Yesterday afternoon we taught week 10 of the business training course and lesson 10 of the mentoring curriculum. At the end of class Andrew and I told those who had decided to participate in the mentoring program who they were going to be mentored by, and in most cases, who they would in-turn be mentoring. It went great! The matching process (which we did on Monday and Tuesday) had gone smoothly and gave us some great connections.
I told them we would at that point be providing them with time to have their first mentoring meetings. I handed out meeting schedules which goes through some introductory exercises and is intended to get each partner up to speed on the other's personal and business background. Most importantly it encourages them to talk about which area of the entrepreneur's business the mentor would be helping in, and asks each entrepreneur to write down two or three SMART goals for the mentoring relationship.
I handed out the schedules, asked them to find a spot in the room to meet, and ran upstairs to grab my camera so I could capture the images of their first meetings.
Four minutes later I returned to find the room empty; everyone was gone, including my colleagues who were confused when I asked them where everyone had gone. The daily struggles to achieve what we hope would be simple tasks can be a drain on one's energies, but there's no point in getting worked up over them.
Instead I snapped this picture of the illustration I had drawn on the blackboard to demonstrate to everyone how we had done the matching. I thought it was a pretty clever way of showing visually what was going to be happening. Next week Wednesday we WILL be having our first mentoring meetings and I'll be sure to bring my camera along at the beginning of class.
This morning I finalized my return plans. Some of you are aware that two days ago my travel agent informed me for the first time ever that I was not able to extend my return flight past the six month mark of when I left GR on November 16, which means I would have to leave Monrovia THIS Saturday to make it home on time!
After being told there was no chance of appeal, and that a new ticket would cost me $1,400 Renita helpfully suggested I go to the Delta office here in Monrovia. There I met Weatta who became my hero-of-the-week when she, for a fee, was able to push my flight back. I still need to book my flight from Monrovia to Accra, where I will spend a day or two sharing mentoring program best practices with the Hopeline Institute, but I will leave from there on Friday June 10 and arrive back in Grand Rapids on Saturday, June 11 at 10:39 AM EST. Yup, 30 days from today.
I'm sure you saw this coming, but I need to raise the funds for my ticket from Monrovia to Accra ($400), for the fee to extend my flight ($400), and for the expenses that I will accrue for the month of May and first week of June ($600 or so).
With only 30 days until I return, I'm sincerely asking each of you to consider donating a portion of the estimated $1,400 or so that it will take to bring me home. Once I get back to GR it will be considerably more difficult to raise funds, and I will be required to qualify my revenue and expenses for the last seven months.
Please consider making a tax deductible donation online at PartnersWorldwide.org. To get directly to the donor page go to:
Just be sure to click on the -choose a type- box and select "people" and then click on the -choose a program- box and select "Derek Hoogland (Liberia)". Thank you!
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