“What DO you
do?” You Are Invited…
Many times,
when speaking in the U.S., we are asked that question. It isn’t a question about the focus of
the CDCA’s work, or not quite understanding the important reasons for working in
partnership with Nicaraguan communities. Rather, the
question is asked in a puzzled tone of voice reflecting acknowledgement that an
8-5pm work week probably doesn’t fit the need, and so what really is it that we do every day?
With
COVID-19, the answer to that question becomes even stranger in many ways for
most of us. At our virtual Board meeting
held two weeks ago, we called upon our Board to come up with fresh fundraising ideas,
since our budget is strained beyond limits with no volunteers bringing
donations.
So following up on Board
suggestions, several of
us have spent many hours putting together a Live Event… a Zoom meeting being
hosted by Megan Quinn, JHC Board member, volunteer in Nicaragua, and public
health professor at East Tennessee State University. Live
from Nicaragua: Fighting Coronavirus Together, will happen this week, Wednesday May 20, starting at 5:15pm EDT. YOU ARE INVITED to join us: https://etsu.zoom.us/j/91892396886. The meeting will
include a presentation, followed by Q&A time including Nicaraguan Nueva
Vida Health Clinic staff.
So picture in your head days spent on power point design… script writing… photo taking… editing and finalizing… all done either by communicating virtually with each other, or by standing at an acceptable social distance to talk over the back fence. Followed by sending out hundreds of email invitations to family, friends, hosts of all our COVID-19 canceled speaking engagements, Rotary partners, etc. Plus, posting on social media. Whew! Definitely not a routine week!
Meanwhile,
of course, equipping our Nueva Vida Clinic staff with PPE meant coming up with a
creative cheap solution to making masks and also face shields. And when the face shield really did work,
creating a mp4 video with instructions… first in English, and then in Spanish…
so you and everyone else can make them cheaply as well, perhaps out of unused
materials in your office or craft supplies, as we used for our first samples. Oh… and then posting the instructions:
English language
link: https://youtu.be/QLD1yWJRZyU
Spanish language link: https://youtu.be/dWp5c3MEUGc
But also… time spent ...
- thanking donors by email and figuring out how to get paper thank yous to donors who need those…
- keeping the accounts up-to-date and accurate with our own office staff now spread into four isolated locations, having each carried their office computer home …
- staying on top of the farmers’ needs via email and phone while watching the sky for May rains…
- doing only absolutely essential errands… and
- watching coronavirus updates on the news and the John Hopkins University global map, while attempting to keep staff and their families as protected as possible.
Yes, not
normal weeks even by our unorthodox standards!
- Sarah
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