December 14, 2009

The semester is winding down, and another month has gone by with Anzar Exchange. The main event that I had been working towards, The Interfaith Day of Celebration, was held on November 21st in the Lower Lounge of the University of Pittsburgh's William Pitt Union.

After finalizing speakers, which was more trouble than we thought it would be, and getting everything else settled, the event approached fast! The speakers that were involved were Aaron Weil, the executive director of Hillel University Center, Imam Abdulsamih from the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, and Christen Wurschmidt, a graduate student at the University studying Christianity. We also had performances by The VoKols and Pitt's Women's Choral Ensemble.

We had a good turnout at the event. The room was full, and people seemed to give positive reviews of the program. There was interest in Anzar, as well as the other participating groups, and what other events we were planning to have in the future.

Although sometimes a stressful process, planning and executing this event was good experience in working with multiple groups and the University bureaucratic processes.

In other news, I will be returning to work with Anzar next semester in a more fundraising capacity to raise money for the summer projects planned in Morocco! I am very excited and we have some interesting things planned for fundraisers, so stay tuned!

Barbara Ballard

Intern 2009 - Zach High

My name is Zachary High and I am interning with Anzar Exchange for the 2009-2010 school year. I am a senior at the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in Sociology, Political Science, and History. I plan on attending graduate school for Sociology next year. I am originally from Lancaster, Pa.

In looking for an internship over the spring and summer of this year, I was in search of a position in which I was able to participate and contribute in a way that did not involve sitting behind a desk filing papers or staring into a computer screen. I became interested in Anzar Exchange after learning about their dedication to making a difference both here in the United States and also across the Atlantic in Morocco. Both aspects of Anzar's mission, being cross-cultural understanding and creating a better environment for Moroccans, sparked great interest in me as a student of Sociology, Political Science, and History. I hope not just to learn from this internship, but also to make a difference and assist Anzar Exchange in their mission.

Bridge Completion

So, how exactly did this work? Anzar Exchange contributed a sum of money that was collected after a flood tore through the tiny village of Ait Metchoun last October. It was determined on the ground that what was needed more than anything else was a bridge since the previous bridge had been destroyed. In the meantime they strung up a cord attached to an intertube and they pullied themselves across the river. However, this is not safe nor practical for older people, groceries and supplies. So with the contribution of Anzar Exchange, our sister organization in El Mers matched it and then sollicited donations from the village. Nine months full of many volunteer work hours later, we have a beautiful foot bridge that traverses the river. I'm so proud of our Anzar counterparts. They did a really great job!

Intern Update

This month has been a busy one! Not only has school started, but also we have been hard at work planning events and research for the semester at Anzar.

I am planning, with the help of Danielle, an Interfaith Holiday Celebration, which will be held on November 21. We are contacting several religious student organizations at the University of Pittsburgh and surrounding areas to provide speakers who will talk about the importance of religious tolerance. We thought it would be appropriate to talk about the similarities of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism during the holiday season. We are also partnering with my choir, the University of Pittsburgh Women's Choral Ensemble to provide music that represents different cultures around the world. We have contacted other performance groups on campus and hopefully will be able to partner with them as well.

On the research front, I will be working on some sort of bigger report that will be completed by the end of the spring term. It will have to do with nonprofit success measurements and/or the shift in nonprofit models to a more business model because of funding resources and the changing economic climate. There is a lot of information to gather on these topics so my exact focus has not been pinned down as of yet.

I am excited to be working with Anzar and really looking forward to seeing our events through fruition!

Fall 2009 Intern - Barbara Ballard

My name is Barbara Ballard and I am one of the interns for Anzar Exchange in the 2009-10 school year. I am from Bethlehem, PA, and am now a junior at the University of Pittsburgh. I am majoring in Sociology and Anthropology, and minoring in Social Work. I hope to be involved with non-profit administration, specifically development (fundraising, events, etc) after I graduate.

I was attracted to Anzar because I was intrigued by its multi-faceted missions and initiatives. I also liked that it was a young non-profit run by young people, and that the internship positions would be more free form and a place where I would be able to hone my skills in the non-profit world by doing and not just watching. I am hoping that throughout this year, I will be able to help Anzar raise funds by planning events such as the bingo night and perhaps a silent auction, as well as plan events for the community to help them become educated about foreign cultures.

Welcoming Anzar Exchange

Because our previous blog no longer carries anymore news, we have moved on and broadened our topics to that of the entire mission of Anzar Exchange which is, "to strengthen the global community by promoting cross-cultural understanding and sustainable development." We are a non-profit that is very much in the start-up phase making us preoccupied with program development and analysis in addition to the very rewarding admin tasks such as writing bylaws and getting 501c3 status. The royal, "us" in this picture consists of many students and several professionals. All of us are passionate about development and environmental sustainability. Some of us would like to make a career out of it, but global financial trouble has made the path of the "do-gooder" much less lucrative.

In any case, the new route of this blog is intended to keep people informed of what we're doing and thinking. Currently, we are putting together a fantastic program piece by piece. We may be in this development process for quite sometime, but we are patient. Unfortunately, the problems we are addressing are not going away any time soon.

Breaking news from the front!!!

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! We just got word from Yassir, Tarik's younger brother. Apparently, 600 trees have been planted. This is the good news. The bad news is that, it wasn't nearly enough. Yassir said that word spread really fast all over the region that there was an organization planting trees around the rivers and people from all over came asking for trees. He said that next time, we need to have at least 6000 trees! Apparently, it wasn't just people living close to the water who are concerned about flood control but people from all over.

They were also able to build something of a bridge. I don't know yet what exactly they did, but they're sending us pictures soon and I will post them as soon as I get them.

I also have to mention that I received an email and a very heartfelt phone from Tarik's sisters expressing their sincere thanks for the contributions. They repeated several times how touching it was that all these people responded in such a way. It really feels good to know that we were able to have an impact. Now my only thing is to figure out how to have more of impact. There was another devestating flood earlier in the month of February in the Gharb region in Morocco. Our trees are needed.

So it's been awhile since my last update. Let's just call it a holiday break from depressing news from abroad. However, just because I want to drink egg nog and be merry, doesn't mean that bad stops being bad. Since my last blog, Bahajj's sister died and just last weekend his brother-in-law died. I knit him a scarf and hat and I figured that it should make him feel all better, I wish.

Anyway, we are in discussions with Yassir, Tarik's younger brother, about what we will put our funds towards. Apparently, right now the most pressing issue is figuring a way to traverse the river where the bridge was knocked out. In winter the river rises rather high and of course the people live on both sides of the river. Currently, I've been told that they have managed with a chord traversing the river with an old tire attached to it. I have a hard time picturing how some of those old ladies and their goats would manage.

We've discussed several options: possibly buying supplies here and sending them over there, but we haven't yet come up with a bright idea for a compactible bridge. We will most likely send the money to Yassir and oversee whatever they see fit from abroad. Yassir told me that he also thinks that replacing some of the trees should be a priority. We have about $2,000 raised. It's not going to make everything all better. At the very least, maybe the villagers will be touched to know that we are pulling for them. Thanks to all who contributed. Happy New Year!!