Empowering Communities: Raymond Amezado’s Mission to Transform Lives through the Fafali Organization

Tasha: Can you please introduce yourself?

Raymond: My name is Raymond Amazado. I’m from Ghana, but I’m also American and I’ve served 11 plus years in the U. S. military. So now I’m a veteran and a philanthropist, you know, trying to give back to the community where I’m originally from.

Raymond: Thank you.

Tasha: That’s wonderful. And can you share a little bit more about your nonprofit work history and what you’ve been doing with your current organization?

Raymond: You know, as a, as immigrant most immigrants, when you migrate or when you are seeking for greener pastures and you move, you have to look back and give to your family.

Raymond: Stuff like that. You have to share the greener pastures, the proceeding from it. So I decided to, you know, instead of, you know, taking care of my family, I decided to look back at my community where I’m from, specifically children. So that’s how we came with the Fafali organization. And then we, I tried to shed a light.

Raymond: What I’ve seen so far being that I’m from Ghana, from poor background, and I migrated to America. And I’ve seen so much and it’s like, no. We have to share this with the children. So Fafali is about providing the platforms, the opportunities, the education, the mentorship, the counseling to children so that they can get out of this struggle that they find themselves in the poverty and the child neglect that we have in my community that I’m from.

Raymond: So we use different platforms, sports, education, environment, entrepreneurship, gender equality, and different activities. So it’s all about Children and we use diffe to engage more Children b to do. So that’s what we Thank

you.

Tasha: That’s wonderful. Okay. I, and I mean, I, um, I think I first connected with Selase and he’s wonderful.

Tasha: And then now I’ve met so many of your staff. They’re great. And I think you’re just doing really exciting work. And it’s clearly working on an engagement scale with the, you know, the, with the children and you’re right. We all engage differently, right? So, yeah. I like the different options you’re providing to the community.

Tasha: So what’s your favorite part of working in the non profit industry?

Raymond: You get to meet so many people and they are doing something with their passion and how everybody’s working to change the world. You know, in these days, there’s a lot of bad news out there. And you meet these great people who are trying to change the world.

Raymond: And also with the non profit, the Fafali that I work with, It’s a small nonprofit. So you are there to see the impact and to see the mistake and to work on it right there. It’s not like you are in front of a big research or data to change your course and this is when you are teaching a kid to read.

Raymond: You can see if the kid is reading or not, if your method is working or not. And you know, it’s a great thing. It’s a great feelings and Yeah,

Tasha: that very gratifying. Right? It’s like you can the feedback loop is so immediate when you’re in a smaller nonprofit still. And what I’ve seen when talking to other people in the nonprofit space, or when you’re kind of looking at passion for the mission, it does often seem that smaller nonprofits, the passion is just like, there’s And it’s such a fire because you can see that impact very quickly.

Tasha: That’s

Raymond: great. Every Saturday I coach the girls soccer, the Saturday girls soccer. And you can see if the kids, they love it, if they are doing great, if they love playing soccer. And when you play matches, you can see the result.

Tasha: Yes. , what about the, working in nonprofit, do you find really challenging?

Raymond: Sometimes, okay, it’s two things that, you know, that I’m working with, the challenges that I’m working with. One is, in my community back in Ghana, back in Africa, We have been taught that, you know, the resources come from the global north or the Western world, where you have this big organization that raise money in the global north and they bring it to the country.

Raymond: And in our education sector, people are not being taught about giving back to their community and philanthropy. It’s not in their policies and stuff like that. So now you meet people who know they have challenges. Most of them are sitting there waiting for this non profit to come from heaven, to come from America, to come from Europe, to give back to them, you know, and it’s challenging and you try to change the perception out there and it’s like, no, this organization, they will come and give it to us and it’s sometimes frustrating that, hey, you can do it by yourself.

Raymond: Yeah. Yeah. And also, I just don’t like the fact that sometimes there’s this movement, global movement of, okay, now this year or this decade or whatever, we are going to look at these problems and change it. For example, in Ghana, we have electricity problem, you know, and even the same problem in South Africa and all those things.

Raymond: When you are talking about electric cars for climate change. Fantastic idea. I love it. But where are we going to get the electricity to charge our cars and to drive them? Because we have blackouts here and there. Sometimes you have blackouts for the whole day, for 12 hours. So if you have an electric car, then you have to find ways and means to keep it charged and to drive it.

Raymond: Absolutely. Yeah. So we got to look at this. We got to be very careful how we generalize stuff and the movement, the SDGs and all this. We got to be very careful. Sometimes it’s challenging because for I know my community and even in Ghana, the problem that we face 50 years ago, I’d say, yeah, well,

Tasha: and I think you and I connected once about even just the concept of, um, you know, North American ideals or North American ways of doing things are not always going to be right in another country or culture.

Tasha: And that’s not a negative that’s, it should be different. We’re different. It’s a big world with lots of. Many different cultures and people, but that, and I think you had told me then, like the change needs to come from within Ghana. And it doesn’t mean that North American support and some of the some of our culture maybe does work well, but it’s not, you know, you have to make your own way.

Tasha: And I think that’s really exciting. I

Raymond: agree to that. Yeah, we have to collaborate and we have to be listened to. And we have to listen to the other side. So that we can make the changes that we all want to make, you know.

Tasha: Yeah, for sure. Okay. So, how do you think connection and peer support could have a positive impact on your nonprofit work?

Tasha: Oh, yeah.

Raymond: It’s, I mean, for example, I met somebody on the Hive, I think Chris, no, Seth. And then he took the time to go on my website, read the whole website, gave me a feedback things that I need to change. That’s amazing. I’m working on it right now. And we had this discussion in my nonprofit and my office and we talk about it and you meet people.

Raymond: And I also met a guy that on this platform and he said, Hey, I look at your profile and you went to Thomas Edison University. Hey, I’m a lecturer there right now. And then he said, Hey, I can connect you to this and that. And so meeting all these people, they are bringing ideas and they are also looking out for you and stuff like that.

Raymond: And they are supporting nonprofit is a language.

Tasha: Yes, it is a

Raymond: language. Yeah. When you meet somebody that can speak your language, then you are at ease and you are relaxed and then you can, you know, you can talk about things that is affecting you or that is making the impact. So it’s good to meet people that speak your language and then discuss things that can change the world.

Raymond: So it’s very great, you know, to meet peers and discuss our stuff and for the peer support. Thank you.

Tasha: Um, just I’m going to cut this out, but that was so brilliant what you just said, because I’m going to steal it for a LinkedIn post. I’m just going to tell you right now, because that was so chef’s kiss. So brilliant, Raymond.

Tasha: Oh my goodness. That was fantastic. Um. So what are you most excited to get out of being a member of the nonprofit Hive?

Raymond: Okay. So let me give you an example. For me, sometimes I have to go on LinkedIn, read people, read profiles, connect with them, and maybe they will reply. Maybe they will not, maybe they connect.

Raymond: And then when they connect, you, you request to meet, you know, and maybe they’ll say yes. And maybe they said, I’m busy. But with the Hive, you meet people. And then, and they are ready to talk and they go on your LinkedIn profile and they even add you or you add them and then they are giving you resources or recommendations and stuff like that.

Raymond: It cannot be better than that. That’s why I keep saying that this is the best platform and I’m not just saying it because just to make anybody feel better, but it’s the fact because I’m benefiting and I like giving like, on test days. Right now in my office, as you can see, I’m recommending people even outside my nonprofit that, hey, you need to get on the hive because this is where you get a quick network.

Raymond: You need your network to grow. So thank you for this platform. It’s amazing. And I love it. And I’m a hiver forever.

Tasha: Oh, thank you. Well, it’s been so, it’s been so exciting. And I just appreciate so much the investment and time that people put in as well. And it’s growing because of great people like yourself who are just.

Tasha: You know, all in and it doesn’t know, you know, not every week goes exactly how I picture and sometimes, you know, I’m running here, running there trying to put, you know, matches together last minute and it’s very well, like rewarding for me to see it grow and to see the connections that are being created in internationally has been my favorite part.

Tasha: It’s awesome. Thank you.

Raymond: You’re going to grow big and it’s going to be big, you know, do you know that, right?

Tasha: Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know that yet, but I’m starting to like, feel like maybe that’s what’s happening. It’s going to be huge. Okay. Well, you know what? I I appreciate your your support has meant a lot to me already.

Tasha: So.

Raymond: It’s a great platform and I don’t see why I cannot support it and it’s going to be huge. I’m great to, you know, to also put my little bit of effort into it to make it a great platform. I’m benefited. And when you have benefit from some, something you need to bring people on board to benefit, you know, so that’s what I do.

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