First Day Fun!

On our first day of work, all three of us, with Marika in the middle, because she was scared, hopped onto Doris' motorcycle and took the 30 minute drive to the Tawodep office. The way there was entirely along one nice paved road, and it was a very pretty drive. My feet got kind of squished, as they were between Marika's and the passenger foot pegs, but other than that it was very pleasant.

We were very lucky to be able to be at our organization on its first day back from the Christmas holidays. As a result, we helped Doris and the other permanent worker, Gifty, to plan the entire fiscal year for Tawodep. We listed all the new projects we wanted to undertake, and all the monitoring and evaluation that had to be done on the old ones, and put it into Tawodep's ancient-looking (but still effective) computer. We designed a sign that Doris wanted to make, listing the names of donor organizations, and returned to Bolgatanga for the rest of the day's activities. All in all, we were only at the office from about 9:00AM until 2:00 PM. This may just be because it was the first day, and we had a lot of other errands to run related to getting Marika and I settled in, but if my work days turn out to be that short, that extra time in the afternoons may just be sufficient to do all the homework-like tasks that we've agreed to, including researching possible funding sources and doing lots and lots of grant writing to try to ensure that Tawodep has enough funding to continue its endeavors.

As it stands, Tawodep relies on charitable donations from individuals and corporations, as well as grants and things from other NGOs in order to run. It would be great if they could do something income generating themselves, in order to be self-sustaining. Afrikids, the NGO that Katie is working with, for example is building a hotel whose revenues will sustain their development projects. Unfortunately, being such a small organization, I don't foresee that kind of thing being an option for Tawodep, at least any time soon. Instead, Marika and I hope to contribute to Tawodep's sustainability by making it easier for people to donate to Tawodep. At the moment, such a thing is not really very easy. The mailing address is available on the website, so one would think that donors could just send a cheque. Unfortunately, Marika had problems with just that course of action when she was in Ghana in 2009. Even close to the capitol, most banks will not cash cheques from foreign financial institutions, so when she wanted to contribute to another charitable organization, she ended up having to wire the director the money through Western Union. We are considering that as an option, but unless we can find a way to make it seem a little more official, we're afraid that the prospect of wiring money to an individual in rural Ghana may be off-putting for most potential donors. Anyway, we'll look into that more in the weeks to come.

Additionally, Doris has asked us to make a documentary about Tawodep. This is where I think we've bitten off more than we can chew. As of now, we only have about two months before the end of the program, and neither Marika nor I have any experience in film producing, editing, or anything. My only real qualifications for creating a documentary for an NGO are the ownership of a very rudimentary video camera and a passing knowledge of Windows Movie Maker. Marika seems to be in the same boat. I'm willing to try, because Doris seems very intent on having a film to send to her previous donors about how their money is being used to help people, and I think that this is an excellent idea. Still, I'm afraid the result will not be quite what she's expecting. She has since showed us a copy of a short documentary that was made by the woman with whom she founded Tawodep, and I really don't think that anything Marika and I can produce in two months will be of even remotely similar caliber. Still... like I said, I'm willing to try. I will voice my hesitations to Doris, but if she still would like us to do this task, then we will do so to the best of our abilities.

I think we may really have our hands full over the next several weeks. I will keep you posted!