May 2012
14 posts
7 tags
No One Dies Wishing They Had Spent More Time at...
Managing a nonprofit is much harder than managing a for-profit company.
Companies have one clear, measurable bottom-line objective–make a profit. And owners measure success by the amount of money they make. On the other hand, a nonprofit has two bottom lines, and one of those is difficult to measure. The financial objective is easy to quantify–raise enough money to deliver programs and meet...
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“If you take a look at the quality of water they use for drinking you can simply...”
– A youth in ChildFund’s Zambia programs, reporting on the conditions of a family in her community
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“A book is not a good thing to hold.”
– Response from an Afghan boy when asked why he didn’t go to school. He said the Taliban told him that.
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Can You Repeat That?
I’ve probably spent the equivalent of at least a year of my life waiting for someone to translate something into English. Although I am not fluent in any language other than English, I made serious attempts to study and learn the national language in all five developing countries where I’ve lived.
Swahili and Indonesian were the easiest to learn; I had excellent teachers so I became...
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Mothers: Gifts That Keep on Giving
The phone call came in the middle of the night. My mother had fallen and broken her hip. Tragic as this was, the situation was even more complicated.
Where was I? I was in Ethiopia for work.
Where was my mother? My 75-year-old mother was at my home in Georgia taking care of my two young children while both my husband and I were traveling for work.
Like many other working women I know, our mothers...
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An iPhone Versus a Toilet
Every month when I open the bill for my home phone, I always debate, should I drop the land line? Since cell phones (and, yes, I have an iPhone) have become the norm for everyday communications, why spend the money for a home phone I hardly use?
I know I’m not the only one in the U.S. having this personal debate; yet, in many developing countries another debate plays out. Cell phones have been a...
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“I worry about getting sick because there are not good hospitals.”
– a 10-year-old in Bolivia
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Lessons From the Parking Lot →
Shoes may be a luxurious indulgence for many Americans, but take them away and not only do you forego any degree of comfort but you also expose yourself to painful repercussions. The roads and villages within the developing world are no less forgiving, no less threatening. Read more in my Huffington Post blog this month.
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bigdreamafrica asked: Do you have a website link? I would like to know more about your organization.
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Really Nothing to Wear
Of the hundreds of visits I’ve made in developing countries, one that stands out in my mind is my visit to the southern part of Sudan many years ago when I worked for another NGO.
Sudan was in a civil war for more than 20 years; my visit turned out to be during the war’s first decade. Fighting for its independence from the north, the southern part of the country was in shambles. The economy was...
