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CLM-MLC MARIANIST LAY COMMUNITY OF KENYA.
P.O BOX 50504
NAIROBI – KENYA.
TEL: 254 020 559625
CELL PHONES: +254 722 617458(Ann), +254 722 386 599 - Lorna, Email addresses: [email protected], [email protected],
Unearthing the potential and enriching the vulnerable children and youth by drawing them to Christ in Love as Mary did.
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“Give the children an opportunity to come to me; Jesus said, “The kingdom of God belongs to them.”
It was a vigil night that transformed lives by drawing them closer
to Jesus.
MLC OF NAIROBI IN SOLIDALITY WITH WORKS CHRIST JESUS AS MARY DID.
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1 Project Title and background
TITLE: MLC OF NAIROBI IN SOLIDALITY WITH WORKS OF MARY.
The Marianist Lay Community [MLC] is a Christian community at the service of the mission of the Church in the world. MLC‟S are part of the wider Marianist family including the Daughters of Mary and the Society of Mary. Membership to the MLC‟S is a free will commitment of the whole person in to the community‟s mission. The early communities of the Marianist lay were inclusive of all social classes and states of life a feature that is evident in the present day Marianist community‟s world wide. The community works to utilize the special talent/gift of each individual at the service of societies. Marianist lay communities are missionaries whose main activities are to promote global justice and work among the vulnerable members of the society. The communities are organised in small groups, which form communities on local, regional, national, and international levels. The Kenyan Marianist lay community is a Christian family at the service of the church in the world. As a part of the family of Mary, they aim at a conscious fulfilment of the objective and charism of the world Marianist family. The members are missionaries called from within the church to make Christ, person in the world as Mary our mother did. The main objective of the MLC is to be part of the global community being a community of faith and live a life in permanent mission to build society. The MLC of Kenya have for a long time been engaged in activities that facilitate the promotion of a life of faith through facilitating a permanent evangelisation. A mini baseline study carried out by the members of the MLC in Nairobi in July 2003 identified the youth as a target group for their efforts of promoting social justice. The target group find themselves stranded in life such that they require emotional, psychological, social and economic empowerment towards self-reliance to enable their participation at all levels of development. As clearly indicated in 2005-2009 International document, the MLCs- CLM are called to live a life of making a difference within communities where they live by responding to the signs of the time, “4.3. Singing the Magnificent with Mary, our communities seek to be open to the Spirit, to stand against injustice, and to proclaim a message of liberation and hope. 4.3.1. We are in solidarity with the poor and marginalized and we work for justice and peace. We promote human rights, human development, inclusive relationships, and ecological values. 4.3.2. We give special attention to initiating and sustaining MLCs in which young people are welcomed. 4.3.3. Our family spirit and the collaboration among all the members of the Marianist Family are our special contributions to the renewal of the Church. The International Meeting challenges 2009-2013 vows to work to increase the number of youths to actively participate in Church and in community development initiatives. This is the vision of MLCs of Nairobi- Kenya.
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2 Location
The project for youth and children will be implemented in Nairobi Kenya in Makadara Division of Nairobi East District. Our Lady of Visitation Parish and an Out-station of the Our Lady of Visitation- The St. Charles Lwanga Church which is about 1 ½ Kilometres from the Parish will be the main collaborators since most MLCs are members of the Churches. The area‟s inhabitants are largely the colonial workers settlement Estate which means over 80% of them have no rural homes. Their children, grandchildren, great grand children knows no other live except the congested and highly immoral life experienced in Nairobi City.
3 Project summary
This project will touch on the very sensitive issues affecting the lives of young people that could otherwise make them abandon their faith to other „welcoming denominations jeopardizing the future of the Church and denying the Church the Ambassadors who are supposedly to help Jesus carry his role as Mary did. The main purpose is to draw the young people back to Christ and help them achieve holistic and fulfilling dignified life, offer social, moral and economic integration within their communities and entrench active participation by the youth and children at all levels. MLC of Nairobi wishes to see a community that embraces the talents and roles of each individual in the Church regardless of age, colour and tribe. To see a Church Community that is able to enhance participation of all its members. This will make our Mother Mary happy and live among us to help us support the community achieve the goal for Christ. „We believe that the liturgy and unity of the Church are signs and a means of creating harmony and purity of the society. We must promote a more active and conscious participation, making the liturgy more accessible, celebrative, festive, and a reflection of our diverse cultures.‟ The project will work with the Lay Marianist Professionals who are dedicated to volunteer their services to ensure achievement of the intended purpose. The youths will be supported to develop and organize their SCC- organize prayer meetings, sharing sessions, friendly matches and leisure sessions that will be a source of hope restoration, identify mentors in faith and personal development from the MLC teams, Identify SCC Patron from among the MLCs, make commitment to draw their support from Mary our Mother and live a dignified life in Christ. Youths activities will include : Spiritual: formation of youth Small Christian Communities, recruiting other young people from the community in to the SCC, Prayer sessions, Vigils where sharing, Holy Mass, and penance is conducted, Quarterly youth day in the church where they will serve the Holy Mass including taking up readings and liturgical songs and formation into Marianists way of life. Social: community service, games and matches, creative art, play, music, drama, sports and competition. Emotional: identification of mentors at individual level from among the MLCs, identification of Small Christian Community Patrons, motivational talks and counselling at individual and group level. Economic: The young people expressed desperation due to high level of unemployment and lack of professional skills to enable them earns a living in a dignified manner. The Six Youth Small
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Christian Communities will therefore be encouraged to carry out a group livelihood project to help generate income that can latter support each one of them acquire life skills/hands-on skills or start individual income generating project. Individual activities will include individual mentoring to strengthen ones faith, counselling towards hope restoration, behaviour modification/change therapies, and career guidance, school visits by program officer, attendance and participation in Community service, SCC and in Church and home visits. The young people also have been encouraged to choose a name for their SCC that gives them a holistic meaning on where they want to go and who they want to be in relation to Christ. This will always hold them together when desperation dawns in for they are able to fall back to their patron saint.
4 Problem statement
The Lay Marianist of Nairobi holds their fortnight meetings in this Estate in one of the Society‟s of Mary Regional Houses. It was through our interaction and attending Holy Mass in the parish that the group realised that the number of youths in the Church and their participation raised concern. On a further step, the MLCs decided to assess if youths participated in small Christian communities. The worrying thing was that, the SCC was made of adults only. It was at this point that a team of MLC was appointed to carry out a small baseline appraisal on the matter and identifying the possible courses from the young people and also to listen to the views of the parents/guardians. The key findings were that, the youths felt misunderstood and that their ideas seemed not to matter in the church and that is why they did not find any need to be members of the church. The other point was that, most of them never got gainful level of education and thus, most of the young girls engaged in prostitution and young men in thuggerly/mugging and no one seemed to come to their rescue rather than receive critique and harassment. It is this very crucial sign of our time that the MLC of Nairobi would like to respond to. Some key interventions has been done which includes; interesting the youths back to church, formation of 6 Youths Small Christian Communities in the target area, helping the young people go back to sacramental life through organizing vigils where a priest is invited to conduct Penance rights, motivational talks held, youth needs assessment and action plans developed. The young people below the age of 14 are also being formed into Faustino‟s and being helped to understand the beauty of emulating their patron saint. MLCs of Nairobi aspires to help the young people and children address the spiritual, social, psychological, emotional and educational needs and at the same time reach their carers to seek understanding and support. Successful implementation of the project in the said Parish and outstation will be rolled over to the other sounding parishes of Umoja, Kayole, Eastleigh and Embakasi who are found to experience the same challenges. The young people experience more than ordinary feeling of isolation, discrimination, exclusion and often miss life opportunities because this leads to negative ways of life and promiscuity. These youths and children are even left behind by their guardians when they go to Church or SCC but are ignorant of the youths and children‟s own spiritual, social, emotional and economic
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needs and right to association and affiliation. This project has been conceived out of the realization those youths and children form over 60% of all Catholic faithful families. Furthermore listening to the voices of youths and children during community consultation meetings and as members of the Church, we have learnt that they have their special needs to relate with Jesus, affiliate, to recreate, to build friendship and to belong. Besides, they have expressed a strong need to be understood and supported. Some of the youths and children literally need to be rescued from stigma, exploitation and exclusion even at the family level. Faustino was a young boy who excelled in faith and his confidence in loving, understanding and relying in Mary‟s support. He often went to retreats so that God may speak to him.
Interacting with youths and children during a social activity. “They speak and we listen”
The Faustino‟s will be formed into strong backbone of the Church from which the whole community will develop a legacy for generations to come.
5 Previous Experience
MLCs of Nairobi have been working with groups of youths and Children in Nairobi - Kenya for the last three years. We have so far assisted formation of 6 youths Small Christian Communities and 2 Faustino groups of Little Angels; both at the Parish and the outreach Church community. The Faustino‟s form part of Church liturgical team and for sure keeps the faithful alert and Mass enjoyable and participatory ecumenically. The SCC start up as prayer and social-psychological support groups and as they grow, they all express the need for group livelihood initiatives to uplift the economic status of the members and help them deviate form immoral ways of earning a living. This project is part of a broader initiative to help people with youths and children to participate and live successfully in their communities.
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6 Aim and planned outcomes
The broad objective of the project will be to enable youths and children within the target areas to participate, feel part of the community, feel wanted and accepted, understood, give them their rightful space in Church and live successfully in their communities. The expected outputs are:
1. 300 youth supported to participate in Church and enjoy the gains of a Small Christian community. 2. 6 SCC, additional 3 others to accommodate the youths not in any of the formed ones formed and
guided. 3. At least 6 group projects by the youths SCC carried out as way of hope restoration and pulling the
youths from immoral ways of earning a living. 4. At least 150 individual projects initiated and developed by individual young people to enhance
economic independence. 5. At lest the 300 guardians and 1500 close family members educated on reason to hope and need to
embrace the talents of every individual in the community and providing sustainable care at home. 6. At least 100 Children formed into Faustino‟s, as a way of Laying a Strong Church foundation.
7. Experiences from the project and involvement of diverse professionals used to further develop and approach for working with youths and children within their communities.
A group of Faustino Angels present a liturgical dance in Church. This ensures growth and development of the Church.
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7 Beneficiaries
The primary beneficiaries will be 300 youth and 100 children (Faustino) living in Makadara Division of Nairobi East District in Kenya. At least but not limited to Primary guardians will benefit from training and mentoring on youth and child protection and the reason to hope to enable them better understand, involve and support youths and children in Church, encourage them to join SCC and engage in positive development initiatives. Secondary beneficiaries will be: 1500 nuclear and immediate family members 1who will benefit from knowledge and information on the roles and rights of young people and children and how to better make them feel understood
and appreciated.
8 Management and Implementation
MLCs Nairobi will provide broad oversight to the project and ensure that all activities are implemented as scheduled. They will carry out a participatory planning at the beginning of the project with the youths and with involvement of Society of Mary MLC Advisor, quarterly meetings with the team, one Participatory Data Analysis session on the sixth month and an end of project participatory evaluation at the end of the year. MLCs project committee will be responsible for financial management where a group of youths has to be given cash to procure or to implement part of the project ensure financial accountability. MLC responsible in Nairobi will write progress reports and share with donor and other stakeholders. Program officer will be responsible for day to day project management on the ground Volunteer counsellors and mentors will be assigned to each group to facilitate identification and development of individual youth‟s interests.
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9 Inputs
Material Inputs: Education There is a need to develop a resource centre for the young people. The MLC of Nairobi has already approached the community leaders to provide land/space within the community where a resource centre can be developed. The community leaders have therefore provided ¼ acre land through the local administration and a document of authorization given to MLCs for legal support. There is also a need to purchase 2 Cargo containers to develop the shelter, A Television set, video deck and a computer to help them access latest information through internet and share issues through visual to encourage positive thinking. Spirituality Spiritual and motivational youth support books, prayers guides booklets, and Christian related movies. Temporality To initiate livelihood activities for youths to enable them economically, there will be need to provide them with seed capital and technical support for the six youth SCC with over 300 young people. Games and sports gears- this is to build their social capacities, to identify and nurture their talents. Individual projects: These should develop slowly from the income generated from the group projects, sourcing resources through linkages and money generated from working with parishioners in running petty errands for those who are extremely busy for a small fee.
b) Human Resources Recruit a full time Community Development Officer who is required to be MLC to coordinate the project activities, organize activities and invite volunteer professionals to give support wherever needed. Involve young people to execute the activities thus making them take lead and responsibility over their own destiny.
10 Timescale
January 2010 – End of February 2011
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11 Expected impact
Each of the SCC will implement a group livelihoods project such as Poultry keeping, soaps and detergent making, bead work, beauty parlour among others which has been identified as being very therapeutic, economically viable and replicable by each individual member. This is deviate the youths from negativism in life and reliance on immoral acts to earn a living for this is what diverts them from the Church. Young people will be encouraged to acquire skills that will help them live a dignified life, acquire education that will enhance their participation at all levels, compete for available jobs, be able to provide for their basic needs and have their rights respected. By the end of the project it is anticipated that each young person will have initiated an individual income generating activity or undertaken a course that will be their source of livelihood and that their guardians will have understood them and ready to offer them the highly needed support. It is our hope and prayer that the youth and children will be integrated in the liturgical, social and general development of the communities at Church and general life and participates in dignified growth and development in the future. The role of the youths will be felt and embraced by all and the young people will eventually feel part and parcel of the wider Christian fraternity.
12 Collaborators and actors.
The project will be implemented in partnerships with : 1. Our Lady of Visitation Catholic Church- which is Parish within our area of operation and where the parents of the young people worship. 2. St. Charles Lwanga Catholic Church which is an out-station of Our Lady of Visitation Parish. 3. Society of Mary in Nairobi- in close collaboration with MLCs spiritual Advisor Fr. Callistus Jeje (SM) and Fr. Richard (SM). 4) The 6 young Christian communities-who will be the core target of the community. 5) Lay Marianists of Nairobi- Makadara Our Lady of Visitation- Our Lady of Nazareth Group. 6) The young people in making a positive difference in their own lives- in faith and their holistic growth. The role of the Collaborators will be to host the Youth Small Christian Communities, mentor, encourage, offer spiritual guidance, advocate for inclusion in Church and other community initiatives, give guidance during their meetings, to coordinate day to day activities including communication with the youths/children and their parents, work with the Community youth volunteers in support of the project work.
13 Budget
The anticipated total budget for this project is ; The budget costs in order of priority are
1. 2 cargo containers for developing a youth resource center. 2. Refurbishing the container- paint, partitioning materials and partitioning work. 3. Furniture and fixtures for the resource centre 4. Education: television set, video deck, educational video tapes, motivational, prayer books
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and magazines. 5. Monthly allowance for Community Development officer, 6. Transport allowances for volunteers while coming to offer counselling, mentoring and
motivational talks to the youths and children. 7. Annual retreat for the youths and children- in 3 groups of 100 youths each. 8. Faustino‟s creative art and seasonal card making materials 9. Faustino‟s refreshments during their sharing, prayer sessions and creative art activities. 10. Faustino‟s „May be God will speaks to me‟ retreat- moral support, spiritual nurturing and
self-awareness. 11. sponsorship for 20 young people for secondary education 12. Sponsorship for 20 young people in vocational training of their choice. 13. 6 group Livelihood projects for the 6 youths SCC. 14. MLCs bi-annual project review and planning meeting. 15. One computer for the resource centre. 16. Internet connectivity at the resource centre. 17. Logistical cost to successfully implement the project and learn and document the project.
14 Monitoring and Evaluation
Project activities have been scheduled and will be monitored on a monthly basis using a Monthly progress reports, Once on weekly basis, the community development Officer will make a site visit and meet with the project beneficiaries and the implementation team to assess progress, and challenges and facilitating factors and where necessary make any corrective measures. Implementing partners will on a day to day basis as necessary make contacts with the implementing team, the youth/children and their homes and schools to monitor progress. One participatory Analysis meeting session will be carried out with each group to review progress, re-plan and replicate projects at group and individual level.
15 Dissemination
Project information will be disseminated locally through email, hard copy reports and through CLM-MLC websites. Life stories of youths and children who will benefit from the project will be written and shared out with their consent. Sharing about project progress during common forums with youths, children and partners.
16 Sustainability
The youths will be trained in leadership and organized into support groups of Small Christian, social and economic activities. Follow-up to ensure taking up of action will be instituted by the Program officer, volunteer counsellors and mentors. The community of faithful in the Church will be sensitized and appealed for support to incorporate the young people in church activities including leadership positions. The young people will also be recruited and trained in mentorship to their peers. Financial sustainability will be achieved through initiation of income generating projects by MLCs and youths. The young people will be encouraged to replicate the livelihood activities at individual levels and undertake skills trainings to increase their capacity in job market competition. The youths will be involved in running petty errands for the busy community members such as – being sent to pay bills or take messages for them at a fee to generate project expansion funds.
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17 Personal Account
Dismas is a young man born on 25th Dec 1986 and live in Makadara community. He became a partial orphan at age 10 when his father died and her only sister since they were two siblings also died when Dismas was age 7. As if that was not enough, his mother also died in year 2003 making him a total orphan with no nuclear family attachment. He was taken up by his paternal uncle who is jobless and extremely poor. He has experienced all sorts of discrimination and rejection at family from relatives, community and feeling not given an opportunity to participant in Church to his expectation. He Hoped that, as a young person, participating in Church would be a source of solace. He has lately joined a youth Small Christian community where the young persons give him an equal opportunity to participate and they have together forged a voice to be part of the Church initiatives. Belonging in the group has given him hope through group moral support during their psycho-social and spiritual sharing. “I benefit a lot from „Jumuia‟ because I grow spiritually and socially. We normally share and discuss challenges which face youth today and I gain tremendously. In my Don-Bosco Small Christian community, we have senior youths whose advice, guide and counsel us. I do not regret having joined the SCC and back to church since it‟s my source of hope and support. I remember, at a point in life I felt hopeless, useless and I nearly ended my life. Our Small Christian community Mentor is wonderful since he gave me a reason to hope and soldier on.” Dismas look forward to an opportunity to attain professional skills or somehow be enabled to acquire a dignified livelihood initiative. He is now full of hope and happy that finally he is able to be part of the wider community that has enabled him through the MLCs youth empowerment initiatives. In Makadara Division, the area of the project focus, nearly 90% will share with you a hopeless background hence a need for urgent intervention.
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PROJECT: MLC OF NAIROBI IN SOLIDALITY WITH WORKS OF MARY.
BUDGET PROPOSAL.
Description
Amount in Pounds 1 £ = 125 Kenya Shillings
Amount in USD 1 £ = 1.65 $
1.0 Education
1.1 2 Cargo containers for developing a youth resource centre. 1600 2640 1.2
Refurbishing the container- paint, partitioning materials and partitioning work.
400
660
1.3 Furniture and fixtures for the resource centre 480 792
1.4 Television set. 200 330
1.5 Video deck. 80 132
1.6 Educational video tapes 40 66
1.7
Motivational, prayer books and magazines.
40
66
1.8
Sponsorship for 20 young people for secondary education in a day school (calculated for 4 years @ 66$per term per student.
9600
15840
2 RELIGIOUS
2.1
Annual retreat for the youths and children- in 3 groups of 100 youths each - meals and logistical costs 720 1188
2.2 Faustino‟s creative art and seasonal card making materials 160 264
2.3
Faustino‟s refreshments during their sharing, prayer sessions and creative art activities. 400 660
2.4
Faustino‟s „May be God will speaks to me‟ retreat- moral support, spiritual nurturing and self-awareness. 360 594
2.5
Information, education and communication materials- T-shirts, banner, cards and scalfs. 2000 3300
3 TEMPORALITIES
3.1
Sponsorship for 20 young people in vocational training of their choice. 3200 5280
3.2
6 group Livelihood projects for the 6 youths SCC for inputs. (Labour and security will be beneficiaries‟ contribution.) 3360 5544
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3.4
3 days training on record keeping, group dynamics, report writing and linkages to the 6 groups 1440 2376
3.5 One computer for the resource centre. 560 924
3.6 Printer 80 132
3.7 Internet connectivity at the resource centre. 96 158
4 HUMAN RESOURCES
4.1 Monthly allowance for Community Development officer, 3840 6336
4.2
Transport allowances for volunteers while coming to offer counselling, mentoring and motivational talks to the youths and children @ $2.4 per visit, at least 5 professionals /volunteers per month 144 238
5 Project Management and administration
5.1
Logistical, communication cost to successfully implement, learn and document the project.
480
792
5.2 MLCs bi-annual project review and planning meeting. 80 96
Total project cost 29360 48408
Signed off by: Nairobi Kenya Temporality Responsible (MLC)
Ann Kihagi. Date: 15th September 2009.
Signed off by Spirituality responsible (MLC).
Peter Njoroge Date : 12th October 2009.
Signed off by President (International Organization of MLC).
Isabella R. Moyer Date : 1st November 2009
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ACTIVITY SCHEDULE.
Activity description Jan 2010.
Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan 2011
Feb. 2011
1.0 EDUCATION
1.1 Youth retreat and sharing session
1.2 2 Cargo containers for developing a youth resource centre.
1.3 Refurbishing the container- paint, partitioning materials and partitioning work.
1.4 Furniture and fixtures for the resource centre
1.5 Television set.
1.6 Video deck.
1.7 Educational video tapes
1.8 Motivational, prayer books and magazines.
1.9 Sponsorship for 20 young people for secondary education in a day school (calculated for 4 years @ $66 per term per student.
2.0 RELIGIOUS
2.1 Annual retreat for the youths and children- in 3 groups of 100 youths each - meals and logistical costs
2.2 Faustino‟s creative art and seasonal card making materials
2.3 Faustino‟s refreshments during
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their sharing, prayer sessions and creative art activities.
2.4 Faustino‟s „May be God will speaks to me‟ retreat- moral support, spiritual nurturing and self-awareness.
3.0 TEMPORALITIES
3.1 Sponsorship for 20 young people in vocational training of their choice.
3.2 6 group Livelihood projects for the 6 youths SCC for inputs. Labour and security will be beneficiaries‟ contribution.
3.3 One computer for the resource centre.
3.4 Printer
3.5 Internet connectivity at the resource centre.
4.0 HUMAN RESOURCES
4.1 Monthly allowance for Community Development officer,
4.2 Transport allowances for volunteers while coming to offer counselling, mentoring and motivational talks to the youths and children @ $2.4 per visit, at least 5 professionals /volunteers per month
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5.0 Project Management and administration
5.1 Logistics, communication cost to successfully implement, learn and document the project.
5.2 MLCs bi-annual project review and planning meeting.
5.3 Participatory Data analysis with beneficiaries and other partners
5.4 Final report writing and presentation
