Some of us may wish that we would have put a whole lot of money in Google stock when they first went public last year, or taken a ride on the Apple wave over the last 16 months.   But, the hot investment tip that I have discovered, and would like to share with you, actually pays much better dividends then either Google or Apple.  In my work as a photographer and video producer for ADRA, I have seen it work many times over the last 16 years.  Make a small investment in people and watch it change their lives!  Watch them become self reliant, confident, and productive. Watch them break free from a life of hopelessness, apathy and despondency. 

One of the reasons why people are trapped in extreme poverty is because they simply have not had the opportunities, education, or training that they need to break free.  Trapped in a deep pit of poverty, they need a little boost to get them to the first step on the stairway of self-reliance.  Once on that first step, it is amazing to see how fast people are able to ascend!    

ADRA is all about giving people this first boost out of the pit.  Some call it “empowerment”, some call it “capacity building”, but it simply means making a small investment in people—investments of time, information, skills, tools, expertise, and capitol. It involves finding people where they are, assessing their situation, evaluating their capabilities, discussing viable solutions, planning a strategy,  and working together with people and communities to bring about changes through creating opportunities and strengthening personal abilities. 

The ADRA team here in São Tomé (for those wondering what to do with the accents, São Tomé is pronounced like this:  São rhymes with “now” and Tomé  is like “toe” and “may”) is doing all it can to build capacity and make investments in people.  Often the first step is to find communities and villages where people are hungry for change, where people are looking up at that “stairway”, wishing that they could be on it. 

Visiting villages, talking with village leaders,  doing surveys with the women of that community, ADRA was able to identify about 50 communities where they could make some good investments.  The program from ADRA Canada was primarily designed to strengthen agricultural abilities.  If you can teach small farmers how they can double or triple the yields from their small plots of land, if you can introduce fruit trees or other income generating crops that can grow along with or even compliment the vegetable gardens, you can easily get people on to that first step of the “stairway”.

Women’s associations are established in each community.  These Community Based Organizations or “CBOs”, create an environment of co-operation, encouragement and strength.  It also gives ADRA a forum to easily and efficiently teach other things important to escaping poverty.  Health education, HIV/AIDS awareness, sanitation issues, malaria prevention, women’s rights, and income generating opportunities can all be easily integrated into the instruction.

Yesterday I had the privilege of visiting the community of Salidade, a small village of about fifty families, clinging to life on the steep mountain slopes of an ancient volcano.  In Portuguese, Salidade has a meaning of sadness and nostalgic melancholy.  While this may have one been an appropriate name for the village in years past, I saw a lot of smiles and a keen sense of hope and confidence in the future during my visit.  We met in a small community center that ADRA had built for the women’s association.  Most of the time it is used as a kindergarten for the very young of the village, but when the ADRA team stops by it is quickly transformed into a center for adult education. Today the people were learning agricultural techniques from an ADRA  technician using a manual that had been prepared by the ADRA office.  For an hour they sat, drinking in the information before it was opened up for question and answer.  Then to close up the session, new tools were distributed to the group, and we were off for more instruction out in the fields.  

After saying our farewells,  we made our way back to town, but not before stopping at a coffee plantation where ADRA had established two other women’s associations with the plantation workers.  As I filmed the income generating program that ADRA had helped establish in these communities, the women broke out in spontaneous dancing and singing as a way to show their appreciation for all that ADRA had done for their communities. 

Once again it was evident that a small investment had paid huge dividends in the lives of people, not only in the security of the people who had been helped but in the hearts of those who had made the investment.  Here in São Tomé  many families in fifty communities have been boosted out of the pit and are on those first few steps of freedom!