Friends

MISSION STATEMENT:

Bridging The Gap is dedicated to constructing pedestrian footbridges over dangerous rivers for marginalised groups in Sub Saharan Africa.  The primary goal is to save lives from drowning.

Director: Harmon Parker

www.bridgingthegapafrica.org

MISSION STATEMENT:

Exchanging information, ideas and resources across cultures to promote mutual understanding and respect, resulting in works of Christian compassion among the poor and marginalized in sub-Saharan Africa.

Director: Sam Harrell

www.africaexchange.org

MISSION STATEMENT:

To help bring light to those in the shadows and to enable education to come out of the dark.

Director: Roger Mugridge
Registered charity number 1103647

www.lightsforlearning.org

A simple steel substructure bolted together and with fabricated side elements such as doors and windows, is topped with a clever roofing system that is not penetrated by fasteners along its length. The building has an equally innovative and unique brickwork system. This all amounts to a fabulous construction being simply and quickly erected at a very reasonable cost. I have already mentioned the importance of sustainability and longevity several times. Both Harmon and Sam speak wisely about how often well meaning people deliver aid and effort, which over time has been spoiled, and how such aid can even have an adverse effect on targeted communities. The truth is that Project Albert was at one stage also a stumbling do-gooder. We provided a facility that was spoiled; bits (hardware) were stolen and sold for profit by misguided, but poor people. That was 2001 at St John’s School in the urban Nairobi slum of Korogocho. It’s easy to criticise and become cynical, but I understand the survival motivation for such action, despite my condemnation of it. It’s therefore quite important to appreciate the lengths that both the Africa Exchange and Bridging the Gap go to in order to ensure that any delivered aid effort will have those vital ingredients of sustainability and longevity. I will cover Harmon’s research later, but now I want to tell you about Sam’s research for Africa Exchange and how it arrived at the communities to benefit from his ICDCs.

Community Selection

In 2003, the Ministry of Planning and National Development of the Government of Kenya, in conjunction with a number of international NGO’s, published the “Geographic Dimensions of Well-Being in Kenya: Where are the Poor?” resource document as an instrument for identifying and locating the poorest of the poor according to geographical location in Kenya. The document’s purpose is to provide a targeted resource in poverty reduction strategies. This comprehensive set of data indicates the level of poverty at provincial, district, division and locational levels in addition to further delineation such as % population below poverty line, % contribution to the country’s poor, poverty gap, etc. Using this data in addition to “on the ground” verification through local contacts such as churches, CBOs, etc., Africa Exchange identifies suitable locations in each province of Kenya for project implementation. In each case, they partner with community based organizations (CBOs) such as churches, women’s groups, education/health projects, etc., in order to implement a shared vision of well-being for children at risk, predominantly those of nursery school age (under 6). Participatory approaches will be utilised that foster community ownership, local resources, supervision, operation, and ultimate sustainability. Africa Exchange currently recognises eight very marginalised communities that would hugely benefit from Sam’s building constructions, but there are many, many more. Project Albert funded one, but chronologically it didn’t fit in with everything else going on, so we partially built two others, one in Marigat and the other in Nakwijit instead.