Cass Business School Volunteers 2011!

Last year, Cass Business School paid for two students and one member of staff to travel to Ethiopia and to teach at the summer school. They taught classes, practiced conversational English with the older ones, played endless football matches with the kids and then took some time to explore the rest of the country. They also fundraised for Hanna’s Orphanage, raising over £6,000 for us which has already been sent over. They were really great volunteers – and what’s even better is the fact that they’re still fundraising and still involved!

This year Cass is paying for two students and two members of staff to take the trip to Ethiopia. A few of us went and delivered a talk at Cass, and invited everyone to apply. We whittled down the huge number of applications forms to the shortlist, and Hannah (not the Hanna ... but someone equally important who helps me with interviews and selecting the volunteers!) and I spent two evenings interviewing people before Christmas. We’ve made our final decision, and last week we got together with all four volunteers for the first time to start making plans for the trip.

I always love introducing people to Ethiopia, so it’s great that I have four new people to tell! We started to explore the logistics and what they would actually be doing once there, the preparations they need to make before leaving, but also about the country and the orphanage history and about how beautiful Ethiopia is. I know it’s not often on the top of people’s lists of places to visit, but – as I keep telling everyone - I am determined to change that!

Of course, the great thing this time is that we have a good 6 months before the volunteers (and I!) go, so we’ve got much longer to fundraise and prepare than last year. It means we can raise more money, get even more people involved, and also spend a lot longer planning lessons and activities to do with the students.

I always said that I wouldn’t send volunteers to Ethiopia, that we didn’t have the capacity to support them or organise it properly, and that there were ethical issues surrounding it. In fact, fairly recently, there’s been a lot written in the press about the harm that volunteering overseas can do, particularly short term volunteering, and how it’s so often about the volunteer getting the benefit, not the people it’s supposed to be helping. Here’s one of the articles: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/14/orphans-cambodia-aids-holidays-madonna?INTCMP=SRCH

I agree with a lot of the concerns raised in the article and I did see quite a few volunteers who caused more harm than good, in my opinion. The trustees of Hanna’s Orphanage thought long and hard about sending volunteers to Ethiopia, and we’d actually just turned down another partnership because although it probably would have brought in some money, the volunteering wasn’t what the orphanage needed (I did ask them – I’m not just assuming). We ended up directing them to another charity which could use what they were offering.

We decided to welcome the partnership with Cass because we felt we had the capacity and expertise to support the volunteers by that point, and because they are fulfilling a specific need – teaching at the summer school. It’s not displacing any local teachers or paid staff: the summer school is taught by local teachers, university students and even children who grew up at the orphanage and have now moved on. The classes our volunteers provide are ‘add-ons’ – a different way of teaching, practice speaking English with fluent English speakers, and resources and information the students wouldn’t normally have access to. The feedback from the students and the orphanage staff last year was that the ‘active teaching’ the volunteers provided (games, songs, debates, arts, drama etc) was the most valuable part of their visit.

We also make sure that there is absolutely no cost to the orphanage and that we ask as little of their time as possible (just enough to arrange the class times and tell us what they want us to focus on, really – we do the rest). We also leave as much knowledge, materials and resources as we can, so that it’s as sustainable as possible. Cass are really supportive of all this as well.

It’s not perfect, I’m sure – and I do get the occasional email pointing this out! – but we have thought really hard about the pros and cons of doing it, and from what we can see, it’s been of huge value to the orphanage and to us. We will continue to monitor and evaluate it, of course (note to self: this year, plan resources for a slightly bigger age range this time, so we’re not caught on the hop like last year ...!)

But in the meantime, we’re focussed on making plans with the new volunteers! In a few weeks we’re going for a meal to introduce them to Ethiopian food, and they’re all setting up their justgiving pages. Let the fundraising commence!!

Being a signpost!

It amazes me that, although our friends and family often make up the core supporters of Hanna's Orphanage, we get lots of people contacting us out of the blue who have heard of us from a friend or have found us via this blog or our website.

This week we were contacted by a film production company! They are looking for stories of girls who have turned their life around and are becoming vital and active parts of their communities. Obviously we don't run the orphanage on a day to day basis and so don't have as much knowledge about the children as Hanna does, but I know I can think of at least two young women off of the top of my head who are achieving great things despite serious hardships in their lives.

In fact, nearly all the girls in the orphanage are incredibly articulate, conscientious, intelligent, self possessed and ambitious. They work hard in their studies and have strong opinions on all aspects of life and their country, from the role of women in society, to job prospects, the economy and the latest changes to the law! Some of them are now starting to go on to further education and I have absolutely no doubt that they will achieve what they want to. They impress every single visitor we take to the orphanage!

The girls' attitude and success is hugely down to how nurturing and well run the orphanage is. Hanna and her staff make sure that the children have the same opportunities as everyone else (hopefully helped by our financial support), and they have very high aspirations for them. They teach them to believe they are capable of being anything they want to be. There are limitations of reality, we all know that, but they are encouraged and supported to aim high. I think this makes such a difference.

So I hope the production company will find some inspiring girls at the orphanage. Of course, the individual stories of the children are not mine to tell (I've learnt this the hard way!), so I have offered to put the production company in touch with Hanna.

A little part of me does think 'well, I hope they mention us! We could do with the publicity!'. But, actually, what's the point of us, unless to help the orphanage? If we put the production company in touch with the orphanage, they do a great short film about them and people donate to the orphanage and get involved directly, well, that's what we want, right? Does it matter if we aren't mentioned or 'funnel' the donations? Absolutely not!


I'm ashamed to say sometimes my ego forgets this. Sometimes I get so caught up in trying to raise the profile of Hanna's Orphanage, of encouraging people to donate, of trying to get people involved and to fundraise, I forget that our job is to be a 'signpost' to the orphanage. It doesn't matter if you never remember our name, really, just as long as the orphanage benefits. I forget that, really, if we do our job properly, we should pretty much become obsolete!

I'll keep you updated on the film :-)

Happy Christmas and New Year from all at Hanna’s Orphanage! We’ve all been enjoying time with our families over the break, but we’re back and ready to look at the exciting things that are going to be happening in 2011!

2010 was a great year for Hanna’s Orphanage, not least in our partnerships with Cass Business School. Last year’s Cass Business School volunteers - Charleane, Donal and Michael – taught at the summer school for two weeks in August and spent a huge amount of time and effort in the UK raising money and awareness. They raised around £6500 between them and introduced Hanna’s Orphanage to a whole new group of people! Supported by everyone at Cass Business School, they held events throughout the year, from raffles to concerts, and found ways to help Hanna’s Orphanage whenever they could.

They weren’t the only people fundraising for Hanna’s Orphanage this year. There have been cake stalls in Suffolk (thanks Sandra, Anne-marie and Beryl!), busking outside supermarkets (thanks Danyele and all her music buddies), people jumping out of aeroplanes (thanks Anthony, Danyele and Amie!), and music gigs in London (thanks Maria, Football Action, Smoke Feathers, Looks Like Rain, and Front Covers!). We’ve even had people who have asked their wedding guests to donate to Hanna’s Orphanage instead of giving them wedding gifts (thanks David and Anne-marie)! So many people have given up their time and energy to help us fundraise, and we are incredibly grateful to all of them.

We’ve also been blessed to have received donations that have – for us – come completely out of the blue. These are from people who have come across us through the Charities Aid Foundation (http://www.cafonline.org/) or have researched various charities to donate to, and have decided on us. Others have been from word of mouth, through people who are really impressed with what we’re doing. It’s really great that more and more people are hearing about us and are liking what we do!

The annual report and the accounts should be available for people to see by the end of January, but as a general picture, the money you have raised this year has been spent on:

House rent for the Addis Ababa branch of the orphanage
Food for the children
Refurbishing the kitchen in the Addis Ababa orphanage
House rent for Wolita House (South Ethiopia)
Household expenses for Wolita House (South Ethiopia)
Part salaries for 2 Project Workers
Annual ‘registration fee’ that children must pay to start school in Addis Ababa
Materials for clubs and recreations during the summer and weekends

In terms of where the money goes, we try to be as transparent as we possibly can. We aim to be able to tell you exactly where your donation has gone, whether it was £10 or £1000! We also want to make sure that your donation reaches the people you want it to. We all see money being wasted in our day to day life, and I’m really, really passionate about making sure that doesn’t happen. The maximum amount of money we raise goes straight to the orphanage.

So thank you again for all your hard work! It’s been a really brilliant year and we’ve more than doubled the amount we sent to Hanna Orphans’ Home last year!

I’ll post about the exciting plans for 2011 – and how you can get involved! – in a few days!