Mary Njoroge and The Dallas, TX, Global RESULTS Team Working Towards Education For All

It was late fall of 2009 and our group was trying to figure out what we could do in Dallas for the Education for All effort. In the spring three of us had attended Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson’s annual Peace Conference. We wondered if we could convince her that Education for All builds peace and what a great theme it would be for her conference. Early November we e-mailed the staffer in charge with a promise to help develop the program, provide speakers, whatever. We got a “maybe.” We e-mailed again in December and sent more information. The response was another “maybe.” We called the staffer in December. Early in January we e-mailed again and sent more information. In late January we sent more information. The very next day the staffer called and wanted to know who our speakers were. Yikes! We asked for a few days to get our list together! We knew Mary Njoroge from Kenya might be in the country and were able to confirm her availability. A long time RESULTS volunteer and Dallasite, Marilyn Sutherland agreed to speak. We also found several willing college professors. The list was submitted and we were thrilled when both our RESULTS women were chosen. The staffer also agreed to let us set up a table at the event. This was early February, the event was late April. Over the next three months we established a good working relationship.

On the morning of the event we had a brunch for Mary and invited RESULTS groups from nearby Rockwall and Fort Worth. The peace conference was inspiring and the other speakers were impressive but we believe our two were the best. Mary Njoroge had the most impressive personal accomplishment and Marilyn Sutherland spoke passionately about the RESULTS organization and a Global Fund for Education. She urged the audience to stop by our table, pick up an action sheet and take action. It worked! We left with 26 names from an audience of about 125. Marilyn was asked to speak to three other organizations. Our group has two outreach events scheduled this month to turn these 26 potentials into activists. It’s been a six-month team effort. And as an added bonus, after more than a year of trying to get a face-to-face meeting with the congresswoman, we had our meeting two weeks before the event!