Hey guys, welcome to the revamped Jeff in Botswana. Since I so epically failed in both
consistency and content in my previous blogs, I have decided to change things
up a bit and start theming together blogs with the goal of posting something
new every two weeks. This means better
content, more pictures (updated on flickr so follow the link there), and a commitment to keeping it updated. Essentially, everything my last attempts were
not.
So without further ado, let us now continue to the first
theme, Where I Work and What I Do,
which will cover all the job related aspects of life in Gumare. The first will be Sekgele Training Home
Society, my primary assignment here in Gumare that focuses on people with
disabilities in the Okavango.
Where I Work and What
I Do: Sekgele Training Home Society
I have mentioned Sekgele a bit in previous posts, but not
nearly as much I should given that I am either at their office or home working on
projects for them at least fifty percent of my day.
Now what does that fifty percent consists of? Mostly, it’s fundraising and more recently
setting up a website with the help of my fellow PCV Dave's son, Nathan Lafratta. The address is www.sekgele.com, but it’s
in its infancy so if you visit it keep that in mind. Somewhat surprisingly, this means that most
of my work is on the computer either helping to write and research grants,
keeping track of our contacts with local businesses we have approached through
excel, and lastly formatting and filling in our wordpress run website.
With this said, not everything I do is on the computer. Every week my counterpart, Gosalamang (pronounced
ho-tsa-la-mung), Sekgele’s admin assistant, OG, and I get together to map out a
game plan for the week. Usually, this
turns into them telling me that I will be brought along to meetings with
various governmental organizations, board-members, and other partner
institutions.
Right now all this translate into some pretty cool projects:
- Project 1: Sewing Workshop
Before I got to
Sekgele they applied and were awarded a grant from Botswana’s Women Affairs Department
to build a sewing workshop on our compound.
The workshop is going allow Sekgele’s members and clients an opportunity
to earn money mainly through selling the government school year uniforms it
gives to Orphan and Vulnerable children as well provide Sekgele with a small
percentage of the profits to cover operating costs.
Recently, the money
has been released and construction has started so I am helping with the
implementation of this project. So far
this has meant helping my counterpart and Sekgele’s board identify the builder
and even negotiate a lower construction price (we saved over $100!). Eventually, I hope to help Sekgele broaden
what the sewing workshop produces and maybe even get an online store going through
Etsy.com to sell traditionally African patterned aprons.
- Project 2: Beads for Hope
About six months ago, we applied for a grant from the U.S.
Embassy to start our Beads for Hope program.
Like the sewing project, Beads for Hope is another one of Sekgele’s projects
that will give Sekgele, its clients, and members a source of income.
Through the grant we will receive enough money to purchase
materials that the members can use to produce beaded jewelry through recycled magazines
and posters. This project should get
underway within the next month, but right now we are starting to lay the ground
work to again market our products international. The website is just the first marketing step,
with the next being developing a product line and then getting together a store
on Etsy.com. Then finally, at the
trainings the members of Sekgele will be producing the jewelry which we hope to
sell online at this store as well to local business and lodges. Again, special thanks to Dave Lafratta's son, Nathan, for helping out with getting the website together and giving me great advice on how to get started!
- Project 3: Engagement of the Private Sector
For about five months now, Sekgele’s staff, the board-members,
and I have been meeting somewhat regularly by Botswana’s standards to discuss
the progress of our fundraising model that a former Bots 12 in Maun, Mary Sue
Barry, helped us develop. This may
sound mundane but asking the private sector for money besides through grants
simply does not happen. So what this
trend does is leave all the ngos in Botswana applying for the same grant money
from the same large organizations. In
most cases, the local businesses are simply not asked for money. So when we asked Mary Sue to help us out she
had a great model that does exactly what no one else does, approach local
businesses. And so far it is what we
have been doing, though I say so far because recently we stalled after a few
months of having great response from our twenty to thirty meetings. Actually tomorrow, we are supposed to meet to
revamp our fundraising model.
As you probably
notice, these projects are not really hands on working with Sekgele’s
clients. Rather the hope is that by
helping Sekgele develop much needed fiscal sustainable, I am contributing to
the greater goal of better the lives of people with disabilities in the
Okavango. Since they are mostly at the beginning phases,
we will just have to wait and see how it goes.
For more updates on Sekgele, keep checking our website
periodically. Finally, I have put up pictures of what Sekgele looks on my flickr account, just follow the link to the side and find the Sekgele set and you will be able to see where I spend some of my days.
