Something To Do

Hello Friends

Most of our staff team is out in the field at the moment. Some are as far away as Tanzania and others are in South Africa's Northern Cape and Western Cape. Hopefully we will have some riveting and inspiring "Stories from the Field" to share with you on their return...

In the meantime, those of us who were here today attended our usual Monday Morning Meeting. It was in this meeting that we opened a space to share our feelings and experiences of the Xenophobia that is sweeping through our country.

Sadness, shock, humiliation, and disbelief were some of the common feelings shared. However, after writing down three things that we complained about in our lives last week that we thought were impossible situations and compared them to three things that are happening on a global scale today that could be complained about - like famine, war, global warming, etc. - our own problems seemed almost trivial.

We took inspiration from a quote by Theodore Roosevelt: "Do what you can, with what you have where you are."

After thinking about what we CAN do, with what we have where we are, we found that EVEN global issues can be tackled bit by bit - by doing OUR BIT! Hope lies in our action.

We each wrote down three things that we believe is in our power to do, that could create a small change for the better. This list of actions is now up on our noticeboard as a challenge to our staff team to act. We hope to be ticking the actions off one by one within the next month.

Our challenge to you is to do the same. Think about what you can do with what you have where you are to help make a difference - AND THEN DO IT!

Let's make a difference together...

The Educo Africa Team

The New Look Staff Team Photo 2008

Hello Friends

This is the FIRST official staff photo with the new LOGO! Snazzy, huh? It took us a while to arrange ourselves in an orderly fashion (the boo boo photos are hilarious!).

You may spot some new faces and miss some old familiar ones. Firstly, Nox (Nokuzola Mnyani) is still deeply missed and fondly remembered by all of us. We can't think about her without a smile appearing on our faces because Nox brought laughter into our lives. It is how she will always be remembered.

Some other staff members (after many, many, many years of dedicated service) have taken steps to further their dreams and live with passion. Coleridge Daniels, Cindy Jansen and Alistar Harris have all stepped from being staff members to becoming Friends of Educo Africa, although are still available for us to call on. Once you know Educo Africa, it becomes a part of you, and you never REALLY leave!

The NEW faces belong to Alex Eppel, Khaya Baba, Marlene Whitehead and Alison Lee. We are delighted by the wonderful new energy that they bring with them, and how they have embraced the Spirit of Educo. Better introductions to the newbies will be posted here in the future so you will get a chance to "meet" them too.

So many exciting things are happening out in the field as we speak, and hopefully the Educo Africa programme staff will share some of their stories with you on this blog once they get back to the office. (It's way too quiet in here when they are out there!)

In the meantime, here is something to think about... "Don't live your life for tomorrow at the expense of today" - Anita Williams (Educo Africa, Bookkeeper)

Take care

The Educo Africa Team