NHF 2021 Launch Letter
Dear fellow leaders,
I hope this finds you all well, or at least healing, after the long 2020 we had, and the challenging way that 2021 has begun.
When I reflect on some of the biggest lessons that I have learned over the last few months, almost all my thoughts center around these three things:
- How short life is
- How everything is subject to change – our health, our finances, our plans, the politics around us – everything is subject to change
- How quickly life goes on – and how we get to choose if we want to be among those who got stuck and left behind. Or if we want to be amongst the brave, smart, ambitious, resilient few who keep working and walking towards their goals – no matter what.
Exactly one year ago, we began the process of making NHF an official organization – a legitimate living and breathing “thing” that we could grow from the ground up. In the first few months of 2020 year we poured almost 100% of our time into writing our constitution, organization profile and job descriptions for office holders. After multiple document edits and trips to and from government offices, Zambia’s Ministry of Community and Social Development finally recognized NHF as a legal, non-profit organization on April 24, 2020.
NHF began as a small team with just five leaders, based almost entirely in Zambia. Today, we are almost twice as big in size, and we operate from 3 different continents. We began 2020 hosting small impromptu social engagement and health education classes at a girls’ orphanage. And before we had a chance to start fully defining and scaling our programs, COVID-19 happened. And with it came global lockdowns, waves of uncertainty and a long pause on all
our growing plans.
Fortunately, we recovered quickly and resolved on the importance of keeping the NHF dream alive. In July 2020, we launched our first fundraising campaign. Even in the midst of a global pandemic and record-breaking economic shifts around the world, we still managed to successfully raise $5000+ USD. And we did this, simply by sharing our vision, our stories, our passion and desire to be solution-finders.
In the months that followed we:
- opened a bank account in the U.S
- purchased a dedicated mobile phone and obtained an official business number
- put money towards the creation of a website
- designed and printed official brochures
- trialed the roll-out of monthly stipends for team members
- completed multiple case studies on exemplary leaders
- trialed live monthly meetings via multiple platforms
- re-wrote multiple documents, created and edited numerous home-made videos for the submission of an application to large international funding organization
- appointed a Chief Legal Officer and Chief Tech and Innovation Officer to our senior leadership team,
- completed the search for a new orphanage to partner with and submitted our first official MOU.
We made our way to the end of 2020, exhausted but still trying….Trying to figure out this startup life, trying to figure out how to keep enthusiasm, focus and NHF productivity at a high level, all while navigating the ongoing demands of school, new jobs, the losses of loved one, life interrupting illnesses and big holidays.
It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t easy. It was almost entirely all work and it was not obviously rewarding or fun. But it also wasn’t all nothing either.
I know this. How? Because NHF is still here, and because what we have now, is a long list of our very own experiences that we can upack for important lessons on:
- What our individual and collective strengths and weaknesses are
- How much time, effort, and commitment it actually takes to build something new and amazing
- How the lessons we learn from other leaders are nothing more than nice ideas unless we apply them
- What it means to be leaders vs followers waiting for instructions/a signal/the perfect opportunity/a template/someone else to kick things off
- How much it costs to do good, and how quickly funds can be depleted just by managing the needs of staff versus doing promised work
- What we urgently need to do to ensure the continuity of individual work – especially because life will happen…Again and again and again
My hope, at the beginning of 2021, is to see NHF grow in unprecedented ways. As mentioned earlier, I believe that we have done the work needed to get started – we have built the foundation for the foundation. And we have built a big and wildly talented team of leaders to support the dream. We have piloted and tested not just our systems, but also our commitment to “bringing healthcare to underserved children” in a new way. In a sustainable way. In a way that others will want to emulate.
So when can we start back up? Now!!! Why? Because life is short. Because everything as we know it today can be drastically different in a month (even a week). Because life will goes on… And each one of us, gets to choose what happens next.
What will this letter be about in 2022? Will it be about how we found a way to innovate and to build something meaningful and powerful at a great orphanage in Zambia? Or will it be about how got deflated – How we got tired and gave up (before we even really started). How we got overwhelmed by the hurdles, the work required, the lack of time, the lack of money, the lack of “likes” on social media, the lack of effort.
My hope is that this letter will be about us – and all the actions we finally took to become the change we always wanted to see – in the non-profit sector, in healthcare, in orphanages, in young leaders, in ourselves. Thank you for being here. Thank you for all that you did for NHF in 2020. Thank you in advance for bringing your whole best self to 2021
Warmly. Respectfully. Humbly.
Nyuma