From: Jonne Robinson

What is written below is an attempt to hit a realistic balance between 
a comprehensive and worked out account of my ideas and getting 
something to you before the next milennium. Anyway, you will have 
comments from others and can throw them all into the melting pot and 
come up with some sort of synthesis, rather than my coming up with a 
perfect explication of my thoughts which will be of limited utility.

1. How interested are you in another TEAA gathering?  I am very
interested. It doesn't matter which year, I will try to be there.

2. If we do gather...I don't have any preference although if the
gathering is to be in East Africa, I would prefer there to be a
Tanzanian dimension.

3. Should we have a blog that anyone could post messages to?  I think
that the latter could be very interesting although if this is
proceeded with, I think there should be part of it where people could
enter into a dialogue on various topics, rather than it just being
random postings.

4. Do you have comments/suggestions about the format and program of
the conference?  I appreciated that the conference program was
varied. I felt that Prof. Khapoya was a breath of fresh air.  I do not
know a great deal about him or how reflective he is of how younger
Africans are thinking, but I think his honest, realistic approach,
critical thinking and willingness to take responsibility will be
helpful in furthering Africa's development.

I enjoyed hearing what he had to say, but felt at times his
presentation was a bit too much like a lecture he might have given in
one of his classes for the occasion. I think a bit of signposting re
where he was going, the arguments he was developing would have been
helpful. I got the impression after awhile that he sensed something
was wrong but didn't know what or how to retrieve the situation. I
think that perhaps for the audience a structured discussion would have
been better than a lecture, or part lecture/part structured
discussion.  I did not like the undercurrent I felt at times from some
of his listeners that he should have gone back to Kenya and worked to
develop the country instead of settling in the US. I am very leery of
thinking I know how anyone should live their life, let alone someone
about whom I know very little.

6. Do you have any additional comments....See below

A few thoughts:

The needs of the area we are dealing with (Africa) are limitless. 
We (TEAA) cannot make a meaningful dent in its overall needs.
Therefore, we need to concentrate our efforts.
In order to do this, we need to develop ideas which will enable us to 
focus our efforts on an area where we can make a difference.

1. Our area of concentration should be relevant to who we are. 
Therefore, concentrate on secondary schools & TTCs. Since TTCs seem to 
be comparatively well catered for, concentrate on secondary schools. 

2. We should provide help in a way that encourages people to develop 
themselves in ways that also have payoffs for society.  We should be 
working with people in secondary schools in ways that they want to
help them achieve their objectives. These enable us to avoid unintended 
negative consequences (eg. fostering dependency, imposing the donor's 
agenda) that have so often been the result of aid.

3. Our help should be provided so that the resources we are likely to
be able to garner balance the demands.

4. I support Bill Jones' point that it is not always a good thing to
provide very poor people with what must seem like to them vast
amounts.  This is not only because of the possibly corrupting effects
but because of the image it creates of us and our organization, images
which I am sure we would not want to be fostering.

5. Our help should be provided in a way that does not destroy the
assets (not limited to financial) we have: eg. personal interest,
contact, knowledge.

Is there a TEAA handbook, covering things such as background,
procedures, etc.? If there isn't one, I think one is needed. If the
organization becomes more ambitious, present ways of doing things may
not be robust enough.

[Webmaster's note: There is considerable information of this kind on
the website. Click "Organization" in the upper left and then "Charter"
or "Grant Criteria." Also, click "Actions" and then "Visitors'
Manual." ]

I think that the organization does what it does very well, but I
wonder if this will continue if its resources become much larger. For
example, the administration will become more onerous and presumably
less personal. Will we be able to rely on the good will of people who
travel to Africa at their own expense? Will present methods of school
selection continue to be suitable? I think it would be unfortunate if
we reached the point where we had to hire help, both in terms of
personal contact and because it seems a shame to have to pay out hard
won money in this way.