My name is Grace and I’m a GlobalGiving Ambassador by way of Net Impact.  My friend Flavia and I recently took a trip to visit the project listed as “Capacity Building: Urban Farming and Gardening” in Cape Town, South Africa from Nov 24- Dec 4.  This is Flavia’s account of our trip and the last in the series.

By: Flavia DeSouza

Umoja - the Swahili word for togetherness is often used by the African Diaspora worldwide to describe the spirit that unites African people to each other and to their continent.  Ubuntu is traditional African concept which defines a person by their relationships to others and is one of the principles of the new republic of South Africa.

The African spirits Umoja and Ubuntu manifests itself clearly in and throughout Abalimi’s work. Locals gave me a warm welcome into the township community gardens, and chatted with me as if we were long time friends. An eighty-something year old mama strong on the food she reaps and eats from the community garden works daily to share with her family and the families around her. And native to Zambia, visionary and Southern African and white man Rob Small shared a meal with me and shares the podium, as head of Abalimi with his Black, Xhosa speaking African woman.

At the heart of Abalimi’s work is the fostering of a better relationship with the Earth - through healthy green practices and organic farming - and the grassroots economic development of the some of the most economically devastated areas in South Africa - the Cape Town townships.   These are two values, which are traditionally upheld in Southern Africa but which many leaders of today cannot begin to swallow and refuse to invest in.  

Possibly his traditional mores prompted Rob to envision organic farming in city townships as a successful prospect 25 years ago, but against the uneasiness of the time, I don’t know why he had faith in his beliefs. South Africa, 25 years ago, was in the midst of a civil racial upheaval, probably mirroring the Civil Rights Movement of the United States of America, when South Africa most probably was feeling the pain of international divestment.

I am very impressed with his continued commitment and the commitment of his brothers and sisters, many of whom live in dire straights. Their well- attended 25 anniversary celebration, full of singing, chanting and eating of a recently slaughtered goat, highlights how many locals Abalimi has brought together and educated in organic farming.

Abalimi is most certainly a quiet revolution. But, I do have fears for this movement. I fear that in a few years, 25 years of work will disappear. Abalimi seems to be sitting and living largely on the backs of the mamas in the townships - women, in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s who work the farms daily. These women are not getting any stronger and need younger counterparts to help them continue and grow this enterprise. I am sure, for a myriad of reasons, personally, locally and nationally, young men and women do not and are not taught to understand the value in urban organic agriculture.

Hopefully, though, if Abalimi persists, especially because of current national   and international greening trends, they will eventually win over young minds and hearts to their revolution reconnect them to Ubuntu and the native African’s respect for the Earth.

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 I love getting an unexpected gift or “added bonus”.  Anything from the fortune cookie with my Chinese take-out, to the two dozen beautiful roses that arrived at our office from Organic Bouquet thanking us for connecting them with great projects to support through their sales. 

One thing I wasn’t expecting was learning about the amazing, exemplary human resources practices of one of our project leaders in India.  When I went to visit Anshu Gupta, Director of Goonj, at his office in Delhi, I was expecting to see a lot of hard working committed people.  They do, in fact, process (wash, sort, mend, and in some instances create from recycled cloth and disburse to those in need) 6,000 kilograms of textiles per year, everything from a sweater that goes to a 35 year old in Bihar that has never worn a woolen article of clothing in his life, and had to dig a pit to sleep in when the weather turned cold, to sanitary napkins for girls who previously had to miss school during menstruation.

Yes, I did find committed, hard working people. 

I also found a manager with human resources practices that I found innovative and made me love his project even more.  In a former life, I worked at the Corporate Executive Board in research of best practices in human resources for large companies.  A recurrent challenge of all the savvy human resources executives that I met was inspiring loyalty of their workforce and retaining their best employees. 

Anshu Gupta seeks to employ people that are poor-in debt from buying basic necessities (food, electricity).  All new employees receive an interest free loan to pay off their debts, no questions asked.  The result?  Zero defaults.  Committed workers. No disgruntled employees. A successful organization.  A lot of benefits to people that really need them.

Watch a great video about Goonj.

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My name is Grace and I’m a GlobalGiving Ambassador by way of Net Impact.  My friend Flavia and I recently took a trip to visit the project listed as “Capacity Building: Urban Farming and Gardening” in Cape Town, South Africa from Nov 24- Dec 4.  This is the third in a series on some of the accounts from my trip.

Friday, November 30, 2007

The reason I went to Cape Town at this particular time of year was because Abalimi starts its summer break in December and their year-end party was Nov. 30. We arrived in the warehouse part of the Abalimi offices where tables and chairs were set up. Speeches and prayers were spoken and dances danced and songs sung by Xhosa women in traditional celebratory garb.  Check out the video!

Abalimi is now 25 years old (just like me!), and I can see just how many people it has touched by the large number of people in the room - gardeners and volunteers alike.  Another video!

I was excited to see the food which was homemade by local women with locally grown Abalimi vegetables.  After I had polished off the lamb, maize, beetroot and rice, Flavia reminded me that the lamb I had just eaten was slaughtered two days before in the very same place we gathered.

I was looking forward to our next stop - Baphumelele in Khayelitsha - because I love kids.  Rosie Mashale is the director of Baphumelele, a well-earned role in her 23rd year of service there. I was pleasantly surprised to have her take Flavia and me on a personally guided tour of Baphumelele.

Months before, I had asked some friends to donate items for me to take to the orphanage.  When she opened the items Flavia and I had brought, she lit up with such enthusiasm and gratitude. She found the box of trial-sized toothpaste funny since she’d never seen such small tubes of toothpaste before.

I was overwhelmed by the number of children - in the buildings and on the street. Rosie explained that she didn’t want them to feel institutionalized or held captive to the orphanage. Also, she knew they would always return to Baphumelele because that is where their meals and beds were.

 Baphumelele had recently received donations to establish a “house” regime to the orphanage, in which a dozen or so children would belong to a house headed by a house mother.  This system would provide a sense of belonging within each house.

One of the most striking images of South Africa that I will take with me is the hospice on the orphanage site. There, a handful of patients were dying of AIDS. I thought to myself, “well it’s nice of Baphumelele to take in sick township people,” as these patients looked like adults or even elderly folk with sagging skin and hobbled steps. But Rosie corrected me, stating matter-of-factly, that those in the hospice were just a few years younger than me - at around age 18.

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It’s Valentine’s Day. Or, for many people who are trying to end violence against women, it’s “V-Day.” 2008 marks the 10th Anniversary of V-Day, the brainchild of writer and performer, Eve Ensler. Who would have thought that a little play-ful of vignettes about women’s sexuality, called the Vagina Monologues, would turn into an international movement, with performances of the play taking place all over the world? Events are scheduled on college campuses, in churches, and in dozens of countries throughout 2008. They will attract thousands of people, make them more aware of the unconscionable violence that takes place against women and girls every day, and - we all hope - spur both men and women to become advocates for organizations working to change this dynamic.

Eve Ensler and Jane Fonda were on the Today Show today, talking about the anniversary. Aside from embarrassing Meredith Vieira by uttering a no-no word on network TV, they highlighted the work V-Day is doing in the Congo, where Today’s Ann Curry has been reporting for the last couple of days. Taking on rape and sexual violence again women in the Congo is truly God’s work, and it’s great to see mainstream media putting real faces and voices to the atrocities that continue. Go Ann!

We try to not be to “salesy” on this blog, but if you are interested in supporting some great organizations working to prevent and address this kind of gender violence, check out gender-based projects on GlobalGiving.

Happy V-day.

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My name is Grace and I’m a GlobalGiving Ambassador by way of Net Impact.  My friend Flavia and I recently took a trip to visit the project listed as “Capacity Building: Urban Farming and Gardening” in Cape Town, South Africa from Nov 24- Dec 4.  This is the second in a series on some of the accounts from my trip.

Thursday, November 29, 2007 

SEED is an offshoot of Abalimi that teaches permaculture to schoolchildren in the townships and have helped plant gardens at many schools. We were scheduled to meet with SEED and shadow them for the day but due to an unforeseen meeting we were not able to make the rounds with them and just met with a few members of the team, like Talfryn and Leigh. Instead, we headed back downtown for some souvenir shopping at Greenmarket Square.

Afterwards we arrived at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens–”The most beautiful garden in Africa” my souvenir shopping bag says. It was already 4pm, and the sky was so overcast, we almost didn’t enter, but decided that our time in Cape Town was too packed to not try. I’m so glad we did! It reminded me of the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx.

No more than a few steps into Kirstenbosch, we ran into a girl we met from SEED! It turns out the important meeting that preempted our visit with them was held in Kirstenbosch! She picked a leaf off a Spekboom plant and offered it to Flavia who popped it into her mouth before I could say “uh, maybe that’s not a good idea.” When she said it tasted like a plum, then I had to try too.  The part of Kirstenbosch that was perhaps most interesting was the medicinal plants section so I spent some time educating myself.

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Last week, I wrote a post about creating a relationship with your donors: creating an experience and relevancy.  Today, A Small Change wrote a post about what motivates donors at all different levels: first-time, renewed and upgrading.

When a donor is already invested in your organization you can no longer use compassion as an appeal for more money.  You need to know that your volunteers, monthly donors, long-term major givers already have a strong compassion for your cause.  These people want to know what more of their money will mean for the non-profit.

Read the whole post here.

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My name is Grace and I’m a GlobalGiving Ambassador by way of Net Impact.  My friend Flavia and I recently took a trip to visit the project listed as “Capacity Building: Urban Farming and Gardening” in Cape Town, South Africa from Nov 24- Dec 4.  This is the first in a series on some of the accounts from my trip.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

We fought rush hour traffic into downtown Cape Town to find Julie at the office of The Business Place (TBP). TBP is a nonprofit consulting organization that helps small business owners to promote entrepreneurship.  I learned that the South African government has adopted the TBP model and has their own version of it called, Red Door, though the two are not integrated currently.

We were then picked up by Rob Small of Abalimi who led us to Guguletu, one of the townships (what they call the slums) where Abalimi works.  I like to think of Guguletu as the gateway to the townships because it’s the first one you encounter when driving west from the city proper.

When I discovered that mostly older women (called the “mamas”) are the gardeners, Rob explained that women and men perceive the gardening differently - men would rather sell all the produce for cash immediately, while women would rather cook the produce for their families and give some to people in need in their communities before selling the surplus for cash.  As a result, adjacent gardens, which are exclusive to men or women, will compete with each other!

I was amazed at the energy these mamas have even in their golden years. The oldest Guguletu mama Gladys is 85 years old! Gladys has 13 children,22 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren. Dumbfounded, I ask her why no one my age is working in the garden, to which she replies “They are lazy and won’t work.” Rob adds, “They want to be like you, Grace, going places in your car with your cell phone.”

Here’s a video of Big Mama Regina brainstorming with us on how to stop the mole parades through the Guguletu garden.

Abalimi’s newest initiative is called Harvest of Hope. It is a social enterprise where buyers purchase contracts of certain crops. The gardens phone in their harvest inventory, and Abalimi acts a broker to find a buyer - usually an ethical cooperative or a LETS (Local Economic Trading Society). It reminds me of New York City’s community-supported agriculture program, Just Food.

Later that afternoon, Rob drove us through Khayelitsha township, which is one of the larger townships in Cape Town. I was surprised to find economic disparity even within a township. Housing ranged from shanties of corrugated metal sheets and slabs of wood to brightly colored houses with glass windows and gated entryways.

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Election season is in full swing, and today the spotlight is on the Potomac Primaries in Maryland, DC and Virginia.  Yesterday, Wired News published an article about the emergence of nonprofits as a vehicle for campaigning.  Today the Chronicle of Philanthropy published the transcript of a live chat that it sponsored about the effects this election will have on charities and how they can (if they want) play a role in the election.  The Chronicle’s guests included Kay Guinane, the director of nonprofit speech rights for OMB Watch in Washington, DC and Laurette Edelmann, assistant director of the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits.Says the Wired article:

…a new type of Web 2.0-enhanced nonprofit advocacy group is streamlining the process like never before, producing and distributing slick, effective videos in internet time.  Thanks to converging developments in campaign finance law, the improving technology of digital cameras and the rise of online social networking, voters’ inboxes this election season will be filled at strategic moments with forwarded web addresses for issue-oriented ads…

Brave New Films, the production company whose ads sparked the article, is a registered 501(c)4 - a “social welfare organization.”   These groups are allowed to participate in political campaigning, as long as that isn’t their primary objective.  Because political campaigning is not, theoretically, their main activity, they are not required to disclose their donor lists, unlike the the “issue advocacy” 527s, which were popular during the 2004 election.

In the Chronicle interview, Kay Guinane comments on the role played by 501(c)4 organizations in the election:

IRS rules do not limit how much lobbying 501(c)(4)s can do, but their electoral work cannot be their major purpose. (A nonprofit whose major purpose is to influence elections is tax exempt under Section 527 of the tax code.) The sticky question for 501(c)(4)s is how much electoral work they can do before it becomes their major purpose. The IRS has not cleary defined this. It is also important that the electoral work be related to the 501(c)(4) group’s overall mission.

 She also argues that it is important for nonprofits, even 501(c)3 organizations to get involved in the political process by educating voters, but there is still a danger of diluting the mission and becoming targets of political fundraising if they get too deeply involved.

So how involved is too involved?  Where should the line be drawn for 501(c)4 organizations that are flooding the airwaves with political ads?  Should a line be drawn?  Do nonprofits need to be more involved? Are unregulated 501(c)4 organizations setting a bad precedent for other nonprofits, including 501(c)3 organizations?

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Peter Brock, a student at Skidmore College produced this documentary, They Come in the Name of Helping.  It’s a different perspective on international philanthropy - mainly from the people who are supposed to benefit.  This came to my attention through Peter Deitz’s blog where he also posted a great interview with Peter Brock.  Click here or on the picture to watch the film.

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“We need to talk.  I feel like all I do is give and give and give, but never get anything in return.  I can’t keep this up.  I’m sorry…it’s over.”

Does that sound familiar?  Maybe you’ve used that line before.  Maybe you were just watching Sex and the City reruns last night.  Or maybe you were talking to your (formerly) favorite charity.

When people donate to an organization, they feel like they will forever be solicited by spam email and countless donation requests in their mailbox.  This can sometimes deter them from donating again, or even from making a donation in the first place.

I like to call my personal donation strategy, “People I Know and Places I Go.”

People I Know:

• New Spirit: I know founders Pat Sears and Barry Kingston and believe in the work they’re doing.
• Children’s Hospital Boston: Here, my connection is not with the Hospital, but my brother is running the Boston Marathon for the Hospital this year, so I choose to support them through him.

Places I Go:

• Church: Admittedly I’m not the most regular church-goer, but I put money in the basket every time I attend mass.
• Alma Maters: I give to both my