random things

So, lately I have been working on a myriad of projects at my centre. Basically it’s the usual boring old stuff—begging random international NGOs for funding so that none of our programs will quit once the funding that we have runs out…Fun fun. Not really. It would be fun except that it makes me very panicky and worried all the time about the future of the centre. No worries really, the centre isn’t going to close down or something, but we are at risk of losing some employees by January 2010 if we don’t scrounge up a new funder from somewhere. It really makes you think. Even as a well run and growing organization it is still very difficult to get money to run your programs. What happens then to other smaller NGOs with less experience and education? It’s really depressing to think about. (I feel though that I have done a great job transferring these grant writing skills to my coworkers, so once I leave I am pretty sure that they will stick, at least somewhat ☺. This will be good if we can ever actually find an organizaionts that is looking for new NGOs to fund). It’s amazing how things can turn around so quickly in this business. One minute you are celebrating a success on one project (for example: starting a garden, opening the new centre, computers, playground, etc.) and the next minute you are up all night worrying that certain elements of BSSP are going to have to shut down. I am bit embarrassed to say it, but on my worse days it makes me just want to quit international development and/or NGO work altogether. It’s really difficult to make inroads on something and then see all your hard work wash away so quickly.

Besides the money crusade I am working on the room for my club that is in the new building. This week with the help of 2 of my coworkers 2 coats of paint on the walls were done as well as a full painting job on the floor. It was my first experience painting on concrete, which is really not an easy or fun process. Next week we will debut our new room to the club! There will actually be enough room for all of the kids and a place to store all of our goodies. After I return from the US my plan is to draw a world map mural with the kids (this is a Peace Corps project that is popular). This room is going to be sweet. Once it’s finished I will take some pictures.

A couple of days ago I awoke to a beep on my cell phone alerting me that I had an SMS (text message). Background information: In SA you can link your banking to your cell phone so you can buy airtime from it as well as be updated when anything happens to your account. They may do this in America, I’m not really sure. Anyways, I looked at the message and lo and behold there was an extra R34,000 in my bank account! This means that the first of the playground money has been transferred over to SA Rand so that it will stop losing its value while in Dollars. This also means that I could quickly schedule an appointment with the builders for September 8th and 9th to build the playground now that I have the money for a deposit! This also means that I danced down the hallway of my house to my sister to give her the good news, it was really a spectacular sight.