Club Hope Overthrows Moses Fund Office in Gisenyi
Dec. 4, 2005
Club Hope Overthrows Moses Fund Office in Gisenyi
GISENYI, Rwanda—After a two-year partnership with the Moses Fund, Club Hope—a community group in Gisenyi, Rwanda—launched a coup against the California-based nonprofit, leaving the Moses Fund Rwandan delegate Madodu Aly without an office or the resources to continue with the mission of educating African children about AIDS prevention and providing a safe place for them to learn how to improve the quality of their lives.
The conflict centered on money. The Club Hope members were outraged because Aly received a salary from the Costa Mesa, Calif. office whereas the club members did not.
"The Moses Fund was not created to give money," said Judy Knight, executive director and co-founder of the Moses Fund, in a Dec. 6 e-mail to Club Hope leader Hassan Gatete. "It was created to help children.”
Knight explained Madodu worked for Kiro many years ago and, at that time, they established a trust between them. “That is why we trusted Madodu to give him a salary to do something in Gisenyi to help children."
Aly started Club Hope in 2004. The intent was for it to be a volunteer organization that would support the goals of the Moses Fund.
On their trip to Gisenyi in June 2004, Knight and Bigira KiroKiro (Kiro), two of the Moses Fund co-founders, gave Club Hope $600. Knight said they did not tell the club how to spend the money but gave it to them to “work on the agreed goals of helping children and fighting HIV. Since the club members were familiar with the problems locally, we provided no instructions on how to spend the money.”
After returning to the states, Knight and Kiro learned the club members, including Aly, used the funds to rent a club location and buy a pool table, which they thought would attract people to the location.
While the space turned out to be a safe place for the children to go, the club incurred additional expenses that Knight and Kiro didn’t anticipate paying. Prior to renting the club location, Aly worked out of his home so paying rent wasn’t necessary.
Knight and Kiro now believe giving this money to Club Hope set a poor precedent. But they do not blame Club Hope for this lack of communication. “That isn't your fault," Knight said to Gatete in her Dec. 6 e-mail. "It is ours."
The catalyst happened in September 2005, when Knight and Kiro sent $1,000 to Aly to purchase a mill. The mill would allow the club to grind cassava, corn, beans and other produce for a small fee. The club could then use whatever funds they made to be self-sustaining, thereby eliminating the need to send money each month from the U.S.
Some members encouraged Aly to use the mill money to share with the other club members, which Aly did not. At that point, the other Club Hope members became outraged and launched the coup.
Knight told Gatete he seemed to have unrealistic expectations of how much money the Moses Fund has to spend. "We are in America, thousands of miles from where you are,” Knight said. “Our lives our different. ... But the amount of money we have is not, I think, what you think we have."
To date, Gatete has not responded to Knight's e-mail. In his last interaction with Aly, Gatete said Club Hope intended to use the former Moses Fund office for its own efforts and is looking to partner with UNICEF.
The entire incident has been deeply disconcerting for Aly. He encouraged close friends to join the organization and passionately lobbied for community support.
Aly spent his days making the location available to the children. They were elated to have a place to go after school and during vacations to play games, learn about HIV prevention and organize plays about HIV that community members went to see. Over time, children who didn’t go to school found the location and spent a lot of time there.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Aly still has the mill but is unsure whether it is still a practical tool given all that’s happened and the fact extra money will be needed to tear it down and reassemble it come time for him to move.
Not to mention, the demand for a community mill is not as great as originally anticipated. The Moses Fund is looking at where there might be a stronger need for this service and it hopes it will be in Kigali.
Knight, Kiro and Aly are currently talking about Aly moving his wife and three children to the Rwandan capital. There he can continue his work with the children. It's a several-hour drive along mountain roads from Gisenyi. However, because Kigali is more urban and populated than the rural Gisenyi, Aly would have access to more resources to support his work with children.
Copyright 2005, The Moses Fund
Club Hope Overthrows Moses Fund Office in Gisenyi
GISENYI, Rwanda—After a two-year partnership with the Moses Fund, Club Hope—a community group in Gisenyi, Rwanda—launched a coup against the California-based nonprofit, leaving the Moses Fund Rwandan delegate Madodu Aly without an office or the resources to continue with the mission of educating African children about AIDS prevention and providing a safe place for them to learn how to improve the quality of their lives.
The conflict centered on money. The Club Hope members were outraged because Aly received a salary from the Costa Mesa, Calif. office whereas the club members did not.
"The Moses Fund was not created to give money," said Judy Knight, executive director and co-founder of the Moses Fund, in a Dec. 6 e-mail to Club Hope leader Hassan Gatete. "It was created to help children.”
Knight explained Madodu worked for Kiro many years ago and, at that time, they established a trust between them. “That is why we trusted Madodu to give him a salary to do something in Gisenyi to help children."
Aly started Club Hope in 2004. The intent was for it to be a volunteer organization that would support the goals of the Moses Fund.
On their trip to Gisenyi in June 2004, Knight and Bigira KiroKiro (Kiro), two of the Moses Fund co-founders, gave Club Hope $600. Knight said they did not tell the club how to spend the money but gave it to them to “work on the agreed goals of helping children and fighting HIV. Since the club members were familiar with the problems locally, we provided no instructions on how to spend the money.”
After returning to the states, Knight and Kiro learned the club members, including Aly, used the funds to rent a club location and buy a pool table, which they thought would attract people to the location.
While the space turned out to be a safe place for the children to go, the club incurred additional expenses that Knight and Kiro didn’t anticipate paying. Prior to renting the club location, Aly worked out of his home so paying rent wasn’t necessary.
Knight and Kiro now believe giving this money to Club Hope set a poor precedent. But they do not blame Club Hope for this lack of communication. “That isn't your fault," Knight said to Gatete in her Dec. 6 e-mail. "It is ours."
The catalyst happened in September 2005, when Knight and Kiro sent $1,000 to Aly to purchase a mill. The mill would allow the club to grind cassava, corn, beans and other produce for a small fee. The club could then use whatever funds they made to be self-sustaining, thereby eliminating the need to send money each month from the U.S.
Some members encouraged Aly to use the mill money to share with the other club members, which Aly did not. At that point, the other Club Hope members became outraged and launched the coup.
Knight told Gatete he seemed to have unrealistic expectations of how much money the Moses Fund has to spend. "We are in America, thousands of miles from where you are,” Knight said. “Our lives our different. ... But the amount of money we have is not, I think, what you think we have."
To date, Gatete has not responded to Knight's e-mail. In his last interaction with Aly, Gatete said Club Hope intended to use the former Moses Fund office for its own efforts and is looking to partner with UNICEF.
The entire incident has been deeply disconcerting for Aly. He encouraged close friends to join the organization and passionately lobbied for community support.
Aly spent his days making the location available to the children. They were elated to have a place to go after school and during vacations to play games, learn about HIV prevention and organize plays about HIV that community members went to see. Over time, children who didn’t go to school found the location and spent a lot of time there.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Aly still has the mill but is unsure whether it is still a practical tool given all that’s happened and the fact extra money will be needed to tear it down and reassemble it come time for him to move.
Not to mention, the demand for a community mill is not as great as originally anticipated. The Moses Fund is looking at where there might be a stronger need for this service and it hopes it will be in Kigali.
Knight, Kiro and Aly are currently talking about Aly moving his wife and three children to the Rwandan capital. There he can continue his work with the children. It's a several-hour drive along mountain roads from Gisenyi. However, because Kigali is more urban and populated than the rural Gisenyi, Aly would have access to more resources to support his work with children.
Copyright 2005, The Moses Fund
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