Program:
Bagwashi Circles

What is a Bagwashi Circle? Its our word for someone's support system. Its your circle of relationships that provide friendship, support and accountability to your life. Bagwhati? Bagwashi (bah-GWAH-shee). Its an African word literally meaning "those who help one another". Its closely related to the word for family. Why are you doing this? Because having a network of positive relationships is essential to maintaining a stable lifestyle, and can also open doors of opportunity. And, unfortunately, many of the families that come to BHA lack significant numbers of these relationships. How can I get involved? Contact Jennifer Rash, Program Coordinator for Family Support, at jrash@bha-pa.org or (717) 233-6016.

The Importance of Making Friends and Building Social Capital

by Jennifer Rash, Program Coordinator

The last three jobs I’ve had, I got because of connections. It is because of relationships that I have learned a number of important skills. My dad taught me how to drive; my mom taught me how to use a checkbook; my friends and family helped me to cope with crisis. I am who I am largely because of the people who surround me. When a family comes to BHA, we take a look at their relationships and together evaluate the strength and reliability of their support network. Some of our families have friends and family they can rely on; others have relationships with people they see as unreliable or unstable. One of our goals at BHA is to help them increase their Social Capital.

Just as our economic capital can provide us with more or less financial strength, so our relationships (i.e. "social capital") can offer us a relative amount of stability and growth. When we have people we can rely on, we have a greater potential to reach our goals, which is our hope for the women who come to BHA. It is for this reason, we have developed Bagwashi Circles.

Bagwashi (bah-GWAH-shee) is an African word meaning "those who help one another" and is closely related to the word for "family". Our "Bagwashis" are volunteers who serve as friends and a support system to single moms transitioning from homelessness to wholeness, and ideally continue the relationship even after the participant has graduated from our program.

There are many opportunities to help families in crisis, but few opportunities to be enriched by building mutual two-way relationships with people from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.

Bagwashi Circle Nights
On the 3rd Thursday of the month, BHA hosts what we call Bagwashi Circle Night from 6:00-8:00 p.m. We start by sharing a meal together with our families and then the children head off to childcare, giving moms and Bagwashis an opportunity to make connections. Some nights we’ll have a facilitated relationship-building exercise; other nights we’ll do a craft or play games. On occasion, we’ll have a speaker join us.

Beyond Bagwashi Circle Nights
Once connections are made, we encourage folks to strengthen their bonds by establishing personal connections with our families, including:

• One-on-one mentoring in a specific area (like budgeting or housekeeping)
• Tutoring a mom or her children
• Providing emergency childcare or occasional babysitting
• Providing transportation to appointments
• Simply being a friend...for emotional support or social activities

How to Get Involved
Start by calling Jennifer Rash, Program Coordinator. She can help you determine if this is the kind of ministry in which you would like to participate and will then provide the training needed for you and/or your church group to get started.

You can contact Jennifer Rash at jrash@bha-pa.org or (717) 233-6016.

Revised: 5/8/2010 5:19:22 PM