Create Connection

Back in 2004, when I just began reporting on AIDS in Uganda, I became fascinated with one question:

How do you get AIDS drugs from companies to patients?

Though I spent eight months researching the answer, to this day, I'm not really sure if I covered all the steps--between the pricing schemes and the different channels of distribution, it became quite convoluted.

But there's a similar sort of issue, though it may take even longer to figure out, for i.HUG: How do you get donors from the US, UK, etc, to connect with disadvantaged children in Kabalagala? How do you translate a set of circumstances there, for here, so that people understand the need, and really understand how their money is being used? I'm posting this picture because, at least for me, it provides that visual of time and place, and helps me to focus on what we're trying to do.

In any case, we are on our way to making that happen--at least, the first part about spreading awareness. This past week, i.HUG attended a dinner/salon to speak about our work (with all sorts of fascinating people doing work in Africa), turned around on a dime to put together a proposal for our first potential corporate donor (keep your fingers crossed), and held a successful fundraising event (bash on the rooftop with delicious food donated by Chip, Anika, Stephen, and Alexis, soundscapes provided by Ollie, Sinton, and Adam).

It felt like a complete whirlwind, but at the end of it, aside from many hours of cleaning the floor yesterday, is a stack of cash and a lot of contacts. It feels like it's happening so fast, and the main challenge is to keep pulling, pulling, pulling Paddy and Ronald, our Ugandan partners who also sit on the board of directors, into everything we do so that we really are working together, and toward a super-efficient model that people in Kabalagala will eventually call their own.

So, I suppose it's okay that I'm a bit sleepy this Tuesday morning going back to work....