In the 1980s, the men who left began returning home, infected with HIV/AIDS and gravely ill or in coffins.  The village women took care of the ill, a blessing and unbearable burden.  And still, they supported each other, viewing their mutual support as a bank account.  If a woman helped her neighbor today, that neighbor would, hopefully, be there to help her tomorrow.  These community networks are still harambe or holding the place together.  Today, the women’s “merry go round” helps villagers who are dying from HIV/AIDS.  They do this by fetching fire wood for cooking, obtaining water, and taking care of kids – all essential to enabling someone to die in dignity. 

Returning to Rabour after five years in the United States, I found my mom taking care of 25 village orphans.  When I asked her why she took this on, she said: “My child, they aren’t goats.  They need to be fed or they’ll die.”  In response, I her and her friends formalize the “merry go round” network into Rabour Women’s Group, which applied for and received a Pangea grant in 2005.

The project that Pangea funded in Rabour was one that the women chose--to raise goats and grow sunflowers.  Why goats and sunflowers at the same time? The women wanted a means of supporting both orphans and young heads of households.  They also realized that HIV/AIDS wasn’t going away and they needed sustainable solutions.  The Pangea project has had many direct benefits.  Goats thrive on sunflower leaves; children benefit from goat milk and meat; sunflower stalks make good compost for soil; sunflower husks are good feed for chickens; sunflower oil can also be used to feed kids; the press used on sunflower seeds can be used with other seeds and nuts.  These benefits are both sustainable and holistic.  The project has given Rabour its first cash crop. 

The Pangea project has also had many indirect benefits.  Pangea’s confidence in Rabour attracted additional funding to support a beekeeping project, which has involved village youth and provided an opportunity to promote HIV/AIDS awareness.  Similarly, it attracted funding for a brick making project that provided work for Rabour’s men.  The next step is to fund a means of transportation that will enable sales of produce and bricks to a broader geographic region.  Pangea’s modest funding actually allowed the project to reach beyond Rabour, to six adjacent villages. It’s given women the confidence and management skills to make further progress in supporting their villages.