Background
It started about two years ago, when Azadeh and I made a decision to donate our skills, education, experiences and, most importantly, our time to be of service to people in need. We started networking during a Baha’i Social and Economic Development conference in Orlando, Florida in December 2007.
Azadeh and I specifically looked for an opportunity that allowed us to work together (at the same place), but utilize our respective backgrounds of law and finance & strategy. PCI seemed to be able to offer us just that. Soon after our initial contact, we made up our mind. It was tough to agree to the terms of not getting a single dime for anything – no relocation, no housing,… What was even tougher than not getting any financial support, was to forego our steady paychecks. Azadeh gave up her job as a (fourth year) IP attorney at a major IP firm, and I gave up my job as a director of finance.
Project Concern International - PCI
Project Concern International's mission is to prevent disease, improve community health, and promote sustainable development.
The following is my “personal view”: I consider PCI to be similar to a venture capitalist – with the major difference of not looking for financial ROI. From what I see, PCI invests donors’ money (main donor is the US Government) in local “partner organizations”, that in turn work directly with the final beneficiaries. While investing in these partners, PCI tries to help them become independent (of PCI and the funds they offer). The idea is to identify good partners, help them operate properly, build their capacity and encourage them to become independent, so PCI can move on to help other potential partners.
Here in Zambia, PCI is split into three major projects:
- Belong –Works mainly with schools and programs that help orphans and other vulnerable children (OVCs)
- Africa KidSAFE (AKS) – Mainly works with partners that work with street children
- Department of Defense (DoD) – Mainly works with the department of defense – I found it a little “interesting” that PCI works with the Zambian Defense Force, but it turns out that members of ZDF have a very significant rate of HIV/AIDS.
Are you getting used to acronyms yet? PCI, OVCs, AKS, DOD, ZDF,… I feel like I’m learning a foreign language…
Our Roles
Azadeh works for PCI’s Regional Office, which oversees operations in several African countries, and I work on the finance team of PCI Zambia.
The main project both of us are currently working on is called I-Star. We are customizing a capacity building program that will help partners increase their capacities in several fields.
In addition, Azadeh is mainly involved with projects about children’s rights and women’s rights, and I am mainly involved with monitoring and improving partners’ financial management. I also help out the local finance and management teams where/when possible, but I consider myself to be a “Partner Consultant.”
The Beneficiaries
Every partner visit is a truly humbling and rewarding experience. It is amazing to see kids that posses almost nothing in a material sense, smile, be happy and be “kids”. Of course, from their point of view, they live “normal” lives, because many of them don’t know any other lifestyle. It’s me that is “different”, because I have seen kids live “different” lives – kids that play x-box live, kids that (over)eat junk food, kids that live in mansions,… Here the kids seem perfectly happy playing football (“soccer”) and basketball with bare feet and on dirt grounds with round objects that barely resemble balls. My most memorable scene is watching two boys (they must have been about 5) play football using bottle tops as players, cut plastic bottles as goals, and a piece of (inedible) fruit as a ball. They were having a very good time playing and commentating on their game. With respect to food, these kids often get (up to) one hot meal per day, and are happy to get a (as in one) piece of chicken/meat every now and then.
Although the paragraph above may make you think of these kids living in poverty and in poor conditions, let’s keep in mind that the kids I see are the “lucky” kids that have someone caring about them, and looking after them, whether it is in the form of housing, education, social wellbeing or health. There are many, many kids that are much worse off.
As a semi-related side note, there are three types of schools here – community, government and private. Many kids cannot afford the estimated $10 or less per semester that it takes to attend community schools. Don’t be surprised if one of these days you get an email from me asking for your support in raising funds to enable some children to go to school!
All things considered, I am happy about coming to Zambia! I feel that I am sacrificing considerably from a material perspective (which is the main downside about being here, but in a way I think that is healthy too), but more importantly, I feel that I am making a very small difference in the world, and I am certainly learning a lot. I have made new friends, I am experiencing a new culture, and I am learning valuable lessons.... and I won’t panic if I won’t have running water or electricity 24/7.
It's great to see that you are willing to sacrifice paychecks to do this, but I think that when we do things for others with genuine intention and without the expectation of future material return, the ultimate experience and process of learning will help you take on anything that comes your way. When times get tough simply remember why you are there-as you have said, to make a difference in the world. Keep up the blog, we are all learning with you guys.
ReplyDelete