uh newsletter 2011 q1

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11 May 2011

Dear Unsung Heroes Partners,

Today is the first day of the second quarter of 2011 and finally I am sitting down to pen our first

newsletter of the New Year. It is clear to me that although I am starting this newsletter now, it will

probably only be concluded and distributed sometime in May, since Michele, my wife is due any day

now, with our third child; a real surprise! As you can imagine, this has made the events of the last six

months at Unsung Heroes all the more complex and interesting for me personally.

The last 6 months

It has truly been a rollercoaster ride, beginning with the realisation that Unsung Heroes was in financial

difficulty and that our future was uncertain. Various attempts were made to remedy the situation, but tono avail and ultimately the board made the difficult decision to close the doors of the organisation on 31

December 2011.

At this point I began to communicate the news of our imminent closure with our partners. I was amazed

by their responses, which in all cases reflected a desire to see us continue to operate. One of our

partners said to me, This simply cannot be allowed to happen. As painful as it was the communicate

the news, it was incredibly endorsing in that, without exception, all those I spoke to encouraged me in

terms of the good work which Unsung Heroes had been doing and their desire to see the organisation

continue to operate.

One of our key partners pledged their commitment to source additional funding for us, managing to

secure a further R200k for our mentoring work. One of our board members, Lindsey Shaw, also

mobilised additional resources and committed himself to the organisation beyond December 2010.

The net effect of all this goodwill and collective desire

to see the work of Unsung Heroes continue has been

that the organisation has survived and that it continues

to operate, albeit in a scaled down format.

There has been a long silence from our side over the

last 6 months from a newsletter perspective, since we

have all been hard at work to keep the organisation

afloat, secure additional funding, continue ourmentoring work, move offices and reshape the

organisation into a viable entity which could continue to

operate from 1 January 2011 onwards. I thank the

Lord that we have achieved this goal and that Unsung

Heroes, though it shows some significant battle scars,

continues to function and do the work it is mandated to

do.

USAID estimates that 10,000 charitable organisations

closed their doors in South Africa during 2010 and but

for Gods grace we would have been one of these.

Newsletter

First Quarter 2011


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We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all our partners who have responded to us so

positively during our hour of need, standing by us, encouraging us, sourcing additional funding for us,

praying for us and urging us to continue. This is a collaborative team effort and without your friendship

and partnership we would not be able to continue. Thank you for your faithful giving and on-going

support of the work of Unsung Heroes!

What does Unsung Heroes look like as it enters 2011?

Lindsey Shaw has taken over as Chairman of the organisation. We have moved to smaller offices in

Randburg, provided by Lindsey at no cost to Unsung Heroes, as was the case with the offices which

Lindsey previously provided to us in Edenvale. Our annual budget is around half of what it was during

2010.

The organisation is a lot smaller and we have reduced the unsung heroes we assist to 10, from 20 last

year. Of these ten, our most intensive involvement is with five whose collaboration and partnership with

Unsung Heroes we consider to be exemplary.

We have bidden farewell to one of our mentors; Patience Tshabalala, after providing her with a fixed

term contract over the last 6 months. We wish her well as she moves on, trusting that she will find

suitable employment. The Unsung Heroes team now comprises: Agnes Kapatamoyo, Make-peace

Motaung, Madoda Nzima and myself. Agnes takes care of Finance and Administration. Make-peace

and Madoda are our Field Workers and continue to mentor the unsung heroes we serve.

I am mainly involved with our donor partners both in SA

and the USA. None of us are full-timers. We all spend a

portion of our time doing work for Unsung Heroes, but also

work elsewhere in order to make a living. This has been

necessary in terms of our constrained finances. We are all

however as committed as ever to the organisation and are

giving of our best in order to see Unsung Heroes achieve

success and rebuild for the future.

News from the Carrs

We have had an eventful start to the year! I had a

mountain biking accident which resulted in a shoulder

injury during February. I then flew to the US with my arm in

a sling in early March to participate in a conference with

one our partners in Atlanta, Georgia. Upon my return in

mid-March I had surgery to repair the dislocated AC joint

and am now well on the mend.

Cameron Grace Carr was born on 5 April 2011, weighing

in at 2.8 kg and 49 cm. She and Michele are both in

good health and we are adjusting to life with three children

in the house. We thank the Lord for this precious gift and

the way in which she enriches our lives. Jodi (11) and

Jordan (8) are delighted with their new baby sister.

Camerons birth has come to symbolize for us the new gift of life which Unsung Heroes is experiencing.

I am rebuilding my dormant business; Interlink, a business consultancy, in order to supplement my

income and this has been going reasonably well since January. My client base is growing steadily andI trust the Lord that this business will soon be able to support my family.


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Micheles portfolio includes caring forJodi, Jordan and

Cameron, keeping our household functioning and running her

Physiotherapy business; a group of responsibilities that are

not for the faint hearted! As you might imagine, the Chinese

proverb, May you live in interesting times, used by John F

Kennedy in his Day of Affirmation address in Cape Town in

1966, resonates strongly with the Carrs at present

News from the Field

Madoda and Make-peace continue to mentor our projects

around the country and to see inspiring growth within the lives

of the leaders of the CBOs and NGOs which we serve. This

growth in turn results in effective service delivery to our

indirect beneficiaries; the orphaned, the sick, the widowed

and the poor, cared for by our unsung heroes. As it says in

James 1:27, Religion that God our Father accepts as pure

and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their

distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

What does it mean to be a mentor?

Make-peace Motaung relates in his own words, his experience as a mentor with one of our unsung

heroes:

Mentoring as an activity, as a calling of sorts, has been quite challenging and interesting too; more so

when one has to mentor a Christian organization as opposed to a secular CBO; it even becomes more

interesting.

My mentoring journey at Kingdom Care Center meant that I had to not only build capacity but, that a

balance had to be struck between organisational development and spiritual activities. This also meantthat, ones visits were confronted with rigid religious schools of thought. Navigating these uneven and

deep running waters brought its own unique challenges as well as positive outcomes for me as a

mentor.

Managing my interaction with this unsung hero was a

mammoth task. I needed to achieve certain mentoring

milestones in order to satisfy my boss at Unsung Heroes

as well as our donor partners, but also needed to respect

the projects spiritual activities. How I handled the

relationship with the Project Leader was going to be

critical in order to achieve the mentoring goals while

respecting the projects spiritual approach.

In the main, my mentoring journey at the project was

fruitful and fulfilling and the project was able to produce

outcomes as agreed during various mentoring sessions

based on the milestone plan. Also producing outcomes

does involve lots and lots of persuasion and serious

follow-up. In certain instances one had to really insist,

amicably though, until one could finally propel the CBO to

reach a goal.


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However, producing a document or achieving a

milestone is one thing, and ensuring application

of the knowledge transferred a different case

altogether. I was even been more excited to see

the implementation of some of these milestones.

There were moments at the CBO where we

celebrated an achievement in a certain milestone;

the project would also acknowledge insight they

received through our programme. Such moments

would fill me with so much joy; such instances

would even stimulate one to pursue even more

milestones. Over and above this, a plan on paper

is worth implementing for one to arrive at a

moment of achieving its objectives.

The interaction with the CBO continues to sharpen my interpersonal skills, people skills and improves

my problem-solving skills. Community based organizations are not the same even though the milestone

plan as part of an intervention could be uniform. The characters, attitudes and willingness of the project

staff will always influence the outcomes and sustainability of the organization. One, as mentor, has to

also negotiate a path to success through such challenges and it can get worse in cases where

personalities, which vary in nature, are crucial in terms of determining success. Blending these together

no matter what, makes one really feel that they are in control and what a feeling at the end of the day.

Lessons learned? It is a myth to assume that Christian organizations always find balance between their

religious activities and the ministry to community. Often, there is confusion and strife which ultimately

stifles the mentoring impact. One should not assume that a Christian banner in a project automatically

implies smooth running. On the contrary, it may mean that there are even more challenges to resolve.

Does it mean then that, mentoring should not continue or should not

be extended to the Christian organization? Certainly not, there aregood Christian organizations out there, though perhaps at times

hard to find. Hence as mentor, the experience has demanded that I

draw from my innermost resources of patience, skill and general

human interaction expertise. Indeed as one mentor has mentioned

earlier, this becomes a journey of growth, enrichment and

empowerment.

The photos in this section were taken at Kingdom Care where Make-

Peace Motaung and Patience Tshabalala have been mentoring.

The group shot is of Patience, Make-peace, Pastor Lucy (ProjectLeader) and her staff. The tent in the background is used for church

services weekly and on Sundays, it is also used for project activities.

On behalf of the Unsung Heroes Team, I wish you Gods continued

blessings. We are truly grateful for your support of Unsung Heroes

and look forward to on-going partnership into the future.

Lance CarrChief Executive

New Contact Details:

Unit 9 Stellenberg

363 Pretoria AvenueFerndale 2194 Gauteng

PO Box 1483

Cramerview 2060

South Africa

Tel. +27 (11) 3261886

Fax. +27 (86) 5612250

E-mail: [email protected]: www.unsungheroes.org.za

uh newsletter 2011 q1

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