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The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) is a nonsectarian organization that advances human rights and social justice in the United States and around the world.
The UUSC offer two experiential-
AH: Tell us a bit about your journey.
ME-W: I traveled by myself to Nairobi, where I met the other seven group members and our two leaders. During the next twelve days we had the opportunity to visit with four of UUSC’s partners. We learned how realities of the informal economy and the violence surrounding the December 2007 elections affect lower-income people, day by day.
Economic rights partner Kenyan National Association of Street Vendors and Informal Traders (KENASVIT) is a national organization with chapters in seven cities. Currently, 60% of Kenya's people are part of the informal economy, thereby lacking basic workplace benefits and protection. Through KENASVIT, people are organizing so that they can have these basic rights. We met with traders – some of who gave up a day’s income and traveled to speak with us. We also lobbied for pending legislation, meeting with mayors, the legislative director assigned to guide the bill through the resolution procedure, and a researcher who has provided supportive information.
The UUSC funds a small business loan program of the Kenasvit chapters and a community organizer. This organizer provided, among other services, peace workshops to assist people to heal from the violence they experienced. These workshops were essential in helping the Kenasvit chapters regroup after the violence.
We also met the Rock Women, another economic justice partner. The Rock Women Group began when teachers working with children living in Nairobi's slums went beyond their daily school duties and started economic justice projects. Today they help train child and teen workers in safe, sustainable trades and provide flexible school schedules for children and youth who are also heads-of-households
After meeting with the Rock Women, Martha added this entry to the JustJourney blog, “It is one thing to read about the work that UUSC does. It's another to come to Kenya and meet UUSC's partners and hear from them about how important their partnership with UUSC is to them. It really brought the reality of the work home to us when we had the opportunity to meet people whose lives have been transformed by the help they were given by the Rock Women's Group. I feel privileged to be here.”
AH: Tell us a bit more about partnering.
ME-W: The partnership model is how the UUSC works, standing with communities as they confront unjust power structures and challenge oppressive policies around race, class, and gender. When UUSC partners, it is not just about money – it is eye-to-eye relationships.
AH: What other partner groups did you visit?
ME-W: The UUSC has four focus areas:
Defending Civil Liberties
Advancing Economic Justice
Promoting Environmental Justice
Protecting Rights in Humanitarian Crises
In addition to the visits relating to economic justice, we visited an Environmental Justice and Rights in Humanitarian Crises project.
As background, the Kenyan national elections of December 2007 were stolen, and many people suffered from violence after this election. More than 600,000 people lost their homes, and many of these people and others lost their livelihoods. As a result of this crisis, UUSC reevaluated and redirected their efforts in Kenya.
We met with a pastor who has done work with women who were displaced during this violence, through Kakamega Grassroots Response. The pastor provided the women with training and resources to set them up with small businesses.
We also met another group called the Hope in Crops, working to save Kenya's
only rain forest. This group plants trees, sells trees at a low price to local people, and teaches people to grow traditional crops. They encourage the planting of indigenous trees and discourage the planting of eucalyptus. I was so impressed with how people recognized the interconnection of trees with the economy and survival of people.
AH: What else did you do?
ME-W: While we were on the trip, we spent most of our time in places where tourists do not get to visit, meeting people working with the UUSC partners. But we also had a chance to do some things that tourists like to do, such as look at animals. I was impressed by work that UUSC does and blown away by the hospitality shown by Kenyan people. We would be meeting with a group of people
who were very poor in material resources, yet they gave us many gifts. They saw us as representing the UUSC who had stepped forward to make things possible for them, and they were eager to share with us. Right now I am looking at a little wooden lion, a hat, and lovely pieces of cloth I received as gifts.
AH: What would you like our congregation to understand?
ME-W: Many people do not realize that the UUSC is an organization separate from the UUA and does not receive money from the UUA. It has
to raise money from people from all over the country. Our congregation supports the UUSC in two ways.
Each year we include in our budget a $1 donation per member. Because we do this, we are recognized as a James Luther Adams Award congregation.
Each year we collect individual and family contributions for the UUSC, visibly represented through the Guest at Your Table program. During the past fiscal year, over 25% of our congregation held membership in the UUSC, earning our congregation the designation, Creating Justice Banner Society. Membership is available at $40/year (General) or $75/year (General dual). Some people are able to help further by making larger contributions. Membership benefits include a subscription to Rights Now: The newsletter of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.
AH: Thank you, Martha!
For more information about the UUSC, visit http://www.uusc.
