And so this is Christmas and I sit looking over a cold and grey London night from my studio apartment sipping my cocoa. I have started to reflect on what a magical as well as fraught year 2009 was. In 2009 a plucky little charity, Inepd International, started to gain real traction in the poverty development market place. Inepd International’s brand in the last 6 months started to become widely known and recognisable and I have been so proud to be Inepd International Marketing and Communications Director. To see this great organisation grow and mature has been a privilege. This growth has been, to some extent due to our experiment in opening our organisation’s heart and mind to the public through twitter. We have become a leader in openness and transparency showing the world the challenges and joy of enabling poverty development through every tweet.
At this special time of year for Christmas appeals we wanted to share our Inepd appeal to all thinking and financially solvent men and women around the world. In this festive season when we come together with our families for a few precious hours and then spend the rest of the holidays with friends and people we care about; we should not forget those less fortunate than ourselves. People struggling under crippling financial pressure just to stay afloat and to retain their last ounce of dignity. People battered by unforeseen circumstances that have turned a happy carefree fast paced city lifestyle into a life of networking at B-Class charity events and Tika Masala lunches with small donors.
It’s too easy to point the blame when we face one of lifes hurdles. It would be too easy to point the finger at Shane and Shirley for some of Inepd International’s financial problems. To blame them for the near destruction of the Inepd International office, when Shirley suspected still unconfirmed cases of Mexican Flu and quarantined all our staff for one week. We could blame them for losing seven of our largest donor due to the expected negative media attention of Shane and Shirley’s 400m tunnelling project into the Copenhagen Climate summit. However, pointing the blame doesn’t help us to retain the premier status of Inepd international in Poverty Development circles. It’s at times like these that we have to look to the future.
I look towards 2010 with so much trepidation but also with so much hope. I am looking forward to working more with Phil Collins our Inepd International goodwill ambassador and travelling with him to the field to see enabling poverty development in action. After we get back from the field it will be then time for the Humanitarian Couple of the Year Awards. If Shane and Shirley manage to get back to London we have a really great chance to win the event this year.
Inepd International is a survivor and although we have a difficult storm to weather I know we can make it through 2010 to a brighter future. So wherever you on this beautiful planet, I hope you stay safe and have the happiness and life you deserve for the last little bit of 2009 and the new year.
