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.