Nurturing development: Examples

Micah Lokoropee in his classroom Photo: Yang’at/CWS

A young life transformed in northern Uganda

Micah Lokoropee is from Ngongosowon, in northern Uganda. He is 9 years old, third born in his family. His father, Nalukia, is 70 years old, a prominent and respected old man in the village. Micah is also blind.

In Pokot culture, in the case of a blind or a lame child, is believed that the mother did not observe some taboos during pregnancy. And such a child is often considered a curse to the family, fit to be killed as a sacrifice to appease the gods.

At home Micah had no clothes to wear, nor bathing soap, and during raids he was often left behind when people run away for safety or leave in search of water. (Villages are sometimes raided as neighboring peoples search for water.) The other children were given preference when it comes to clothing and food after all the others said, “He cannot see!” Read more »

	One man's village In a remote area of Bosnia, in the municipality of Bosansko Grahovo, the village of Donje Peulje is set in a picturesque landscape composed of rustic mountains, green fields of grass, and clusters of indigenous trees. However, the beauty of the quaint country landscape is juxtaposed against the devastation of this war torn village.
	Build a Village - Europe Region The CWS Europe Office launched a multi-year integrated community development program, entitled Build a Village, in the Municipality of Bosansko Grahovo, Canton 10, Bosnia Herzegovina in January 2007.
	Build a Village - Milk Collection Cooperative The Milk Collection Cooperative is one of the prioritized development projects of the multi-year integrated community development program entitled Build-a-Village, in Bosansko Grahovo Municipality, Canton 10, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
	Food crisis threatens a generation On the road outside a camp for internally displaced people near KouKou in eastern Chad, Sadie Ebet laments the rising cost of food. Ebet and the women’s group she leads are running a vegetable garden that provides fresh produce to camp residents.
	Grand plan for Gran Chaco The indigenous peoples of the Gran Chaco region are spread across nearly 400,000 square miles of central South America, spanning parts of three countries: Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay. Longstanding racism, exclusion, and unsustainable development models have deprived them of their economic, social, and cultural rights, including the right to own lands they traditionally inhabited.
	Giving hope to orphans and vulnerable children CWS is working to support the self-empowerment of more than 30,000 orphans and youth in five countries in Africa -- Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique. Dubbed "Giving Hope," this is one part of CWS's Africa Initiative and is made possible with support from the St. Marys United Methodist Church Foundation, of St. Marys, Georgia.
	"School Safe Zones" School Program Church World Service recognizes education as a basic human right and an essential ingredient in breaking the cycle of hunger and poverty. In cooperation with the government of Kenya, CWS initiated a “School Safe Zones” Program to strengthen struggling public schools in that country -- a program that can potentially be replicated broadly across the continent.
	Rebuilding livelihoods in rural Bosnia Gradually, the families of Canton 10 in western Bosnia-Herzegovina are returning to the villages they fled as war erupted around them more than 15 years ago. CWS and its partners are helping returning families put roofs over their heads building homes to replace those destroyed in war. The focus now is also on rebuilding livelihoods.