Living the Dream

Fifty years ago today Dr. Martin Luther King, with thousands of people looking toward a better future gathered together at the March on Washington. He spoke these hopeful words, 

I have a dream that my four little children will one day 

live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color 

of their skin by the content of their character.

 I have a dream... I have a dream that one day... little black boys and black 

girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and 

white girls as sisters and brothers.

Today as our nation reflects on that day and that speech, I am filled with joy as Brenda walked into her classes for the first time. She wore silver shoes a salmon knee length pleated dress with a white top. As she often accessorizes with hair, she chose a silver and gold short wig that accented her shoes. Her backpack and lunch box made their maiden voyage through the doors to this wonderful year ahead. Brenda is able to attend school because dozens of white strangers and friends are coming together to establish a scholarship support fund for her. Her daughter Becky is attending a well known Montessori school, an opportunity made by a loving white family. They have angels in their midst and I think Dr. King would be proud. We have made great strides to make Brenda's dream for an education come true, but like Dr. Kings dream we are not quite there yet. Progress is a process.

If you are inspired to help make Brenda's dream for an education a reality, please invite your friends and family to contribute to the scholarship (and obviously you too if you are so inclined). I'll just keep begging until we reach the goal. Hope you don't mind.    

Orientation Day

It's happening. Sunday was Brenda's last day at Inn America. Monday some of her angels took her school shopping- backpack, lunch box, supplies. Today she attended orientation at Marian Pritchett School and will attend full time beginning tomorrow at 9:00. Her classes will be challenging but I have complete confidence in her, her teachers, and the supporting social workers. She has a lot of people watching over her and our team of angels continues to strengthen. 

Keep checking back. This is just going to continue to be great. 

To support Brenda this year donations are still needed. 

It's likely the best thing you'll do with your money all year.  

Wild Fires - Living in Idaho

(Picture swiped from Google images) 

As often happens in August, Boise is engulfed in smoke from surrounding mountain wild fires. It is something that I am totally accustom to, as I have lived in Idaho most of my life. The past two summers seem to be worse than usual, but it's nothing that seems too out of the ordinary. Unless you just arrived here from Africa.

Brenda was in my car the other day and we could see a huge plume of smoke over the horizon of the nearby foothills. We commented on how big it was and noticed a helicopter in the same direction. I couldn't make out if it was a fire fighting copter or life flight, but began to explain to Brenda how the helicopters are used to fight fires. 

Then I realized that she didn't know about the forests. She has never been outside of the urban area of Boise. I have explained to her that most of the surrounding area is full of trees and mountains, but she has yet to see it herself. I told her about how the hot temperatures, combined with lightening storms cause wild fires every year. 

She looked up at the helicopter and said, "That doesn't make the fire?" "I thought it makes the fire."

Me, "Nope. It helps pour water on the fire." 

Brenda, "America is so hard!"

Me, "Do you mean that it's hard to understand things here?"

Brenda, "Yes."

So once again I am enlightened about just how many things in Brenda's daily life don't make any sense. She is so adaptable and independent that it is easy to take for granted that she "just knows" things that she has no experience with or context for understanding. She amazes me. 

I messed up, but overall - things are great.

We have raised about 75% of the money we need to send Brenda to school for this school year. Oh boy do I hope the other 25% shows up soon! She registers next Tuesday and starts school Wednesday. It is amazing to me that at the beginning of July there didn't seem to be any way for Brenda to attend school and now it's happening. This has all moved very quickly and exceeds what I would have imagined on my own. I am so grateful to the many people that stepped up and said, "Raise $10,000? Sure, we can do that." 

However, due to the fast pace of this process there were some assumptions made on my part that are now coming back to sock me in the guts. (You know, that feeling you get when something doesn't go how you planned and you feel like puking?) Well, that's the situation I'm currently in.

Many blogs ago when the idea for a scholarship fund was formed I wrote that I would run the donations through a non-profit organization; either the school where I work or the Agency for New Americans and donors would receive a receipt for the donation. Well, it turns out that my naive assumptions about accounting have caused a problem. ( I guess they'll keep me teaching about people and how to speak Spanish. No CPA jobs for me.) Due to the large scope of this fundraiser and it's informal "no red tape" process, the non-profits I have contact with are not able to accept the funds without mucking up their own accounting. I apologize for saying that there would be a tax write off for the donations. It will have to be viewed by our donors as a simple gift with no tax benefits attached.

The good news is that I have not heard from one single donor, "I really don't care about this Brenda lady's education. I just want the tax write off."

So how is it going to work now? I will go with Brenda to set up a bank account specifically for the scholarship. Her name will be on the account. The PayPal account will link directly to this account. I will transfer money monthly to Brenda's account so she receives the $1000 a month we planned from the start. Essentially, the only change is that she will not be receiving a check from a non-profit organization. She'll be learning about bank accounts and transferring funds and all that good stuff.

So again, I am very sorry that I gave wrong information in the beginning and said things that I am now not able to carry out. But to those of you that donated, THANK YOU ANYWAY! And for those of you that still want to be one of Brenda's angels - you have all the facts.

Send contributions directly to Brenda through me or mail me a check written to Brenda Muhoza Matata. 

Transition coming soon!

Marian Pritchett School

We have raised just over $6700 for Brenda's scholarship fund. Our goal is $10,000 to get her through the school year. This would provide her a monthly stipend for living expenses so she can focus on attending the Marian Pritchett School for young moms. I just got off the phone with the Head Teacher there, and I am even more excited about this opportunity for Brenda. She said that they have girls from all over the world studying at their school. It will be a perfect fit for Brenda considering her history and life experiences. This is such a wonderful opportunity for her and I really hope that we can raise the additional $3300 to get her through the entire school year. If you know someone who can make a donation, or would like to yourself please email me at emilymail74@gmail.com

Brenda gave her notice at Inn America that she will no longer be working after August 25th! It's happening!

Beyond Excited

I visited Brenda and Becky tonight. I stepped into their second floor apartment and found it to be 90 degrees. Brenda keeps the air conditioning turned off most of the time to keep her power bill lower. She decided to turn it on though this evening. By the time I left it was a comfortable 79 degrees.

We talked about her excitement to go to school. She has informed her employer at Inn America that she is going to start school at the end of the month and they said they will start looking for her replacement. I think this is all going to be for the best in many ways because they are already seeing a slow down in the number of rooms that are occupied, therefore cutting back on her hours. I don't think she would have been able to make a livable wage during the cooler months.

She looks forward to studying. She looks forward to returning to church on Sundays. She looks forward to focusing on her education seriously. She is so grateful for the scholarship.

We still have a large gap to fill though. We need at least $1000 a month to pay her expenses during the school year so she can focus on school and take care of Becky. We are just over half way to the goal. I discussed with her how there are many people that are willing to support her education and that they would love it if she would allow photos posted here for them to see her. No deal. She does not want her photos publicly on the internet. She explained why and I will respect her wishes. She did however think it was a good idea to send all the donors thank you cards and will send a hard copy picture with the card. So there's another good reason to donate. Now there is a perk for donors. Unintentional, but a perk non-the-less.

If you or someone you know would like to make a real difference in Brenda's life then join her team of angels. We currently have 40 families on the team. I wonder how many people it will take to make this a winning team?

Culture Clash

America. It turns out that the way we do things around here might not be how things are done in Africa. (Shocker.) Things that are seemingly "normal" or "well intentioned" here might not feel right to someone that has grown up with Brenda's experiences.

Brenda has asked that the photos of her be removed from this blog. Although I think she is amazingly photogenic in every way, she would prefer that there not be photos of her posted. In the past she has said that it was fine, but today she wants them off. So, since this blog's purpose is to honor her I will also honor her wishes.

However, since many of the previous posts' content is expressed through photos, I'm not sure the best way to go about heeding her request. Do I go back and re-write everything so it makes sense without the photography? That will take more time than I have. So, in the short term I have disabled all previous posts with Brenda's photos.

Until Brenda is comfortable with her photos on here, there will be none. I hope you all keep reading and I'll do my best to be really detail oriented in my future posts so you can picture everything. Just look at this like you are reading a book. I'm currently in the middle of Dan Brown's Inferno and I don't even need one photo to imagine the gorgeous details of Florence, Italy. I'm no Dan Brown, but for the readers sake I'll try.

*********************************************************************************Update (April 17, 2015) Although she is still apprehensive - she is permitting me to post some photos now. I am so happy that she is opening up a little more and glad you all can have a peek into her life.