VOA标准英语2010年-Kenya's Poor Make Art to Escape Slum L

Joseph Muchina was a teenager living in a Kenyan slum in the early 1970s when a radical¹ concept took shape: teach the poor skills to make them self-reliant rather than keep them eternally reliant on charity. Muchina was among the first wave of participants in a new program sponsored by a Kenyan church group. Later, he was among the first to join the international fair trade network. Some 40 years later, he is co-founder and co-owner of an international jewelry² business that employs people living in Nairobi's teeming³ slums.

Beading, painting and packing to meet a deadline to ship a large order of jewelry to a distributor in Denmark.

A handful of artisans work in almost near silence to beat the clock. Workshop owner Joseph Muchina says he and his workers have the same goal:

"...creating beautiful things, and making sure also we maintain our culture, our African culture of the kind of jewelry we used to have, because it is dying, slowly and slowly," said Muchina.

Such is life at Trinity Jewelry Crafts, a small workshop in Nairobi's low-income area of Kariobangi. But Trinity Jewelry Crafts is more than just a producer of bracelets⁴, necklaces, earrings⁵ and other ornaments⁶ sold primarily overseas, mainly to customers in Canada and the United States. It is a social experiment gone right.

In 1971, Joseph Muchina was one of a small group of slum-dwelling young people trained by the National Council of Churches of Kenya in a project with a radical new philosophy.

"The intention was, after you get training, then you have to be on your own: go and start your own business, with either your own family or join together as a partnership⁷ a number of you, and then start doing something for your own future," said Muchina.

He recalls how this way out of poverty contrasted with the more widespread notion of "charity."

"We were used to being given, given, given, given so many things," he added. "Yes, the majority of us could maybe not take it well coming from that kind of life of being given so many things to, you know, going and standing⁸ on your own, doing things on your own, because it is really tough."

Muchina learned how to design and make jewelry, skills that he taught for 14 years within the National Council of Churches and a subsequent organization.?

In 1984, he and two others created Trinity Jewelry Crafts in the low-income area of Dandora, where they worked for about a decade before moving to Kariobangi.

Muchina achieved another feat⁹: having one of the first Kenyan companies, and one of three in Africa, to join the World Fair Trade Organization in 1991.

As a fair trader, Muchina's company provides its employees with salaries, health benefits, a pension and savings¹⁰ plan, emergency loans, profit-sharing and group decision-making.

"We had to carry the same, old idea of working with poor people from the slums," explained Muchina. "That is where we came from. We knew the problem, and of course we wanted to also help the same kind of people who had gone through the same problems that we had gone [through]."

Some two million people - about half of Nairobi's population - are estimated to live in 200 slums, or informal settlements.

Informal settlements are not included in city planning. Most residents do not receive basic services such as running water, sewage pipes and electricity. Only 24 percent of residents have access to toilet facilities at household level, with up to 200 people sharing a single latrine in some neighborhoods.

And, more than half of Kenya's population lives below the poverty line.

Muchina says his business, and others like it, produce a multiplier effect with the country's poor.

"After now, you learned and get out - go and start your own business - then others would come and be trained also," said Muchina. "You create that space, give space for others to come be trained and also go out and do something."

All this, while immortalizing Africa's rich cultures.
 

1 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

2 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

3 teeming   

adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注

参考例句：

• The rain was teeming down. 大雨倾盆而下。
• the teeming streets of the city 熙熙攘攘的城市街道

4 bracelets   

n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The lamplight struck a gleam from her bracelets. 她的手镯在灯光的照射下闪闪发亮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• On display are earrings, necklaces and bracelets made from jade, amber and amethyst. 展出的有用玉石、琥珀和紫水晶做的耳环、项链和手镯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 earrings   

n.耳环( earring的名词复数 )；耳坠子

参考例句：

• a pair of earrings 一对耳环
• These earrings snap on with special fastener. 这付耳环是用特制的按扣扣上去的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 ornaments   

n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The shelves were chock-a-block with ornaments. 架子上堆满了装饰品。
• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments. 一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

10 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。