Monthly letter – July 2021
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by
alviraadmin
To the Alvira family,
Sho… has it been a few weeks or what! I don’t think I’ve ever felt a period with so many things going on – the fireworks of emotion; anger, worry, fear, but also, resilience, defiance and care. Few times is the internal chaos of inner selves so aptly reflected in our immediate external environment.
There are times for action, for planning and times for quiet, for healing and rest. We are in the latter, we have a lot on our mind and our hearts – and because of this we have decided to postpone the planned trip of Elena and Luchy discussed in June’s letter. We will get there; we will have our training session, we will have meetings with the schools to discuss plans for the future – just not right now. We are provisionally discussing plans for early December as it is the next time that makes sense for us and Elena and Luchy.
On a practical and POPIA compliant note, as much as newsletters are helpful to give news and let everyone know what is happening in the foundation – you are free at any point to unsubscribe from them. If you so wish, just reply to the e-mail requesting to unsubscribe.
A word from Jason, our CFO:
In March we received our first round of generous donations which allowed us to budget for 6 months and move ahead with all our projects – in particular with the Umazisi content creation. We are now at the end of those 6 months and are running very low on our finances.
In light of this, the finance team has created a flyer that hopes to generate interest in both immediate and long term funding. I encourage everyone to send this flyer to family and friends and anyone who may be willing to help create a future for this foundation and everyone involved.
For the remainder of 2021, a total of R 85 000 is needed to bring us into the next phase of development. This includes several trademark registrations, a website, Umazisi mentor training and additional content creation. For more detail please see the flyer attached in conjunction with the newsletter.
Our proposal for either project is available at request for anyone who may want to know more about the foundation.
Thanks
Jason Gaskell
CFO and Public Officer
Updates – Marketing
For many months now, we have been investigating how to create a social media presence. What would this presence look like, how do we build an image of who we are which is both authentic to our purpose but also strategic and marketable to those who know nothing about us.
We have finally found real assistance in the form of a social media company called Vidhq.studio. Ntombi Ngubane, the founder, has generously volunteered her time in generating the initial content for our social media campaign launch. This will be across Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. Our first brainstorm session starts this week and we aim to have the launch within the next two months after having generated all the necessary content. Thanks, Ntombi and also Robyn who will be the person doing the admin of curating the post and posting the content every week.
Thought of the Month – who are we, when things go wrong
This months’ thought comes in the form of a video. A video which, to me, so well encapsulates what we all have experienced over the last few weeks. A video that asks the question: “who are we when things go wrong?”
The author explores how there seems to be an implied belief that amid chaos and difficult times we are alone, an “each person for themselves” kind of thing. A point most poignantly shown in post- apocalyptic stories where our true nature is selfish, aggressive and suspicious of one another.
But is this true? In the face of destruction or disaster, it has been seen time and time again that the outcome from these moments of chaos and deficiency turn into order and abundance by the will, empathy and resourcefulness of our fellow human beings.
What I find the strangest thing is that no matter how unpredictable disaster – man-made or other, the most predictable and certain thing, is the love we show one another to support each other through the worst. As the author of the video puts it: “There is something about a disaster that helps us understand who we really are, and, what we are supposed to do”
Is there space, that we can find this love and this support not only in moments of disaster and chaos but in the everyday life of our existence?
Kindest regards,
Luca Pontiggia
CEO of Alvira Foundation
