Nervous. Pessimistic. Frustrated. Worried. Scared. These are all words that describe what I was feeling just one month ago.
Blown Away. Humbled. Surprised. These are all words that describe how I feel today.
Why the drastic change, you ask? Well, it’s because within the past month (and actually, in less than a month), we overcame (and that is a drastic understatement of how we actually did it) what I perceived would be the hardest part of this entire project: Fund-Raising.
Although all the others aspects of the project are certainly no easy tasks in themselves (assembling a support team, micro-managing them, building a budget, designing a bridge, constructing it, networking with partner organizations, and procuring materials), Fundraising what I’ve been most nervous about. Money makes or break a project, and it really doesn’t matter how much effort I put into something if we don’t have money to implement my ideas. It was a lack of faith in my network, and certainly not a lack of faith in others. It was more so a worry about how far my network actually expanded. Did I know enough people who would be willing to donate? Would the current state of the economy allow people to be a little liberal with their donation? Maybe most importantly, would people have enough faith in me to think I could really pull this off?
Well, apparently they do.
It’s funny, I feel like a huge hypocrite. One of the hardest adjustments I’ve had to make in Mozambique is accepting how acceptable it is to straight up ask for money. Getting “pedir-ed” for money (“Hey you, white person; give me ten mets.” says every drunk man I pass, every single time I pass them) was something I struggled with during my first six months in-country, and even though I’ve developed a means of managing it now, it’s something I still loath. I’ve vented about it in my blog, complained to my fellow volunteers, whined to my family, and empathized with the authors of PC-related internet meme’s (INSERT MEME HERE). And now, here I am, shamelessly “pedir-ing” my friends and family in a similar fashion. Ha, I guess I’ve assimilated to culture here a little better than I thought.
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