Blogs About "Gretchen Wallace"

Tuesday, June 15

I should pause and describe the scene. I sometimes forget to do so, as much of what I experience, which would be so exotic for another, is something that I have come to find so comfortingly familiar here in Rwanda: The women in their beautiful multicolored wrapped skirts; a sweet child sitting on the floor of our classroom while his mother takes notes; ten children and men...

Monday, June 14

Today was my first day of training for our 2010 Academy for Conscious Change. I was actually really nervous for the first time in a while. But it was not because of my new group of participants, but more because I had a large group of Americans observing, which is not usually the case. I will be curious about what they think as we get deeper...

Saturday, June 12

My journey begins about noon on day one as I board a bus from New Hampshire. I fly out of Boston Logan overnight to Amsterdam, spending a 12 hour layover in Europe before another overnight flight to Nairobi, connecting finally to Kigali in the afternoon on day 3. Here are a few ways I allow myself a bit of self-care to prepare for a journey to the...

Friday, June 11th

I am writing over a triple Kenyan latte in Nairobi’s airport. The sun is coming up. World Cup fans fill the spaces usually taken up by foreign aid workers and African businessmen. All are wearing evidence of their leanings – a jersey, a scarf, a hat, a patch. They are not afraid. Everyone is glued to CNN. South Africa looks like...

Next week I'll be returning to Rwanda for a month to work with grassroots women change agents. My non-profit, Global Grassroots (www.globalgrassroots.org), operates the Academy for Conscious Change, a 12-18 month incubator for vulnerable women who have ideas for social change. We help women who are impoverished, war widows, undereducated and survivors of violence start their own non-profit organizations benefiting other women and girls. This June we will host our...

I had the opportunity to have coffee with Gretchen Wallace this morning in Hanover. Gretchen is a very cool member of 85 Broads. She is the founder of an organization that helps, and therefore profits, a lot of women in Rwanda which is why I'm hard pressed to call her org a "non-profit." Global Grassroots is truly best of class.

As everyone knows, donor dollars are extremely...