Staying the Course
It has been nine months since I last posted on this blog. In those nine months, the war in Ukraine started, Roe vs Wade was overturned, the Supreme Court ruled against EPA restrictions on companies, far too many lives were lost in devastating shootings and countless people around the world are in pain. Just when we think it can’t get any worse, it does. I am keenly aware that as I write this, I sit with a roof over my head, in a state where my rights are still upheld. I am only experiencing these tragedies from the sidelines. As a funder though, my gut reaction is to jump in and try to help.
In times of crisis, people step in and help however they can, many making donations. This funding is urgent, needed and extremely important. As a charitable fund, we are faced with the decision about whether to shift our strategy and respond to a current crisis and during times like these of extreme devastation and challenges, I have spent a lot of time thinking about Tawingo Fund’s role. And it has become clear to me that our role is to stay the course. The needs that were there before Russia invaded the Ukraine are still there and are bound to grow more dire as funders pull back because of the stock market. The millions of children waiting for a wheelchair or a corrective surgery, are still waiting. Migrants, refugees and deportees in Tijuana still need an opportunity to rebuild their lives through job training.
And so we stay the course.
During the first half of 2022, Tawingo Fund continued to expand our geographic reach, bringing on new partners in Vietnam, Cambodia, Guatemala and a Nicaraguan grantee implementing a project in Ecuador. We are excited about all of our new partners. A few highlights for me include:
1) Funding a part of a training being done by ASCATED in Jalapa, Guatemala to teach deaf children, their caregivers and teachers sign language and blind children braille, enabling them to communicate and learn in school. Most of these children do not know any sign language or braille, making mainstream school nearly impossible for them.
2) Supporting CESFOM, a job training program that is part of Casa del Migrante, Tijuana’s largest migrant shelter. CESFOM trains migrant refugees from Central and South America and deportees from the United States in a variety of trades to enable them to get a good paying job as they begin to rebuild their lives in the Tijuana area.
3) Bringing an expert from an organization in Nicaragua to train Foundation Jen Lee in Ecuador in wheelchair provision as they work to expand their current prosthetics center to also supplying wheelchairs.
4) Adding three new partners in Guatemala, making Guatemala a hub for Tawingo Fund, which is a goal we set out to do at the beginning of 2021. These partners are Rompiendo Limites, ASCATED and Natun Guatemala (formerly Mayan Families). We are planning to do site visits in early 2023 and deepen our awareness and knowledge of the area.
As always, please reach out with any ideas, feedback, suggestions at Mollie@tawingo.org.
Stay safe, healthy and may you find some peace this summer,
Mollie
CESFOM electrician students graduate
