International Psychology: 
Consultation & Nonprofit Development 

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I have been blessed by my involvement with international organizations serving youth and young adults in South Africa, Ghana and India.  The many people who have welcomed me into their worlds have taught me about the true meaning of generosity, faith, spirit and living with an open heart.  A brief description of my international nonprofit involvement follows.

  • In the summer of 2007, I first visited Bokamoso Youth Centre in the midst of the sprawling, impoverished rural township of Winterveldt, South Africa.  Bokamoso means future in Setswana, and this center helps at risk youth ages 18-24 to build brighter futures.  I fell in love with these young people immediately and became involved with the Centre in a number of ways for several years.  I helped establish a scholarship program to encourage the youth's continued education, designed a college / vocational preparation program for scholarship applicants and recipients, and facilitated staff meetings about Centre priorities and goals.  We strategized about new program implementation, assessed current programming and engaged in team-building activities.  I shadowed the staff social worker during counseling sessions and home visits, and spent a good deal of time engaged in direct service provision to the youth. Time was also spent planning for Bokamoso's annual month-long US trips, when a group of the Centre's youth visit the wider DC area to perform, share about their lives and raise funds for Bokamoso.  During their US visits, I helped develop and co-facilitate career mentoring workshops which guided the youth through career exploration exercises, worksite visits and concrete future planning.  I continue to visit the Centre and maintain ongoing contact with Bokamoso Centre staff, students and alumni, providing emotional and mental health support, career guidance and general mentoring.  

  • Two years after my first visit to Winterveldt, I helped found the Bokamoso Youth Foundation to strengthen the efforts of the Centre by increasing stateside support.  Serving on the Board for several years, I contributed to the Foundation's growth and development by providing conceptual and practical direction, fundraising and large-event planning, communications and major donor solicitation, program design and evaluation, and general capacity building.  
  • Adjacent to Bokamoso Youth Centre is Othandweni Orphanage and Day Care, an organization serving children ages 3-17 and providing accommodations for those visiting Bokamoso.  During my first visit in 2007, I found myself becoming attached to these younger children and to the big-hearted women running the program.  For several years, I played an active role in Othandweni's US support team and with the South African program staff.  On the US team, we guided the women in establishing policy, infrastructure and funding relationships.  In South Africa, I facilitated staff team-building, assessed the needs of the children and facility, and networked to broaden the organization's support base.  I have spent hours with the "Otha" elders and youth learning about their lives, the realities of living in a South African township and their valiant efforts to overcome monumental challenges.  I maintain regular contact with the Othandweni staff and look forward to my next visit.   
  • In 2012, in Ghana's capital of Accra, I spent a month with Drumming Up From Poverty (DUFP), a nascent arts education nonprofit devoted to teaching impoverished youth West African drum-making, drumming and dancing.  Excited by a group aimed at providing marketable skills to the most underserved of its children, and given my love of African drumming and dance, I participated in the group's daily activities and learned more about the group's plans and its US ties.  I have since continued to support DUFP by serving on its Board, assisting with fundraising, and planning for new site development in the fishing village of Senya Beraku.
  • In the spring of 2013, I spent 2 months living at St. Antony's Boys Home in Tamil Nadu, India, and working at the adjacent Bethany Navajeevan School.  My days and nights were packed as I fully engaged in life in the home and at school.  My time at St. Antony's Home, an orphanage serving boys ages 7-18, was spent providing needs assessment, program development and evaluation, individual and group counseling and staff consultation.  All of this took a back seat, of course, to endless hands-on activities with the boys.  During the weekdays, I offered consultative services to the large neighboring educational facility serving pre-kindergarten through secondary and graduate-level students.  At the school, I observed classroom interactions, provided individual and group counseling, and offered staff and faculty support.  I was also invited to make formal presentations on educational psychology, effective teaching, gender relations and post-graduation goal setting.


Copyright © 2020, Marilee Aronson. All rights reserved.