This week was interesting. A time to think hard about transitioning to a new organization, I was worried that I would end up locking myself into something that wouldn't be fulfilling. I am pretty much done with Thandanani-- I turned in the organization evaluations I was working on [30 pages long!] and this week I will be working on a curriculum manual for the Life Skills program this week... and then I will be done! Oh no. Where do I go? What do I do? Can I just be a nomad and travel aimlessly around the country?
I had contacted some NGOs and actually had some options: iKhaya LikaBaba, an orphanage for babies [!!!], African Enterprise, which was keen for me to do some of their social development work, Trail of Hope, founded by a former street kid who is trying to motorbike around Africa to help other street kids, and I even contemplated just hopping on an airplane to Haiti to do emergency disaster relief with Hands On Disaster Response. I liked all of these options, but all of them seemed to be missing something... I didn't feel 100% excited for any of them. Being in a baby orphanage would be so fun, but I learned at Lily that when you are in an orphange all you learn is the culture of... the orphanage; you stay within these walls and haven't the slightest idea of what the Zulu culture is like outside. I am a huge culture-seeker-learner, so I realized I would like to continue somewhere that does their work out in the communities. I had little issues like that with almost all the plans... and I just didn't know what the Rockefeller Fellowship committee would think about me jetting off to Haiti... [but I don't think they would mind too much]. I had all these teriffic options, yet I was still a bit depressed about it all. I felt so "blah," so useless.
I sat down and had to think long and hard about what I really wanted to leave with when I fly back on July 1st [just booked my flight!]... What is important to me: culture and community, education, children, photography... all the things which I stated were my goals when I was interviewed about it for The Crimson in December 2008. I kinda wanted to keep somewhat to my original intentions and leave South Africa feeling confident that I figured out why I was actually meant to be here.
So, I've figured it out. I am setting out on my own, doing my own thing. And I am excited. I took the idea to the director at Thandanani and he actually said he wants Thadnanani to be in on it, so I already have some support there. I have written a rough-draft proposal, I have made a rough-draft website [this is what I spent all Sunday doing]. Tonight I am getting a phone call from someone who has done a similar thing to get tips on it. An organization in Ohio is bringing up my proposal at their board meeting on the 27th to see how they can help. I know this is the right thing to do, because I am just so darn excited about it. Let's cross our fingers and see if it will work [and work within the time frame I have left here].
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To be honest, I think this is the best option. Right now, I think Haiti needs super-tech assist to get through these initial weeks. Subsequently there will be a *huge* rebuilding effort wherein I hope that the international community can be coordinated and directed in a fashion that leads to progressive development. What currently occurs is there are a number of NGOs with a number of different priorities working on disparate projects without a concerted direction. Now, this is partly due to the difficulty w/Haiti's governance over many decades, however, within this destruction I see some opportunity to "do things right". However, this is all predicated upon the ability of the government to take all of this goodwill and channel it in a direction that is going to move the country forward in a more comprehensive fashion. Lots of people doing lots of disparate projects for a nation that really needs to rebuild makes it challenging.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, that's a total aside. I'm very happy for your progress and decision! Good luck!