Mapendo International

Mapendo International is a non-profit organization that "works to fill the critical and unmet needs of people affected by war and conflict who have fallen through the net of humanitarian assistance." Mapendo is based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and Nairobi, Kenya. They have worked primarily in East Africa and are now expanding their work to include other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Mapendo is a member of Refugee Council USA, a coalition of U.S. non-governmental organizations focused on refugee protection. [http://www.rcusa.org/index.php?page=home]

History

Mapendo was founded in 2003 by Sasha Chanoff and Dr. John Wagacha Burton. While conducting refugee rescue operations with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Sasha became aware of the unseen and therefore unmet needs of the many refugees living in urban settings.

Sasha's encounter with a refugee named Rose Mapendo was the catalyst to the creation of the organization. Sasha first met Rose at an International Red Cross protection center where she and her nine children were living. They had been moved there after sixteen months in captivity. As Tutsis, Rose and her family were casualties of the Second Congo War and experienced imprisonment, malnutrition, executions and attempted rape. At the protection center, the United States government was conducting an evacuation for the ultimate purpose of resettlement to the United States. Rose and her family were not on the list. Though the rescue team that Sasha was involved in was eventually able to include her, to Sasha this was a concrete example of the far larger need to identify and rescue the truly desperate.

Since its inception, Mapendo has engaged in a strategic partnership with the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University, building off of their common goal to engage others in critical thinking about all sides on an issue.

Mapendo continues to evolve and serve the needs of refugees both from their office in Boston, Massachusetts and from their clinic located in Nairobi, Kenya.

In 2006, Mapendo won an Echoing Green Fellowship [http://www.echoinggreen.org/fellows/sasha-chanoff] and was named a Waldzell "Architect of the Future." [http://www.waldzell.org/site?page=189] Mapendo received a Draper Richards Fellowship in 2007. [http://www.draperrichards.org/fellows/mapendo.html]

Projects

Mapendo works in East Africa to identify and assist refugees who are at high-risk for personal harm. Because of the very sensitive nature of Mapendo's work, specific operations concerning those Mapendo is assisting must remain confidential. Broadly, Mapendo's work revolves around the needs of displaced people. They care for immediate needs through their clinic in Nairobi, while searching for more durable solutions.

The ClinicThe medical clinic in Nairobi was created to provide health care to marginalized and impoverished refugee survivors of trauma. Staffed by Kenyan medical professionals, it serves HIV positive people, torture survivors, widows with children, and others at risk who have urgent medical needs and no access to health care.

Rescue and ProtectionMapendo identifies and assists individuals, families and groups of people fleeing war and conflict who need urgent and lifesaving assistance. They work with governments, the United Nations, and other aid agencies to identify durable solutions for people in danger. They are actively assisting refugees across east and central Africa through this initiative.

Awareness ProgramsMapendo seeks to raise awareness and understanding for marginalized refugee communities. To this end, they have undertaken a series of photography and video projects. The information is exhibited and distributed in the United States through collaborations with refugee resettlement agencies and community-based organizations.

Media

The New York Times cited Mapendo's involvement in the effort to resettle survivors of the Gatumba camp massacre. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/nyregion/05refugees.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1%20&ore]

The Skoll Foundation's Social Edge highlighted Sasha Chanoff and Mapendo in a video on their website. [http://www.socialedge.org/blogs/global-x/archive/2007/05/29/sasha-chanoff]

Elle Magazine in France wrote an article on Mapendo's efforts in the April 23rd, 2007 edition. [http://www.elle.fr/elle/societe/les-enquetes/refugiees-en-danger/(gid)/106317/(article)/106318]

Rose Mapendo, Mapendo's Ambassador, was named the 2007 Grand Prize Winner of the "Volvo for Life" Competition. [http://www.volvoforlifeawards.com/cgi-bin/iowa/english/heros/hero2004/10666.html] A short documentary on Rose premiered at the Gala Event which announced Rose as the Grand Prize Winner. [http://www.volvoforlifeawards.com/cgi-bin/iowa/english/video/Rose_Mapendo.html]

Rose Mapendo, Mapendo's Ambassador, spoke at the White House on World Refugee Day, June 20, 2008. Laura Bush introduced her, saying, "Rose Mapendo's husband was executed, and she and her children were imprisoned in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She gave birth to twins while she was in jail, and she struggled to keep them alive. Rose and her children fled the Congo on an emergency evacuation flight in 2000. Today, she's an American citizen and the spokesperson for "Mapendo International," a non-governmental organization that assists refugees." [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/06/20080620-4.html]

Leadership

* Sasha Chanoff, Executive Director
* Amy Slaughter, Director of International Operations
* M'Imunya J. Machoki, Kenyan Board
* Anne Marie Burgoyne, Portfolio Director, The Draper Richards Foundation
* Richard Wayne, Co-founder, Capital Crossing Bank
* Rose Mapendo, Ambassador
* David Chanoff, Writer

References

External links

* [http://www.mapendo.org/ Mapendo International Website]