Recalibrating.

It has recently come to my attention that all the stuff I'm doing (or trying to do, at least) - if I want to succeed in accomplishing the goals set before me - needs to be focused on something other than myself. It was quite convicting, actually, because I realized that my last several blogs posts have been about nothing EXCEPT me, which is NOT the purpose of this blog. Nor is it the purpose of my career orientation.

So from now on I will make a stronger effort to fulfill the purpose of this blog, of my career. It's the purpose described in the header of this blog. All of this is about the KIDS. It's about LIVES CHANGED, lives changing, and lives yet to be changed. Accounting for Africa means I'm doing this all of the sake of the kids and people there. As indirectly related as it all sounds, I firmly believe that proper accounting practices make a material difference in how able a firm is to accomplish its goals.

And so, I'm starting an internship with the Agathos Foundation this winter. AF is the nonprofit I went to South Africa with in summer of 2007 and I hope to go back again this summer. I've also got an extended internship lined up with Pilgrim Uganda for spring and summer. Pilgrim serves refugees in Uganda. Details are still up in the air, but the hope is that I'll be able to help out with payroll and taxes overseas 'cause that's a very large expense for them. Hoping to also help out at the local school that Pilgrim works with. I expect this summer to see many, many lives changed... and this is what it's all about.

Jessica K. Nguyen
Junior - Accounting
Michael G. Foster School of Business
University of Washington, Seattle
accountingforAfrica.blogspot.com