Happy Boxing Day

According to the Ethiopian Orthodox calender it was Christmas day yesterday.

At work today we recieved a fax regarding an application we recently made for some project-based government funding. The fax was a list of all the projects which have approved for funding and they all have very impressive sounding names, reflective of the eagerness of the different NGO's to prove that their projects met the criteria for assistance.

To qualify this funding you had to claim that you would not only help the disadvantaged but also that you would help the disadvantaged to become independent helpers of other disadvantaged. ra ra ra. Here are a sample of my favourites:

- Helping others - Self Growing Project (homeless and ordinary volunteers, empowering the homeless to be helpers)
- Project to promote Family Cohesion and a More Colourful Family Life
- Collaborating People in Tsuen Wan Rural Areas (connect unemployed and needy families with resources through mutual help networks and tripartite partnerships (WOW!)
- Care-and-Comfort Angel Promotion Project
- Play in the Public Park: Play Community Development in Ma On Shan (build communities and neighborhood networks through play)

and some with fantastic names:
- Project RAGE - Responsible Action, Genuine Encounter (link at risk youth with professional mentors to reengage them socially and in work)
- ROOT - Ramify Our Outward Teens (assist social and economic inclusion of at risk youth through community networks and collaboration)
- Establish Tuen Mun with Chinese Intelligence (reorientate a single-parent support service into a local employment and mutual help initiative)