A Wild Ride

It has been a total rollercoaster couple of weeks for our Theodora Project.

In January we were sitting pretty. We had raised enough money to fund five months of activity and had a good number of quality prospects for more.

Then things started to go sideways. I went to Ghana in February. It was productive as I reported with us getting commitments to space, computer training and behavior training. But we were still not able to fund our project because of problems getting the partner NGO set up to receive money. I got back on Feb 25, as it turns out just in the nick of time. Just a week later the travel restrictions and personal movement restrictions start piling up.

I am supposed to go back to Ghana with Wife in April but that's not going to happen. And that is when we are thinking we will start-up of the program. With me not being there, I am having to lean on my partner for things that are way out of his skill set comfort zone in order to set up the program. He is working with a number of people but I am not meeting any of them and am questioning whether anyone recognizes the issues that we have to deal here in the U.S. in terms of fundraising, doing work, etc.

We go through March and the accounts still aren't open. We still can't move money. I still don't have clarity on exactly what the teaching program is or how we are going to instill accountability. Finally, this week, Wife and I make a decision on a different way of moving the money. We have a meeting with our women on Wednesday. We are almost ready to fund but I still don't have answers to a ton of questions which is making me very uneasy. I am asking that I be able to meet with the others he is recruiting so we can talk things through but am not getting any response. And then the Ghanaian government says the major cities will be locked down starting Monday...effectively making our training plan not feasible.

My partner doesn't seem to get this so I send off a rather terse email to him and two others he has recruited to help but who I haven't met listing all my issues and saying I am not funding anything until we think through how we deal with the changing environment. He is pissed. I am pissed. But I reiterate that we need to talk and not just blindly go forward.

The meeting is set up overnight for 7 AM my time this morning. I get up early enough to get an agenda out. The meeting goes incredibly well. The two others my partner recruited are top-notch. They have great questions. They are good problem-solvers. They are ready to devote time and effort into what we are doing in a hands-on way.

We revise our program based upon the work opportunity we possibly have. We cut some of our expenses and make some changes that help cash flow. This program looks quite a bit different but I think in some ways it even better reflects where our women are. I think we are going to be able to move them faster and quicker into being productive.

After it all, both partner and I are feeling pretty good. Somehow we have made lemonade out of lemons. At a time when many programs are going backward, we are going to go forward.