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  • From: "Bill Geschwind" <geschwin AT email.unc.edu>
  • To: "'Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/'" <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [internetworkers] orphanage project
  • Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2007 19:44:23 +0100

As some of you who knew me personally may remember, last year I resigned my position at UNC to accept an offer to join the Foreign Service. After my initial training I found myself posted to Cotonou in the West-African nation of Benin for my first two-year tour of duty, and I have been living here since early January.

 

Before arriving here I was warned that the level of poverty that I will witness at times can be rather overwhelming and that I would need to resist the urge to try to personally “fix Africa” or to give money to any beggar who would ask for a handout. There are plenty of shady characters here who will take advantage of your feelings of charity and pose as beggars, only to turn around and spend your money on things like drugs and hookers. I have no sympathy for those types, however there are plenty of people here in genuine need and one is still left with the desire to do **something** to help.

 

Now, rather than blindly jumping on the first project that I would come across, I wanted to make sure that any efforts of mine would make a tangible and lasting difference. Shortly after I got here I found that I wasn’t alone in this sentiment and it turns out that a colleague of mine who arrived here several months before I did has already organized a project with an orphanage in the town of Abomey, about a three hours drive from here. This colleague of mine, the Embassy’s GSO (General Services Officer – in essence a facilities manager) organized a team of volunteers, performed a comprehensive needs analysis, and set up a project schedule to refurbish the facilities of this orphanage. The project team has even set up a web site describing the project:

 

http://abomeyorphanageproject.org/

 

Even though this web site is still a work in progress, please do take a look at it to see the desperate conditions in which these orphans are living. The word inadequate doesn’t even begin to describe the condition of the facilities!

 

To move forward with this project we have now reached the fundraising stage. I’m not going to ask you to personally donate money, although if you would like to I’m sure you won’t be turned down, however if you belong to a church, civic or other group that is looking for a fundraising project or if you have any connections to a business, corporation or maybe an alumni association that is looking for a charitable cause, I would very much appreciate it if you could bring our project to their attention.

 

Please note that this is not an official US Government, State Department or embassy project, but rather embassy employees donating their spare time, effort and expertise towards this cause. Also, not being a tax consultant, I cannot make any representations regarding any donations to this cause being tax-exempt.

 

Thanks for taking a look,

Bill




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