imazhi i ri per gramshin

New Image for Gramsh - this is the name of a local non-profit organization that i've recently started working with...i met the founder through a mutual friend, two days later we had a project idea, and two days later i wrote a grant looking for funding for that project...yes, life is good...

back in the states i may have complained about having to bring work home, or i may have simply said, no, that i wouldn't do it...but sitting at my house the night before the grant was due i was happy to be doing this work...i finally got to a point in albania where i felt as though i was doing something...i could see the light at the end of the tunnel...now, i may not have written a good enough grant in those two days...but, if we don't get funding this go-round, we will have another opportunity in july...either way, i'm hopeful...

the project was thought of by the guy i am working with who has years of experience as a soccer trainer..his idea, put simply was to have a soccer tournament over the course of 3 weeks including kids from the local city, and surrounding villages...after going over his ideas, and then beginning to write the grant i realized that we would need to do a little more than a soccer tournament for local boys to secure funding..given the short time, i think i found a pretty good plan...

i added two key components to the grant (which my partner completely agreed with)...we added a team for girls who were interested in playing..i'm hoping we can get 4 girls teams to play...but only getting 2 or 3 may be more realistic...we added this to help promote gender equality, and help shake up perceived and accepted gender roles in the community.

the second component we added was to include a game on the final day when the youth from the villages and the city join teams and cooperate in a sort of "all-star" game...on some occasions people from the city have a negative view of those who live in the villages, and we saw this as an opportunity to promote cooperation amongst them, as well as to show them, at the end of the day they're all the same...

so, we shall see...but i just wanted to pass along the good news of this new partnership and the prospects for opportunity that i envision....