A diary of an experiment in social entrepreneurship

20 Questions

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, this week is National Volunteer Week. At Epic Change, we believe that anyone can make a difference in just a few minutes a day, so every day this week, we’re posting a 5-10 minute volunteer opportunity in which we hope you’ll participate.

Today, we present a game of 20 questions. Epic Change is your organization, and your ideas and collaboration are the keys to its success. Here we’ve posted 20 questions on which we’d like your input. While we certainly don’t expect you to answer all of them, we hope you’ll take a few minutes to scan the list and choose one or a few that are particularly relevant or interesting to you. All you need to do is post your responses as a comment to this post, and refer to the number of the question you’re answering.

Here’s our questions:

About You

  1. What about you makes you the type of person that supports an effort like Epic Change? Where would we look to find more people like you?
  2. If you could ask one question of the children, teachers or parents in Tanzania (or of us!) what would you ask?
  3. What are the top 3 reasons that you personally support and/or are interested in Epic Change?
  4. What other causes do you support? Why & how?
  5. Have you asked anyone to get involved with Epic Change or donate funds? If so, share your experience. If not, why not?

Your Great Ideas

  1. If you could offer one piece of advice or feedback to Epic Change, what would it be?
  2. Do you have a great idea for a product – that you would personally buy – that could be designed based on the stories and/or artwork of children in Tanzania?
  3. What ideas do you have for spreading the word about Epic Change?
  4. Do you have an interesting idea for a fundraiser?
  5. What could we do to make you feel even more connected to the school you’re supporting in Tanzania? What could you do?
  6. We’ve currently got 18 great computers waiting for shipment to Tanzania. Do you know of any inexpensive (or free!) alternatives for shipping, or do you know someone in the cargo/shipping business that might be able to help?

Our Online Presence

  1. Which blog posts have you found most/least interesting? Why?
  2. Which Youtube video has been most/least interesting to you personally? Why? (You can check out all of our YouTube videos here.)
  3. What improvements would you suggest to our website or blog?
  4. Do you have a question or topic that you’d like us to cover in a future blog post?
  5. If we set up a “twitter” account for the children in Tanzania, would you follow their conversation? Why or why not?

For the Nerds

  1. I’ve read about a tweeter recently who had problems setting up twitter on his cell phone in Delhi. What will be the challenges of setting up twitter on cell phones in Tanzania? How can I avoid complications?
  2. I’d like to get several cell phones that would work in Tanzania for the children to use for tweeting. Do you know of anywhere I could get free or cheap cell phones that would work (or could be easily adapted to work) in Tanzania?

For Everyone

  1. Do you have a question that you’d like to ask fellow supporters and followers of Epic Change?
  2. If you’ve suggested an idea for Epic Change to implement, would you personally be willing to participate in its implementation? Alternatively, has anyone else contributed a great idea with which you’d like to help?

Don’t forget, too, If you missed Monday’s 5-minute opportunity, it’s simple to catch up: just check out one of our recent blog entries about Gideon, a fourth grader at Shepherds Junior, and his dad Gidori, post your personal response as a comment, and, if you haven’t already, subscribe to our blog via email or RSS.

I look forward to hearing from you – and am excited to hear all your great ideas. Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for another quick opportunity to create Epic Change!

Posted: April 29th, 2008 under The Foundry.
Comments: 7

Comments

Comment from Pam Burrowes
Time: April 29, 2008, 9:35 pm

Q1 – I love children, all sorts of children. I tend to get to know the people who have children or work with children. I tend to meet people like me in church Sunday schools, playgroups, nursery schools.
Q3 – I support Epic Change because of Zoe, Elijah, and the children in need.
Q4 – We tithe to our local church that we attend. We support a local ballet company that does “free to the public” performances several times every year that are Christian based and written & choregraphed by a prima ballarina friend of ours. We support St. Judes Hospital, Father Diwan’s, Serve (a local shelter for battered women and food bank), local fire & police charities.
Q5- I have asked many people through email and in person and on the phone. I find that many people don’t follow through with the pledge they have promised. It is very frustrating to me! So I am going to try a different approach next time. If I know you, you will be hearing from me again!!
Q7 – I was wondering about a “Day In The Life” series of childrens books based on the stories from the children and illisrated with their artwork. The stories being about their lives from different activities like: going to school, a day at home, at my dad’s work, going shopping etc. Seems to me that parents here are always looking for ways to positively show their kids how lucky we are in America. I am not suggesting scary stories but ones that show the appreciation that the children have for the small things that we take for granted.
Q9 – I’m going to sell tickets to a fantastic dinner party to raise money.

Comment from Mom
Time: April 30, 2008, 1:07 am

16. This would definately make me get a twitter account, I would find it very interesting to read their point of view.

5. Yes, I have asked a number of people to get involved with Epic and some have taken some steps and a lot have taken little steps. I think if I get more creative and make sure we are having fun while volunteering that may work!

Perhaps we could develop some type of penpal interaction between parents/grandparents in Tanzania and parents/grandparents in America.

Comment from Ashlee
Time: April 30, 2008, 2:03 am

7. I’m guessing that with the scarcity involved in this community, the kids find some interesting ways to entertain themselves. I’d kind of like to see some of the games that they play available in the American, pre-packaged with all the necessary explanations and bits kind of style. That’s something I would be able to do with my son in the future, as well as have available at the school for my future students to give them some kind of access to multiculturalism.

8. Definitely messages in bottles.

12. By far my favorite blogs to date were the pieces on Gideon and Mr. Gidori. Maybe this just goes back to the need to answer # 10, but the more I know about this community, the more their lives become intertwined with my own. Gideon is no longer a hypothetical little boy defined by his circumstances, but a little boy who wants to be a rocket ship pilot. A little boy who takes his homework home to his parents, and while they probably don’t have a fridge to hang it on, I am sure they relish the things that he brings home. And I bet he tells jokes to his friends on the playground.

And since I gain nearly all of my insight from The Little Prince, I will say that these blogs “tame” me to a certain degree, so I will quote Antoine de Saint-Exupery:

“To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. I have no need of you…But if you tame me…you will be unique in all the world.”

And the truth is that none of these children should be just one of millions of African children, because they shine so damn brightly.

16. Heck no, but that is only because I am completely recalcitrant and refuse to accept new technology.

Comment from Amanda May
Time: April 30, 2008, 4:51 am

FIRST AND FOREMOST: TWO CHEERS to STACEY and SANJAY!!! (And the many others that have helped them in their journey thus-far) You guys are truly inspiring and have made more of an impact with this project so far then 97.4% of the population will ever make in their entire life.

Q1. I truly care about others and how I can help. I work in NYC… and everyday I see countless different homeless people. You can’t help them all…. none really. Even if money was flowing from my pockets, there is no guarantee that any money I give is going to make any difference if these people’s lives.
I love Epic Change because there is not uncertainty. I know every penny and every minute from supporters/volunteers, is going to make a strong and last impact on each community/project that Epic decides to take on. I think what everyone has done so far is more then enough proof!!!!
And unfortunately, I am one of a kind. But I am sure there are a bunch of generic versions out there :)

Q2. My biggest cause has always been AIDS in Africa. I can’t even pin-point where, when or how this surfaced, but it is here. And yes, I feel for people all around the world with AIDS. But Africa is different…. it is an injustice that affects everyone. Not just small clusters here and there, but everywhere.
I was glad to hear from Stacey that at Sherpherds Junior they are doing AIDS education at the school.
I would really like to look at how Epic Change can help work with the school to start reaching out to the community and helping educate people, which will start to alleviate a lot of the stigma…. bringing about social change within the community.

Q9. Pam’s comment (“I’m going to sell tickets to a fantastic dinner party to raise money.”) gave me an idea…. what about coming up with coming up with “kits” of different things adults (especially the women) can do to raise money…. think mini-benfits in a box. Like a Tanzania dinner party, TingaTinga Painting Party, Safari Spa Retreat. Is this making sense???

Q10. What about setting up a pen-pal/mentor type program with the kids? Any age could participate…. might be easy once the school has the new donated computers and electricity.

Comment from gummadipudi
Time: April 30, 2008, 5:45 am

no

Comment from Gidori Fanuel
Time: May 2, 2008, 8:36 am

There is a great hope for Africa in a days to come! I can see this generation can make a big change if we give them a proper education and different worldview. You cannot teach old dog new tricks but on the other hand “In case you see an old monkey know that it has escaped a lot of arrows” We need both old and new generation to make a world a peaceful place to live. This is the day!
Well done Stacey and Sanjay, keep up the good works!
Gidori

Comment from Mama Lucy Kamptoni
Time: May 7, 2008, 6:10 pm

No 2. How do you feel when looking at your new School – Shepherds Junior?

No 3.
( i ) Epic Change has a unique way of identifying the needs of a certain community. They visit and experience their living, before giving support. They use the “Participatory Approach” when implementing the project, which makes the community “active participants” and not “passive ones”.

( ii ) Their support goes directly to the targeted group/community. This minimizes the chances of misuse of funds; compared to the funds given to the Central Government to be distributed to a certain Ministry then to the targeted group.

( iii ) Epic Change has addressed the right thing, “Education” which is the key of life. Supporting Educational activities and needy children is very important when aiming at bringing changes to the economical and social development of a community

No 6. You are doing a great job! And you have great ideas too. Everyone in our community is so impressed with your efforts. Keep it up!!!

Write a comment