Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The Annual General Meeting in Humjibre


Clement
On Sunday night, GHEI had their Annual General Meeting for the Humjibre Community.  It’s become an anticipated event here, and a good moment for GHEI to get the community up to speed on what we’ve been doing in the past year.  This evening was also an important time for our mechanized borehole committee to update the assembled on their progress.  A site has been selected near the centre of town and work begins soon.


As it has happened for the last five years, the chief and many important members of the Humjibre community were in attendance.  And also, as usual, a DJ with absurdly large speakers got the evening off to a thumping start.  And also, as usual, the lighting played havoc with our photos so, I’ll keep this short.

 

Here are some interesting stats that we presented:


  • Over 430 Junior High School students attended our tutoring centre in 2011



  • The library saw 20,000 visitors in 2011 (!) and now has 5,500 books



  • GHEI has begun a new partnership with local drink spots to sell condoms at subsidized rates


  • We did not go over budget.

Happy admires Happy on powerpoint
This last part is important as a practice for an NGO, but if you only knew how small our budget really is…We manage to do a lot with a little out here.  We run four massive education programs, three essential health programs, pay salaries for 10 full time staff, run an enormous library, run a vibrant community centre, and reach thousands in need, in our village and beyond.  In a single year, we do all this for less than the price of an SUV (….we don’t have a company car).
 
For a lot less than what most NGO executive directors demand in salary, we use to run an effective NGO.  For this, and for many other accomplishments, we are proud.

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