July 4th, 2018

Dream: The Double Decker Bus

Colombo City Tours has a cool double decker bus with an open roof. I had not yet received the Grant money from my university (international wires are a little complicated). Annnnd I’m running out of personal funds! Here’s a small dilemma about that, rant below: 

Given the motives of the class to promote ‘observation’, next week’s workshop involves a tour of the City of Colombo. I really want the kids to experience something special. But then again even a regular bus would be pretty special. Pramila Miss, quite reasonably, and accepting the reality of costing - suggested that I use a 138 bus that has a double deck, but it is in a condition that the kids are used to in using public transport- a badly conditioned public bus that is no longer in use on the streets. This bus would cost me Rs. 15,000 to use on the tour. A regular, A/C’d bus (mind that we are in the hot Tropics) would cost me Rs.25,000. A Colombo City tour bus would cost Rs.35,000, and claims to have a safe, well traversed route and provides a national tour guide to explain as the tour goes on. The bus is kind of cute, is painted red and it is a bus which is used for tourists as well as school-children from well-to do schools. I struggled with justifying the excess cost of a fancy double decker for these kids. Maybe its just what I’d rather go in, I thought. On Monday evening, less than a week before the tour, I asked two friends, Sam and Irushi, to advise me on what they thought about sending the following (whatsapp) message around: 

How we held a fund raiser for ‘Let’s Build Great Things!’ 

‘As part of our series of workshops held at the ‘Building Hope’ children’s center in Kirulapone, We are hoping to take 30 kids on a Colombo City observation tour on 7th of July (Saturday) 1pm-3pm. These kids come from a low-income community and this would be a rare chance for them to experience a Colombo tour on a double decker bus! a double decker bus is about Rs. 15,000 more expensive than a regular bus, but can accommodate double the amount of people. So, I am thinking to raise the necessary funds by finding 30 more people who’d like to join the tour by contributing Rs.500 and sitting on the lower bunk, while the kids will go on the top bunk. If you’d be interested in joining, please text Ranitri (or Sahani) and confirm! The meeting point is at the end of Nagahaswatte road, Kirulapone.

Update, July 7th, 2018

Rs. 500 is a little more than $3, but I could afford the risk and was excited to see if I could get a large number of small fund supporters. 

It’s Thursday now, a total of 3 days. 

I have received, in  cash and via bank transfer - Rs.14,000 in lieu of the bus, 40 packs of milo and ice cream for the kids. I have also received 2900 towards bus-snacks. Sahani (the other art class teacher) has raised Rs13,500 too. Woah. I really wish I could have used Kickstarter, so that people could see how fast this all happened. But using debit/ credit cards online is still tricky business in Sri Lanka, and this would make it hard to actually get funds across. Some of my friends took time out of their day to physically go to a bank and deposit the money. So. Much. Love. 

Oh, and one of the supporters, Saakya, actually offered to help with future art classes as a volunteer. This little effort got the word out! Woohoo!!!! 

__________

End of rant. (and a tiny dance!) 

A little money from a lot of people.

These efforts, as demonstrated in the last title, stemmed from a financial need - but I soon realized that I’ve got a chance to understand participation and its importance. I did have the financial security of receiving fellowship money in the future. Of course, this grant money wasn’t going to last forever-  and I knew if this project were to sustain itself long term, we needed help. We needed help not only in money but also through encouragement, participation and advice from supporters. 

Texting all day.

For this trip, we weren’t looking for a lot of money - so immediately, the first two people Sahani and I reached out to offered to pay for the cost of the entire bus. We wondered if we were damaging our chances of getting funding at all by refusing - but it was worth the risk. We wanted to spread the message further - and get as many people involved and participating - Since this was a local effort we wanted to value participation as much as money. Plus, if we asked for very little, more people could afford it. We had many high-school students offering their contributions and getting involved as well.

Due to lack of time, we had to act on a hunch, that fortunately - worked out well as we heard positive responses from over 50 people, of whom 39 contributed financially, and around 10 turned up as volunteers (my parents and sister included). We spread the word through messaging all day and received lots of moral support as well- which as beginners in this game - we very much needed. It was comforting to see old friends whom I had not been in touch with for a long time- reach out, catch up and offer their support.

Here are some of the things we may have accidentally got right:

Timing - We asked within a week of the tour, which meant people had to act fast, thus the quick responses

Audience - We asked people who personally knew us (Sahani and I), and what we were interested in.

Action -They trusted us to execute, and were able to be a part of it.

Ask -We didn’t ask for a lot of money