Together. One. Oasis.

A great article by Dan Pollata about compensation for non-profit professionals

I perched myself atop a worn, wooden stool nearing the end of its days. My eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness of the room to make out my surroundings – threadbare clothing hung on rusty nails along the makeshift walls of the shack, a few rusty pots and pans sat on a shelf in the corner, wooden furniture loosely constructed was covered with old cloth. In the center of it all sat two young Kenyan women and their husbands. The family had three children sponsored by Daylove at a local school. The previous week one of their sons had been hit by a car while riding a bicycle on the streets and was in critical condition until he passed away two days before our visit. Hearing the news, Carol and I had purchased a week’s worth of groceries and set off for their home to offer our condolences and support. Our social worker, Carol, translated for me as one of the women told her story in Swahili. “My son was in the ICU for a week before he passed. The hospital is now holding his body until we can pay the bills. We cannot have a proper burial for him without his body, but we do not have the money for these bills.” Carol patted her leg in support as one of Daylove’s trustees, Frances, nodded along. “Do not worry,” he spoke reassuringly, “We will find a way for you to bury your son properly.”

This was my second week in Kenya and the one of many home visits I made during the month I spent at Daylove Children’s Home in the slum of Dagoretti in Nairobi. When I made the decision to spend time volunteering in Kenya, I came with an open mind and an open schedule, only insisting that I was used where most needed. One of the things that I loved most about Oasis was the autonomy that the program provided.  When Oasis connected me with Daylove, I knew that I would be working on community outreach and development with the social workers, but was also able to alter and design some of my own agenda to make the experience truly my own.

I knew my experience would be life changing, but I could have never imagined the things that I would see and the people I would meet. Coming from a job on Capitol Hill, I had the opportunity to learn a great deal about international programs and the biggest challenges facing the international community. However, attending meetings and hearings cannot come close to teaching what can be learned by taking the time to experience situations first hand.

Daylove is the home to 28 children of the Dagoretti community, all coming from abusive or abandoned homes, as well as the sponsor of over 120 children within the community, providing families struggling to make ends meet with school fees, clothing donations, and perhaps most importantly, a community support system. During my time at Daylove, I met handfuls of incredible families, all with different stories to tell. There was the mother with two teens with muscular dystrophy who would carry them on her back in the rain to get them to school, the grandmother who would walk for miles every day to sell homemade donuts to put her grandchildren through school, and the group of mothers who spent grueling hours in the local quarry breaking and transporting rock to earn a few shillings for the evening’s dinner.

Despite the differences of these families, they were all intertwined as part of the Dagoretti community, struggling together to get through each day, to provide for their families. With each story I heard, I was amazed by the resilience of these people and the unity of their community. Even more amazing, it appeared that Daylove served as a backbone to the community. With every visit, you could sense the appreciation these families had for Daylove and the source of comfort and support its staff provided. Living in poverty with nothing to offer their children, Daylove gave children the opportunity for a future that would otherwise be impossible.

The Oasis program connected me with Daylove. It also connects volunteers with 14 other children’s homes in the Nairobi area, as well as connecting these homes with each other. With Oasis in the picture to provide another layer of support for these homes within their communities, I can only imagine the opportunities that will continue to unfold for the children of these programs and look forward to seeing the success of this program as it continues.

*Samantha is a former Oasis volunteer who spent the month of July with Daylove, an Oasis member home located in Dagoretti, Nairobi. Find more about the Oasis Program at www.flyingkites.org/oasis

Remembering Wangari Maathai

The world will mourn the loss of such an inspirational and influential individual.

gtrot:

Happy World Travel Day! 

(via gtrot)

If you’re here, it’s likely you’ve heard the statistics before.  But in case you haven’t or need to be reminded, there are roughly two million orphaned children in Kenya.  That’s equivalent to the entire population of West Virginia or Nebraska; or a quarter of the inhabitants in New York City; or the entire county of Botswana.  All children.  All orphaned. All lives on a thin threshold between being loved and provided for the way children should be, or being left to survive a tragic loop of poverty and neglect.

If the New York Times read, “One Quarter of New York City Orphaned; Most Scavenging, Marginalized, Abused, or Stuffed in Overcrowded Children’s Homes,” would we react with urgency?  Would America demand action? Would the word ‘Crisis’ fill the newsreel?

I think the public outcry would mirror that of the Gulf oil spill or the tsunami in Japan.  But it doesn’t.  Why?  Because it is has been neither sudden or of quantifiable consequence.  But is it any less tragic?

In Nairobi alone, it is estimated that there are over five hundred orphanages; most busting at the seams.  And of these, there are two pools.  Or to quote Viktor Frankl, “two races of men in this world, but only these two - the ‘race’ of the decent man and the ‘race’ of the indecent man.”  In childcare this means there are those who market despair for personal gain, and there are those who exemplify selflessness and sacrifice to capacities unknown by most.  It is for these noble people and the children they have so valiantly stood beside, and for you as the donor who deserves to know the difference, that we created the Oasis Program.

I’ve been asked to speak on the importance of building a community in this world of childcare, but the truth is it’s no different than the importance of building a community behind any worthy mission. So I’d love instead to focus on why Oasis, specifically, is able in it’s positioning to explode the networks of a home and in result facilitate growth from the visibility and resources that fruit through partnerships.  It takes a connector; someone with a “habit for making introductions;” someone with a “special gift for bringing the world together.” This is a term coined by Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Tipping Point,” and this is exactly why Oasis is a lean, shape-shifting channel for local, national, and international growth.



Imagine you are a deeply caring person.  That was easy right?  One who took in a pair of orphaned children who for months you’d watched scavenge food in gutters outside your home. This will be more difficult to imagine. Then come more.  And your two turns into fifty, simply because no one else would act, and what started as a small step toward a better conscience becomes your core purpose for living each day.  And at first this came with the attention and support of your community; people making monetary sacrifice to see you and your extraordinary household of children succeed. But then the economy turned, the community’s attention turned, or ‘giving’ turned just to words and sentiment, and now you’re as much a survivor as the children.  Food becomes a scratching affair; rent is a monthly prayer; and new school shoes are as out of reach as school fees or money to hire help.  You feel isolated, bearing tremendous weight and responsibility, and what once felt like a ship to brighter horizons, is now more like a life raft, floating in the open ocean.

And then a girl comes to your door.  She has a hungry heart and a dusty backpack and doesn’t know much about slums or the anxiety you bear, but she cares enough to learn.  And it becomes quickly apparent that she and her team know how to bring people together.  And what you’ll soon learn is that was what you needed most.  And you’re thinking what is the catch and the cost?  And she asks you only for trust.

And you give it.



On a local level, instantly, you become part of something greater.  You join a group of directors and representatives from fourteen other homes like yours, round-tabling success stories and dead ends, sharing contacts and guidance.  These people understand your challenges to the most acute degree, and through them you feel valued and validated; capable and more equipped.  As time goes on, this will become a family.

For your home and all these homes, Oasis is a servant.  While the focus is to raise more sustainable business practices and raise childcare standards, it is of equal importance we listen to their goals in our partnership.  From this collective, our Oasis team is able to hear - in real time - even ahead of time! – the problems on the minds of the people most capable of flagging them. When the directors return home to their children, this is when the connector sets out!  This is when the Oasis team begins to research, strategize, and hunt for people who specialize in the problem at hand.

This is where the backpack gathers its dust, and local becomes national and international.  Our Oasis identifies specialists and consultants who can aid in the solving of a problem or the enrichment of a home.  For the home, they become the advocate.  For the partner group, they become the facilitator.  Oasis can deliver a diverse demographic, an embracing network and space, and support in everything from logistics to marketing to event planning.  They exist to assure that the groups seeking to impact are given the people and tools to achieve it.  Just as they exist to assure that the people who need it most are getting what they deserve, sustainably and responsibly.

We, as Flying Kites, came to life to respond to a crisis, and in running an extraordinary children’s home we started with a small and critical step.  But Oasis is our aspiration to fight the crisis on a larger, structural and conceptual plane.  By investing in Oasis, you are investing in fourteen homes better delivering to their children and donors.  And you are likewise investing in national and international groups to strike and prove their capabilities.  Lastly, you are saying something important.  You are saying ‘I believe all children deserve the best, and I support people who work to deliver this and only this.’

I am certain that no one who reads this will wish anything but a better life for the two million orphaned children in need of advocacy and a higher quality of life.  But I am also certain only a very special few will make that wish a real, tangible act.

Which one are you?

http://flyingkitesglobal.org/donate.shtml

With Blessings and Luminous Hope,

Brian Jones
Country Director
Flying Kites Kenya

The Oasis Program believes that sharing experiences and building a sense of community provides invaluable support to individuals. By connecting within the field of child care in Nairobi fellow orphanage directors learn from their peers and gain a sense of solidarity. Within Kenya other organizations and individuals can contribute to the lives of children by connecting with a children’s homes. Our international supporters and volunteers prove the international community can be a source of support as well.

In connection with last week’s emphasis on volunteer travel and this week’s theme of community, we sent out some questions to a fellow international traveler, Casey Scieszka, author of “To Timbuktu”. Read her interview for some new ideas on travel, community and making connections wherever you are.

1. Why do you travel?
I travel because as exhausting as it can physically be, I find it rejuvenating in every other way.

2. For longer stays in one place, why do you choose to work and how do you choose the organizations you work for?
I do a lot of freelance writing and design, so a lot of my work is actually just work I could be doing in America that I have chosen to do remotely abroad. However, I have partnered up with other people and organizations in some places, like The Institute for Popular Education in Mali which I heard about through a friend of a friend. I’m a big believer in the ‘friend of a friend’ way of life. I’m constantly surprised by how many people and places my friends know once I start asking.

3. In your longer travels, how do you move from tourist or visitor to part of the community?
I like to start with language lessons as a way to transition from visitor just passing through to part of the community. Making an effort to learn the local language shows people that you care enough to try to do things their way, and you automatically have one new friend— your tutor! Plus, even when you mess up, you often make friends through the humorous things you’ve mistakenly said.

4. What value do you see in Americans traveling abroad, especially young adults?
I think it’s invaluable to understand that what is “normal” or “right” for you, is not necessarily so for the rest of the world. Whether the experience of seeing a new way of life actually makes you want to change how you live your own, at the very least it expands your understanding of the diversity of our world. It also makes empathy and cooperation easier, two things I think are completely central in solving problems big and small.

5. How does acceptance into or exclusion from the community affect your travel?
It seems like acceptance into the community is almost always preferred to exclusion while traveling. You experience the warmth of daily life that way- -the jokes, the food, the dancing. Otherwise you find yourself wandering around anonymously wondering about the people and places around you. But you’ve got to work to be accepted into a community— people don’t have to care about you simply because you’ve come to town.

6. With the diverse places you visit, do you find there are common themes about family, friends or community?
Everybody wants their family to get along and be provided for, to have good friends they can trust and blow off steam with, to have a respected place in the community. It’s all expressed a little differently, but it’s all there.

7. What would be your advice to young adults look to travel to travel or work abroad?
My advice to young folks looking to travel and/or work abroad is to ask themselves what they want to get out of it. Are they looking for physical adventure? For new language skills? For some good old fashioned shock and awe? That can help you narrow down places and jobs. It’s also important to be honest with yourself in the process. Yeah your friend went and worked in an orphanage in rural India all on her own for a year, but is that something that YOU would be happy doing? I’m all about balancing challenges and comfort in a way that makes me the most productive and happy. Of course it’s a balance that constantly changes, so keep a good eye on yourself!

Casey Scieszka is the author of the illustrated travel memoir To Timbuktu: Nine Countries, Two People, One True Story, created with her partner Steven Weinberg.Visit allthewaytotimbuktu.com for more information on the book, telephoneandsoup.com for art, design, comics and more by Casey & Steven. and locallanguageliteracy.org to learn about their nonprofit dedicated to local language literacy in West and North Africa.

In these next few paragraphs, I am to somehow capture the importance of volunteerism to an effort as vital to humanity as the Oasis program.  I stress the difficulty of this, because their impact is so massive it’s hard even to quantify.  So I’ll tell you what they mean to us, at Flying Kites in Kenya and beyond, and from this hopefully graze the extraordinary creativity, voice, innovation, financial support, energy, and depth of knowledge that volunteers bring to our facilities.  In seeing just how massive and growing their effect on our children, on our organization, and on our community, it is my hope you will see the same supreme potential and need-worth-supporting for the homes of our Oasis Program.

In Kenya, we receive a steady stream of exceptional international volunteers, without lull, year round.  Building the system and infrastructure needed to make this a culturally rich and impacting endeavor is no easy task, but the results are outstanding. 

Academically, our tutor force provides one-on-one tutoring for up to thirty students at our primary school, every-day. Every night, they share a dinner table with our children, discuss their day in English, and practice table manners, and after dinner they join four staff members and two private tutors, who circulate from table to table where twenty six children await with questions, problem sets, and encouragement.  Beyond this, their presence, diversity and life experiences, color and culture our children, making them more aware of the world outside and more fit to dream with great ambition. 

The cultural enrichments are equally vast. Because of volunteers, our children have explored several of Kenya’s national parks and seen the remarkable wildlife that far too few of their countrymen can afford to see.  They’ve been to the National Museum, welcomed sloppy kisses from giraffes, fed baby elephants, and squealed in awe & terror at boa constrictors.  They’ve been bowling, eaten ice cream, and marveled at a hand-blown glass wonderland.  These are just a few of the many experiences they can now relate to and build from, and all of these adventures were made possible by volunteers who saw value in the joy each outing would yield and made sacrifices to see it through.

In January, our volunteers began to teach a daily Creative Arts class. At the beginning, the students copied the examples given, they looked puzzled when encouraged to think outside the box, and at the end of a class, twenty very similar drawings were handed in. Now, when you sit in on a Creative Arts lesson, the students guide the direction of the project as much as any adult in the room. They produce wildly creative folktales, poems, and paintings. When they are asked to create their own planet, field trip, or ideal day, every single paper is covered in a unique, colorful interpretation of the assignment. They know about Van Gogh and Monet, Aesop’s Fables and Dr Seuss, charcoal and water colors.

Volunteers have also greatly enhanced our children’s health. In the span of one week in July, for the second year in a row, all seventy students at our school were given physical examinations, dental check-ups, personal hygiene classes, and a more effective hand-washing station was installed at our school; all of this was orchestrated and carried out by volunteers from the U.S.  In the following two weeks, that very team of volunteers performed the same services at two Oasis member homes, reaching over 300 children all in all.

And as startlingly beautiful as the results of volunteers’ energy & love are, that is only the half of it. An equally vital aspect of our Volunteer Program is the financial impact volunteers have on our operations. Through a program fee, a daily room and board rate, and a pre-trip fundraising target (FKLA volunteers only), volunteers’ up front contributions allow us to pay competitive salaries to our unbelievable team of Kenyan teachers, drivers, guards, and matrons.  We are able to provide a highly nutritious and varied menu of food to the children in our care. During each month-long school break, we are able to hire twenty-six tutors for our twenty-six children to work with everyday. Just recently, we were able to hire two teachers to assist our children during homework time (this on top of the 8 other adults offering their help each night.)

This is still just the beginning. Our volunteers’ collective impact on our growth & fundraising abilities is nothing short of exponential. Once a volunteer’s time in Kenya comes to an end, they return to their home, where they share stories, pictures, and lessons from their vibrant experience in Kenya. Throu gh these actions, intentionally or not, volunteers recruit other potential volunteers and start the cycle all over again. The financial contributions do not stop there.

The majority of our returned volunteers promptly harness their passion and dedication into a fundraising campaign to sponsor a child. And quite often, their energy and enthusiasm inspires others, usually family and friends, to become a part of our Child Sponsorship program too.  In this program, supporters forge a life-long relationship between themselves and a child at Flying Kites through the exchange of letters, emails, phone calls and in many cases, visits. Child Sponsorships are key to the financial sustainability of Flying Kites, and volunteers have proven to be the best agents of growth for this program.

On top of all else, volunteers organize dozens of fundraising events each year for Flying Kites and at each of these events, and every day in between, these extraordinary individuals act as ambassadors to Flying Kites, carrying information and energy for our cause & our mission to ever-widening circles.

The enormous impact described above is just the norm. I have not even delved into the most extraordinary stories like that of Peter, who has dedicated himself to raising fifty thousand dollars to establish a sustainable green house project, or Hannahwho is raising ten thousand dollars before she embarks on one year of service at FKLA, or Mike who started a business that employs disadvantaged women in our rural Kenyan community and simultaneously raises thousands of dollars a year for Flying Kites.

If we have piqued your interest in volunteering for Flying Kites, follow this link to learn more about the culturally enriching, energizing, and deeply fulfilling effects of volunteering at an Oasis Member Home: http://mzunguvarnum.blog.com

The ramifications of volunteers’ to the mission of Flying Kites’ is far-reaching and genuinely life altering.  For the thousands of children advocated for by our Oasis Program, I wish this same incredible gift.  This is where we need you to engage and brighten your life by sacrificing for the betterment of others. If you are able to donate your time, please consider volunteering through our Oasis Program in Kenya, or if such a leap isn’t possible, you’re potential for impact is no less vital.  Become a fundraising ambassador for our work. If time is not an option, than allow us to advocate on your behalf.  Donate directly to Oasis if you support this fight for equity. Whichever path is most suited for you, know that your compassionate actions will touch the lives of thousands; desperate children, selfless home directors, and a supremely necessary global cause.

Yours in gratitude,

Julianna Morrall
Director, Volunteer Program
Flying Kites

Non-profit websites, including those for children’s homes, share many of the same functionalities as any other website. They need to be user friendly, easily navigated, and use appropriate fonts, colors, and other design elements.

However, non-profit websites need to go one step further; they must solicit donations from users in a concise and inviting way. It’s important that a non-profit website provides the user with adequate information and a sense of confidence in the organization.

Non-profit websites need to make it very easy for users to find out more about their cause, donate money, and become more involved. It needs to do all this in a way that’s inviting to the organization’s targeted donors and volunteers. Donations are a necessity for every non-profit organization, so their website should be an able platform to solicit donations from both reoccurring and new donors. Donors must have a simple and straight forward process to give money through the website. This process should be clear and easy without any complicated online transactions.

Having a clear and concise mission statement that is displayed in a professional way on the website will also help donors and volunteers determine what the organization is about just by viewing the first pages on the site.

Molly McGuirk
Flying Kites Creative Director

**Flying Kites Oasis is in the process of creating websites for each of its Member Homes. We will work with home leadership to develop concise and compelling content that illustrates their mission, their story and their needs. These websites will serve as a platform through which Member Homes can market professionally themselves in the international community**