Understanding The Theodora Project - Part One - Underpinnings

 

 

Why do we do what we do in life? Are you driven by ambition? Do you give a shit? Is life supposed to have meaning? Do you just react to each day, not thinking?

 

Life has a way over the years of leaching whatever one thought was one’s purpose or one’s mission or one’s fate or one’s crap luck into just a realization that you are just a grain of sand on the gigantic beach of life.

 

That is what makes this whole Theodora Africa project surreal. I have always thought I was a pretty bright guy but accomplishment would say otherwise. I like to say I’ve had 1000 brilliant ideas in my life of which 999 where not that brilliant. And the one idea that may be pretty good, this Theodora Project really chose me, not me choosing it.

 

I think I have stated this in other posts (I am over 70 so I have a license from the government to repeat any stories ad nauseum) in no part of my life before had I had even the vaguest, slightest inkling of working on a project to help young women, trapped in a soul-sucking lifestyle (sex work), in Africa!, to transform into professional business assistants doing work virtually in the United States. I mean the concept is simply insane!

 

So humor me and play along that there is some higher power with a very bizarre sense of humor. It has decided it needs a puppet to play this particular role. And OMG what a role it is. As I will unveil (as has been unveiled to me over this last year), it is a such a crazy role. Probably the most intriguing role I’ve played in my life. For if we can figure out, test, and refine our ability to provide the virtual assistant service, the opportunities for these women I am working with and many, many more like them will (in the words of one our participants) ‘be amazing”!

Theodora Project Phase III

 As I sit here in January 2021, it is hard to remember it was just over two years ago that I set off on my first trip to Ghana with only the slightest idea of what I might do or find. Nowhere in my expectations was developing a system to get women out of sex work on my radar screen. In fact, I can honestly say that never in my life did that particular mission ever enter my mind as something I should pursue.

Yet one year later in February of 2020, we were set to launch a test of the prototype we developed. We all know 2020 did not exactly pan out the way we thought it would. Yet despite the obstacles, this project has developed far faster than I could have imagined. 

In this post, I've copied a report I gave a few weeks ago to all the significant people working on the project. It will give you an overview of where the project is as we enter 2021. Then I will do a follow-up post that is going to go into the more interesting 'big picture' aspects of this project that have me totally focused.

 Theodora Project Phase III

Welcome to 2021 and the second year of the Theodora Africa Project. Thank you again for all your efforts and support. When we launched last spring, it was a journey into the unknown. We had no idea of how much transformation our participants could achieve or if we could produce a work product acceptable in the United States. This was all complicated by the world-wide COVID-19 crisis.

In the event, we attained far more than we ever imagined back in February 2020. Last year we (imperfectly):

 

·      Demonstrated we could teach/coach/transform a group of women from our target demographic into a group of motivated workers capable of doing certain virtual personal assistant services.

 

·      Learned which specific services could be sold and delivered.

 

·      Identified who our target market is.

 

·      Provided these services to clients who have expressed their satisfaction and are continuing with us.

 

·      Developed a clear identity and a message that presents our unique value proposition (more about this is the next post)

 

·      Discovered we have massive transformational potential if we can take the next step and gain full professional capability. (More about this too next post)

 

What do we need in 2021 to achieve that full professional capability?

 

·      A proper work environment in Ghana consisting of:

 

o   An office, a place to 'go to work.'

 

o   Onsite day-to-day management to assist our participants in achieving their full potential.

 

·      Significantly improve the overall participant skill set. This means:

 

o   Substantially improved written English.

 

o   Quality control procedures for work output

 

o   Improvement in work turnaround time

 

o   Higher quality client communication practices

 

o   Improving overall IT skills

 

·      Demonstrate a viable new business development capability.

 

·      Be able to execute day-to-day business operations without my hands-on involvement.

 

·      Prove we can replicate the transformation & training results with a new group of participants.

 

·      Demonstrate we can get that second test group integrated into the work system handling U.S. client work and meshing well with the existing group of participants.

 

The above will be the focus of our work in 2021. It is our great test to determine the viability and scalability of the concept. We will be putting our initial emphasis is on getting the proper work environment and improving the overall participant skill set. Our goal is to have the work environment in place by March 2021. The improved work environment will significantly enhance our ability to get the participant skill set improved.

 

We are amid our Phase III fundraising. We have set a target of $40,000 by June of 2021. To date, we have $15,000 committed, 37% of our goal. Further, after working on 11 jobs in 2021 and maintaining 7 ongoing clients, we have set a goal of increasing the total ongoing clients to 30 by the end of 2021.

 

Most have you have or are working on parts of this great initiative. The more we learn about the overall effort to stop sex work and trafficking, the more uniquely placed we find Theodora is for resolving one of the primary root causes – the lack of economic opportunity. All your time and effort is much appreciated and is showing fruit.

 

 

 

The Last Cooking Post, Lasagna = Melancholia

My holiday season cooking binge has come to an end. Not that we are any closer to being out of lock-down and the ennui that produces. No, the sad truth is that I have totally and completely filled my freezers. Yes that's right freezers plural. And with only the two of us here to eat, we probably are down to about nine-months of food. Whew, just enough.

So with that said let's get down to the serious business of food blog posting.

The Component Parts

Cheese sauce using Italian Fontina (instead of Ricotta which I don't like), tomato meat sauce, spinach sauteed with garlic, Italian sausage and meat balls cooked in the sauce, roasted mushrooms

If you are making your own pasta, this flour from Italy IS A MUST!

Seriously the quality of your pasta will be different from anything you make with U.S. bread flour or all-purpose flour

Step One - A layer of olive oil and sauce on the bottom

It is essential, ESSENTIAL, that you use some kind of old, beat up pan when making lasagna!

Step Two - a layer of pasta

I was amazed at how much my noodles expanded when I cooked them

Step Three - a layer of the cut up sausage and meatballs

Step Four - a layer of vegetables

Step Five - Cheese layer one with the sauce and grated cheese

Step Six - Cheese layer two, the mozzarella

I have decided I do not like fresh mozzarella as it has too much water in it. BUT whole milk is mandatory

Step Seven (not pictured) - a layer of sauce

Now repeat steps two through seven to create a second layer

After assembling the second layer, a final pasta layer to seal covered with more sauce and grated cheese

After cooking for one hour at 375

Finished product with a decidedly not-Italian wine

It came out great

And yet despite the culinary success, it was a bit of a melancholy meal. For traditionally, I only make lasagna like this for a group, especially family. And of course in our pandemic world that was not happening at all.

Oh!

Please note and put accolades in the comments section that I actually remembered to take a picture of the finished product AND used the white, presentation friendly plates, for the final shot!

I Cook Therefore I Am

 For whatever reason, I am taking the current lock down and COVID surge much better than the first one in the spring. Maybe it is because this one is so much worse. Now I have a number of people I know personally who have become sick. Maybe it is because in some ways it was so obviously going to happen. Maybe it is because I know the drill now whereas before I was in denial and wondering why we had to do things the way we did. 

But a big part of it is that I simply have more time and can be more relaxed. When the first shock of the pandemic lock downs took place, I was just at the launch point of the Theodora Project. For months, I was scrambling to save it, relaunch it as a totally virtual learning environment, forcing it to bootstrap income because donor funding had dried up. 

Fast forward nine months and the project is stable, has WAY more support in terms of both financial and people working on it. While there are significant aspects of the model that need to be tested in 2021, I and the others working with me can see a clear way forward and a great potential. 

As a result as we went into the holiday season, I focused on chilling and for me that means cooking. I missed the whole first lock down wave of cooking mania so maybe I was just catching up. So without further ado here is what I've been cooking up

Paella

Most of our ingredients

Clockwise from top, shrimp and scallops marinating in olive oil, garlic, sherry wine and pimenton (smoked paprika), special Spanish short-grain rice, chorizo sausage and jamon serrano, aromatics (shallots, onions garlic & pimentos)

You will also need some strong chicken broth with saffron and a well used paella pan

Saute the cured meat in olive oil

Add the aromatics

Add the rice

Add the stock

Cook until it becomes thick soup consistency. Then add the seafood.

Put in a 325 oven for 20 minutes. Take out and let rest covered for 10 minutes

Forget to take picture of the final product

Put remember to take a picture as you are actually eating it

Deviled Eggs

Forget to take picture of all the ingredients which have come together as a flavor base of shallots, garlic, chorizo sausage, pimentos, sweet and hot pimenton (notice the similarity? I bought a lot of Spanish food products recently)

Using my trusty Thai mortar and pestle work the flavoring into the egg yolks

Add Mayo and continue to work until smooth. Check the seasoning

Not exactly the best filling job but damn tasty

I am working hard to get out of certain cooking ruts by perusing a series of old but excellent cookbooks I inherited from my Mother called the Good Cook published by Time Life back in the 1970's I believe. Each book is about an individual subject such as beef, lamb, eggs, sauces, desserts, etc. I wanted to make a pot roast and thought my methodology had gotten stale so I checked out options in the Beef book. Here is what I ended up doing.

Brown the meat well after seasoning and putting on flour which you beat into the meat with the dull edge of a knife so the flour sticks and you get a good brown crust. This worked well.

My aromatics of choice are parsley, celery, carrots and leeks...A Lot of Them

Add some canned tomatoes. I used beef broth and white wine as the cooking fluid. I cooked this baby for 6 hours at 325 turning the meat every hour and a half or so

Forget to take pictures of the rest of the process which included doing a major flavor adjustment. I found the sauce was too sweet so I added some Thai Fish Sauce which as a salty umami punch and some apple cider vinegar for acidity.

Also don't take pictures of draining the sauce and squeezing all the flavor out of the aromatics, returning the sauce to the pan and finishing the accompanying vegetables (potato, carrot and daikon)

AND FOR GOD'S SAKE FORGET TO TAKE PICTURES OF THE FINISHED PRODUCT!

Need a break from cooking?

All time best Winter Orchid

All Wife's work

The joke is that we got this as a present from SiL 2B and for the longest time Wife thought it was an artificial plant. Now we honor Wife for bringing the artificial plant to life! Let us know if you need any resurrection services.

This And That

 Well there hasn't been a whole lot momentous going on here. I mean in the world there is. It has been three whole days and our beloved outgoing President hasn't been mentioned in the national newscasts even once! As one of my Ghanaian participants would say, "How Cool Is That!"

But little things of life do strike my inner chords.

We made latkes, raw potato pancakes that are traditional for Hanukah. I had leftovers. My fertile culinary mind said, "Hey these are basically hash brown potatoes." So I served on up with some fried eggs and some homemade New Mexico Green Chile for breakfast!

It was time to put up our Christmas tree. It ended up unusually tasteful and balanced. We usually strive for garish and outlandish. 

I did however create this little tableau

Those Star Trekkers will recognize Captain Janeway on her command deck

She is surrounded by Angels and Birds of Peace and holds the dominate position above the Borg Cube.

I had mentioned in an earlier post that we were getting really good leeks and my intention of making classic Eastern European Jewish Chicken Fricassee using leeks instead of onion. 

It turned out Great!

Finally, we've had some small bits of snow. So the trail I do for my exercise has (as usual) started to get snow covered. I have great winter hiking gear including a pair of boots that are good in the cold and have extra traction. 

It snowed on Tuesday. I was shocked when I got toward the end of the hike that the snow was virgin...no one had hiked this far yet! 

Kind of cool

The Return Of Video

 Since 2014, I have essentially not watched any kind of video entertainment. That was the time when I began the great book writing process. The story I was creating held far more interest to me than anything I could watch. Plus, I found that I was becoming very sensitive to sensory overload. Video entertainment in general (at least for me) is way over the top in terms of sensory stimulation. 

Recently, however, I have been enticed to give video another try. Daughter #1 was the stimulus for this. She asked if I had seen a China produced food series from Netflix called Flavorful Origins. She extolled its production values and creativity. I gave my usual protests that I didn't do video and couldn't get it any case. But Wife pointed out that I could use the Netflix account we have on my computer. 

So I gave it a try. It was very interesting. And with having it on my computer I could actually control easily the amount of time I spent. So I am using it as a break between writing in the evening.

Is Illusion Better Than Reality?

 In my last post, I bemoaned the fact that I had not magically lost 10 years of aging...Despite HAVING TWEETED LOUDLY THAT THAT WAS THE TRUTH. I mean because we know that saying something over and over, louder and louder makes it true. Right?

Well maybe it has had some effect.

Wife was talking to a fellow Rotarian today about a project. For some reason the subject of age came up (maybe because it is my birthday...not to late to send presents btw...cash is always good 😀.

This woman, who is 67, thought that Wife and I are IN OUR 50'S!!!!!!

Shit, that's 10 years better than what I was hoping for. Now if I can just get the Grim Reaper to buy into this narrative, I'm golden! 👍