Wow, so much happens, and then the next thing I know its been almost 6 months since I last posted. As most of you know, we have a little Quin crawling around the house, he's 11 months old just a few days ago. Unbelievable! Contact me for adorable baby pictures.
A lot has also been going on with Ability Beyond the Horizon. Since our change in a new direction, everything has felt better. I'm going to put together an outline to follow later in another blog, but a rough sketch is this:
We go to a location in a developing country, next summer it will be Bangalore, India. Two orientation and mobility instructors land in the country after I set up relationships from here in the states. These relationships are understandings that the organizations we work with in the host country agree to provide orientation and mobility (O&M) services for a period of 3 years. That means these people I'm training will for at least some portion of their time at the school be expected to teach O&M to the students/clients for 3 years. My hope is that in 3 years they'll be sold on the benefits of O&M when they see how much more independent their clients are.
So, agreements are struck, we land. One of our team will be responsible for the training of the new O&M instructors. They will spend a month together working on all the ins and outs of our job, essentially doing what I do here in the states with college students. This will be a month long intensive though.
The other team member will work with the agencies and schools that the people we're training are coming from. That team member will be working on caseload management, showing the schools what an O&M program looks like, and how its implemented. The big thing is that this person will need to work with the school to develop their own program. We aren't installing our own ideas there, we are guiding them in creating a sustainable program that works for them. This person would also be teaching clients the basics of O&M, getting the programs off the ground for these different schools.
By the end of the month, the two people from our organization will come together with new O&M instructors, and a shiny new O&M program in place for those instructors to work in.
Now for the other really neat parts. We've been working together here in Tallahassee with the local Rotary Club, Sunset Rotary. Its all in the beginning stages, but Ability Beyond the Horizon may begin working closely with Rotary international. You may or may not know, but there are Rotarians everywhere. There are like 22 clubs just in Bangalore alone. Through Sunset Rotary in Tallahassee we will create relationships with these clubs in the areas that we plan to work. The rotary club in Bangalore will do a lot of the ground work for Ability Beyond the Horizon before we ever arrive. They can assist with getting us lodging and incidentals set up so that when we arrive we just focus on work. Then after we go, the Rotary club in that area will hopefully have developed a positive relationship with a great agency/school in their area and continue to lend a hand in their own community, also helping Ability Beyond the Horizon maintain relations with the school and helping us monitor the progress of the O&M program in the school.
If we can formalize this relationship with Rotary we will have an amazing, already built infrastructure of wonderful people in their local communities around the world to help us to be successful. Cool huh?
We also officially have our first fundraising chapter in Austin, Texas. This is being spearheaded by Kassy Heil who is an O&M instructor at Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. I would like to have many of these fundraising chapters where folks can come together and party for a purpose. We're so excited to see the creativity Kassy has put into action.
So the timeline:
In 2011 we'll be in India, in 2012 I want to have 3 teams operating in 3 different locations. Lebanon has already promised 6 people, that's 2 people from every organization for the blind in Lebanon, its a small country. That means after just one month there we will have planted seeds across the country in a new way of thinking, that blind people have the ability to be independent, and not only will the thinking start changing with those 6, but they will also have the tools to make it a reality. In 2012 after we are successful with 3 locations running at the same time, we'll know this bird really flies. Then there's nothing stopping us from really ramping up and applying for major grant money to fund the initiatives. I have a list of volunteer O&M instructors already telling me they are ready to go, just tell them when and where.
So that is where we are now. How can you help?? Since we're still an all volunteer organization, operating costs are very low. We can make this change in India for $6,000. I plan to keep this number for everywhere we go. This will allow us to have a little money in the bank to help with the start up costs in going to a new location. That covers everything for a team of two to go to India, live, eat, and teach for a month. Your donation is completely tax deductible in the United States, we are a 501c3 non profit organization.
You all know me, so its going to someone you trust, and your money will go to providing services, this I promise. With your help, together we'll do great things in the world for people with visual impairment. I've got the energy, expertise, and craziness to make this happen. What I need now is fuel for this mission. If you'd like to do this over the web, we have a way to take credit cards and so forth here that is completely secure.: http://www.abilitybeyondthehorizon.org/involvement.php You can of course also make checks out to Ability Beyond the Horizon and mail them to:
Ability Beyond the Horizon
c/o Mickey Damelio
5789 St. Joe Rd.
Tallahassee, FL 32311
Please lets make this happen together, its such a small amount, even 20 dollars will have a huge impact on our success. We are going to India, even if I have to start kicking up quarters in grocery store parking lots to make it happen. Feel free to call me if you want to chat more, 850-583-1582, email works as well. Thank you all for your continued support, it means the world to me, and will mean independence to people with visual impairments in India and around the world for years to come. Are you as excited as I am?
~Mickey
image courtesy of: mckaysavage
