I know that this
project has been slow going. Similar to most
of you, I have been trying to juggle day jobs/responsibilities and the desire
to see this project through. This project means the world to me, as most
of you know. However, I have been asked
by my academic advisers (I am now in a PhD program in Anthropology at Rutgers
University) to step back from this work as they see it as a possible conflict
of interest with my academic work. As a result, I am not planning to
spend any extended time on the ground in Sierra Leone working on this project.
This does not however mean that we will not be moving forward with our
work, just that I won’t be moving to Sierra Leone!
Our current goals are
to provide a computer to send to Yapo, our country manager, and to help fund an
office building there in Makeni. That office will provide the tools to
allow our team there to make things happen as per their own efforts. Our
assessment is that with this office building (which will double as a community
space) we will be able to launch our other programs and send volunteers to work
there with our local team to see our projects through. Yapo, has said the
legitimacy of an office has been tremendously holding them back. We are
still in line for our brick making project, skills training programs, and most pressingly
our women's cooperative network. I have been actively recruiting
volunteers to spend time there to help facilitate these processes, and I have
some positive leads.
For the
office/community space we had looked at leasing space, but prices have risen
sharply and the price of a three year lease (required) is more than if we build
from scratch. Our local team has found suitable land that garners a 25
year lease and made plans for a small office space. They estimate that
this space will cost $4600, $1000 of which they can obtain themselves for
exchange in kind with the community. This means that we need to send
$3600 to them. I already have purchased the computer. A small
notebook for $460 and will be sending it shortly. We have garnered
commitments of $2020, thus far towards our goals. That means we need
$1580, or to get as close as possible to that figure. Please consider donating. You can find a donation link on this website to the right, or contact us at walkinglion.org@gmail.com. Obviously, we do
not have a large list of people to ask, but this is also not a large sum of
money. Any level of donation would be greatly appreciated, we have
received pledges/donations from $20 to $500.
All of this donated
money will be used to build this office. An office and community space does is
allow our local team to get to work. It
is not a hand out, simply a tool to allow both them and the community to make
things happen for themselves. I have bought the computer on my own, and will
not take anything from these donations. Every cent goes to the Sierra
Leone project or the cost of wiring the money there. If we receive
anything extra, it will go directly to our next project there. So don't
worry about giving too much! ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment