Florence's School; Oh, No, Please Don't Ask Me for MORE Money.....

[Guest]

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[Jill]

BEWARE:  THIS IS GOING TO BE RIDICULOUSLY, BOTHERSOMELY LONG  and, what's worse,
FOLLOWING IS WHAT LOOKS LIKE YET BUT ANOTHER SOLICITATION FOR  MONEY. 
IF I WERE YOU, I WOULD JUST SKIP THIS POST, NOW, AND GO ON MY BLITHE, UNENCUMBERED WAY TO ANOTHER.
                                         The Pertinent Correspondence Is At the End of This Post.

           This is going to look like a money solicitation.  I hate money solicitations.  I hate them over the phone. I hate them at my door.  I hate them in the mail.  I hate them over the Internet.  And I'm particularly learning to be not real crazy about them when they come from KivaFriends. 
           
           When I said that this looks like a money solicitation, what I mean is, that for me, it really isn't-- well, I don't want it to be.  I didn't even want to post this for how much I don't like (MORE) solicitations, for how much, no matter how much I may or may not give in a particular year to no matter how many different individuals and organizations, it seems that I, still, always have to feel bad when I turn down this one or I say no, sorry, to that one.  I do not want to be, and have no intention of imposing those feelings on any of you.
           
            I was just going to go ahead and send what will end up being some relatively "small change" from me (I'm hoping it will feel like more over there) and let it go at that.  That's what I wanted, that's what I still want to do.  But then it occurred to me that this is not "about me" (like everything else is, right?), that even on the off chance that one or two others would want to contribute something, well, I should invite and welcome that, because anything more would be that much more for Florence and her school.
           
            In any event, you can blame Peter for this.  I sure am.  Had it not been for him, I might never have seen the blog post he alerted us to a couple of days ago.  Kiva Fellows Blogs, http://www.kivafriends.org/index.php/topic,1271.10.html, Reply # 10
I could be going off on my merry way, doing something else at 6 in the morning, Tuesday, December 18th, rather than this.  As it is, I have a whole lot of things to do, early this morning, which is why I got "officially" up this morning a lot earlier than usual.  I will come back and post more, later.

       Anyway, it was this Drew Kinder blog posting that got me.
http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2007/12/11/mikembe-youth-development-project/


         Let me leave you with this final note:

None of us, either individually, nor, even, we, as a group, are going to be able to "save the world."   What each of you has done, already, at least in connection with Kiva and KivaFriends, is ENOUGH.   You have absolutely no need to feel you have to make some kind of contribution, here, in order to prove something either to me, to any other KivaFriend or to yourself -- so far as your ultimate value as a human being goes.  I absolutely swear that my mind will not do even a whit of internal "measuring" or comparing on this.  As I said, if it were me reading this instead of writing it, I would have cut out of this post a long time ago.....
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     What happened was -- that after I read Peter's post of Kiva Fellow, Drew Kinder's blog posting,
I ended up posting the following comment, trying to reach Drew, the Kiva Fellow:
On Dec 18, 2007 3:41 AM, Jill wrote:
Hey, Drew,
       A Kiva lender, a KivaFriend, one of Florence's lenders, here.  A couple of things.
    Just wanted to tell you what a truly wonderful and affecting post this was of yours.
    A number of us openly expressed how really "blown away" we were by your writing, by your telling of this story.
         Related, I wrote Kiva.org, but perhaps you might be able to tell me, yourself,
    (and I saw that at least one other KivaFriend articulated the same reaction),
    absolutely No Guarantees about this part at all, but....
        if one or more of us were interested in trying to raise a bit of money for Florence K's school, would you, by chance, be able to help us so as to (pretty absolutely) ensure that the money, if raised, would, in fact, go directly to her and couldn't/wouldn't be at risk by disappearing elsewhere?
       Best regards... and much thanks.
    Continue to have a super rich time over there, and do keep us posted,
      Jill
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Subject:      Re: [Kiva Blogs from the Field] Comment: "Mirembe Youth Development Project"
From:      "Drew Kinder" <drewkinder@gmail.com>
Date:      Tue, December 18, 2007 1:36 am
To:      (My e-mail address)

Jill:  Thanks so much for your email.
To answer your question about handling money donated to Florence and her school, I would be pleased to do so, but as a civilian living temporarily in Uganda, not in my capacity as a Kiva Fellow.
I will be departing Uganda on Feb 20 to go back to Buffalo.
I have a local checking in Uganda at Barclays Bank.
My wife has wired US money to that account twice, so I know it can be done.
If you and your friends raise money for Florence and wish me to deliver it to her in the local currency (Uganda Shillings), I would be happy to provide you with wire transfer instructions to my account and then provide a receipt from Florence to confirm delivery of the donation.
I believe my blog accurately reflects my admiration for Florence and the good she is doing.  A little bit of cash will go a long way at her school, and I am sure it would be greatly appreciated.
God bless you,
Drew Kinder
PS:  I will be away on a mini Safari from Dec 24-30 and may not have internet access then.  I promise to get back to you as soon as possible.

[eliztravels]

Thanks for doing this, Jill.  I don't actually mind being asked for money if the person asking is doing it on behalf of someone/something in need. ("In need"  does not in my mind include sale of chocolate almonds to raise money for a children's dance studio or hockey team) I do hate asking myself, so good thing there are people like you who do, otherwise thousands of good causes would never get funded.  I almost always say yes if someone I know asks directly for something and in this case also,  I will give something in January when cash flow returns and you have worked out the details of how we go about it. 

Please post the link to the blog if you can. 

Season's blessing to you, eLiz

[Jill]

       Thanks for the kind expressions, eliztravels.  This link was actually (buried?) in my original post,
but here it is, again, hopefully, a little easier to find this time:

Drew Kinder Blog Posting About Florence's School:
http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2007/12/11/mikembe-youth-development-project/

[Jill]

         Okay.  I really, really, really am going.
Buuu- ut, before I do, I thought I'd post an excerpt from Drew's blog, in the face of which, I proved absolutely defenseless.

Florence founded Mirembe School in response to a 1996 study entitled “Why girls drop out of school and defilement of adolescent girls”. In the course of our interview, the term defilement was used to variously describe the rape of young girls by a brother, a father, and a teacher.

The goal of Mirembe School is to equip youth with developmental education for employment and life skills for survival. The students are almost exclusively girls from age 15-19 who have dropped out of school due to pregnancy and have been ostracized by their parents and family.

Florence and her small staff train the girls to be nursery school teachers, tailors, craft makers, or elementary school teachers (if they have enough formal education). In Uganda, nursery school teachers are given lodging and allowed to bring their children to school, which is an important benefit for these destitute young mothers.

Her belief is that no youth is a failure. She provides counseling as well as training. She promotes sexual abstinence to reduce pre-marital sex, unwanted pregnancy and abortion. Students are given information to reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted disease. Florence works hard to restore their spiritual and traditional values.

Florence will not reject a young girl, no matter what her ability to pay.

          You get the picture, right?

     
       All that said, I reiterate:  No NO Pressure.
                                         They'll get by without you.

[Jill]

       I lied.   I do that sometimes.  So, you're on notice.
Anyway, I didn't go quite yet.  On my way out, I decided I would google the name, "Mirembe" , the name of Florence's school, to see if I could find it and to see if it meant anything special.   Following is what I found.

MIREMBE
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Eastern African

Means "peace" in Luganda.
http://www.behindthename.com/name/mirembe
                                                                                             Hmmmm-mm.

[Peter S]

. . . In any event, you can blame Peter for this.  I sure am.  Had it not been for him, I might never have seen the blog post he alerted us to a couple of days ago. . . .

As this is all my fault, I suppose I'd better chip in with some $$.  That'll teach me to keep my trap shut...

Seriously......    I think this is an excellent idea, and I'd be happy to join in.  One thing that occurs to me, it would perhaps be nice to get the school something they need but couldn't otherwise afford?  Or textbooks. Or ??. Anyway, earmark the money for some specific purpose, rather than just a general contribution to funds? 

[KivanSteven]

Thanks for being as direct as you are Jill...I was hoping that donating to her would be a possibility.  See how far a simple email goes?  Im not sure if I missed it in your posts, but how do we go about gathering funds...if I were to contribute who would I send my contribution to?  Thanks Jill.

[Jill]

        THE COLLECTION PLAN FOR ACCEPTING AND ACCRUING CONTRIBUTIONS FOR FLORENCE'S SCHOOL:

          I'll be working on it, you guys.  Any suggestions, like Peter's about maybe or maybe not purchasing something specific or earmarking the collected funds for some specific purpose, will be happily entertained.  It all needs thinking, discussing, and planning.
         
          It was only just yesterday morning that I received that first (and so far, only) correspondence from the Kiva Fellow,
Drew Kinder.  He said he'll be in Uganda until February 20th, so we have enough time where we can all take a few breaths during the holidays and then, perhaps, focus more attention on this, after.
         
          I will keep you posted as to any new information that I might receive, and in the meantime,
I really would welcome any comments, ideas, and/or offers to contribute or participate in the planning and collection.
Whatever amount we're able to collect-- what a sweet, happy, and unexpected KivaFriend embrace it will be
for Florence and her girls.
       

[KivanSteven]

This sounds wonderful everyone.  Imagine the surprise on her face when she realizes the additional benefits her school and the students can receive because of what might be a completely unexpected gift...imagine how cared for she might feel from complete strangers, and how much more her mission will find motivation and diligence to further succeed.

Jill it seems the obvious thing to do would be for someone on KF to be a designated receiver of contributed funds...this person could then wire the money to our Kiva Fellow, Drew, in Uganda.  Would we use paypal for this?  Small price to pay for the ease and simplicity of gathering the funds in a single place.

It would be great if Drew Kinder could present her with the money and inform us of her feelings and response, along with a picture or two, and information relating to what she feels her greatest needs are at the school and might then put the funds towards (whether we designate certain portions of the money or not).

Definitely keep us posted Jill.

[DianeCharlie]

Folks, Jill and I have been in touch, and since I already have the mechanisms in place from the Mama Mark Fund to do this sort of thing (collect via paypal, transfer to bank, arrange fee-free international wire) it would make sense for me to be involved.  (No sense in setting all those pieces up all over again.)  However, given the pressures of the holidays and other events, it will have to wait until early January to come to fruition. 

So in the meantime, please continue to brainstorm here and do not lose momentum and enthusiasm!  Does that sound OK with everyone?

--Diane the slightly overwhelmed....