• Swahili Imports

Swahili Imports
Swahili Imports has partnered with a local organization in Kenya, the Makindu Children's Project, which struggles against the odds to create an oasis of peace and growth for its children and staff. Claiming self-sufficiency as their main goal, the workers and children have carved a productive shamba (farm) from the dry ground while becoming a mainstay of progress and disease prevention in the community.

Swahili Imports, in addition to donating a percentage of its profits to the center, provides volunteers, trains villagers for craft exportation, reserves container space for their finished products and increases exposure for the center through regular updates in its newsletter. In the Spring of 2003, running water finally reached the village and the center, removing the need to travel for two hours to the nearest well. This has improved the children's hygiene, while improving the basic living conditions of the people.

Makindu also responds to the AIDS crisis by providing information on preventative measures as well as counseling on dealing with this ever-present reality. Baba Juma, a high school student and member of Makindu, recently wrote, "I would like to be a lawyer when I am finished with my education. I have been dreaming of this career for a couple of years, it was only that I had no one to describe my dream to. I am really joyful as I have seen hopes of my dreams coming true." Demonstrating the accountability the staff works to instill in the children, he went on to state, "I will study hard to achieve the appropriate goals for one to be a lawyer. I promise never to relax. I shall study all laws of Kenya and help those who are in need of their rights, especially orphans."

The children know there is much to be attained. High school senior Mathias Kimeu Maweu wrote, "I would like to be a doctor. This was brought about by seeing people suffer from malaria, typhoid, cancer and other diseases which are seen very often here. I really made up my mind and said that this world should have a lot of hospitals which are not very far away from people's residences so that a person can be easily rushed there when sick."

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