Global Giving In The Field

Our first site visit in France was at Rêves (means “dreams”), the French version of Make A Wish Foundation, at their offices just outside Lyon. We met with two staff members, Aurélie and Virginie, who showed us photos from many of the dreams that have been realized. Like in the US, the most common request is Disney (though of course here it’s Euro Disney in France). Some of the other interesting requests are to meet celebrities (Eva Longoria, Robert Pattinson), or are related to animals, like feeding a baby tiger or swimming with seals or dolphins. Rêves grants wishes to children and teens up to the age of 18, but they work with other groups and are able to refer the cases they can’t take.

Their project on our site is to help a teenage girl with a terminal illness meet a famous horse trainer, and it has already been fully funded. We are always glad to see a successful project, and we can’t wait to see what they’re going to post next!

Read more about this GlobalGiving project here (but no more donating, since it has been fully funded!): http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/meet-frederick-pignon-equine-handler/

As opposed to many of the other organizations on the site, our sole Barcelona project is led by a single entrepreneur, Aseel Honein, who came to GlobalGiving through a World Bank initiative. Her project is to empower homeless people by looking to develop long-term solutions to the problems that cause homelessness. In other words, instead of providing temporary shelter for homeless people, Aseel’s project would like to address the causes of the homelessness.

Aseel organizes and hosts brainstorming workshops, and also plans awareness campaigns. During our meeting, Aseel (above), whose full-time job is as a professor of architecture and design in Lebanon, showed us some of her results. In one video, some of her Lebanese students came to spend a week in Barcelona, where they put together a demonstration with a light up swing in a park where children play during the day but homeless people sleep at night. We also saw some ideas from the workshops, including one in which beach umbrellas could have pull-down shades to turn into shacks, and another where these small shops that sell food or magazines along Las Ramblas could have small beds built into the back. As neither Shonali nor myself are art and design people, it was interesting to see these solutions pitched from an architecture and spacial perspective instead of a political one. We look forward to more innovative ideas from this project!

Read more about and donate to this GlobalGiving project here: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/barcelona-social-inclusion-empower-2500-homeless/

Behind on the blogging, so I am condensing posts! We held two workshops in Spain, one each in Madrid and Barcelona. Both were smaller than the ones we’ve been holding in Morocco, mostly because Europe in August is a virtual ghost town. As we have been told time and again these past two weeks, todo el mundo está en vacaciones. However, the organizations that did show up were happy to speak with us about their Twitter accounts, fundraising strategies, and expanding their networks on- and off-line.

It has also been interesting for us to witness the transition to Europe. In Morocco, the organizations identified with the other African projects on the site and did not doubt that they could be successful. But in Europe, we have gotten many queries as to why Americans would bother donating to projects in Western Europe when they could donate instead to AIDS orphans in Africa or educating girls in India. The answer to that is, of course, that a good project is a good project, no matter where it is; hungry and needy people in the developed world are not less deserving than hungry people in Africa. There are so many organizations in Spain with fantastic projects, and many of them would undoubtedly benefit from GlobalGiving. Hopefully the next team to visit Europe will get to meet even more of them as partners instead of prospects.

Time for an outrageously overdue Spain post! Aliza and I arrived in Spain two weeks ago on the express ferry from Tangier.  After a VERY interesting overnight bus to Madrid (most of the passengers were Moroccan and broke the Ramadan fast halfway through the ride) we arrived in the beautiful capital city! Aliza had studied abroad here several years ago and was thrilled to be back and took the time to show me some of her favorite old haunts (tapas galore!)! 

The next day we had our first Spanish site visit.  We met with Fundacion Juan XXIII, an organization that helps educated and rehabilitate adults Spaniards with mental disabilities.  We toured their extensive facility where we met with both volunteers and beneficiaries.  I particularly loved the mock-apartment the organization has set up in order to teach these mentally handicapped beneficiaries how to independently perform day-to-day tasks like bathing, cooking for themselves and getting dressed in the morning.  

The Fundacion also generously provided us a space to host our Madrid workshops, where we met with a representative from Dell and several health-related organizations.  Aliza and I then spent our last 2 days in Madrid taking in the gorgeous sites (Royal Palace and Cathedral! Plaza Mayor!) before heading to Barcelona! 

We arrived in the iconic beach-front city last Friday, and promptly took advantage of the weekend to do a bit of site-seeing! We toured through Gaudi’s massive Sagrada Familia Cathedral and museums, enjoyed an afternoon on the (very crowded!) beach and ate delicious seasfood paella! 

Yesterday, we hosted our workshop here in Barcelona.  Even given the smaller turnouts in Spain (the entire country is on vacation!), Aliza and I have been thrilled to see that these workshops involve high capacity organizations with prior experience in online fundraising! 

This morning we had the pleasure of meeting with Aseel Honein, our project leader who flew in from Lebanon earlier this week to meet with us.  Aliza and I were very curious about this project, which strives for social inclusion of the homeless community in Barcelona.  We learned about the extensive research that Aseel’s team has conducted through canvasing, interviews and community challenges. We look forward to seeing what next steps Aseel and her colleagues take towards ameliorating this issue! 

It’s been a while since I updated, but Europe has been a very different experience than Morocco, and we have been keeping very busy indeed! Last week in Madrid, Shonali started out by visiting a project of Fundación Juan XXIII, our partner through the GG satellite office in London, GlobalGiving UK.

Fundación Juan provides job and IT training to mentally disabled adults in Madrid. Spain does not have the vast social worker system that the US does, so these individuals are often left to be cared for by their families with very little instruction or assistance after they finish the school system at 18. At the FJ center in Madrid, they get job training, grooming and hygiene classes (so they can prepare to live alone), access to gym and arts facilities, and training in a variety of computer and IT skills so they can enter the job market. They also get job training to work in the hospitality industry (restaurants, hotels, etc.), and there is even a cafe on the premises for them to practice - which we visited with Laura, the lovely project leader.

Read more about and donate to this GlobalGiving project here: http://www.globalgiving.co.uk/projects/it-space-for-learning-disabled-people-in-madrid/

My little brother Simon (who is now quite big) walked me to the bazaar to find a bus to Kuthali, which is about 15km from Charikot. After a bumpy hour with an old (and deceivingly heavy!) woman sitting on my lap, I arrived at the office of Educate the Children and began a busy day of field site visits. First I watched a monthly meeting run by the Aaltareng women’s group, then I rushed off to an ETC cooperative training, and lastly I visited a small commercial farm run by one Aaltareng member as an income generation project. During this last visit we got to sit down and share a cucumber which, despite being larger than my calf, was still sweet and delicious.

Photos from the site visit with Service for Peace in Sarlahi, Nepal. Check out Service for Peace at: 

Aliza and I finished out our GlobalGiving field work in Morocco with a very promising workshop in Rabat! This was our first workshop attended exclusively by women, a very interesting contract to the workshop earlier this month in Marrakech, where we saw mostly men. It was also one of our most well-rounded workshops, with attendees from women’s non-profit organizations, a groups of representatives from the Moroccan Princess Meryam’s charitable foundation and government employees. We hope to see many of these organizations register for the September and December Global Open Challenges! 

On Thursday, we left Rabat for Fez, about 3 hours inland and 30 degrees hotter.  After 2 full weeks back along the coastline, Aliza and I had to readjust to the sweltering heat of the desert! Check out some of the awesome photos of the Fez medina, the biggest in Morocco housing nearly 500,000 people. We spent a really enjoyable 3 days in Fez, meeting some wonderful people! We also experienced the beginning of Ramadan, which will last until mid/late August. 

Our final Morocco workshop was last week, in Rabat. The 12 attendees were all women, and as a group had the greatest familiarity with social media of any workshop yet. As at the workshops in Casa and Marrakech, there was a lot of enthusiasm and so many great ideas for projects and fundraising. We received some encouraging feedback, and some organizations have already emailed us to ask how to nominate themselves for the next GlobalGiving Global Open Challenge. It was a really satisfying way to end our workshop experience in Morocco!

On Friday we visited a really project in Kenitra, about 30 minutes north of Rabat. The organization, BAYTI (“my home” in Arabic) is already a partner of GlobalGiving through our corporate partnership with Dell. But we’d love to have their projects listed on our main site, so Shonali and I were thrilled to have the opportunity to meet with representatives from the organization, and to tour the project they plan to list on GG for the next Open Challenge in September: a farm school.

The school, home to 35 teenagers from poor neighborhoods or broken families, provides stability, skills training, and the means to an education for children who might otherwise have turned to drugs or the streets. The students take classes in reading/writing Arabic and maths, and work on the farm year-round. When they graduate, they will have also learned a trade — farming — that they can use to set up businesses. There are plans to expand the program to include more extracurricular options and social activities, which we think is great. 

During our visit, the project leader showed us the vegetable gardens, the cows and chickens being raised, and the new fruit orchards being planted. The farm school has been operational for 7 years, but the staff is always looking for ways to make improvements. We think these are great goals for them to consider as they join the Open Challenge!

Its been another exciting week for Team Morocco (and Spain and France)!! Last week, Aliza and I hosted a great workshop in Casablanca.  We were thrilled to see some of our current and corporate partners there, as well as many new faces! We’re really looking forward to seeing some of these wonderful organizations during the September Open Challenge! 

Aliza and I arrived in Rabat last Thursday, and both of us agree that this is our favorite city so far.  Tragically, the bugs here in the capital seem to love me just as much as those in Casablanca, so I’ve been applying constant coats of insect repellent.  So essentially, I’ve been going around smelling like a VERY potent citronella candle all day erryday, but I suppose its better than the alternative! 

On Friday, Aliza and I had the pleasure of visiting Bayti, an organization that helps educate and house children from troubled backgrounds.  Bayti came to GlobalGiving through Dell, and they are going to participate in the September Open Challenge! Aliza and I had a great time visiting their farm school about 2 hours north of Rabat with their Project Leader Atika and intern Celia. We were received by Hassan, the Director of the farm school, who took us through the visit. We met with many of the students, walked through the fields of crops, and even visited the livestock stall!  Why YES, that is a photo of Aliza petting a pregnant dairy cow! We then enjoyed a delicious cous cous with the students (Friday is cous cous day).

This weekend, Aliza and I enjoyed a couple days off by doing some sightseeing around the city- check out the gorgeous coastline! 

On Monday, Shonali and I held a successful workshop in Casablanca for about 20 participants. We got a great space to use with the help of AFEM, a women’s entrepreneurship organization in Morocco that we think will be a great new strategic partner for GlobalGiving. We were also thrilled to have with us two current partners, BAYTI and SOS Village d’Enfants, both of whom attended to learn how to maximize their presence on the site. Shonali and I visited the SOS project when we first arrived, and BAYTI has programming for disadvantaged children. We will see one of their projects, in Kenitra, on Friday.

This workshop featured organizations more familiar with online fundraising than at our Marrakech workshop, though I would say enthusiasm was equal at both. It was great to hear about some of the great projects these organizations are working on, and we look forward to seeing some of their names on the list for the next Open Challenges in September and December!

Team Morocco has had an exciting couple of weeks! Aliza and I are now back in Casablanca, preparing for our workshop tomorrow.  On July 27, we visited the High Atlas Foundation project sites with project manager Abderrahim.  We had a wonderful adventure while visiting the sites, seeing both the tree nursery where the cherry and walnut saplings are cultivated and then going to the local town where the 2-year-old trees are transplanted to contribute to the local economy.  Aliza and I met with local town leaders and even climbed trees to pick our own fruit! 

The following week we hosted a very successful workshop in Tahannout, a small town outside of Marrakech.  The High Atlas Foundation kindly set us up with the space and invited a number of their local partner organizations! Though most participants only spoke Arabic, Berber and bits of French, we were able to present with translators and eventually get the point across!

Site Visit: PATS

Earlier last week, Mari and I had an amazing opportunity to visit with PATS (Pediatric AIDS Treatment Support) Foundation and their local partner, AOS (AIDS Orphans Salvation Association). Both organizations aim to help children with HIV adhere to their medication - taking the HIV medication on time enable the children to lead normal lives - and to reduce the stigma towards HIV patients.

Arriving at the local AOS office in Fuyang, Anhui, we met Kristin and Ally, both volunteers with PATS. Upon chatting with them, we realized that PATS was completely volunteer-run and funded by donations, which is amazing, considering the incredible work they are doing in Fuyang and other provinces in Anhui. We learnt more about the history of Fuyang, how the HIV epidemic that had spread so quickly in the early 90 and the stigmatization that followed the families of HIV patients who had been unfortunately infected. Kristin and Ally also visited a local high school and hosted a little Q&A, organized by AOS. The event was held with the objective of reducing the stigma locals have toward HIV patients through education and community service, beginning with the local high school students.

The next day, we visited some of the PATS children. It was an eye-opening experience, listening to the difficulties that some of the HIV-affected families faced enrolling their children into school, the fatalistic attitudes that some family members had towards their disease and even getting the neighborhood children to play together. Yet, the PATS children were amazingly well-adjusted, and would take their medication regularly without any adult supervision. Most of the children we visited were under the age of 10, and that discipline is rare. This success is attributable to the regular visits that the community health workers (CHWs) that work at AOS, to check up on the children and ensure the children are adhering to their medication.

The CHWs have also definitely faced difficulties. They recounted cases where family members felt particularly fatalistic about their illness and saw no reason to take medication. The HIV-infected children in these families would then often adopt the same attitudes. In these cases, CHWs would work diligently to change their attitudes (often by appealing to other family members) and visit these families more often to ensure the children were adhering to their medication.

Both PATS and AOS work tirelessly to help these children, both physically (with their medication) and socially (by educating the local public), stressing that children with HIV are no different from healthy children. I came away really impressed with their dedication, with PATS volunteers visiting China regularly and AOS CHWs visiting the children on an almost monthly basis. I was also incredibly touched by the thoughtfulness of both organizations. Kristin and Ally noticed the children were incredibly picky with their food, and immediately volunteered to use their funding to buy the children multi-vitamins, to ensure they stay healthy and grow normally. The CHWs also brought snacks for children and together with Kristin and Ally, we braved mud and unfavorable road conditions to make it to all the children’s houses. It was an amazing experience overall, and I hope the PATS children stay healthy and adherent to their medication!

Read more about, and donate to the inspiring work PATS and AOS are doing here: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/pats/ 

With the help from the High Atlas Foundation, Shonali and I hosted a successful workshop for 25 people last week in Tahanaout, a town just outside Marrakech. We were hosted by a local association of organizations, who provided a lovely space for us to use. There were some projector compatibility issues, but they were resolved by HAF’s awesome intern, Hans; and some translation issues, with which HAF staffers Abderrahim and Malika helped us out.

Site Visit: Surmang Foundation

Surmang Foundation runs a free clinic in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and provides free healthcare and medical services to the nomads, farmers and inhabitants of the Tibetan plateau. Many patients come from far away villages and cities to seek treatment, because they’d heard wonderful things about the doctors at the Surmang clinic. And all well deserved compliments, we soon found out.

Janis, a volunteer who used to work as a translator for Surmang Foundation, and Dr. Phuntsok had very kindly agreed to drive us to the clinic. It was a four hour trip out to the clinic from the nearest city, Jiegu, and it only served to show how far people would trek out for the clinic’s services. Upon arrival, we met Dr. Drogha, her daughter, the lady who would help out with chores and the gatekeeper’s wife. There was a familial feel to the crowd, we ate all our meals together and there was a quiet trust among everyone.

The next day, Dr. Drogha very kindly allowed us to observe her while she treated patients. Mari and I decided to split up - I would observe the treatments, while Mari would interview the patients as they were leaving. Watching Dr. Drogha working was inspiring. She treated every patient with dignity and respect, and it was clear that while most of the patients were much older than her, they had immense respect for her. Despite the joviality in the treatment room, Dr. Drogha was serious and dedicated. I watched her count out pills into little bags, and she said that while she wanted to treat patients, the clinic could not afford to let medicine go to waste. A lot of patients would feel better after taking maybe 3 days of medication, and let the rest of the pills go to waste. Since the clinic was running on donations, the doctors wanted to conserve as much medicine as they could, and would give patients with less severe symptoms about 7 days of medication. 

Surmang Clinic also has a Community Health Workers (CHW) program, aimed at training local women to become midwives, in an effort to reduce infant and maternal mortality. CHWs who care for pregnant women carry out three pre-natal visits, deliver the baby and then carry out three post-natal visits, to ensure both infant and mother are healthy. They are compensated 200RMB (about 30 USD) per patient. Although we didn’t manage to meet the CHWs, a mother-to-be under the care of a CHW, came into the clinic for her free ultrasound. The clinic does ultrasounds for free, however, mandating that patients under the care of the CHWs come in for ultrasounds also allows the clinic to account for the work of the CHWs. 

Surmang Clinic is looking to expand the CHW program, given its tremendous success. However, the main obstacle has been funding, since CHWs are compensated for their time and effort. While we were there, many patients had nothing to say but good things about the clinic - how the medicine was more effective than traditional Tibetan medicine, how it was great that it was free and accessible, and how the doctors did amazing work.

Dr. Phuntsok and Dr. Drogha are both modest, but the level of dedication they have to their job is inspiring. The clinic has no opening and closing hours, the gates are open to anyone at any time. While we were there, coming back from a walk at around 9 at night, a patient had come to the clinic seeking help for an injury. Dr. Drogha immediately went to work, no questions asked. It is the continual hard work of the doctors, the success of their treatments and the CHW program that has built trust and faith in the inhabitants of the Tibetan plateau.

Mari and I were both sad to leave, and as we left, the gatekeeper’s wife laid prayer scarves around our necks and had tears in her eyes. As she chanted prayers, we said our goodbyes, and drove away back to Jiegu. This visit to Surmang has definitely been an unforgettable one - and I can only hope the clinic continues to grow and expand! 

Read more about, and donate to the amazing work Surmang Foundation is doing here: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/yushu-earthquake-survival/