Wade Rathke~Community Organizations International
BRIEF REPORT OF THE ACORN LAUNCHING DAY HELD ON 25TH FEBRUARY 2010
The launch was organized in Korogocho community center where the event was held on 25th Feb 2010.
The event was scheduled to mark the official rolling out of the Acorn training model which is currently being implimented in two of the Korogocho villages namely Highridge and Kisumu Dogo. This was also aimed at popularising the Association which is set to carry out major issue based campaings within the area that majorly affects the Korogocho residents at large.
Despite the big challanges in organizing the event that we faced - like lack of finances, another major event was being hosted by the Italian Ambassador taking place just in the neighbouring village and opposition from some of the influencial gate keepers of the area , the event was a big succsess in that more than 300 people attended the ceremony. Among the key persons who atteded included the Acorn Chief organizer Mr. Wade, local Adinistration ie ( Area Chief and her two Assistants) and fourteen other representatives from different organization working within and outside Korogocho.
These Included The Organizations
1. Acorn International (Wade Rathke)
2. Umande Trust (Fancis Kinyeti)
3. Alternative to violence Project -K (Hannington Muchere)
4. Blue Cross (Jeniffer Otindo)
5. Kenya Network of Women living with Aids KENWA (Gladyce Gyambura)
6. MAKWAK (Agry miheso)
7. Child Peace Africa (Charlse Maina)
8. Amani Pamoja Korogocho (Paster Shango)
9. Koch F.M (Shem Shanzu)
10. Kasarani Youth Representative (Khadija)
11. CASCBI (Christine Nthegah)
12.Miss Koch (Asha abdi)
13. Right and Hope for the Disabled (Ann Njeri)
14. The City Council of Nairobi- Korogocho Ward (Mr.Maneno)
The event was graced by the Chief organizer of Acorn International who had come for a Five days visit to Kenya.
The program kicked off at around 11.00 am with a word of prayer from Pastor Bosire which was follwed by introductions and latter speeches from representatives of various organizations.
To the majority of those who addressed ACORN members, it was a great praise to the work of organizing being carried out in Korocho. They also expressed their deepest desire to work together with Acorn as an Association in supprot to win the campaigns that will be organized.
To mention just a few, the representative from AVP-CAPI programme promised their solideraity by promissing to support the Korogocho community people with Peace and Reconciliation training programmes in conjuction with Acorn -Kenya.
The Youth representative promised to mobilize the youths in the whole Divission to rally behind the campaigns that will be organized.
Koch FM gave the Acorn community members a three hour publicity in the community radio once every week to sensitize the community about the organization and the activities that they are undertaking in Korogocho.
The area Chief was very impressed by the whole programme and urged the community to embrace the model in great numbers so that they can be able to change the face of Korogocho.
Speeking about the Kenyan programme the Chief Organizer Mr. Wade informed all those present that Change is always with the people. He challeged the community people of Korogocho to choose between positive Change or negative change for their life. He informed them that a positive altitude of people brings about positive change and positive perseption of the issues, something that will make them come out in great numbers to challage those in power and control of bringing about the change through massive campaigns.
He also emphasized that change has to start with an individual to be able to convince the others to join up the hands in demand of what is rightifully theirs. Its only through this way that the effect of Acorn will be felt in the neighbourhoods, entire community and even to the other neighbouring informal settlements within Nairobi.
The event was crowned with a tree planting ceremony within the Chief's camp compound, something that made the whole event very colourful and significant of the day.
Seven trees were planted that day by different representatives from different organizitions who were present in the occassion.
The whole event ended very peacefully at around 3.00pm
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Kenya ACORN launched in 2009 and is working organizing low income Kenyan's around issues of basic health and quality of life issues. Below are some pictures of their early work:
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This article was taken from Wade Rathke's Chief Organizer Blog and is dated 3/1/10
Kenya Campaigns Coming
Kenya Campaigns Coming
Johannesburg Sitting here with a day to kill in the Joberg airport and ruing having just spent 75 rand for a special South African adapter so I can make it through and finding the young clerk at the “Electronics Megastore” joining me in commiseration that there was no free wireless anywhere in the airport, it was more pleasant to think about the fruitful and hurried last day in Nairobi.
We started slowly with another fast moving series of matatu rides which amazingly got us to Trinity Catholic Church right outside of Korogocho in record time of hardly a half-hour. It’s impossible not to like Father John. He seems young, but is probably 40, and wearing a white Kenya soccer jersey, there would have been no way to ID him as a priest, if we were not in the rectory meeting with him in a side room. He was a kindred spirit in the “cultural” wars of overturning the NGO and donor dependency that created false consensus in meetings where local people now thought they simply were supposed to ask that something be done and learn to accept whatever the NGOs offered. Unions are so unknown to poor people in Nairobi that it was easier to talk about the comparisons between the Church as a gather of believers and our community organization as similar with dues instead of a collection plate. Father John agreed that we could work out of his school when needed and would always be welcome to a desk, and we walked out feeling we had a true friend here for our work in Korogocho.
Much of the rest of the day was spent in housekeeping around the sundry administrative details we needed to move the work forward from our registration to simple bookkeeping to work on the internet, websites, Facebook, and even a fundraising program for the organizers to move forward around Citizen Wealth. All good stuff, but the heart and soul of the afternoon was doing campaign planning for the next steps we needed to take to develop action and progress on the “slum upgrading” commitment on housing, forcing the promised hospital to be built, and moving on education both to deliver “bursary scholarships” as they are called and see if we could develop a plan to force the building of a public, primary school in the slum. It’s a pleasure to be able to sit down for 6-7 hours with organizers and come out of it with a full list of things to be done and, importantly, a feeling that tasks are clear and problems are being solved. We have a good, talented, raw team in Kenya, so now we have to ensure that they succeed.
I managed to top off the day at dinner with old comrade, Rick Hall, from the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center. We celebrated the fact that having gotten me to ferry Jameson’s to him a year ago, he had converted me in that direction. He had exciting plans that also found me a quick volunteer to build an “organizing institute” in the countries he works with in East Africa. Rwanda for example has no unions and no collective bargaining now and is virtually what Brother Hall called a “US client state” where even commercial institutions are willing to encourage the building of unions (though it may be temporary of course) to help bring stability and restore some measure of strength in civil society. Spending some time helping him there would be worth the climb. Our conversation also reminded me of my blog a year ago about enforcing the new wage and benefit standards for domestic workers. Nothing has changed in a year, but perhaps its high time.
It was nice to be in Kenya doing real work with our organizers, members, and leaders finally after the long trips over several years to pave the way so that we could now see the path forward.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fast forward a month.....now we coincidentally have the US of A pressuring Kenya to push the legalization of abortions. I don't think it's a coincidence that just as ACORN International is getting their claws into the citizens of Kenya that they are now being "educated" on women's health, which in socialist lingo means, you need to abort your baby.
Obama Administration Pressures Kenya to Adopt Constitution Legalizing Abortion
Obama Administration Pressures Kenya to Adopt Constitution Legalizing Abortion
Nairobi, Kenya (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama wasted little time after his election in promoting abortion abroad by overturning the Mexico City Policy and forcing Americans to pay for abortions and abortion promotion in other nations. Now the Obama administration is attempting to get Kenya to legalize abortion.
As LifeNews.com has reported, the African nation of Kenya saw its parliament approved a draft Constitution that would overturn its historic prohibition on abortions.
Although the draft contains language advocating the right to life for unborn children, it contains a section with a health exception that essentially opens the nation to unlimited abortions throughout pregnancy for any reason.
Before the revised constitution can come into force, it must be approved by popular vote -- expected in July.
While pro-life groups have been working directly with local pro-life advocates in Kenya to urge the nation's residents to reject the proposed constitution when it comes up for a vote, the Obama administration is working for its adoption.
US Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger is calling on Kenya's political leaders to rally the people to pass the referendum.
According to the Capital News service, Ranneberger issued a statement praising the Kenya parliament for passing the proposed constitution and urging President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to rally support for it.
“The leaders of the coalition government have sent a clear and positive message to the Kenyan people that the implementation of a new Constitution is critical to achieving political reform,” the Obama administration official said.
“We urge the leaders of the coalition government, civil society, and religious leaders to maintain positive momentum as Kenya moves towards a national referendum on the draft Constitution,” he added. “Unity in support of the draft will bring the Kenyan people together and establish a framework which will greatly improve prospects for democratic stability and shared prosperity for all Kenyans.”
Ranneberger also responded to the pro-abortion concerns international and local pro-life advocates have brought up -- suggesting the people of Kenya accept the constitution regardless.
“No political process and no constitution is perfect – including those of the United States – but the proposed Constitution contains checks and balances which will ensure greater accountability and adherence to the rule of law.”
“The new Constitution will, therefore, secure and protect the interests of all communities and regions of the country,” he said.
Ranneberger also suggested the Obama administration would fund a national campaign to persuade the people to adopt the document.
Meanwhile, Joseph Meaney of Human Life International weighed in on the debate today and said the constitution violates the views of most Kenyans who are pro-life.
"Kenyans are pro-life," he said. "When we see the new articles added to the constitution and approved by parliament under heavy pressure from Western elites, we are seeing an assault on the very heart of the Kenyan people."
"Perhaps the greatest insult is that this attack is happening under the banner of 'improving women's health'. The only ones who believe that killing an unborn child is good for a woman's health are those who will profit from the slaughter, Western powers who are pouring untold millions of dollars into measures to keep Africa's children from being born," he told LifeNews.com.
"This is nothing but population control, an imperialist assault intended to rob Africa of its future by eliminating her children. It is a disgrace," he said.
Meaney called on Kenya's civic and religious leaders to wake up to the urgency of the matter, imploring that they reach out to all Kenyans ahead of the referendum, and lead them in demanding that human life be protected from the point of conception in Kenya's constitution.
A poll conducted March 21–26 by the polling firm Synovate, formerly known as Steadman, shows the citizens of Kenya are overwhelmingly pro-life.
“Thinking about abortion, which of the following is closest to your view?” the firm asked respondents.
Some 69 percent of Kenya residents are against legalizing abortions while just 9 percent support it. Another 16 percent say it doesn't matter while 6 percent said they had no opinion.
Answering the question, “When do you believe human life begins?” 77 percent of Kenyans stated that life begins at conception, while 19 percent stated that human life begins at the time of birth.
Respondents were also asked about their views concerning the new Kenyan Constitution and the question found only 19 percent support it as currently written, while a majority, 52 percent, want Parliament to revise the document before passage.
Scott Fischbach, the director of MMCL Go, an international pro-life outreach, provided the polling results to LifeNews.com.
"Currently, advocates of abortion are using the issue of maternal mortality and illegal abortions to argue for legalization of the procedure. However, the answer to illegal abortions and high maternal mortality rates is very simple: provide hope, opportunity and support for pregnant women by insuring a clean water supply, clean blood supply and adequate health care," he said.
"Kenya is a pro-life country and ought not to head toward an abortion-on-demand policy in its new Constitution," he added.
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Fast forward another month......now there's a congressional probe into Obama's influence and financing of this effort. " Did the Obama administration spend taxpayer dollars illegally promoting the pro-abortion draft constitution that would have Kenya join the ranks of those nations that allow virtually unlimited abortions? That's what three members of Congress want to know, and they are seeking a federal investigation to find out."
Congressional Probe Sought on Obama Backing Kenya's Pro-Abortion Constitution
Congressional Probe Sought on Obama Backing Kenya's Pro-Abortion Constitution
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 11, 2010Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Did the Obama administration spend taxpayer dollars illegally promoting the pro-abortion draft constitution that would have Kenya join the ranks of those nations that allow virtually unlimited abortions? That's what three members of Congress want to know, and they are seeking a federal investigation to find out.
As LifeNews.com reported, US Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger called last month on the African nation's political leaders to rally the people to pass the referendum.
Ranneberger issued a statement praising the Kenya parliament for passing the proposed constitution and urging President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to rally support for it.
He also suggested the Obama administration would fund a national campaign to persuade the people to adopt the document.
In a letter to Inspectors General of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Reps. Chris Smith of New Jersey, Darrell Issa of California and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida outline their concerns.
“Kenya’s new proposed constitution, which will be subject to a public referendum in August 2010, includes two articles that, if adopted, would enshrine a new constitutional right to abortion in Kenya and dramatically change Kenya’s abortion law," they write.
The lawmakers wrote, “The Obama Administration’s advocacy in support of Kenya’s proposed constitution may constitute a serious violation of the Siljander Amendment and, as such, may be subject to civil and criminal penalties under the Antideficiency Act."
Although the draft contains language advocating the right to life for unborn children, it contains a section with a health exception that essentially opens the nation to unlimited abortions throughout pregnancy for any reason.
Before the revised constitution can come into force, it must be approved by popular vote -- expected in July or August.
“Kenya’s current constitution includes no reference to abortion and abortion is not legally permitted in Kenya except to save the life of the mother," the pro-life Republican lawmakers said.
They added that “any expression of support for or opposition to the proposed new constitution (including by drafting, offering technical advice or providing foreign assistance of any kind that is designed to influence public approval in the upcoming plebiscite) unavoidably involves lobbying for or against abortion."
In the letter, provided by Smith's office to LifeNews.com, they said, "This concern is particularly salient given the prominence of the abortion issue in the public debate over the referendum. In fact, the chairman of Kenya’s Committee of Experts on Constitutional Review (the “Committee of Experts”) has identified abortion as one of the four most contentious issues in the proposed constitution.”
Smith also pointed out, “the State Department has pledged to spend $2 million to build support for the proposed constitution. Abortion is violence against children and exploits women.”
Lobbying for or against abortion is prohibited under a provision of federal law known as the Siljander Amendment annually included in the State, Foreign Operations Appropriations Act.
The amendment reads, “None of the funds made available under this Act may be used to lobby for or against abortion,” and violations are subject to civil and criminal penalties under the Antideficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1341.
Smith, the leading Republican on the House Africa and Global Health Subcommittee, was joined by Ros-Lehtinen, the Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee. All three Members of Congress have broad legal oversight jurisdiction concerning Federal international funds.
The letter went to Gene L. Dodaro, Acting Comptroller General of the U.S. Government Accountability Office; Harold W. Geisel, Acting Inspector General, U.S. Department of State, Office of Inspector General, and to; Donald A. Gambatesa, Inspector General of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
