This past Wednesday I had a very long day of working with the Foundation, but it was such a great day that I didn’t mind at all. Let me tell you about it….
I started the day as usual—walked to the train station, was in complete awe of the mountain, saw the regulars on the second car of the 208 train, headed to the office to open up my lap top and begin work for the day. After greeting everyone in the office, I responded to some emails (36 to be exact), chat to our MD about ideas for the gala, work on gala prizes, help Masi with some song choices for the next dance (his first pick was a Backstreet Boys song and I about died…I started singing and dancing along and then realized that the rest of the office was staring and then laughing at me…oh how I love my office, ha!). Next I had to fix Nwabisa’s computer because her program wouldn’t load correctly, give Easy a hug because he’s looking a bit down, back to the computer for more gala work (sending out the invites this time), take the CEO of Capitec bank on a quick tour of the office and tell him about what we do and the Amy Biehl story (impromptu request from the boss), update the website (press release just went out), charge the computers for the computer class, follow up with vouchers, then head to lunch at Damascus Gate (great chicken schwarmma).
Made it back to the office just in time to pack up and head out to the township and help out with the Foundation Phase kiddos again (total count for the day 56…well, that’s what we could determine). Colored with them a bit, sang some songs, helped spread jam on bread for the little ones then fed them. Took the transport to 3 different schools in order to get the right one to head to The River Club which is where our fundraising event took place.
Now, this is usually the part of the day when I’m exhausted and head home, but this night was something different. Several dance studios in town sponsored a Salsa and Tango fundraising event for the Amy Biehl Foundation and I managed to rope one of my roommates into helping out for the evening. I quick changed from the dirty jeans that had dirt, sand, snot, spit, crayon, and a bit of jam (all side effects of working with 56 little ones) into a dress and some heels. Let the event begin!
My roommate and I welcomed guests, did ticket sales at the door and sold mystery prize vouchers to our patrons. We managed to make friends with the wait staff walking around with hor’deourves and had plenty of fun finger foods for our dinner. During the breaks (the guests were watching song and dance performances of the tango and salsa studios) we mingled through the crowd collecting donations and selling more vouchers. The evening finished with dance lessons for the entire group and Maike and I are a part of the first bit, but then have to leave to finish up at our table. The dance instructors saw that we had to leave early, so after the official lesson they gave us a private one on the dance floor—how great! After the lesson we packed up the vehicles and headed home…whew!
Today was definitely worth every second of it. Working for an NGO you never know what your day will look like and as you can see, you get to do a little bit of everything. But, through this, I am able to see all sides of how an NGO is run in one day. I saw the office side where all the preparation happens and the staff meets to discuss the next strategies, I saw the hands on work where the kids are taught and what the organization is all about, and I saw the fundraising events in the more affluent communities that make it possible for the kids to have such classes. If that’s not a full view, then I don’t know what is!
I think it is safe to say that I will sleep well tonight AND tomorrow night after yesterday’s events. Sometimes it’s easy to get bogged down in the every day hum drum of a ‘position’ in a job and it can be hard to see the bigger picture. It’s hard to understand the reasons why some things are the way they are and the policies and procedures that go with them. After seeing everything today, I gained a larger perspective of the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of what goes on every day. Instead of getting frustrated with the way things are, I was able to see just what goes into running something of this size and (hopefully) am able to better assist in making the Amy Biehl Foundation a better organization. But for now….to bed…I’m exhausted!
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