As of 2009, more 15 citizen exchange groups have traveled to Esabalu from Amesbury. They stay in homes in the village and make new friends.   They are shown on-going projects such as zero-grazed cattle for milk,  market gardens for cash crop development, village health workers in the new clinic, and  piped drinking water from deep boreholes. The Amesbury visitors bring back ideas for new projects and then help find resources to support  new projects.

By all accounts the Amesbury-Esabalu sister city relationship has been a great success. There are several reasons for this: excellent networking by Amesbury for Africa and the Esabalu Self Help Group with other organizations, flexibility in dealing with problems, and the basic philosophy of empowering the people in Esabalu, rather than making them dependant on aid.

back to top

In 1990, for example, Tom Amakoye of the ESHG, submitted a proposal to Technoserve, Inc. in Nairobi. This proposal asked Heifer Project International, a U.S.-based NGO, to provide 15 pregnant heifers (cows) and equipment for maintenance. In another project, the ESHG Health Group, assisted by Amesbury for Africa with travel costs, successfully networked with a local NGO called Christian Health Association of Kenya (CHAK).  Twelve women from Esabalu received training as community based health workers and a health survey of the village was carried out. The health group now has its own facility. In January 2008 the group opened the Bailey/Whaley Health Center. 

back to top

Flexibility in dealing with problems
Amesbury for Africa has also shown flexibility in dealing with problems that have come up in certain areas.  Take agriculture as an example.

The original idea for the program was that of a farm credit loan program in which each farmer would pay back the cost of his inputs by selling some of the extra maize generated by increased productivity. It seems, however, that there was a strong cultural bias among the villagers against using maize as a cash crop. In the eyes of the villagers, maize is food for the family and is a hedge against famine – not a commodity for sale. Also, the small size of the farm plots and the unpredictability of harvest made the original plan untenable.

In response to these problems, more "sustainable" agricultural efforts were needed.  Two farmers from Kenya came to Amesbury for a summer to learn low external input organic agriculture.  Zero grazed heifers were introduced with Heifer International as a partner. Milk and organic vegetables are valuable 'cash crops' that can be sold for income in the market. The manure from zero-grazed animals can fertilize the soil and increase vegetable yields creating a 'win-win' situation for farmers who do both.

back to top

Educational and media outreach
THrough Amesbury for Africa's media and educational outreach efforts, including articles in the local newspaper, talk to community groups and students, movie and African dinner nights, the newsletter and this website, many citizens and students in Amesbury have been educated about life in an African village.

Among many articles in the local Amesbury papers about Esabalu and Amesbury for Africa and its volunteers, was a report about an elementary school teacher in Amesbury who shared many cultural artifacts and slides that she brought back from Esabalu with her fourth-graders. Meanwhile, 300 children from the primary school in Esabalu traveled to a college in the area to see a slide show about Amesbury.

back to top

Empowering people: Long-term thinking
Perhaps the most important factor in the success of the Amesbury-Esabalu sister city relationship has been that Amesbury for Africa and the Esabalu Self-Help Group have had a genuine partnership that has focused on the long-term goal of helping the people of Esabalu become self-sufficient in their basic needs.

The word is "empowering" people, rather than making them dependant on aid. The Esabalu Health Group, for example,  has been providing most of the ideas and energy to make health care services available to the people of Esabalu. Two nurses visiting from Amesbury reported how the villagers are fully invested in the project: the Health Group decided how to reduce building costs by using volunteer labor and how to finance the clinic in the short and long term by having community groups and individual users pay their fair share, even though the concept of paying for such services is relatively new to them. They even factored in the eventual need for cost of living increases in the salary of the health care worker who will serve them.

Amesbury for Africa and the NGOs that it has worked with have required something in return from the villagers, rather than just bestowing charity. Farmers that received a gift of a heifer (cow) are required to give the first female offspring to another unrelated villager. In this way, dairy animals can eventually be disseminated to all local farmers with sufficient land resources to support dairy cows. Similarly, village women bank their meager savings in a WORTH women's group which then gives out "micro-loans" to the members of the group to improve family income. All the capital is raised by the women themselves, avoiding dependence on outside dollars. back to top