Charity as a Way of Inspiring

Society
Charity
Africa

- “It’s about going after those things money can't buy”

 By Jesse Carlton

Started in March 2013, Carlton Smile Charity is an organization which is interested in helping the needy and more specifically the orphans. Located in five different African countries, namely Cameroon, South Africa, Gabon, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria, Jesse Carlton’s association has been doing a great job at collecting equipment of all sort for kids in need. Acting as a liaison between the needy and the generous as stated in its profile, the organization has as primary goal reunite Africa that has been torn apart for the longest time. Today, the forefather of the organization will give us an insight into his beautiful association. 

Hello Jesse Carlton, how are you doing today?

I'm doing good and I hope yourself and the readers are doing great as well. 

 Who is Jesse Carlton? We would like to get an insight into the man who came up with this bright idea.

Jesse Carlton is a Humanitarian, Writer and debuted entrepreneur. He is a 21-year-old Cameroonian who just completed his post-graduate diploma in Business management. Jesse Carlton is now back in his country ready to contribute to its growth and development. He is that guy who believes in Africa's potential and the ultimate goal is not just to walk on that path to growth by himself but inspire every other African to think the same. That is why when the ink meets Jesse Carlton, he become Mr. Africa. On his website, he posts articles twice a week with the aim of inspiring the continent. He also loves basketball, traveling, reading and would love to learn how to play the piano. 

  How did you come about mobilizing so many people to help you in those other countries (Cameroon, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Gabon, South Africa)

I didn't "mobilize" them, I "Inspired" them. You see "mobilizing" is like motivating. A motivation is something that comes from an external source and is short live. An inspiration on the other hand, comes from within and helps you find an internal source of motivation that can never fade away. When I founded the organisation back in March 2013, I started with a Facebook page and my greatest asset was the pictures I had from all the previous events I had hosted. The combination of pictures and words are the two things I used to enable my mates understand the importance of charity. I would never really force anyone to be a Smile donor, but as soon as I feel your interest, I will do best to inspire you. It is not just, because I see you as a Smile charity president in one more country, but because I think about the good you can do and I see you as an angel to the orphans in your country.

The objective is to be active in all 57 countries of Africa because it needs to be a global movement. If the North is doing well and the South isn't, then we will all be doing bad. So I'm on the look out to work with young people that will be willing to expand smile charity in their countries of residence from Tunisia, Ethiopia, Congo right down to Lesotho. Please note that when I talk about five countries, It is not just a representation. I would only say that Smile charity is present in a country, ones we have successfully implemented at least one charity project. The pictures on the Facebook page speak for themselves. 

Where do you get the funding for all the events? Do you have sponsors? If yes, what is your strategy to get those sponsors?

That's the magic in it, we have never had a sponsor. We fail to understand that money is just a means to an end, and there are always several means to an end. We would certainly always use money at some point, but it is far from being the most relevant piece of the puzzle. Let me use an example to illustrate that phenomenon. We have a charity project called "The Smile Kitchen".

There is a particular meal you are good at cooking, or at least I hope you are (laugh). You get five of your friends together that are also good at cooking five different meals. Each person will buy the stuff they need to cook a particular meal and we all head to an orphanage. We will spend the day in the kitchen with them and afterwards enjoy a buffet that can feed about 30 kids. What was the budget? - Close to nothing, because we all brought our little strengths together. Each person would have spent less than 20 dollars. At the end of the day, the orphans would have spent a day with a mother, father, sister or brother and not just a "donor". You do the same thing in five countries and at the end of the month; you would have reached out to 150 orphans. Do you see how much we can do better when we work together? - Sorry, I know I'm not the one suppose to be asking the questions (laugh)

How many events have you organized so far? Where? What was the outcome?

I just gave you the example of the Smile kitchen, which was held about a month ago in South Africa and Gabon.

Charity lunch is like our traditional event. That was like how the whole charity drive started. I hosted my first charity lunch on Easter 2012. I sponsored a meal for about 50 orphans and on that day I invited my friends to come donate clothes and others donated school stationeries. I then took 10 kids that same year on my birthday for their first McDonalds meal. Spending time with them on my birthday was just the best gift for me. Smile charity wasn't alive by then. It was just Jesse Carlton giving back, but then I realised how much the people around me wanted to get involved in charity and didn't know how to go about it. So that's what motivated me to start this organisation to bridge the gap between the generous and the needy. It all started with a Facebook page, and today getting the privileged to be interviewed by the intelligent lady that you are (smile). We started from the bottom now we’re here.

"The smile charity day" hosted by the team in Cameroon. We have an active committee in two cities in Cameroon; Yaounde and Douala. The Team in Yaounde hosted that Smile charity day which, involved cleaning of the orphanages, lunch and a bunch of games.

One of our most recent projects in South Africa was "The Smile experience". I was already back in Cameroon when it happened, but the Smile charity president in South Africa took care of everything. The idea behind this project was to enable the kids experience something for the first time. They took the train for the first time, they visited the Nelson Mandela Square for the first time and they went to the Cinema for the first time. They did all of that with young people like you and I who acted as their mother, father, brother or sister for a day.

All our events have a single outcome and that is "A smile". Everything and anything we do is targeted towards that one outcome. Mother Teresa says "Peace starts with a smile". The smile is our outcome but we know that it will be the beginning of an incredible journey for the kids and even to those who reach out to the kids. The smile experience for example was not only enjoyed by the kids but young people like you and I who spent the day with them. They smiled as much as the kids did and it might just be a new beginning for them as well. I accepted this interview because I know that the outcome will be a smile. It has nothing to do with Jesse Carlton trying to be famous. It is all about inspiring people to do better. Your blog gets a good number of daily visitors. Who knows what they might do ones they are done reading this?

  Can you tell us more about your Build a Smile project?

The day I see, build a smile come true, is the day I will rest in peace. Even if I die, I wouldn't rest in peace until build a smile comes true in all African countries. Project build a smile is a program designed to cater for the education of orphans throughout the continent. A lot of the orphans around the continent depend on donations. Today you receive and tomorrow you might or might not. Project build a smile is aimed at catering for generations and generations to come.

It is all about bringing together resources. Most of the project we have done thus far never demand a lot of resources, but we are going to need an interesting amount of money in each country for this one. My idea is to organise a nationwide fund raise per country and invest that money in real estate. The money generated from that real estate will then be channeled to finance the education of the kids in that country over the next century. The idea is to have a kid grow up and point at that building to say "The people of my country held hands to help me have an education, I can do same for the next generation".

So in Cameroon for example, we will organize a nationwide fundraising. It could include those living in and out of the country. Just like with the Smile kitchen, we are going to need everyone to contribute a little something. If a million Cameroonians contribute 1000francs CFA, that will be a billion franc CFA. We can construct something durable with that cash, don't you think?  All that money will then be invested in real estate development and the profits will be channeled towards education. One peculiar thing about this project is that Project build a smile Gabon for example, can only be financed by the people of Gabon. Project build a smile Cameroon, can only be financed by the people of Cameroon. We can accept any other donation for other charity projects but "Build a smile" has to be built by the people of the country. It is about inspiring our brothers and sisters in taking action together and understanding that we can help ourselves. We don't always have to wait for the United Nations to hook us up with one or two scholarships.

Part of your mandate is to ensure orphans’ education, have you ever thought of building a school for them in those different places? Is it a project that you keep at the back of your head?

Project build a smile is the project that will provide education. Smile charity brings that human contact but education is key after all. Mandela taught us that Education is the most powerful weapon, which can change the world.

I think everyone has a role to play. There are a number of people who have focused on providing good education to Africans. Let us just say that CarltonSmile will focus on getting the kids into these schools. I might build "smile charity homes". I have that plan at the back of my mind 

Is there any procedure to join the organization? Can anyone around the globe join the organization? How? 

We do not function on a membership basis. You are a "smile donor" based on the actions you take. Yes, we have a few people that are more committed to the organisation because certain things need to be done, but a great majority of the families are people just willing to make an orphan smile, no matter what it takes. This Christmas for example, there will be "Smile Christmas" organised in every country were the organisation is active and I have advised the presidents to make it very open to everyone. We think we always need to have some "thing" at hand before we reach out but just the fact that you are present, and crack jokes with a kid or carry the kids, I think that is priceless. There are just a number of things that money can't buy.

You know people wonder how they can get involved in charity, because of the way they look at things. If you can't give from your pocket, you can at least give from the heart. This interview you did is an incredible act of charity. You just made yourself part of the organization, because you have provided a platform to enable us inspire young Africans. I was Front-paged in a South African newspaper a couple of weeks ago. That is an act of charity because 5000 people will read that article and will do more than just you and I could have done. I was speaking to someone from a local newspaper the other day and I was saying that our priority is getting media partners. We are not really running around looking for money. If you give me a million dollars, I might help 100,000 kids, but if you help me inspire a million people, do you realise how much good they can do for even more kids? So I'm always very happy when contacted by a radio, TV, news paper or the incredible writer blogger that you are.

Furthermore, if you are a singer, then teach the kids how to sing or sing with them. If you are a dancer, teach them how to dance. If you can read, then teach them how to read. So it's not about what CarltonSmile will tell you to do, but it is about you telling CarltonSmile what you can do, not for CarltonSmile but for an orphan. We just happen to be the intermediaries.

Follow us on twitter @C_smilecharity

Like our Facebook page: Carlton Smile charity

And you may send us an email as well on carltonsmilecharity@yahoo.fr

You may also follow Jesse Carlton AKA Mr. Africa by visiting his website www.carltonmrafrica.com and on twitter @JC_Carlton

Thank you Jesse for a great conversation.

Thanks