Just had a lovely lunch with Rose. She's been to MINALOC and collected all the information we need for registering the NGO. We went through it over a yummy lunch of fish brochettes at La Planet. Most encouragingly, she found a really good receptionist at the ministry and they seemed to think it was an excellent idea! :) So, major yay on that front.
For those who haven't been reading thus far, we're hoping to set up an NGO for single parents in Rwanda. Rose is a single mum with two very young kids, a boy who's around six-months and a girl who is four years. She's E's ex wife, the guy who buggered off back to Uganda. Brother to D's old boss, who still owes him about four months' wages.
Anyway, it's pretty tough here as a single parent. There are no state benefits and, with kids to look after, not much chance of a decent job. Plus the social stigma can be intense. Originally it was going to be titled 'Single Mothers' Mercy Outreach', but we chatted about it and decided to open it. I know at least one single dad here, and equal ops are important.
Rose knows about six single mums in her neighbourhood who are all for it. There's likely to be quite a few across Kigali. We're looking to set up parent networks, perhaps micro-finance projects, and education support. Kids of single parent families are less likely to go to school because of the financial restraints. Primary school costs around £10/$20 per term (£30/$60 per year). Rose can't afford to send her little girl. This is the sort of thing we want to address by helping to find sponsors for single parent children and, ultimately, lobbying the government to provide support, home education options, and subsidies. Once we've got the NGO registered, and a bank account open, we want to write to the Minister for Women and ask for her support. It would really help to have a key figure behind us. and act as a beacon to other countries like Uganda and Burundi to follow.
There's a lot of support here for widows, HIV/AIDS victims, orphans, disability and so forth, but nothing for single parents yet. I met a lady in Ntura who was a single parent after 1994. She was pregnant with her youngest child when her husband was murdered, but she counts as a widow and a survivor. The single father that I know has a young daughter. His wife left him because he was Deaf and she decided that she couldn't cope with it. He had to leave his daughter with relatives in another sector, so he doesn't see her very often, which is sad. The majority of single parents are women like Rose whose partners just walked off one day and left them to go it alone. It really does cut to the breadline because, if parents can't get jobs, they rely on neighbours to give them food. If they have no money, they starve. Even Rose, who has a diploma in Fashion Design, and is a talented teacher and seamstress, goes hungry some nights. She can't always afford to feed her children. When her baby got malaria, she couldn't afford the medication. There is no state relief to turn to in desperate times.
So, that's what we want to work on. The first step is getting constituted.
In the UK, I wrote the constitution for an NGO I set up to provide Sign Language interpreters at certain events. But UK law and Rwandan law are rather different, and I wouldn't know where to start. Neither does Rose, so we need to enlist a professional to write the constitution for us. This costs £150/$300.
Then, because it's Rwanda, it has to be translated into three languages. Rose and I can deal with the English. I'm hoping to persuade Alexis to help with Kinyarwanda, and my friend Chloe (Phil's lady) to help with the French. If we can get translation for free, that would save us in the region of £50/$100.
The next step is to get the local council to give it the legal stamp of approval, which costs £20/$40. Finally, we've budgeted £30/$60 for general costs such as transport, photocopying and sundries.
So - friends, fellows, country wo/men, I'm making an official appeal for dosh :)
If you think this is a worthy cause and you'd like to support us with money and/or supplies, we'd be very grateful indeed. You can send via PayPal or direct British bank transfer. Please just e-mail me.
It's important I reiterate - this is not going into a secure bank account this end (we haven't got one yet) or to the work of the NGO. This is purely set up costs so that we can get ourselves registered as a recognised NGO with the Rwandan Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC). It's the Rwandan equivalent of being a registered charity in the UK.
We'd also like to appeal to anyone who would be willing to set up and host a website for us. We can't pay at the moment, but we hope to include it in budgets once we get going :)
This doesn't negate the supply list for RNAD, it's just something on the side :)
Our major step now is to collect life stories from local single parents to help us to start the funding appeals by illustrating the real need for change. I feel this project has huge scope for increasing the welfare of children and parents, and for changing social attitudes. Watch this space :)
Please forward to anyone who might be interested. Really appreciated.
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