LEAD's Research Farm Helps Northern Liberian Farmers

Hi folks,

This blog is beginning to look like all the other blogs of folks who go overseas, need to fundraise or just want to share pics with friends and family back home, and then gets abandoned once they get back. I hope to keep updating, but so far its clearly not been going so well.

In any case, I hope to do a better job in the future but in the meantime I want to share an opportunity with you. As you know, I was an intern in Liberia through Partners Worldwide with a local non-profit called Liberia Entrepreneurial and Asset Development, In the Name of Christ (LEAD, Inc). One part of LEAD's work these days is developing a research farm in Nimba County where 1) the viability of new crops and animals can can be tested and 2) improved methods for growing existing plants and animals already in the local economy can be experimented.

Liberian farmers can visit the farm, attend classes and even live there for short periods so that they can gain an understanding of these new concepts in a risk-free environment. You see, profit margins in the agricultural sector are so narrow that a failed crop would likely mean bankruptcy, so farmers are understandably averse to trying experimental methods on the crops and animals that they will need to sustain them for the coming months.

The research farm was built on 25 acres donated by a Liberian farmer and it already has a small pig barn and is growing a variety of crops. So far LEAD has trained 100 farmers but the it needs some basic items in order to train more farmers and to demonstrate other methods.

That's where you come in. We presented this as a year-end fundraiser to our networks and did well - big thanks to everyone who donated! - but we're still a little ways from our goal so I present it to you, my readers. We need people to help donate the remaining items needed; specifically grasscutters and beehives but also some other items.

Take a look at the current needs and see where you feel passionate and equipped to contribute. If none of those things call out to you, consider a contribution of any amount to the capital fund which will go toward a training center and dormitory, barns, farm tools, pickup truck, solar system, and a well.

Please take a moment to make a quick and easy donation with a credit card on our secure online giving page.

All the best,
Derek

FULL DISCLOSURE: If you donate a 'bee hive', the LEAD staff will straight-up be using that 50 bucks (minus a 5% Partners Worldwide admin fee) to go down the road and buy an actual bee hive. This is not child sponsorship, that bee hive is not 'representative' of a community being helped, and its not going to some operational budget; its a pig, bee hive, drip irrigation kit, etc. on a research farm in Northern Liberia that the LEAD staff will be using to teach farmers how to do it themselves. Now, if suddenly 30 bee hives get donated, but no grasscutters LEAD will use the money to buy as many pigs as are needed, and the extra for grasscutters or whatever is needed most.

Canadians: Make your gift tax-deductible by using online form to calculate your gift amount and then go toCanadaHelps.org. Search for 'Partners Worldwide Canada' and click 'DONATE NOW'. Type 'LEAD Gift Catalog' in the text box and click 'CONTINUE'. You can create an account to pay with credit card or simply use your PayPal account. Email Renita at renitar"at"partnersworldwide.org to indicate how you would like to designate your gift from the catalog items. (If you're not worried about the tax-receipt, no problem: just use your Visa or Master Card on the regularsecure online giving page.)

Who's Will Be the Next President?

Want to read a great rundown of the current political situation in Liberia? Here's very well written, and balanced, article.

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/22/139845242/foreign-policy-is-liberias-future-in-her-hands

Referendum Day

http://allafrica.com/stories/201108222252.html

Today Liberians vote on 4 important issues:

Should the residency requirement for presidential and vice-presidential candidates be decreased from 10 to 5 years?

Should the date of the national elections be moved from October to November?

Should the retirement age for Supreme Court justices be moved from 70 to 75?

Should runoff elections in municipal and legislative elections be stopped (meaning someone could win without having won 50+% of the vote, but it would also be less expensive)?

Interesting issues, and to top it off, apparently there has been an error on the ballot where Liberians will vote for the retirement age: it says should be it be "75 or 75". The ballots were printed in Denmark, and it was too late to correct the mistake.

An interesting day. Let hope for a peaceful and smooth day of voting.

BTW, I'm totes still alive and kickin'. Update soon.

Peace, Derek

My First Day!

Today is my first day at the Partners home office. I've accepted a 12 month contractual position here to help prepare for an upcoming Partnership Summit, implement some new fundraising initiatives, help with the onboarding process of new members of the Partners Worldwide network, and expand the work I did on LEAD's mentoring program by researching other mentoring methods, inquiring with Partners other affiliates around the world to see what inputs are needed, and then develop a transplantable model that can be taught to organizations similar to LEAD all around the world.

Seeing as this is my first day, I should probably not spend too much time on the blog, but given that its been almost four weeks since my last post, I wanted to assure you that I did make it back safe and sound. There are TONS of updates for you on the way, but in the meantime you can check out yours truly enjoying his new desk.

All the best, Derek

Last Full Day in Monrovia

I still remember tearing up a bit on takeoff from Gerald R. Ford airport in Grand Rapids to come to Liberia almost two years ago. Tomorrow morning I'll fly out of James Spriggs Payne here in Monrovia and I just hope I don't embarrass myself. Its been a long ride, but even the best ones can have an end-date.

Last weekend a massive group of us went out on the barge and I got to say a lot of goodbyes. Yesterday the LEAD staff went out on it too, and we had a great time. Photos to come soon.

This was going to be a longer blog post, but I have a lot to do yet today. I'm packing up now, trying to sell my surfboard, I need to get a new battery for the LEAD jeep, the business training class that we have been launching the mentoring program with graduates this afternoon, then I run a few more errands, meet up with friends for sushi, finish packing, go to sleep and then head for the airport in the morning.

Tomorrow night I'm going to be staying in Accra. I'll be sharing some mentoring program best practices with the Hopeline Institute there and meeting up with some friends. Tomorrow night I hop on a place for Atlanta, Cincinnati and then on to Grand Rapids. It will be a busy and exciting (and stressful) few days, but I'm eager to get back.

All the best, Derek

New Layout..

Blogger seems to have been struggling lately. First it deleted posts from the previous few days, and then it somehow deleted my header photo. I couldn't fix it, so I thought a little change is always good. The new photo is one I took of the Freeport of Monrovia last fall when a few of us took a chopper tour of the capital.

Yesterday I went to my last LEAD Board meeting (and took a photo). Much thanks to all of them for their dedication to the work of LEAD. With only 23 days until I leave and 25 days until I get home I'm starting to have my 'lasts'. Tonight will be my last burrito night with friends, at some point I'll have my last surf, maybe I'll have another last road trip, a last barge cruise, a last day of work, and a goodbye to friends. I'm starting to feel a bit nostalgic, but I'm eager to get home too.

I Wanna Come Home!!!

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:

https://secure3.convio.net/pw/site/Donation2?df_id=1381&1381.donation=form1

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!