African aid: Fairport's Kamina Friends

After visit, Kamina Friends decide to help war-torn village thrive:

(November 18, 2007) — When the Rev. Ann Kemper entered the African village of Kamina in 2003, she said it was a spiritual awakening.Villagers were trying to recover from a war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that had left the area impoverished and without a sound economic system.
"It was tremendously eye-opening to all of us," said Kemper, of Covenant United Methodist Church, 1124 Culver Road. "We were the first group (of Americans) to have visited Kamina since the war ended."
Slowly, several small businesses have emerged which Kemper, of Fairport, and others traveling with her from the United States, witnessed upon returning to Kamina in 2005.
A bicycle repair shop was found operating under the shade of a tree. Soap, rice, ground corn and other items were available at a roadside kiosk. A women's sewing cooperative was formed. Problems with roads and other infrastructural issues persist, but commerce is present.
And Kemper, along with the seven other members of Kamina Friends, a Fairport-based nonprofit, have committed to be a financial and business training resource for the village.
Kamina Friends Kemper and Jeff Tyburski, with representatives from other groups, traveled to Kamina in September with a strategy to further bolster the economy. The group hopes to implement an Enterprise Facilitation program developed by the Sirolli Institute, a nonprofit specializing in growing sustainable markets here and abroad.
The model establishes a volunteer board of residents who then train a full-time facilitator to work directly with residents wanting to start businesses.
Kamina Friends would pay the village facilitator's salary for three years until the village could afford to pay it.The Sirolli model has been successful in more than 200 communities, said Tyburski, adding that its effectiveness stems from people taking responsibility for growing their economy from within.
"The philosophy is a very bottom-up, people-centered approach," he said. "We're hoping Kamina is just a pilot study" that will lead to assisting other countries in Africa and other regions.
None of this would have been possible in Kamina, said Kamina Friends members, without the leadership of Bishop Ntambo Nkulu Ntanda, a leader in the United Methodist Church in the Congo; his wife Mama Nshimba; and Kamina's residents. They said the 2006 democratic elections in the Congo further underscored the socio-political changes in the region.
Kamina Friends will hold a community event at 7 p.m. Nov. 29 at Fairport United Methodist Church, 31 W. Church St., Fairport, to educate and train those interested in helping with this project.Special guest Ernesto Sirolli will discuss the Sirolli Institute, and representatives from Kamina are expected to participate as well.
Talks have begun with USAID, the United Methodist Committee on Relief and other groups to secure more resources for Kamina, and address its health care and infrastructural needs. "These relationships are real," Tyburski said."There's no walking away from this."NLEE@DemocratandChronicle.com