There have been multiple moments since forming Eat to Feed Liberians in 2008, when I wonder how exactly I got here. This is what I’ve come up with:
Africa…
In 2007, I wanted to go ‘see Africa’. I signed up to work in an orphanage in Jinja, Uganda with GIVE International and I was hooked. Seconds after returning home, I began to dream up a return to a ‘darker’ part of the allegedly dark continent. I found a placement Buduburam Liberian Refugee Camp that satisfied my craving for something grittier and my parents’ love for stable countries.
I spent May – August 2008 volunteering in Buduburam with a Liberian NGO, Children Better Way (CBW).. They assigned me to teach in a third grade classroom at their school in the camp. There, I spent a good part of my time relearning long division and teaching it with my Liberian co-teacher, Bobby Kah.
Food…
Two events in particular stick out from those months that led me to bake thousands of cookies.
A student fell asleep and Bobby let him sleep because he knew the boy was not receiving much food at home.
I was supposed to teach times of day. As I went through the 8am – breakfast, 12pm – lunch and 6pm – dinner routine, Bobby stopped me and said that one afternoon meal might be more applicable to these kids.
So, during my last month of volunteering I joined with a few other volunteers to begin funding a feeding program for some summer study classes. We started with enough money for bread, oranges and water for this 6-week program.
More Food…
In September, school began for the Liberians and me. Largely because I hate that international volunteering creates only short-term projects in the communities in which they are based, I committed to one term of funding and began my weekly visits to Money Gram. For the first few weeks, I used money I earned from waitressing part-time while studying at university. Obviously, this plan would not last long.
Cookies… One night at work, I decided to start baking cookies. It seemed harmless enough, and it seemed to play on enough heartstrings to get enough support for the rest of the school term. That weekend, I transformed my student kitchen into a makeshift bakery, and began to test my housemates’ patience. Using my own money I purchased, and continue to purchase, all the ingredients for the cookies. This enables me to guarantee that 100% of money raised or donated will go directly to the feeding program.
The staff at Windmills Restaurant in Kingston, Ontario, where I used to work, were the first to encourage me with very generous contributions of money, kitchen space and cooks. Friends and family stepped up next and quickly I had enough money to promise a second term of feeding. That December, thanks to the ‘Bake and Boozers’ and a family who accepted a permanently buttery kitchen that smelled of untouchable cookies, I made more cookies than I ever dreamed of.
I survived the rest of that winter with the help of various friends and their projects. A local band, Andy’s Ego brought publicity and funds by “shamelessly” promoting ETFL at concerts. Drama performances and Development conferences let me guilt attendants into buying cookies.
The shortcomings of a BA…
In September 2009, I came back to the camp to find I had next to none of the practical experience I needed to put together a functioning organization, despite an undergraduate degree. Multiple people stepped up to fill the voids:
A friend built this website in record time. Business students gladly showed me the shortcomings of a Global Development Studies degree by organizing my finances and structure. Lawyers and future lawyers helped get a constitution and other applications under way. A team of committed fundraisers and donors continued to give and raise money in Canada so that I could come and implement an upgrade from bread to rice and soup.
Today I write this story from my kitchen in Buduburam. In the room next to me, Comfort and Philomena are busy preparing greens and rice for today’s feeding. Students from Children Better Way School will be along shortly to carry the food up to the two campuses.
Eat to Feed Liberians has now grown from my small project to an organization that I can no longer take credit for. It has been a big trip, to say the least…