(MCC Photo/Silas Crews) Konbati Ngada threads a needle as she works with other participants in an income generation program of MCC partner CEVIFA (Centre D’Education A La Vie Famille or Family Life Education Center) in N’Djamena, Chad. “It gave me the means to buy things to eat and pay my rent and also to buy clothing,” Ngada says of skills she learned. The center helps improve quality of life for women and children through work in HIV and AIDS, health, income generation and orphan education.
(MCC Photo/Silas Crews) CEVIFA, which strives to help meet people's spiritual as well as physical needs, not only welcomes people into its space, providing classes, medical consultations and other assistance. Staff members such as administrator Boling Bangre also are on the lookout in the neighborhood for those in need of the center’s services, particularly people who are ill or living with HIV, and orphaned children.
(MCC Photo/Silas Crews) CEVIFA offers classes onsite for orphans and provides school fees and food assistance for orphans enrolled in community schools. At the center, teacher Lelyo Jean works with students (from l-r) DJimtebeye Betoloum, Allarangui Boyketti and Adolphe Breach. In addition to other support, orphans who are part of CEVIFA’s program are measured and weighed at the beginning and end of each year to make sure they are growing well.
(MCC Photo/Silas Crews) In this office, Dingamyo Ngarkounda, a medical counselor for CEVIFA, tests hundreds of people each year for HIV, works with people living with HIV, provides basic medical checkups and treats common ailments such as malaria. This particularly helps fill a gap for patients who don’t have family support because of stigma against those living with HIV. “Because their families won’t help them, they come here,” he says.
(MCC Photo/Silas Crews) In this office, Dingamyo Ngarkounda, a medical counselor for CEVIFA, tests hundreds of people each year for HIV, works with people living with HIV, provides basic medical checkups and treats common ailments such as malaria. This particularly helps fill a gap for patients who don’t have family support because of stigma against those living with HIV. “Because their families won’t help them, they come here,” he says.
(MCC Photo/Silas Crews) In addition to financial support for CEVIFA, MCC also has provided hygiene kits, dried vegetable soup mix, canned meat, sewing kits and other items. The meat and soup mix offer valuable nutrients, especially for patients living with HIV or other illnesses. Hygiene kits help underscore the lessons of the center’s health education classes. With support from MCC, "we're seeing a lot of impact in our work," says administrator Boling Bangre, left, shown with Mahamat Bakit.
(MCC Photo/Silas Crews) As CEVIFA’s education coordinator, Nodia Almane, center, leads women in discussions about how to implement good health and hygiene practices, even in the midst of challenging environments and obstacles such as living with HIV. “It’s comprehensive,” Almane says, explaining that her work with the women touches on physical, mental and spiritual health.
(MCC Photo/Silas Crews) At CEVIFA, soap making and other training in income generation offer Benita Guermadjim, a widow raising eight children, and other women new ways to support themselves and their families. Instead of waiting for someone else to help, "we can just take charge of our own lives," says Guermadjim, who now sells soap at various community and church events, using the money to buy medicines and food for herself and her children.
(MCC Photo/Silas Crews) Many in CEVIFA's income generation programs, including Nendjedjimdaye Celdia, stirring soap, and Koumageng Tabeye, are living with HIV. In addition to trainings in making and selling soap and sewing, CEVIFA also offers small loans. "For people that have the strength to walk through the markets and do small businesses, we give them the money to start and before giving them the money, we give them training,” says Memadji Tolkoi, who oversees CEVIFA's income generation work.
(MCC Photo/Silas Crews) Sewing is another focus for income generation. Women such as Nendjedjimdaye Celdia and Ilbaiamnodji Victorine hone their skills by making baby clothes to be donated to a local hospital. "Just as we have received, we are going to give to others," says Memadji Tolkoi, who coordinates the income generation programs for CEVIFA. Once women learn to sew, they can use these skills to earn income or to make items for their own family.
(MCC Photo/Silas Crews) MCC sewing kits give participants in the sewing classes a good start, says Memadji Tolkoi, who coordinates the income generation programs for CEVIFA. “Everything that’s necessary is in the kit. There’s thread. There are needles. There’s a thimble," she says.
(MCC Photo/Silas Crews) CEVIFA remains committed to women far beyond the course of a training. After going through the sewing classes, for instance, participants will regularly return to CEVIFA to practice their skills or ask questions. "They take their work home with them, then they come back here to receive more guidance," says CEVIFA administrator Boling Bangre. Many return for medical checkups. Encouraged by staff, they share their experiences with each other and pray together.
