My Placement

I apologize for the length of time it took for me to make this post - I have been busy doing lots of different things.
So, I have been place with a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to AIDS prevention and local youth empowerment. The organization gives presentations to local youth, truck drivers and commercial sex workers (prostitutes) on how to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. They also raise money in an effort to send local orphans to school.
Here is the amazing part of my placement: there is no red tape. I do not have a set schedule, and I do not have set activities. I can do what I want when I want to, which seriously works for me. This is my niche. I can come up with activities, fundraisers and presentations and deliver on them, yet I struggle when I am held back by administrative guidelines. This works for me.
In addition to being free to make the most of what I have, there is another volunteer placed with me who also makes my placement great. She wants to make a difference as badly as I do, and she brings a lot to the table. We operate in very different ways (as usual when I am partnered with someone else), and it just works. We have goals, and by working together, I fully believe that we can accomplish what we have set out to do.
What I am currently doing, with the exception of the past two days (a post will follow to explain these activities), is researching and writing proposals for government grants from foreign countries. Right now, what the NGO can do is limited to the funds that they have been given from grants. Applying for a grant is essentially the same as applying for a scholarship. I was lucky enough to gain a bunch of experience in that type of sales pitch this past fall. What a grant proposal typically consists of a summary of the organizations goals, a presentation of a series of activities that the NGO plans to carry out, and a budget of those activities including the total amount you are asking for. So, we (the other girl and I) have narrowed it down to what grants we are applying for and will start the application forms shortly.
Following this, I will be traveling around to different communities giving a series of presentations on AIDS prevention, which I am excited about. Also, one of the major goals that we have is to show our NGO how to become an efficient organization all the while understanding the different speed of this culture. There is no hurry to do anything here; there is no sense of urgency, but there must be a sense of purpose.
There is a lot of good to be done at my placement. There are countless things that I will be able to help with, and at the end of the day, if I accomplish anything that I have listed above I know that a difference will have been made.

There is a part II to this post that will follow shortly, outlining my last 2 days, which may I tell you, have been the sketchiest of my life.