Hey all, this is Desirée, Bola Moyo's former intern/office guru and current executive assistant. Bola Moyo is in the midst of an exciting summer, appropos for an exciting year. Since it's been nearly two months, I decided that I would take the bull by the horns, to let all our wonderful supporters in on the latest happenings.
Last you heard, La Crescenta Presbyterian Church had put on a fabulous benefit for Bola Moyo. Cara Pattison finished out her fundraising tour throughout California in early June, followed by a conference in Chicago for Jubilee USA, then a stop in Nebraska on the way back to Oregon.
In July we had our board retreat on the outskirts of Bend in eastern Oregon, which was quite eventful. We brought on new board members as well as a new Executive Director. Cara Pattison served as Bola Moyo's ED since its inception in November 2004 until July of this year, when Dustin Pattison took over the position. He is enthusiastic and invigorated to fill his new role, and as I work alongside him each day I grow more and more excited to see what he comes up with next.
And a little about me, to give you some context... I was Bola Moyo's intern from September 2006 through May 2007, and helped hold down the fort while Dustin and Cara were in Malawi from January through April of this year. BM's founders decided I was crazy enough that they would hire me for the summer to fill an entirely new position, that of Executive Assistant.
Thus far I have helped them move their office, created a new filing/organizational system, update their website, and am currently working on writing the latest e-newsletter (look for it sometime in August!), and a shiny new intern handbook. We're also stepping into the preliminary planning stages for our second annual fall event, which will take place again in early November.
I will (sadly!) be moving away from Portland in two weeks, to spend six months interning and teaching in rural coastal Kenya. During a 5-week break in December, I may be able to visit Dustin and Cara during their end-of-year trip to Malawi, since it will just be a hop-skip-and-a-jump-away... (well, at least relatively!) It would be wonderful to finally visit with the kids at the House of Many Stories Youth Centre after everything I have heard in the past 11 months.
Mainly, I cannot fully express to you all what an absolute honor it has been to volunteer and work with Bola Moyo this past year. Dustin and Cara Pattison are some of the most committed, dedicated, and vibrant people I have met in the African Community Development field (and no, they did not bribe me to type that! They don't even know I'm typing this at all right now...). The communications I've seen from the staff and the children at the House of Many Stories Youth Centre indicate a growing, vibrant community there in Balaka town. Bola Moyo's committment to grassroots community development is really paying off.
And I am so honored to have taken on the small role that I have, in this project which is so much greater than us all. Thanks to the Pattisons, to Bola Moyo's supporters, and to all the amazing children there in Balaka that have allowed me to be a part of it.
