Through-out my time as a community organizer I realized that very few people know much of anything about community organizing. Whenever I introduce myself and my work, over 90% of the time, I expect the questions “What does that mean? What is that?”. Very few people understand the term. A while back, I shared about my work with an american friend, Craig. The minute I mentioned community organizing, he immediately referred to me as an Obama. That got me thinking, he is familiar with the term and goes an extra step of giving an example, maybe more people know about what I do than I thought. However, he still asked me the question, what really is community organizing? Well, I answer that question almost everyday.”Community organizing is all about creating sustainable justice based institutions and building local leadership that creates an opportunity for fractured communities to have a unified voice and the collective power necessary to get the change they want to see.”After trying to help him understand about this term, I realized that despite his minimal exposure, he thought community organizing was just about political mobilization of voters for I don’t know how long. “We have a lot of work to do”, I thought.
All of us at some point have been misunderstood thanks to ignorance or lack of know how. All we can do is educate and hope that our efforts bear fruit. It goes a step further than other people, ourselves. We at times misunderstand the impact our actions have on others and the world. For the next one month we will look over Charity vs Justice as regards to Aid and Mission . What do we understand about these terms. What do you think charity is? or Justice? Are they the same thing or are they totally different? What does this mean for the efforts put in before and in the future to end hunger, homelessness, oppression e.t.c
Liz Njeri- Community Manager Tatua Kenya.
Reblogged this on TATUA.
coffeeandamacbook.wordpress.com
What are your thoughts on charity vs justice?
I’m sorry but I don’t quite understand your question?
What is your understanding of the two terms and what do you think we should be doing to better the world
charity: share what you have been blessed to have with those who are unable to receive it.
justice: giving people what they deserve, what they have worked for.
we think of ourselves much more often than we think of others, and we need to start thinking in a plural sense rather than singular.
this is awsome. for sustainability to be realized communities must be organized
I tend to agree with you David. When we organize, we not only come together but also have a plan and purpose towards the change we want to see.
Katelyn great work you doing with “coffeeandamacbook”