Volunteering

I've had a few good conversations with people about getting involved with this project and the subsequent non-profit concept to follow.  There is certainly interest - I would imagine most people are of the 'show me' type.  But overall my conversations bring up a huge part of this type of work, and one that I experienced in managing a sports non-profit in Prague that was pretty much all volunteers.

Volunteers are just that, they don't have to be there and they don't have anything holding them in place but their own desire and 'word' (unless its something like the Peace Corps).  And willfully joining in as one can is what this project is going to be all about - finding interested people with good experience that can bring something to the table in their spare time.  The hiking part of it isn't really going to require to much work from other people, but setting up a non-profit, and supportive connections in Sierra Leone certainly will.  The tricky thing with getting through this process is getting other people's interest - there are the non-responses, the other engagements, other priorities, or the flat out excited commitment that simply bit off more than they could chew.    Everyone loves ideas, and they especially love ideas that make them feel like they are doing something good for both other and themselves.  Easy to commit, harder to follow up.  It always has to be kept in mind that this is "YOUR" passion, your project, your heart, most likely not immediately theirs.

So it is tough to manage that kind of business relationship with people.  Especially if some of them are in other countries, have jobs, etc, and there are plenty of things to find help with.  I will need legal advice, financial and accounting services, bookkeeping, project advice, help in Sierra Leone, help setting things up in the US, communications advice, board members, etc.  It becomes a very complex scenario for one person, and one that really is just going to need a tremendous amount of hard work, fortitude, and management skills to keep all together.  I must admit, this will be a tough challenge for me as I function internally much differently than most other people and sometimes my idealism and rejection of conventionalism don't connect to well with others in terms of motivation and functionality.

But I've approached several people about filling these roles, and go figure some people have had positive responses, others luke warm, and others no response at all.  About as expected!!  lol...  Ok, enjoy the day...   ;)