helped get started. This one, Ntlakuso Drop-In Center, is located in
an extremely rural village outside Giyani. It was started about a
year ago and received official non-profit status this past March. It
feeds and cares for nearly fifty orphans and vulnerable children
after the school day is over, and is financially supported only by a
handful of small donations from people in the village, which is used
to buy food for the OVCs.
I was able to meet the carers and talk to them at length, though it
was a somewhat difficult process as none of them speak--or at least
were willing to speak to me in--English, so we had to get by with my
very basic Tsonga. Fortunately there was a very nice man named
Leonard there who happened to be at the creche whose space the DIC
uses doing monitoring that day, and he helped translate back and
forth when we needed. I conducted a SWOT analysis of the DIC with
the carers (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats),
though I don't think they really understood the concept. Getting a
discussion going was a bit like pulling teeth--partly it was the
language barrier, but also I think that there is not much tradition
of a free exchange of ideas, and that hurts. But we did it, and they
were happy to have me visiting.
I'll be returning next Wednesday when the DIC is actually operating--
I was there too early in the day, all the kids were still at school
then. Hopefully that will allow me to actually meet the OVCs and see
the carers in action. In addition, I told the carers that I'd work
with them to get food donations from local grocery stores in hopes
that they can start directing their budget to alternative uses.
2 comments:
So after the SWOT assessment, will you think of ways to improve the organization? And how much power do you have implement them?
My toes are froze, my ears are froze, my nose is froze..
That's the plan. Actually, most of the things they can do to improve are pretty basic and apply to most DICs, so there's not a lot of creativity--most of the problems are resource problems. If all the energy of the org is focused on making sure the OVCs are fed, how much can they focus on designing extracurricular activities for them? My influence will probably be limited mainly by my ability to communicate, since most of the carers only really speak Tsonga, but also fade after they realize that my presence does not automatically confer funding.
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