Greetings from Cape Town,

     The Cape continues to treat me well with all of its wonderful people, sites, and sounds.

     The staff at Inyathelo: The South African Institute for Advancement have been hosting me very nicely as an intern; showing me how they do work pertaining to the non-profit sector and philanthropic giving. I have been able to improve my understanding and skills of working with different social media tools that can be used in non-profit advocacy. I am working on a project to inform fellow non-profit organizations about current legislation that will adversely affect the non-profit sector. The first step in this project has been to simply create an informational chart that describes the path of a legislative proposal in South African Parliament. I created this information chart using the social media tool Infogram. Similar to Instagram, Infogram allows you to be creative with charts, data, and text when creating a visual presentation piece. I have found it to be an easy and creative way of completing projects. I will most definitely use this tool in the future. Take a look: http://infogr.am/Parliament-Procedures/

     I have also been able to continue working with the Community Works Program of Hanover Park. Together we have been working with high school dropouts and at-risk youth, in order to get them to start thinking about their future and the successes they can create through an education. We had a former gang member, Easton, come in and speak to the youth, so that they could hear the horrific stories of life as a gang member. Easton had spent 27 years in prison, and now he works to get youth to start thinking about the consequences of the choices they are currently making.

     Along with the youth work, I have been able to help facilitate a leadership and team building workshop with the Community Works Program staff. The supervisors felt the group needed to focus more on their duties and the responsibilities they have to the program and to each other. They seemed to enjoy the activities, and the supervisors felt that it was beneficial for the group as a whole.

Good to post. More to come...