Cows for Kids is a new project launched in 2022. It is designed as a sustainable, renewable source of funding for the Maulana School For Orphans in Epworth, Zimbabwe. The goal is to manage 50+ free ranging cows at a ranch near the school. Annual birthing of offspring will eventually allow for the sale of cows, providing funds to support the orphanage and sustain the project.
Boran Cattle
Additionally, an educational component of Cows for Kids will be created as an internship at the cattle ranch for select students at the Maulana School for Orphans. This will provide an opportunity to learn the profession of farming and ranching, which is a crucial and thriving business in Zimbabwe with many avenues for further employment.
Cows for Kids is partnering with an existing ranch with infrastructure already in place and land vast enough to accommodate growth beyond their target. A breed of cattle called Boran has been selected as the best investment, as it is bigger, stronger and more disease-resistant than other breeds.
Kids
Cows for Kids is linked to Sahwira Fund, a charity organization created and managed entirely by volunteers. Sahwira Fund has been working with community leaders on-site in Zimbabwe since 2007, slowly and methodically developing a fully-functioning, fully permitted school serving nearly 1000 students. The growth target for the school is to complete 14 school blocks (28 classrooms), with the goal of reaching 1400 students from the adjacent community. Currently the 9th and 10th classrooms on site are being built. The Cows for Kids program is designed to help facilitate this growth target, as well as to provide continued sustainability going forward.
Subud California member Rohana LoSchiavo initiated the Cows for Kids project. Rohana has been closely connected with the Sahwira Fund for many years, she serves on the Sahwira Fund Board of Directors and is head of Sustainable Projects. Click here to learn more about Sahwira Fund.
The Tijuana Family Outreach Project is managed and staffed by Subud San Diego volunteers. The project supports children and their families from El Florido, a low-resource area on the outskirts of Tijuana, Mexico. Called Los Ladrilleros (The Brickmakers), most of the residents live in shacks and work in the local brick plant. Although the children attend the local school, there are very few resources for them.
The project provides community integration for many families who would otherwise be isolated, and offers opportunities for families to receive resources to improve their lives and build relationships with neighbors.
The ongoing projects include:
School Supply Giveaway Day,
Day of the Child celebration,
Easter celebration,
Christmas celebration,
…as well as monthly lunches with life-skills workshops facilitated by volunteer psychologists and social workers from a nearby university (past topics: domestic violence prevention, positive parenting). Recently, the project be for extra income.
Anita Limbu is a single mother with a daughter called Unisa. Unisa suffers from cerebral palsy. Anita does not receive support and love from her family and relatives, so all the responsibility for Unisa lies on her shoulders alone. This mother used to feel a great deal of frustration and burden, but then she had the opportunity to join the ICDP caregiver meetings where she met other mothers whose children were also suffering from cerebral palsy. During the first ICDP sessions she cried a lot, as she was becoming more and more aware of Unisa’s needs that she had been ignoring. She started to see her child as a person rather than a burden and this made her behave in a much more positive way towards her. Anita reported that one day Unisa asked her why she was not beating and scolding her as she used to do before — Anita’s eyes were full of tears while telling about this and realizing how negatively she had been treating her daughter. Her daughter can’t speak but can express her emotions and feelings with her gestures. Anita is now caring and expressing love towards her daughter more than before and she said that Unisa is a great deal happier now. Anita said that she is grateful to have been able to attend the ICDP caregiver meetings and wants to be an example for other mothers with children with disabilities.
International Child Development Programme (ICDP) is a competence-building organization in the field of psycho-social and educational care for children.
The objective is to work for the healthy development of children worldwide by implementing a simple but effective psychosocial intervention programme that is based on scientific research in child development and that can enhance children’s psychosocial development and wellbeing. ICDP works with children’s caregivers to create a loving, caring and guiding educational environment for children.
The work is based on the principles that are laid down in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. ICDP is another expression of the same humanitarian spirit as encoded in the CRC. The ethos is to provide for human care through activating empathy, sensitivity and education of both caregivers and their children and by strengthening local initiative. Introducing children’s rights is likely to have a major impact if efforts are also made to activate awareness and deeper bonding to children as persons (Hundeide & Armstrong, 2011).
ICDP is non-political and non-denominational. It may participate directly or indirectly in activities run by other humanitarian organization having corresponding objectives. The point is to sensitize, build competence and confidence in members of a community or an existing child caring system, and then withdraw. The purpose of cooperation with partner organizations is to offer training, educational and moral support, thus ensuring the quality of ICDP work and positive impact on the development of caregivers and children.
By participating in ICDP, caregivers learn general principles of child rearing that are universal and present in most cultures, which makes the programme flexible and culturally adaptable.
Research suggests that human development and the physiological development of the brain, depends on proper interaction between a caring adult and the growing child. In normal circumstances such learning happens naturally, but when families are uprooted through social changes, migration, catastrophes, children losing their parents, or having been numbed by severe deprivation and emotional shock, this care often breaks down and has to be reactivated through skilled help. If children do not receive sufficient love and guidance while they are young, the problem also perpetuates itself because later on they become inadequate parents. ICDP’s focus, therefore, is on trying to break this cycle.
“Distributing food to our Portland neighbors is an act of peace. Hunger fosters fear and violence—nourishment calms and comforts. Though I cannot solve the economic or housing crises that are crushing the lower economic tiers of residents in Portland, I can become a conduit for love, comfort and abundance by being a part of a network of volunteers offering consistent nourishment.”
Jennifer Skyler received the first grant from the Melinda Wallis Memorial Fund to support her efforts to distribute hot food to the homeless in Portland, Oregon.
Hi Elizabeth, Marilyn & Aminah,
Here we are in downtown Portland, serving the beautiful roasted veggies & beans & rice made by Subud Sisters, and the take-away food provided by Elizabeth! I’m wearing a grey ski cap and behind me you can see the line beginning to extend around the block. It was in the freezing temperatures & the wind chill made it in the 20’s, but still, folks lined up!
Our Subud brother Vien has been consistently supplying us with warm blankets & clothes donated by Portland Subud members. It takes a Beautiful village. Thank you all for your loving support!
