Organizations can’t fight poverty on their own.
Get connected. We are stronger together. kentronetwork.ca
June • 2022
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Harnessing the Power of Collaboration The problem of poverty is vast—felt both locally and internationally— and no one person or organization can conquer it on their own. For nearly 40 years, Kentro Christian Network (formerly the Canadian Christian Relief and Development Association) has connected more than 50 Canadian relief and development organizations whose combined efforts contribute more than $800 million annually to address poverty and injustice worldwide. Kentro is the central place of connection for Canadian Christian agencies and individuals where they can pull in the same direction and work together. Collaboration is at the centre of who Kentro is, and cooperation has an impact. In 2021, Kentro members Thrive for Good and Food for the Hungry Canada began partnering together in the Ethiopian community of Sasiga. Thrive provides organic agricultural and nutritional training and has helped Food for the Hungry introduce “Life Gardens” into the Sasiga community. The organization plants organic gardens dense with
highly nutritious foods and disease-fighting plans and herbs yearround—utilizing small land plots, even in areas with scarce rainfall. Food for the Hungry has been working in Sasiga for many years and is excited that farmers are now harvesting, consuming, and selling produce from their Life Gardens. As a result, the feeding culture of many farming families has improved. Some have said they didn’t know their land could support so many
vegetables; they feel like they’ve started a new life. Kentro members FAIR, the international development arm of the Fellowship Evangelical Baptist Churches of Canada, and Medical Ministry International have formed another life-saving partnership in the Amazon. For many years, people living deep in the Amazon Rainforest did not have access to medical care. In only the most urgent situations, the Colombian
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Airforce would airlift patients to a nearby city for medical care. But over the past nine years, Medical Ministry International has worked to meet some of their medical and spiritual needs. In the Leticia region, in particular, they have established both a cervical cancer screening program and a prostate cancer screening program. When COVID-19 hit, remote communities faced added barriers to accessing the medical support they needed. But because of Medical Ministry International’s long-standing relationships with many of these remote Amazon villages, they were uniquely positioned to respond. Through Kentro, FAIR heard about Medical Ministry International’s work in the Amazon and knew they wanted to be involved. By harnessing the power of their expansive church network, FAIR was able to support Medical Ministry International to respond to COVID in these remote Amazon communities. After this initial COVID response project, FAIR decided that they also wanted to more
regularly support Medical Ministry International’s medical work in the Amazon Jungle amongst First Nations communities. This partnership allows the generosity of Canadian members of the Fellowship Evangelical Baptist Churches to partner with people in remote Amazon villages towards greater health. Kentro members are accomplishing more together than they could alone. The network of relationships and useful online tools such as activities mapping provided by WayBase and an online platform for member organizations to connect helps Canadian organizations have a deeper impact on the world. Allison Alley, President and CEO of Compassion Canada, says: “Kentro’s centralized hub and digital platform helps us work more effectively together across the international relief and development sector in Canada, ultimately empowering us to partner to affect positive change and reduce global poverty.” Visit our website: kentronetwork.ca
Healing Through Reading: Indigenous Author Michelle Good’s Debut Novel Five Little Indians ALLIE MURRAY
When Michelle Good set out to write her first novel, she was determined to find a way to connect Indigenous and nonIndigenous readers through a story that Indigenous people know all too well: the trauma and hurt experienced at the hands of Canada’s residential school system. Good is of Cree ancestry and a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation. For as long as she can remember, she has been an advocate for residential school survivors, which led her to write her debut novel Five Little Indians. “It is my sincere wish, and the reason I wrote the book, that non-Indigenous Candians will begin to truly understand that residential schools were a life and death experience for the children and the impacts of the trauma experienced there continues to resonate through our communities,” Good
explained. “We didn’t just experience this as individuals, we experienced it collectively as well.” The novel follows five students—Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie, and Maisie—as they leave the church-run residential school in British Columbia and adjust to a new life in Vancouver. The story takes place
over decades and shows the five friends crossing paths time and time again as they work through the trauma they endured at the residential school. From writing the first paragraph to publication, it took nine years for Five Little Indians to be finished. Good notes that the slow process was necessary, saying that it’s
MICHELLE GOOD © SILKEN SELLINGER PHOTOGRAPHY
not a subject she wanted to approach lightly. Good explained that as Indigenous people work through their healing, and non-Indigenous Canadians come to understand what truly happened at these schools, she hopes her novel aids in the healing process. “There are few things more
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Opportunity International Canada
healing than being heard,” Good shared. “I hope survivors reading this book come away knowing they’ve been heard. I focused on the aftermath of the schools— the kids trying to survive after leaving—to show the ongoing impacts and the tremendous burden of psychological injury survivors bear.” While writing the book, Good wanted the reader to immediately be confronted with the severity of the book’s themes. “The title is in reference to the terrible, racist nursery rhyme that has been used to dehumanize many peoples of colour,” she said. “I wanted the reader to know immediately that this was a book about profound racism.” Since the novel was released in April 2020, Good has received a number of accolades for her work; winning the 2021 Amazon Canada First Novel Award, the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Awards and more. ADVERTORIAL
Creating Business Solutions to Sustainable Poverty Alleviation Around the world, Opportunity International’s (OI) network of partners helps some of the poorest people in the world onto pathways out of poverty through our Financial Inclusion programs. These entrepreneurs have ambitious dreams for their futures and simply need an opportunity to thrive. We provide them with access to loans, savings, insurance, and training— tools that empower them to work their way out of poverty.
families through the provision of life skills and confidence-building training and the development of income-generating activities, which provides families with stable and reliable incomes. Haiti: Dania, and her partner, Mergenord, were merely getting by on what Mergenord could earn as an assistant carpenter. Dania joined the ultra-poverty program and chose goats and turkeys as her enterprises. With the income from her enterprises and some help from Mergenord, she’s able to make regular contributions to her Village Savings and Loan Association. She plans to invest these savings in more livestock, preferably a cow. “When you have a cow, you can sell it if you have a big problem. Its calves can be sold for a lot, too. Eventually you can buy land.” She also plans to start her own business.
ALTAGRACIA © COURTESY OF OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL
training over a three-day period, covering topics such as family relations, gender equality, and financial literacy. After training, OI staff work with each woman to develop a plan to move them towards financial self-sufficiency and eventually access microloans, microleasing, micro-savings, and/ or microinsurance. The DR: Altagracia is a widow with three adult children who help her when they can. But what DANIA © COURTESY OF OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL MICROENTERPRISE helps her buy food and support ULTRA-POVERTY TRUST GROUP herself are her three small busiPROGRAM PROGRAM nesses, one of which is sewing Our ultra-poverty program This program consists of self-help household articles. She currently promotes financial, economic, groups of 25 to 40 women. The borrows a sewing machine from and social inclusion for ultra-poor process begins with 12 hours of a neighbour and hopes to qualify
for a micro-lease to buy her own sewing machine. She sells approximately 10 dollars a day, realizing a 50 percent profit, and has learned to manage her finances. She says, “I need to know how much money I am making with each business. I enjoy participating in the meetings, and being part of the group is a nice way to socialize while learning to save.”
Through our SME Program, these entrepreneurs are provided with the capital and training needed to expand, increase their income and create jobs for others. Ghana: Jane and her husband manage a school serving 300 students in a low-income community. Many of the girls were late to school because they had to fetch water for their families. Therefore, Jane decided she SMALL BUSINESS would branch out into the water ENTERPRISE (SME) delivery business. PROGRAM Four locations were identified Some microentrepreneurs desire where boreholes had been dug. to grow their businesses, however, A community leader helped Jane they don’t have access to capital. secure the necessary permits to construct the pumps, but she needed capital to complete the work. Unable to obtain a loan from a traditional bank, she was introduced to OI, who provided her with the necessary financing and training in water delivery station management. Jane successfully runs the four stations and employs one manager at each. As a female leader, in a non-traditional business, Jane encourages other JANE © COURTESY OF OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL women to get into business too.
