June 10-13, Advancement Academy and work week

Sorry about the late posts, but it's been a hectic week. I decided that I'm going to write about all of my work days in one post since I don't really do enough during the week other than work.

This past Monday we had class and walked around Observatory for awhile. After that I went to bed, knowing that I had two really big and long days ahead of me. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Boyd and I were participating in or NGO's Advancement Academy. It was a long two days but I learned so many things. On Tuesday, we arrived and heard some opening speeches. Afterward we participated in a masterclass on leadership in non-profits. Although I was not the CEO or director of a non-profit, I still was able to participate and learn a lot about leadership. I realized that most of the things I learned could be applied to anything in life, and I'm hoping that someday when I have a real job, that I could apply what I learned and be a leader myself. Throughout the day we attended several other speeches and of course, had amazing food. It was nice to have food provided for a day, that way I didn't have to go out and spend more money. During the academy, I met Sandra Ambrose. I was fortunate enough to hear Sandra's story and how she started her own non-profit. Sandra told me about her son and how he has a disability: this then became her inspiration when starting the NGO, The Disabled Children's Action Group (DICAG). Not only does Sandra's organization help children who are disabled, but they also offer advice and support for the families of the disabled child.

If you would like to see more on Sandra's organization, click below:
DICAG

The went by so fast and by the end I was exhausted and preparing for another long day. Wednesday was a little shorter than the first day, and the masterclass I attended was M&E, or Monitoring and Evaluation. It was definitely different than I expected it to be, but the "teacher" of the class (Dugan Fraser) was quite vibrant and had a lot of energy, which made the class extremely interesting. I learned a lot about non-profits, and honestly after that class I could probably start my own if I wanted to. The day came to an end, as well as the academy. I gained a lot of knowledge and made a lot of connections. I'm extremely happy that I got to participate in the Advancement Academy.

Thursday went by fast since it was just another day of work. I did not go out at all for most of the week because I was extremely tired for working and such. My weeks, most likely, will not be very exciting from here on out, but I'll definitely include all exciting things that I do.

xoxo,

Alexandra