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Yesterday was Social Enterprise day in BC and I attended with many others the day of learning offered by Enterprising Non Profits and the celebration and awards offered to Social Enterprise heros, Ktunaxa Kinbasket,Tradeworks & Edible Garden. It was an inspiring and edifying night.

I confirmed once again for myself that the attention we pay at ConnieHubbs.com to social enterprise as a component of revenue generation for non profits and charities is warranted.

However, why Rwanda? Why should we care about the activities of charities so far away? Don’t we have enough to do right here?

I won’t lecture you, dear reader on global responsibility and how small a planet we have after all. I know you have heard it all before and that likely you are doing your best to be a good citizen of the world.

However, I will address the issue of why it matters for our practice. This was one of the key takeaways for me when I first heard Umeeda Switlo present her case study in Toronto last November.

If the projects she put in place could work in a challenged setting like Rwanda which endures entrenched poverty as well as the terrible legacy of the 1994 genocidal massacre, what could we accomplish here in North America?

I first read about the genocide in Rwanda in the book, ‘We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda’ by Philip Gourevitch. Later I read ‘Shake Hands with the Devil’ by Romeo Dallaire. Both are searing, hard to read but in their way a neccesary part of our education on what can happen and how it happens. I also know that physically, Rwanda is very beautiful and the protected area for Rwandan gorillas is in my bucket list.

With all that in mind, hearing what can be done to repurpose funding efforts of disability charites in that context is compelling. There is much to be learned here.

Tune in April 4 for ‘Social Enterprise in Rwanda: Crating Sustaninabilty’