Leaving the corporate world and running a literacy NGO

I had been in working in business for 8 years and  I enjoyed it and the money was really great! In 2013, I was 33 years old, I had a BSc and BScHons (Maths) degree from Wits, I had bought my own apartment at the age of 25 years (and paid it off in 3 years!), I had bought my first car a Toyota Auris for cash when I was 28 years old, I got married to the best husband ever when I was 29 years old, we have traveled a lot, we had a beautiful R5m house in Bryanston and I had a cushy 9-5 corporate job that pay extremely well (making over R800k a year incl. bonuses and shares). What more could a person dream of...

Well, there is more to life...it's about what you do, it's about your purpose and the impact of your actions.

It's been almost 3 years since I officially quit the corporate world. Since then I have illustrated two children's books Oaky and the Sun and Oaky the Happy Tree and co-founded and run a literacy NGO called READ to RISE with my husband Athol that's distributed over 37,000 new books to children in need across Africa.

All I can say it I have no regrets leaving my high-paying corporate job and that the last 3 years have been amazing!

3 years ago, Athol and I were still in Boston, USA. Athol had just graduated with his Masters in Public Administration. It was an incredibly difficult decision for me... I had given notice to my employer that I wouldn't be returning after my year sabbatical and that I quit my job as Senior Strategy Analyst in Group Strategy. During my year in Boston I had a really eye opening experience, I volunteered to tutor English to foreign adults at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. Every week I went into the city and spent 2 hours with a lady named Tina who came from China. Her English was very poor, she really struggled to speak and pronounce simple words which we take for granted. I could see how people who couldn't speak English, struggled doing everyday things and finding a job. It made me realise that literacy is so important. After tutoring Tina for 9 months, I had to say good-bye as we were leaving the US. Tina and I had become good friends and I could see how she had improved and was more confident in her actions and communications. She was ready to start going to job interviews. She was most grateful for all my help. I had changed a life and I remember how happy she was, it made me happy.

After such an amazing year in Boston, how could I go back to my job crunching numbers, doing research in financial services, doing market share analysis and help corporates make more money from it's customers.   I needed to do more with my life and have a bigger impact. I was very fortunate to have the support of my loving husband who has always encouraged me to be more generous, be more creative, dream big, to live consciously and live with a purpose. I had found my purpose... literacy. At the time, I wasn't sure what or how I'd make this work in South Africa, all I knew is that literacy is what will ensure the world is a better place. If you can read, you can do anything, the world is your oyster. Around May 2015, we had just self-published our first children's book Oaky and the Sun. For a while I had been working on the illustrations for the book, Athol had written the story many years ago as a poem. It had an inspirational message so thought we'd make it onto a children's book. I had done art at school in standard 6 and 7 and I was good but decided to focus on the science, biology and accounting. Thanks for google and youtube, I taught myself to illustrate and self-publish a children's book. Looking back, it's amazing to see how my passion for literacy and OAKY all came together into READ to RISE.  

Our year in Boston changed us, we always preferred to live in CT, so while still in Boston, we decided to sell our beautiful house and move to CT. In Boston, we lived in a 2 bedroom apartment and it made us realise that we don't really need "stuff" we had managed without it for a year. We had a large 4 bedroom house with a pool, big garden and library. We counted that we had 32 sitting options for the two of us, a bit ridiculous. And so we de-materialised to focus more on what we did rather than what we owned.

Since then we have only lived in small 2 bedroom apartments with minimal possessions. Our student accommodation in London for LSE was just a tiny en-suite room with only an uncomfortable bed and two desks and chairs. We bought a bar fridge and I had to take our pots and groceries to the communal kitchen to cook everyday. The corner of our be became our "dining table" during meal times. Now in Oxford, we live in a one bedroom garden flat with just a table in the kitchen, no lounge or couch. Luckily we have our own kitchen at least :) LSE and Oxford is not about the lifestyle, it's about learning and getting the degrees.

Athol who at one point owned 6 cars (including some exotic cars like a Rolls Royce, BMW 3/5/6/8 series, Lamborghini and Mustang!) has been without a car since July 2013.

We had moved to CT in August 2013. In September 2013 we visited Beacon View Primary School in Lentgeur, Mitchells Plain. We decided to print 50 copies of OAKY AND THE SUN and give them to a Grade 2 class. The experience was amazing and the reaction from the children was incredible, there and then we decided that somehow we need to keep doing this. So READ to RISE was born!

2 years and 8 month later, READ to RISE has given out over 37k new books to children in need! We operate in Cape Town and Johannesburg. We have 6 staff.  I am the Programme Director and am responsible for all the operations, finances, marketing, governance, stakeholder relations and some of the fundraising. I work harder now than ever. There's no such thing as work hours when you are doing something you are passionate about! It's been incredibly rewarding seeing children loving my illustrations and happy to get their own book to take home.

It's also been very challenging. Running a NGO is not easy, it's harder than running a for-profit business as there are so many governance obligations and funding is a major challenge. Most NGOs fail within one year. We've been fortunate to keep going by keeping costs down and with some great sponsors. Athol has put in money and also volunteers his time as the Exec Director. For the first 2 and a bit years, I decided to forgo a salary in order to build the organisation. I have learnt a lot about the NGO space and use my business experience to run our organisation more efficiently and professionally, Donations are ad-hoc so I always have the stress of whether we will have money to pay our staff every month. We are really hoping to get some big sponsors and some long term partners soon in order to make the organisation more sustainable. It's been interesting to see how some people (even those who don't have much) are so generous and others, who financially are able, do not even donate R45 for a book. While we are an official partner to the Department of Basic Education we receive no funding from them. We've also struggled to get any support from local government, even though we work with every primary school in Mitchells Plain (all 45 schools!) and 20 schools in Soweto.

Despite the challenges, I am very proud of the work that we do in the communities and I believe that we are having an impact. I will continue to be a literacy activist. We have big dreams and plans for READ to RISE. Here's to many more great years ahead!

Oxford University Parks

I explored the Oxford University Parks on Thursday. It's a lovely large park with open grounds, benches, beautiful trees, walking paths and views of the canal. There were also some of the university's sport grounds. A nice peaceful spot in Oxford to read a book, take a walk or eat your lunch on a bench. There's even a little pond with ducks and swans. I entered by Keble College but there are a few entrances to the park.