I started my own charity 12 years ago, when I was very very young. I have special needs and I wouldn’t have been able to get into this line of work and do what I do how do I not set it up myself. Especially since I work in Asia and Africa. I know of one other girl who has worked as a volunteer for VBS oh and I know of someone else who taught English, but there are very few of us Who work internationally in the NGO sector, even when the NGOs are dealing with people with disabilities. At least, when I first started there were very few of us. So one of the biggest challenges I face is finding other people who I can talk to about what stresses I have who would understand me very well. I sometimes feel like people don’t expect much out of me, or they try and do work for me that I could be doing myself if they just supported me a bit.
People always think fundraising is the hardest part, for me that definitely has not been true.
I’m used to having to work out very odd hours, and anyway, I have insomnia, so that part doesn’t bother me. Neither do a lot of other things that go on in this sector, I’ve become used to them now. But it still bothers me when I can do things perfectly well, and other people try and do the work for me. I get very very bored if I’m sitting still. We are currently working on for projects, one dental, to environmental and a community library, and another training for educators in mainstream on how to support students with special needs. I have known my colleague in Vietnam for eight years, and he still underestimates how good my Vietnamese us, or the fact that I know quite a few people Who would be good at the dental mission, and I can organize things myself… I absolutely hate being underestimated. I really do. Things do take time for me to learn, and sometimes, yes, I fail, but I never stop.