EWB Ryerson ChapterWorkshop #1

Actions To Impact

9/27/2007

Lots of Action, How much Impact?A non-governmental organization (NGO)

is a private institution that is independent of the government although many NGOs, particularly in the global South, are funded by Northern governments. Anheier places the number of internationally operating NGOs at 40,000.[1] National numbers are even higher: Russia has 400,000 NGOs.[2] India is estimated to have between 1 and 2 million NGOs.[3]

Taken from Wikipedia

Who is “Dorothy”???

Here is a portrait of a sorghum farmer named Harrison Namakondo (second from the left) with EWB volunteer Mike Quinn. His two wives and two of his eight children are also in the picture, as is Seth (far left), an employee from Mike’s partner organization, CARE Zambia. The Namakondo family lives in Namakondo village in an area called Mapanda, five kilometres from the Zambezi river along Zambia’s southern border with Zimbabwe. This region is very sandy and experiences frequent droughts. A typical day for the family involves Namakondo’s wives waking up very early to collect water, fetch firewood, and prepare maize porridge for breakfast. They usually do this together with the help of Namakondo’s daughters. During the farming season, the entire family will work in their fields at sunrise until 10 am, and then from 3pm until 6pm. Namakondo and his older sons will plough the fields behind two oxen while his wives follow behind, manually planting seed.The Namakondo family is entirely dependent on the rains for irrigation. In bad rain years, the family might be forced to sell their oxen or other assets to make ends meet. If there are two bad years of rain in a row, the family would be even more vulnerable, and might have to cut back on the food they eat.The Namakondo family is an example of what EWB means by the concept of “Dorothy.” They are our boss. Our job is to help them improve their lives. It is to them that everyone involved with EWB reports.

Stay Tuned! Workshop Info will be posted

on http://ryerson.ewb.ca shortly!