kanthari newsletter 3 – 2022

“If you want to know how RICH you are, find out how many things you have that money cannot buy”. – unknown

“It was in December 2021 when I received the exciting news that after an intense selection process, I was chosen for the kanthari program, and I started to prepare for my journey to the south of India. From Lagos in Nigeria to Trivandrum in Kerala, it is not only a journey halfway around the world, but it was the start of a new learning path that brought me closer to effectively running the organization that I had started a few years ago. In the meantime, while I am attending this course, I can say that my high expectations were not cut short. From the many learnings, I had so far, here are a few outstanding ones. Although I thought, I knew the problem of street children in Lagos, after all, I was living in the streets myself for more than 12 years, I learned to analyze the actual problem from a completely different perspective, which opened several Solutions that were outside of any conventional actions I knew so far. Here in kanthari, I learned to think beyond mainstream borders, and I learned to value my personal story and connect it to my activities. Additionally, the exposure trip to several NGOs in south India gave me valuable insights into what it means to run an organization. I also found a new name for my organization: Akhin.
Akhin means resilient and survivor and that is now how I see myself and my beneficiaries.” Israel Balogun – Nigeria akhin.org 

Dear Friends and supporters,
how are you? We hope that you are doing well. Worldwide, the last few months have been quite intense.
As conflicts, inflation, and costs of living are increasing, we certainly need to look into solutions to all these different kinds of
problems. Over the past quarter of 2022, we have been busy with the running of the 13th kanthari course and we are pleased that many kanthari graduates have been able to bring a ray of sunlight into the lives of many people who are situated in places where it seemed that the sun was no longer shining. In this newsletter, we share a few updates about the work we do and that of kantharis around the world.

kanthari course exposure trip

During the second act of the kanthari Curriculum, all participants and 4 catalysts traveled through the South of India to collect best practices from other organizations and from kanthari graduates.
All were travelling under basic conditions, sleeping in trains and buses, staying one whole night on a platform because the train was 12 hours delayed and having to walk several kilometers through a jungle in the night crossing rivers and climbing hills. Here are the main takeaways from Eltrud (Kenya) who wants to start a home for elderly people:
“Visiting SRISTI VILLAGE and SOS village was a great inspiration. Seeing kantharis excel and impact so many lives was so amazing. The village model adopted by SOS and the NOOK model adopted by project DEFY provided a solution to my project. I also learned a lot visiting a hospice where I got to relate and get practical experience on some of the aspects that come with aging and how to handle them. I was able to connect to nature, have a feeling of being in the streets, and gained experience in team building. It was an invaluable trip.”

Updates about kantharis around the world:

Agro Rangers – India – Siddhesh Sakore – 2019 kanthari

Siddhesh shared the following: “In July Agro Rangers worked with 55 farmers on the revival of the indigenous Bardhanya intercropping model, which grows 12 types of cereals, pulses, millets, and oil seeds and is resilient to climate change effects. These crops provide nutrition and fodder security. As our area is a drought-prone region, most farmers grow millets. We organized the Millet Jatra, a one-day event to connect farmers and consumers. There were 30 stalls various stalls women’s self-help groups, NGOs, KVK, millet entrepreneurs, millet chefs, etc, and there were more than 1000 visitors. Additionally, we have signed 3 MOUs with different organizations: 1. to provide internship support for students. 2. to conserve 63 types of indigenous seeds, and 3. To improve soil health.

Precious Hearts Haven – Zimbabwe – Precious Kiwiti – 2021 kanthari

“The past three months have been buzzing for Precious Hearts Haven. Over 100 young women and girls have reached out for support. We worked on three main activities:
1) Follow up with 43 Survivors of Gender Based Violence. Precious Hearts Haven is continuing to offer professional advice and referrals to this group.
2) We have been able to sensitize 31 women/girls and 4 men in a new rural community in Zvimba on Issues relating to gender-based violence through the provision of tree planting training, and
3) we started setting up our first safe space in Harare’s high-density area which is almost complete.”

Ayiti – Nigeria – Olubodun Akinyele – 2019 kanthari

Olubodun provides computer coding for vulnerable children in Lagos. He shared: “We are in the 5th algorithmic STEP of teaching computer programming for ethical change to children who could otherwise turn to cybercrime or other vices. This is the step where these 13 children take initiative and where dreams are being formed, as well as prototyping and pitching, are learned. The children are paired into groups of three and work on real-life projects from NGOs.
The goal is to find solutions for NGOs’ technology problems that hinder them from creating an impact on society. With this, the children are prepared to pitch and present the project they worked on to the project owners, members of the press, and the world.

An-anya – India – Gouri Shankar – 2015 kanthari

Gouri works to address different causes from putting a halt to child-labor as well as environmental protection. During this quarter he conducted special child parliament sessions about alternative learning methods. Out of 22 School going students, he is currently working with, 8 students are now already able to fluently understand, write and speak in Odia language. In another activity, he found that thousands of Sal trees have been cut to start the cultivation of vegetables. This has not only led to deforestation, but also to topsoil degradation. Gouri works on awareness and guidance on how to produce paddy, corn, and turmeric in a more sustainable way.

kanthari and kantharis in the Media:

– An article was published about ENTOJUTU and the work of Tobi Adegbite from Nigeria
– An article about Anantmool, a gender-free learning center of Niwas and Shivani can be read here
– The podcast ‘Ask-ability’ with Puneet Singh,
– Entrepreneurs of the Social Town visited kanthari and wrote about it here
– And you can find all weekly blog posts here   

Dear friends and supporters,
this year’s participants will soon present their project ideas to the public. This will be done during the SPREAD THE SPICE Festival on the Cadrre campus in Trivandrum on the 15^th of Oct 2022 from 10:00 to 18:00 hours. If you are in town please join, or if you know people who will be, please ask them to attend. More details are available on https://www.kanthari.org/spreadthespice/
We say thank you for your ongoing support so we can continue to support the change-makers who make significant differences within their communities! THANK YOU!
If you enjoyed reading this newsletter, please forward it to others who may be interested.
With very best regards from Kerala, stay safe, stay healthy!
sabriye and paul

Please support kanthari here – THANK YOU for your ongoing help!
www.facebook.com/kantharis   –   www.kanthari.org

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