If I have to be politically correct on this blog I'll never write anything as it takes too much effort to filter my...opinions OUT of my posts- so be warned : Terry is an atheist libertarian.
We are leaving on a jet plane tomorrow night. After 4 days in London we go to Nairobi.
So far we think we have remembered everything. Our house is all readied for Mary B to clean and the tenant to take over. We are nervous, but now that we are together in Vancouver the bickering is subsiding as our fear-of-unknown binds us rather than pits us.
We have many individuals who have supplied funds. I'm tempted to post them all to honour them, but I'm aware Canadians may not appreciate that. On the other hand if I was to post it then it would help me keep track and ensure no one was missed. For now I'll keep the cards close to my chest. Suffice to say that we have about $64,000 CDN for designated projects. $51,129 for protected springs, $5000 for fish farmers, $6000 [corrected] for vocational training workshops (through TEMBO.org) and $600 for developing a runner or running program for the Comox Valley Road Runners. We also got a big bag of reading glasses from Dr Elaine Kerr and $400 for bikes from Eatmore Sprouts & Greens.
We also have a couple thousand in mad money from friends and family to do random acts of kindness with. We will no doubt match that with our own funds cuz changing lives for the better is addictive. I'm thinking of putting out some micro-loans. Having just listened to the 55 hour audiobook of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" I am poignantly aware that our emphasis has to be on investing and making sustainable changes rather than merely dispensing charity. Not only is sustainability mandated by Rotary, it is also something we belive in as essential. This is tricky and will be the central premise of each interaction. It is much simpler just to hand out goodies and get the big smiles. But decades of humanitarian experience by others, including Rotary, has shown this not to work, and even to cause more harm than good in the long run. It's a whole other challenge to cross the culture and language divide and say "Now, take this and stand on your own two feet". We want to return in 5, 10 years to see that teh projects of 2012 are still yielding returns.
As much as I like it here in BC I am eager to escape this culture-o-plenty (and work) for a few months.
Horus gave us a new camera for our trip: it takes video in frikking 3D!! No one told me that had been invented yet. It also has a built-in GPS. So we have lots of gadgets. I'm bringing a GPS so that each spring can be mapped. But I am not getting too attached to all the goodies because being robbed is a real possibility.
No comments:
Post a Comment