Send Jessica to Africa, help orphans/widows/refugees! (updated post)

Dear Readers,

Some day I’d like to be a nonprofit tax accountant working for an accounting firm like Clark Nuber, Moss Adams, or Sweeney Conrad (who all have significant nonprofit clients). Some day further down the line I’d like to start an association of accountants to provide accounting services for nonprofits working in third world countries. Ultimately, I want to use my skills and degree to enable nonprofit organizations to become more (financially) efficient so they can help more kids in destitute situations.

One of my stepping stones toward these goals is to spend six weeks in Africa this summer to learn more about how nonprofits operate and how administrative decisions affect program work. This summer I’ll be spending three weeks in Uganda doing admin work with two accountants at Pilgrim Africa [http://www.pilgrimafrica.org] and possibly working with students at Pilgrim’s Beacon of Hope College [http://www.pilgrim-uganda.org/soroti.htm]. Then I’ll spend three weeks working at an orphanage in South Africa with the Agathos Foundation [http://www.agathosfoundation.org] loving on kids whose parents/relatives have been murdered or otherwise affected by HIV/AIDS. This trip will directly benefit orphans, widows, refugees, and former child soldiers. My work will also serve these nonprofits AND provide me with priceless insight into issues they face so I can know how to better serve them.

The only problem is… I’m about $3,000 short of my goal ($4,300). This amount covers airfare, housing, food, travel insurance, and other travel expenses. Personal/recreational expenses are on my tab. My payments are due on Monday, May 25^th, and if I don’t make this deadline… I don’t know what I’m going to do (other than, you know, cry). So I need YOUR HELP.

If you know ANYONE who is willing to support me in my endeavors to practice accounting for the sake of kids in Africa, please pass on this letter! Any amount helps; every dollar counts! I am willing to provide administrative, basic accounting, child care, organizational, and manual labor services in exchange for contributions.

Tax-deductible ways to give:

1) Make check(s) payable to Agathos Foundation and send to 702 N 128^th St Seattle, WA 98133 (preferred)

2) Agathos' Secure Online Giving: Please note "PT - Jessica Nguyen" or else the money won't go to my trip!

3) Let’s meet up for lunch/coffee; I can tell you more about my trip/vision and you can give as you feel led =D

OR: 4) PayPal (NOT tax-deductible)

Screenshots of my brochure (hard copies available): Click to enlarge

Kindest Regards,

Jessica K. Nguyen
Junior – Accounting
Michael G. Foster School of Business
University of Washington, Seattle
accountingforafrica.blogspot.com
accountantforAfrica.blogspot.com

tossing and turning.

It's happening again.

My mind is whirring. Ideas are formulating. Fears are irking.

Africa.

I can't get away from it..

Africa.

How do I verbalize this burden? It's on my heart, on my shoulders, on my mind...

I need to write support letters.

But where do I start?

Hi, my name is Jessica. I need $6,000 to help widows, orphans, and refugees in Africa.

Okay. Well, that's vague. What does that even mean?

I want to spend three weeks in Uganda doing administrative work for an NGO (Pilgrim Uganda) that serves refugees through a school, university, and relief work - physically and spiritually. Pilgrim also has an anti-malaria program (Move On Malaria) that has been so successful that the Ugandan government wants to adopt their program as a template to fight malaria throughout the entire country. Pilgrim is also making moves to fight malaria in Congo, which is in a very dangerous state right now. Your money will enable me to enable Pilgrim to run more efficiently and accomplish its goals more readily. Your contributions will bring Pilgrim one step closer to eliminating malaria, one step closer to bringing hope to this nation.

I also want to spend two to three weeks in South Africa at the orphanage I visited in 2007. I spent almost four weeks at the Cottages at Injesuthi and it completely changed my life.

Where do I begin with how it changed my life? How can I iterate the life-encompassing implications of holding a dying child in your arms - not knowing how long the child has left, but knowing that his time will be spent with people who love him unconditionally, fully, faithfully....? How do I tell people about the sobering effects of hearing the stories of horror and redemption in these people's lives? Have you ever heard a grown woman tell you about her aunt sending a witch doctor to rape her when she was a child? Have you heard her story of victory - fighting off the man and being rescued from that life? Have you heard her story of redemption? She used to never know where her next meal would come from - or if there would ever be one. All eleven of her brothers and sisters have DIED - mostly from HIV/AIDS. But now she's staying at a place where she's served three square meals per day, she's a caretaker for several of her nieces and nephews, she's got her own business (Lungile's Cards), and she's using proceeds to build a house so that her family can be together. She has the love of her community and her church and her God, when before she only experienced fear and sorrow from blood relatives.

I left the Cottages knowing that I wanted to do something about what I saw. Staying at the Cottages burdened me to the point where I lost sleep and grade points because I couldn't rest without reacting to the glimpses of redemption I saw. After MUCH deliberation, thought, and prayer, I came to the conclusion that I want to use my degree to help these kids. I want to practice accounting to help organizations run more efficiently and better accomplish their mission of serving others.

But I won't be doing accounting work in South Africa.

The Agathos Foundation's flagship orphan village is located in Loskop, RSA (Republic of South Africa). I spent every single day there with a thirteen-year-old girl (Nothile). While she was at school I hung out with two toddlers: Mfundo and Kwanele (HIV+). I got to know a few other kids, but left regretting not spending enough time/effort getting to know them. Ever since I boarded the plane back to America, I have wanted to go back. I want these kids to understand that people DO consistently think about, care for, and love them. I want to go back and get to know them better, offer any advice they might need, and be a person who can just listen to and pray for them. I want to lead Bible studies and point them to Jesus to remind them to have HOPE - because He is the true Source of HOPE.

But this trip isn't all about me and what I can get out of it. It's about the kids. I just want to go there and love on them - show them Jesus' love through my words and actions. I know that I will learn more from them than they'll learn from me... that's what happened last time.

Do you see Kwanele's eyes? Do you see the hope in them? That hope is there because of God's work through the Agathos Foundation - through the help of people like you.

Will you help me do this? Will you support me in your donations and/or prayers to make a difference in the lives of orphans, widows, and refugees in Africa?

I have a PayPal account, but prefer to not use it because they charge for transactions and that's taking money away from these kids. If you are interested in supporting me or in being part of my email list serve of people to pray for my trip, please contact me at jesknguyen@gmail.com.

Okay, it is 2:17 am and I have class in six hours. (Apologies for grammatical/syntactical errors. It is 2am, after all..) I hope you will join me in efforts to better these people's lives.

Kindest Regards,

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