Monday 14th April - House Parent Sponsorship

Monday the 14th of April
Today was an Internal Management meeting. My task of the meeting was to make notes on the financial crisis and to write a document to be presented to the board and to Amaudo UK. I will not go into detail but I came away from the meeting with a very heavy heart.

When I got back to my house I was determined to work out my idea of House Parent Sponsorship. I want it to act as a means of getting funds that will be secured to pay for everything the residents need such as maintenance to their rooms, all their soap, toilet tissue, bags for holding clothing and other such things. (For details please see Tuesday 8th April blog entry on House Parent training day). This way work will never be delayed if a leek appears or if bed bugs appear because they know that there is regular money coming in. This means it is safe to do the work and you will never end up choosing between fixing a leek and buying rice for dinner or fuel for the vehicles. Another good thing about the fund will be that it will free up the donations that were previously used for the soap and sanitary equipment and let them be moved to other places such as money for the farm or money to go towards other income generation proposals.

I spent the afternoon writing up the document about the worst case scenario budgeting strategy. It is grim stuff with impress being cut in half or more than half. Unless monthly money can be secured fast then Amaudo is in for rough times facing drastic impairment of their vital work. I am feeling very angry that the government has not kept their promise of fixing the Itumbauzo road that leads up to Amaudo. Every time I rock and roll down my way down the road, driving sometimes at a 47 degree angle, I feel cross that the promise has not yet been fulfilled. Now the rainy season is coming there is more sand and more damage to the road. Soon we will be getting stuck in the mud.

I felt very heavy this evening and wanted to disappear. I am getting fed up of being noticed so much for being white. I do not even like my skin colour it is too pale and all kinds of insects come to cover it in bites of different shapes and sizes. I tried to go for a walk in the dark up to the junction and back just so I could use my leg muscles but security stopped me and took me back to the centre. They said I had to have the permission of Cecil to be allowed out!? Talking to Cecil did actually do me a lot more good than stomping about in the dark would have done so I guess I am grateful.