September 14, 2016
There is no doubt the bond between a child and a concerned supportive adult can be a lifeline, a lesson, a joy, and even a meaning to one’s life. It can be so many things both ways. Our TFFT connections are special in that our connections are also about protection, survival, growth, a child’s potential, a family’s future.
One of the responsibilities of TFFT staff is to act as a link between scholar and sponsor so that the relationship bond can be strong and more meaningful over distance, time, and cultural divide. It is an effort we all take very seriously, because the link between scholars and sponsors is something that has allowed us all to do such great work under the TFFT umbrella.
There is a lot of good will generated between our scholars, our sponsors, staff, volunteers and schools. We all have the same focus of giving a child a quality education, as we all do our part in supporting our children. Communication between all of us is so important because we all rely on each other. In this blog, I would like to talk about all our bond-making efforts in the last few months that have brought us all closer together.
Building bonds is a three-way conversation between TFFT Scholars, sponsors, and team members, that can take many different forms: consulting with teachers; recording interactions with the children; doing interviews; facilitating visits; saving our money to buy a trip to Tanzania; running information sessions with parents; writing and delivering postcards and letters; filling in surveys; building Family Cells; writing blogs; Skype meetings between US and TZ staff; updating the website; sharing photos…we do all of this to help build our network of connections within the TFFT family. Even activities like updating databases, writing reports, and trying to work out school reports all add to the information that can swirl around us that needs to be shared.
Visits by sponsors to interact with scholars is the most wonderful and fun way to build connections. Wouldn’t we all love to do this as often as possible! Over the past few months, many of us have had a great experience seeing the love generated by such meetings. RIDETZ people were very blessed in this regard. They experienced what local TFFT staff get to do every week (aren’t we lucky). Even as we speak, TFFT is hosting the annual Vision Trip, to show firsthand the work we do daily. But still, there are many scholars and sponsors who don’t have the privilege to meet face to face, so that is where cards, photos, reports, and exchange of stories is the way to build connections. Other small practical bond-making activities like someone funding schoolbooks, or financially supporting life-skill activities all builds a web of connection we can all be excited about.
Have you ever tried getting information from a teenager? Well yes, it is the same challenge in the Tanzanian context. When interviewing a scholar or encouraging them to write about themselves, we all look for that one question that will open the flood gates, and get the child to look you enthusiastically in the eye. What sport do you like? Who is your favorite team/music/book? What are your plans for the future? Rest assured, if you ask closed ended questions you will get the answer “good” every time. But the scholars are happy to play, and I am sure they like the undivided attention that accompanies these interviews. For someone to be so terribly interested about them, to write all they say and send it over to America, must be a great source of pride.
Within our Scholarship Program, we have also recently had a task of going through end of term school report cards, and sending information back to sponsors who of course love to see how their Tanzanian loved one is progressing academically. The US based TFFT staff are thinking hard about how to improve mapping a child’s academic progress so that we can see patterns and trends and monitor the impact of academic programs and extra tutoring we make available for our scholars. All of this information together paints a picture of a scholar’s progress, or an indicator that a she or he might need extra assistance. Our Full Circle Program helps schools understand the importance of using the data that they collect in meaningful ways. Overall, an effective knowledge sharing system is so important to keep up our three-way conversation across various continents.
For TFFT, in my view, bonds between scholar and sponsor mean communication, commitment and shared responsibility. We are special and should feel proud of ourselves because our commitment to our scholars is long term. Whether a marathon commitment or a tag team effort, we are in it for the long haul, and we need to be strongly connected across the years. All our successes small and large need to be celebrated and shared. All our shortfalls need to be discussed compassionately, and viewed as a challenge together. And this means open, honest and effective communication between us all. As TFFT expands, our Scholarship Program will continue to run on commitment and connection between people.
