We believe in our work so we think others should also believe in it. But maybe we haven’t given our time to help them to really understand it. Often we haven’t tried to understand why they aren’t being as generous as we expected. We have to remember that there is no such thing as free […]
Author Archives: Project GROW
Chidi applied to a British foundation for funding. They gave her £3,000 to deliver cooking workshops – she could reach three times more girls! The money would cover the food costs, and allow her to pay the church something for rent. In return, the donor wanted Chidi to send a report at the end of […]
Chidi was determined to make her club available to more girls, but she knew that she would need more money to pay for this. Ingredients cost money, and she knew the church would want rent if she used it more. Already a couple of people commented on how much gas she used for cooking. Chidi […]
This is our Achilles heel. It’s very important to understand how much work goes into getting funds. In Africa we can sometimes feel entitled to other people’s money, because we are poor. When I meet with other NGOs we feel we deserve to be helped. Sometimes we don’t realise that donors in rich countries are […]
Chidi planned to run a summer project. She has heard through a friend abroad that there were many young people in wealthy schools in the capital, or in Europe and America, who would like to volunteer with African children in their summer holidays. They would even pay to cover their costs when they were there. […]
I’m very conscious of the fact that you can’t do it alone. It’s teamwork. When you do it alone you run the risk that when you are no longer there nobody else will do it. Wangari Maathai In the last section, you looked at Chidi’s potential volunteers, their motivations for volunteering, and the challenges and […]
Chidi realised that she needed more volunteers to help her. She couldn’t do it all on her own, and she needed people to be able to take over if she was sick, needed a break, or if her mother’s sickness got worse. She had some volunteers, but they often seemed flaky or incompetent. Sometimes it […]
Wise words are like seeds. The more you scatter them, the more they will grow into infinite gardens of knowledge. Suzy Kassem Sometimes it can seem that writing things down is a pointless exercise, but it’s actually an investment – distilling wisdom and experience for others. When you have written guidance, whether it is on […]
He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions. Confucius It seems crazy that Chidi’s cooking club may close because she left early to care for her mother. Who could have imagined that that one decision would lead a girl to be attacked, pregnant, and the community to have lost trust […]
Chidi had been running the cooking club for a year, regularly having twenty girls aged 13-16 attending each week. All the girls who attended were doing well in school, and three or four regularly sold baked goods in their schools. Parents who had initially been reluctant for their daughters to attend when they could have […]