VOTE! Natalie’s Excellence Earns Nomination for Most Valuable Organiser

Kenneth Chomba, Tatua Kenya Co-Founder and Field Manager, nominated Natalie for NOI’s Most Valuable Organiser because of her display of excellence. Read what Ken has to say about Natalie below and then vote for for her work with Tatua by clicking on the link and “liking” the page.

VOTE HERE: http://rootscamp.neworganizing.com/awards/2013/mvo/entry/natalie-finstad/

How the nominee exhibited excellence
Today, we just worked on our fundraising plan incorporating even the junior staff in the organization. Everyone took a role in the team and took a chunk of fundraising a percentage of the budget for 2014. As always, Natalie scheduled with everyone coaching sessions through the fund raising responsibilities that every one choose to make sure that we all achieved our goals and outcomes from the meeting. I find that a very strong value of excellence.

VOTE HERE: http://rootscamp.neworganizing.com/awards/2013/mvo/entry/natalie-finstad/

Natalie and Kenneth after Tatua Kenya’s 2013 Training

Reflection :: Lining the world up with truth

Tony Ngala, Tatua Community Organising Fellow in Mandika, reflects on his work of restoring truth in our world. Tony is leading a campaign in Mandika to get parents to take responsibility for their kids going to school.  

“Our work is lining the world up with truth.”

These words gave me strength during my coaching session with Ken and Natalie last week. The community has its foundations of lies, former encounters with “people” coming to fix the community that have lied to the community. The community has been disappointed by people who have promised to come back after taking a few videos, photographs, collecting a few documents about the groups in the community and then, leaving.

During my work of asking parents to come together and talk about the challenges facing our children it has been extremely hard to introduce myself as a member of the Tatua Kenya staff because of their perceptions of NGO’s. The push hard and then the truth looks bitter but I know my work is to offer a view of a new kind of NGO and to “line the world up with truth,” that is my work.

Follow this link to vote Natalie Finstad for Most Valuable Organiser in 2013 — http://rootscamp.neworganizing.com/awards/2013/mvo/entry/natalie-finstad/

Reflect :: Tuko Pamoja – We Are Together

By Natalie Finstad, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Tatua Kenya

While Tatua is not a religiously affiliated organisation we are deeply committed to the way of faith. The Way of Faith promotes shared responsibility, understanding, hope over despair and a belief in abundance.Over the last three years, I’ve become more and more aware how hard it is to practice this way of life on our own, the world is so desperately wants to affirm individualism and fear.

Tatua Kenya team members enjoy a BBQ together one Saturday… love this team!

I imagined I wasn’t the only person feeling that so we have begun to carve out time each Friday to share our experiences of the way of faith and encourage each other along the way. In August the Tatua Team started meeting together each Friday and checking-in, reflecting on practices of faith and sharing experiences of our work is going.  This has become one of my favorite times and I get similar feedback from the staff. We’re able to support one another and ground ourselves in the truth that something bigger than us is calling us forward. It has helped our work and it’s made us closer in general.

If you’re running an organization that is attempting to change this world, I strongly encourage you to find time for your staff to do the same. The time doesn’t have to be tied to a religion or a particular creed, sometimes we ourselves can be the hope that one another needs to keep going.

Reflect :: Response to a Tragedy – Creating a Story of Us

Letter from Natalie Finstad, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Tatua Kenya 

 

Dear Tatua Family,

As you might have heard, this weekend Nairobi was hit by a wave of senseless violence, the Al Shabaab terrorist group attacked a shopping mall in Nairobi’s Westlands area. The entire Tatua Kenya team is safe, thank you to all of you who have kept us in your prayers and heart.

It is clear that Kenya is responding to this tragedy with the hand of grace. The attack was very disconcerting, it’s never easy to know that violence is close to your home, however the response from Kenyans has been beautiful.  Crowds of people showed up to donate blood, women carried cooked food to the soldiers, Kenyans of all colors carried one another out of Westgate and President Kenyatta and former PM Odinga (formerly rivals) came together to hold their country.  I ask that you continue to stand with Kenya in whichever way seems right for you.

Kenneth and I were talking today about the violence and the subsequent response and Kenneth remarked that this was a beautiful “Story of  Us.” He is right, Marshall Ganz often teaches that a “Story of Us” is not powerful because of our homogeneous nature but because of our diversity. This weekend we saw Kenyans come together, disregard differences, and stand as one nation, one people, with one response. I look forward to celebrating the solidarity of Kenyans, to telling this story in the future.  Join us in hoping that we continue to stand together.

Thank you for your hearts and your hope.

Natalie