Waste in Free ‘23 volunteer will have a much greater impact than the same amount donated to a national or international nonprofit. Her fight, she says, is for “localization of aid.”

A Passion for Mitigating Plastic Waste Ocean Pollution

Even though Happy does not live near the ocean, she has become more passionate about the plastic waste polluting oceans especially in Dolphin Bay Kenya and Freetown Sierra Leone.

Dolphin Bay, Wasini Coast, Kenya

The negative impacts of climate change are most devastating to the poor communities who have no protection against them. In Wasini Bay, Kenya, communities depend on fishing and tourism for economic sustainance. However plastic waste in their area has completely destroyed their living with people going hungry and with no income.

An article Kenya’s The Standard, highlighted the problem.

The massive plastic waste that washes ashore on the island, ends up in the mangrove forest in Mkunguni, causing deaths of fish and turtles in their numbers. The fish and turtles have also begun to migrate in search of cleaner and safer breeding grounds. Standing to lose as a result are more than 200 fishermen and 3,000 households that solely rely on tourism and fishing for livelihood on the Island that lies at the periphery of Kwale County.

With my fellow volunteers at Waste Free in ‘23 we try as much as possible to advocate for beach clean-ups as well as recycling of the plastic waste into profitable by-products.

Bilal Abdalla of Dolphin Bay Safaris (see above Youtube video on Wasini Island) and Roseline Isata Mansaray’s Freetown Beach Cleanup efforts as part of Fridays for Future Sierra Leone are some of the great youthful volunteers doing voluntary work cleaning up plastic waste from the waterways of coastal Kenya and Freetown, Sierra Leone respectively.

Hopes for a Waste-Free Future

Happy’s next project is to find funding for the youthful ChangeMakers who are cleaning up the oceans in the most ignored marine spaces of rural Africa with little to no funding.

I wish we could get a project where they can have a mobile recycling boat that will serve as a mobile recycling centre, collecting plastic waste directly from water sources and shorelines whilst also serving as a platform for climate justice education, advocacy and demonstrations on waste management, recycling practices and environmental conservation.

She is most proud when she sees people taking climate change seriously.

I am also very proud of what is being achieved by my friend Bilal in Dolphin Bay. The youth there are doing great work cleaning up the mangroves voluntarily.

It’s often the ChangeMakers that are lifting up others and not taking any credit for themselves. So, I asked , the Australian permaculturist and climate change advocate who recommended Happy to me to interview, to tell me how Happy has impacted her own work. Here’s what Jessica said:

Happy is far too humble. She has empowered our projects by helping us write grants, create powerpoints and she has given general feedback on grant viability -- all in her spare time and from the generosity of her heart. She works with professionalism and grace, and I feel very privileged that Happy has been on our team, and I hope that will continue.

Happy’s Advice for Aspiring ChangeMakers

Her advice to oher ChangeMakers is to focus on action:

This is the time to do something about climate change, be waste-free and let’s recycle!

Who is Happy’s ChangeMaker?

Roseline is a young lady from Sierra Leone who is successfully championing conservation efforts in Sierra Leone. She is also the founder of Fridays for Future Sierra Leone. Roseline inspires me because even with no funding she is able to mobilize the youth, students and the communities around Freetown Sierra Leone to take centre stage in climate justice interventions. Other people are pushed through donations and or funding to carry out such initiatives but Roseline does it free of charge… now that’s dedication and passion. The fact that she is just a young feminist leading such a strong female led movement is also inspiring.

Where in the World is Zomba District, Malawi?

Meet Javan Musafiri, 18-year old Congolese refugee artist living in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement Camp in Uganda since 2016. He arrived when he was 10 years old with 7 members of his family.

Javan is a member of the artist collective at Nakivale Young Talent Community (NYTC) and is one of 15 volunteer facilitator/mentors to the 40+ children ages 5-18 who access NYTC’s free arts education programming. For more information on NYTC, read the story on founder Akon Deograce I published on Day 51.

A Budding Artist’s Career: Early Successes & Frustrations

I asked Javan what his biggest achievement has been in his artistic career so far. He referenced two. First, joining his fellow artists at NYTC as a facilitator/mentor.

What I like mostly about teaching young children is that I'm forming new future artists who will be able to express themselves into art and also bringing them into the world of art.

And, second winning an art competition in 2022.

I won an art competition with Faces Up Uganda in 2022. The art piece was painted on the theme "BETTER PRODUCTION.” I felt extremely happy and I got motivated to continue doing art.

When I asked about his biggest disappointment, he answered “poor marketing following the competition.” This is a common theme of frustration among artists living in Nakivale. The desire to sell original art is high with the promise of potential income. But, shipping costs are high and the nearest DHL office is two hours away.

Prints seem to be the next best option but the market for their amazing art work is still niche enough to require someone savvy in the Contemporary African Art market. I manage a RedBubble site for the artists and have ordered some prints myself from the site; they are high quality! Despite the challenges, we continue to look for options to sell originals.

For the artists who barely subsist on a ration of USD$5 per month, funding a bus ride north to ship an original painting, much less making the sale, feels far out of reach. To provide regular support to the artists (materials, supplies, and even a food program for the art students), I’ve set up the Young Refugee Artist Support Circle on my other Substack - The Creative Convergence. The Circle is subscription based and there are fun rewards and perks as a token of gratitude.

Coming Soon: Postcards and Notecards

While paints are in short supply as are buyers for original art, the artists keep working with what they have. Coming soon: Nakivale mini-prints that make perfect postcards or thank you notes.

Javan’s Style

Most artists have a personal style or hallmark. You can look at their work and clearly identify it as belonging to one artist or another. With Javan, at least for me, I experience this. His use of yellow is distinct as shown in these pieces.

The Rhythm of Prosperity (left): This art piece has been a new experience painting my emotions linked to an instrumental music which I listen to when I am in meditations and sometimes when I want to paint. Whenever I listen to that music, I feel like I shall achieve great things in my life. When I was painting this art piece the brush was led by my emotions and not my mind. The music is Divenire by Ludovico Einaudi. So, this artpiece represents my positive emotions because I feel hopeful when I listen to Divenire. Size 54 cm x 39 cm, Acrylic on canvas.

The Shape of Us (right): This painting shows the shape which every human being must have on earth to create a meaningful humanity. I painted a person who has hands which are united which represent the spirit of solidarity, and a love face which represents the love identity. Working with solidarity creates love among us which shall make love our identity. Where there is love there is nothing to fear. Size 60 cm x 60 cm, Acrylic on canvas.

I can’t put my finger on exactly what makes a Javan piece a Javan piece, but there is something there. And, it’s not just yellow. Do you agree?

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30 Art Pieces in 3 Days

Javan and the NYTC artists, less than one month after the June 1st Online Young Refugee Art Exhibit that I co-hosted, produced 30 pieces in 3 days, working day and night in advance of UNHCR’s World Refugee Day celebrations. Javan produced the painting below (and another not pictured here), trying out a new method and metaphor.

She’s Special (above left): I painted this art piece for my appreciations of the existence of women on earth. I realized her by small circles which represents the uncountable lives a woman carries in them. Women are the greatest treasure of the world. Size 84 cm x 60 cm. Acrylic on canvas.

On his favorite mediums…

In my art career I have just used acrylic paint, water color, graphite pencil, and colored pencils. Of all of the medium mentioned above, I feel more comfortable with acrylic paint. I’d like to try oil painting, acrylic paint and charcoal pencils.

On Listening to Music While Arting

I like Ludovico Einaudi and I listen to many of his music. My favorite songs of his music I can mention is Divenire, Experience, Nuvole Bianche, Primavera and Life.

On his go-to themes

I paint on numerous themes but mostly I find myself painting about youth and nature (environment). And sometimes I paint about self emotions.

Dreams for the Future

I would travel all over the world with my sketch book drawing different places and exploring new people. I would inspire everyone to join the world of art.

What He Wants the World To Know

I want the rest of the world to know that I do art to make the world full of love, peace and unity among human beings and to make the world to believe in art as the universal language.

Who is Javan’s ChangeMaker?

I have been remiss in not asking the other artists to name their ChangeMaker! This time I remembered!

Javan named Akon Deograce, the founder of NYTC, as his ChangeMaker. The artists in the NYTC collective are very much like family. They take care of one another and come to one another’s aid. The following story is quite the example.

He has been a tremendous help in my life every day, always striving to create opportunities not just for me, but for many youths and children in Nakivale. He is a true ChangeMaker.

I remember one day when my family and I were in a dire situation. We hadn't eaten for two days, and despite our efforts to seek help, no one was willing to assist us. My mother was desperately searching for a way to get money but to no avail. In our time of need, I shared my plight with Akon. Although he didn't have money at that moment, he was determined to help. Akon made the selfless decision to sell his phone and gave all the money to my family, allowing us to buy food.

I always say that I have never met a person like Akon. His generosity and dedication to helping others make him a true ChangeMaker.

Where in the World is Javan?