I became acquainted with AED about eight years ago, and was tremendously impressed with the dynamism, persistence and focus of this small community-based NGO with an international mission.
In 2015, completely out of the blue, Julie-Anne Savarit-Conzensa, Executive Director and Co-Founder, contacted me about helping to write an application for a grant from USAID to help build and equip a new facility for AEP's Amos Youth Center in Kafue, Zambia. Julie-Anne had spotted me and my previous grant work with USAID on LinkedIn.
Although I was semi-retired and had no previous experience with Zambia, I was quickly taken with the story of AEP: how it had sprung a decision in 2002 of a small group of high school sophomores in Radnor, PA. to do a service project for their peers in Malawi who were growing up with poverty and the AIDS/HIV crisis in their country. Advised by their soccer coach, who happened to be from the town of Kafue on the outskirts of Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, Julie-Anne and her small team eventually gathered a large collection of needed items, such as computers, school supplies, and books; created a 501(c)(3) non-profit; raised some funds; and determined to travel in July 2005 to Kafue to deliver their gifts personally.
What they experienced on that trip, as they visited with their local counterparts, revealed a deeper need to create and institutionalize more and better opportunities for the youth of Kafue such areas as education, health, personal development, and recreation. With the support of their coach's brother Amos and the local community, they envisioned and planned, with the result that, on a return trip a year later, a new Learning and Development Center, was established. By 2008 it was officially registered with the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services as the Amos Youth Center (AYC), renamed in memory of the local co-founder who had passed away during the previous year.
By the time I got involved, the AYC was a thriving operation offering a wide variety of well-attended programs at a rented location and, with support from contributions from a growing network of donors, AEP was sponsoring the secondary and college education of a number of local young people, a few of whom had returned to help out at the AYC. But the space they occupied had grown woefully inadequate and plans were being developed to build and equip a brand-new building designed to their specifications on a plot of land donated by the local government. My job was to work with Julie-Anne on pulling together all the ideas, building plans, equipment requirements, staffing needs, etc., many of which were prepared by pro-bono professionals, into a grant application that would meet the requirements of USAID's American Schools and Hospitals Abroad program.
While the proposal was not funded, our work advanced project planning considerably and gave AEP and AYP a framework for a Capital Campaign that is currently underway. In the meantime, the Amos Youth Center continues to operate in its cramped rented facility. Even with these limitations, as is described very well at https://www.africaneducationprogram.org/ the talent, skills and dedication of the AEP/AYC staff and volunteers have and continue to make positive life-changing differences in the lives of hundreds of Kafue boys and girls and young men and women.
My mother taught me to be productive, conscientious, and to give. She also taught me art and spontaneity. One day, about six years ago, she dumped all of that on me in one go.
'You're going to Zambia!' She told me.
'I'm sorry' I'm going where?' I knew that my mother was on the board of the African Education Program (AEP), but we had never actually discussed the organization let alone my going over to Zambia. I had just graduated from University and was rather a little preoccupied with finding a job in the middle of an economic downturn. So for me this strange turn of events was a little out of left field.
'Zambia!' She repeated excitedly. 'You're going to teach art to the kids over there! I just bought your plane tickets!'
'Um'' Now I'm even more perplexed. 'You realize I know nothing about art? Or kids? I don't even babysit!'
'Are you saying you don't want to go?' She said in that tone of voice only a mother can conjure implying that if I dare disagree with her there will be hell to pay.
'No! No! Of course I want to go!' I'm in a panic now as she's still narrowing her eyes at me suspiciously. 'I was just pointing out that I'm going to need to learn a few things before I go.' She finds this acceptable.
The next three months my mom, who is a brilliant artist, gives me a crash course in painting. I was so proud of my progress; by the time I left for Zambia you could almost tell what it was I was trying to paint. I was totally owning landscapes! My mother felt a little bit differently.
'Huh'' She examined one of my last paintings before my trip. 'Well' maybe it's a good thing you aren't good at painting. That way you can't hinder the kids creativity.'
So it was with those inspiring words of wisdom that I went off to teach art in Zambia for a month. I was terrified.
There was no need for me to be. It turned out my mom was right. Being a terrible artist did actually make me a good art teacher. That's because art, like life, is a journey. The kids at the Amos Youth Centre, the organization that AEP runs in Zambia, took to the paints like ducks on water. Many of them had never painted before and were so excited (and nervous!) to pick up those paintbrushes. Watching all of that creativity pour out of them is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
Every day I worked with the kids painting, singing, and reading. They told me about their lives, their hopes, and their dreams. They showed me their homes and their favorite places. I loved Zambia so much that I've kept working with AEP and I've gone back to the country and I will go back again, and again, and again.
This past March my mother's journey ended. We lost her to brain cancer. But that cruel disease could not snuff out her bright light. My mother loved AEP because it gives more than just an academic education to the kids. It also teaches the kids to give themselves: to give to each other, to the center, and to their community. I find in AEP everything that my mother believed in.
My giving story is about my wonderful, crazy mother and all that she taught me. I love you, and miss you so much mom.
Review from #MyGivingStory