CHABHA works with African community based organizations that provide children with basic support. The mission is to enable every child the opportunity to live a full life. In David’s words, “the goal is to improve the health and well-being of children orphaned by AIDS, and build the capacity and leadership of the community based organizations.”CHABHA with an operating budget of less than $200,000 supports four community based organizations: three in Rwanda and one in Burundi that serve child-headed households and/or children living with foster parents. Children orphaned by AIDS and/or genocide need the assistance offered by these grassroots organizations, which with the help of CHABHA, comes in the form of funds for: school costs, health insurance, home visits by leaders, microfinance loans, agricultural/animal husbandry projects, life skills workshops including HIV prevention, weekly supportive gatherings and community service. CHABHA also runs Project Independence, which is a vocational training program in Rwanda with the intent of enabling youths to support themselves and their families. Talk about teaching a man to fish! For PIH supporters, CHABHA’s focus on beyond direct service will ring true. Now, I’d like to switch gears and focus a bit on David.
David’s road to CHABHA is unconventional. Armed with a Bachelors in Business Administration, David moved to the West Coast where he worked in the for-profit sector for 7 years. He returned to the East Coast to pursue a post-graduate degree in Education, but for practical reasons decided to forgo its completion, joining a headhunting company where he went on to work for about 7 years. It was at the tail end of his headhunting career that he felt the need to do something more, and while speaking with friends he learned of CHABHA. He spoke with the then ED and founder, Susanna Grannis about ways to get involved and found himself on a year long trip to sub-Saharan Africa that began in 2008. Upon his return, Susanna asked David to consider becoming the ED, which formalized in April 2010.
During our chat, David’s humility and genuine warmth for the children supported by CHABHA was evident. In fact, he was full of stories and it was incredibly difficult to get him to speak about himself! It was heart-warming to hear him say, “I am one of the lucky one’s to do what I do and witness the humanity that is happening with the people I work with.”
CHABHA currently does not work with PIH, as transportation is an issue, but David is fully in awe of both PIH and the man who is the unequivocal face of PIH. Of Dr. Paul Farmer, he said, “What I have learned from visiting PIH clinics in Rwanda and reading about the formation and mission is the importance Dr. Farmer places on immersing yourself in the culture and to learn by listening. Few people are real like that.” Being a Paul Farmer groupie, I can hardly disagree!
I asked David about his vision for the future. He said, “My wish is for CHABHA to grow and create capacity, create industry that allows for the four community based organizations to become self-sustaining. We also want to expand our work across sub-Saharan Africa.” I followed this question by asking him what you ( i.e. our readers) can do to help shape this vision into a reality. His response has opened up a range of possibilities. CHABHA will readily accept your help with any of the following: writing grants and proposals, monitoring and evaluation, assistance with social media, etc. David also invites you to propose evidence-based projects that serve a specific need.
As a young professional in public health, I felt comfort in the knowledge that there is no ‘fixed’ equation for getting to stage ‘x’ in life. It inspired me to ask David, what he’d like to share with all of you. He said, “If you have a passion for something, go for it. We need good people to do this sort of work. People have to have compassion and the belief that you do make a difference. Know that you can help!”
And on that note, if you’d like to help CHABHA, please contact David at david@chabha.org. It will be a rare treat to not just learn about the organization but also to meet a real human being sharing stories of the talented youth being supported by CHABHA.
Thank you for reading. Please visit our blog on August 5th to read Jess Cording‘s post about PIH’s advocacy efforts for the upcoming UN High Level Meeting (HLM) on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
