Sorry to everyone who actually keeps up with my blog, I know it has been a while since my last post.  I have tons to share but will do so rather factually to save on the space i could expound on each detail.

First of all, I have finished my trip around the Middle East, which has been the focus of my blog for the last few months.  Today, World Faith Cairo, a product of this trip, has their first project starting today.  It is a weekly one-on-one language exchange where Iraqi refugees in Egypt can get english lessons, and if their partner is not a native arabic speaker, they can get arabic lessons.  The interest has been so high that over 40 people showed up to a planning meeting (something that has never happened in NYC), they will be doing it in two locations, to accommodate the large number of participants.  More to report as details come in.

World Faith Sudan has done all the researching necessary, and they are soon to have their first interest meeting.  Also, though it wasn’t a purpose of my trip, I ended up meeting a group of interested people in Amman, Jordan, and it seems possible that a chapter will start there as well, with over 50 people in their facebook group.  

Now this has been a successful summer, but we have still yet to secure anymore funding, and we now have interested people in Toronto, DC, Chicago, and Boston, for chapters, but we scarcely have the resources to help them, nor the man-hours as we are all part-time volunteers.  Though I have continued to apply for grants, nothing significant has come through yet.  I hope World Faith does not become one of those ideas that people are willing to mobilize for, but funders aren’t willing to entertain.  More likely is that I need to learn more about the tactics of fundraising.

Just yesterday I got a note from the IRS saying that we have been approved for non-profit status, 501c3.  This is big news!  So now beyond applying for grants, I will begin reaching out to private donors and corporations, though this is a less-than-ideal economy, there is opportunity yet to be found!  Beyond this, I have been job-hunting (paying rent is a must, and running World Faith isn’t contributing at this point), and also launched the website for a record label I started a few years back (Çöñar Records).  Sometimes I feel like I am working too hard to not be making money, but I faith that the projects I have dedicated my time to, especially World Faith, are worthy causes and that as long as I include prudence in pursuing my passions, the answers will present themselves.

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