Handwritten

Usually cities are full of lights, fast cars, music and latest fashion. Few would argue that Washington DC is also same but there are city within cities, which remain hidden from the usual sight of visitors. I happen to be in one of such parts of DC, It is an African American Mosque on New Jersey Avenue named as ‘Masjid Muhammad’. I am doing a lot of generalization on the basis of my ‘Jumah’ (weekly Friday prayers) visits to this mosque. I was surprised to see the amazing full of life culture this small mosque presents to me. Here is what I found interesting: Cafe There is a cafe, kitchen, and a bookstore in the basement. The group is so vibrant and active that they utilize not only the space of Mosque but also build network to promote business, Raise funds for community needs like Education through selling game tickets and a lot more. Not to forget the DVDs and journals of Imam Muhammad who is the Man behind this community. Changing roles and speakers Each week a new person takes over...

Each month Atlas Service corps organises training and workshops for the fellows. the set up is good because it gives a unique theory -practical - transition and also takes care of our learning needs. First we were given "How to change the world" the famous book in citizen sector, written by David Bornstein, it gave us an overview of the 'Social Entreprenuerism' and some very good stories of people who are changing the world around them. Then we met Mark the founder of genocide International network, This guy is awesome in terms of how he mobilises support from people, we learned about how he built his network based on a simple idea and strong compassion. I like the genocide hotline started by him, its number is 1800-genocide ! easy to remember. Grant seeking basics were another workshop, that we attended in Foundation Centre, I was amazed by the detail and data about grants available in the center. one can easily use the online resources on a very reasonable rates. vi...

Recently launched America’s Giving Challenge is very exciting for me, it urges me to use technology as a way of inspiring people to support causes they care about. The Case Foundation and Parade Magazine started this challenge, which runs from now through January 31, 2008. The challenge is motivating individuals to champion causes they care about and raising donations online using Web 2.0 tools. What you see in the upper right corner of this page is a widget, one example of Web 2.0 tools. Now it is very easy to spread the word about your cause. Better get your tool box ready with latest and fine tools if you want to make BIG things happen! What is exciting about the challenge is that the eight “fundraisers” attracting the greatest number of donations for their causes will each get $50,000 for their chosen cause, and the 100 causes that receive the most donations will each get $1,000. Global Giving & Network for Good are the two partners selected by Case and Parade to support the ...

Let me tell you about my latest experience of "learning to learn”. I wanted to read about the latest things in the citizen sector as there are so many so many things happening in DC. Specially at this time of the year, when so much Giving takes place because of religion festivals and tax benefits etc. So I was struggling with whether I should use the search engines or subscribe news letter or ask somebody what to read My house mate Sergio told me about Craig list foundation, Robert told me about a couple of news letter and blogs & every day we encounter on or two good websites to keep us abreast about the new trends in the sector etc so I was regularly saving links and useful mails. As a result my mail box started filling with unread mails why? Because I never used to get enough time to read all that I wanted to read. Then today I finally explored the Google reader! (After hearing its name from three or four people) it’s simply great to have all your reading supply on a single...

Solitude is the sole companion these days. two of my house mate are out of city and third one usually comes late. These days most of my time in home is spent on internet or cooking. and Im lookin at the next holiday vacation to beat the stress. During thanks Giving, I went to Morgan town west verginia to see a family friend and have some real cooked food. I liked the whole process of making this trip happen. actually it was a four day vacation and every body was going out! I thought it be foolish to be at home when the whole city is partying, eating Turkey and doing alot of shopping. but i wasn't sure about how to go ? where to find right information? then Gargi's mausa and mausi, who were visiting us gave me quick tips to plan atrip in US. so finally after struggling to find a suitable travel option, I hooked up with amtrack thanks to all my friends who helped me in doing so. One thing I dont like about thanks Giving is the wastage of food and why only one day to express than...

Every day when I travel in Metro I see many people with i-pods or i –phones, Listening music are juggling with the digital content. Its a pretty common visual in most of urban cities, But when I see the use of Information and communication technology by the Non Profits in DC, Im amazed by it and also surprised that I was so ignorant about it while I was in INDIA, its not like that im downgrading my citizenship but actually being in a new culture im able to connect to the future use of technology in India, specially in the context of citizen sector. I remember there is a great debate about the use and misuse of the so called Information and communication technology and it is generally considered that propagating ICT is marketing for the technology and also for the other products as feature of capitalism. The debate is generally about the masses but here im more interested about the classes, I mean people working in the citizen sector in India or the civil society organizations. I find t...

Recently I went to the National Mall of Washington to see the Monuments. It was a pleasant sunny day and a lot of people have come there. I was roaming alone but it was nice to spent sometime walking on the Mall. I saw the world war Monuments and Lincoln Memorial but was moved by 'the wall on the mall' that has been made in remembrance of the US soldiers who gave their life for their country. The Wall or the Vietnam Veterans memorial has been designed beautifully and its goes with the ambience of the mall, engages the visitors to reflect on the cost of war for them. I saw that many of them brought flowers and was searching for the names. not only this the texture, location and other architectural input every thing is so well thought that there isn’t any better War monument I have seen. but I also saw the two contradictions of the society just a few blocks away in front of white house there was a bunch of people protesting against war. Democracy must prevail!

A month in US is over. A month away, from home, family and my beloved homeland India. I miss them all and I miss them badly but today I am remembering the food and tea corners in Delhi. So after writing this post I will make some 'Biryani' to satisfy my taste buds. When I look back to this past month it seems like a flash back, covering each event in few seconds. Let me take you through a tour, which starts with my journey in plane. The pleasure of flying is so addictive, I was above the sky, enjoying the clouds and the sun besides me, but do you know what was most interesting for me? To see all the terrains and pattern of landscape from a bird eye view, it seems as if a passionate artist has painted on the canvas! When I landed at DC, Kimi, our US program Director, came to receive me, she gave me quick information capsules and shows me few places so that I don’t get lost, and by that time my fear of new had gone because knew that I was in safe hands! My encounter with second A...

Ramadan fasting is over and I am back in feasting mode! This weekend it was Eid and I really enjoyed the way people here observe it. I went to Mary land for EID prayers. What I enjoyed most was the great party after the prayers, every body brought gifts cakes and food, moving in a line with all fun and laughter! ...oh yes... I did miss my family. But then there are my lovely housemates who give me a homely feeling! this weekend we had some great Indian food saw musical, melodramatic hindi songs on Youtube. Last week at work was busy, entertaining but satisfying. I went to a fund raising lunch organized by the Washington Area Women Foundation. I found that the event was a good mix of recreation, media, and food and off course fund raising!! Just imagine in a short span of 2 hours, we saw a film, people had lunch, got involved in a lucky draw, heard live stories from the beneficiaries, got few poems from one of the pioneer and observed a discussion on collective philanthropy. It was a ...

These days i am meeting new people every day, & I am excited to see that here people are so interested in politics. It wouldn't be wrong to say that politics is in the air ! every third person i meet is either attached with some cause or another or have started his own non profit organisation. (i would prefer to use this term because no matter how different terms are used because of the market influence, still they offer the tax benefits when it comes to donations ). so I was telling you about my encounter with new people, people from different back ground, different profession, distinct interests and also with different motives. Interestingly many of them are young energetic and ambitious. This Thursday I met around 10- 12 people in a get together and at least three of them have served America as peace corps, Ameri corps or military and, are highly motivated and ambitious to serve the nation in their own way.. and off course !!! they all have started their Non profit organi...

It has been my first week at global giving and I am glad that I am here. Though I have been working in the citizen sector for last four years but I couldn’t imagine that Giving would involve so much of art or science whatever you name it. Expolring the world of online giving & trying new softwares was a nice experience but last week was full of confusion also! Different department, segmented meeting, the official lingo and over and above overlapping and connected tasks of each of them. All made me feel from where to start. But then Dana, Saima and Duane made me feel relax that it is Ok to be confused at Global giving during the initial days! They have already gone through this. There have been few changes in my perspective also , earlier I was skeptical & concerned about the participative nature of web and the word ‘dialogue’ created a different meaning in my mind. But now a window has been created & I am able to see the enormous potential of online communication for citize...

It is interesting that i am exploring the city as well as my organisation at the same time, you know why ? because it actually provides me both hidden and visible aspects of a new culture. people on street , city at night, cars music, transport and work culture & Practices etc. though sometimes i am confused may be because of an unfamilier bus station or "office lingo" or internal technical terms yet i feel good about it . Its new to me!! and you know what ? this weekend i really had lots of fun. one of our co fellow Gargi told us about a nice place near by so she I ans vithika went for a long walk at roosvelt island . The potomac and the woods were beautiful. and I was delighted to see that there were other people too enjoying the nature, with spouses & kids. and there were whole lot of people enjoying joggng and cycling. And yeah i must tell about my little tour too Asia actually on sunday I was badly missing indian food so I went to search for an asian store , tha...

After a short delay to join the group,This is my first week in DC and I am happy that i am here finally. DC is hot these days but the people here are really warm at heart, be it my Host Noah scott, staff of global giving ,Other fellows Or Kimi . All of them have helped me to feel at home. Yesterday was my first day at work where I met most of the staff & read about the organisations . Saima and manmeet told me about it in detail with few success stories of the organiation. Denis the Founder Of Global Giving was busy in a board meeting, but I briefly interacted with him and Got motivated with his approach and openness. in just few minutes he motivated me to present an IDEA in the staff meeting . so on the very first day i got charged up, have started working on it and Inshallah !Pretty soon I will present it for peer review and feedback.

When we write something, we put our internal worlds in words a world beyond borders