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,\u00a0Ktunaxa Kinbasket,Tradeworks & Edible Garden. It was an inspiring and edifying night.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
However, why Rwanda? Why should we care about the activities of charities so far away? Don’t we have enough to do right here?<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
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’\u00a0<\/span>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.<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n