A New Chapter for SF Action Corps

My name is Brook and I am one of the new Organizers for the Bay Area Oxfam Action Corps.

This past week I was privilege to travel to Washington D.C. with my fellow co-organizer Yoshiko to attend a four-day training for Oxfam Action Corps (OAC). We met with more than 30 other OAC leaders from around the country to learn about Oxfam, develop our leadership skills, and practice sharing the Oxfam message.

The training went the way most trainings go, with the exception of a few exciting deviations:

• Event planning 101 - With no notice the group of 30 OAC organizers was challenged with planning a dinner event for 60 people that were expected to arrive within 2 hours. We got off to a rocky start, but we quickly regained focus and moved ahead by assigning roles and forming committees. You would think with a group of 30 leaders there would be a lot of head-butting, but that wasn’t the case at all. Everyone worked well together and the event went off without a hitch. There was an awesome group activity, great speakers, and delicious food made using the GROW Method.   
• Changing tides in Malawi - We were lucky enough to hear from an amazing speaker, Martha Kwataine from Malawi, who is a true testament to the effectiveness of foreign aid when it is put in the hands of local leaders. Kwataine lobbied her local government to use foreign aid money to fund scholarships to train medical professionals to care for the people of Malawi. She was able to use local knowledge and resources to determine where the money needed to go and how it was best spent. Kwataine was able to secure funding for midwife training and to restore a medical center in the rural town of Mponela. Kwataine currently heads the Malawi Health Equity Network and is now recognized as a powerful leader for the far-reaching impact she has left on her country.
• Bringing Oxfam's message to the Capital- Yoshiko and I lobbied our local and state congress members to support the poverty-focused foreign aid proposal in the President’s 2014 budget. We received good responses from our congress members – they seemed to agree with the foreign aid reform; however, they were concerned about the amount of support they would receive from their constituents (we’ll be sure to change that!). It was a great learning experience; one that we’ll be sure to utilize when lobbying our local leaders here in California.

After the four days, not only was I more knowledgeable about the Oxfam's mission, but I was inspired by the amazing people that make Oxfam a powerful force against poverty, hunger, and injustice. I plan to use that inspiration to further the reach of the Bay Area Oxfam Action Corps and hopefully inspire others to fight for a world free of poverty.