Happy Lucky Chacho is young. Most of what is written here has not happened yet, and this page is built to say so rather than to look impressive. Everything is listed at the status it has actually earned, and the money is counted from the ledger rather than written down by hand.
Last changed 19 October 2026.
Happening now. Something has already been done and there is a next thing booked.
A letter written most Sundays about what actually happened that week.
The whole thing started as a letter, and the letter is still the spine of it. Two have been published so far. They are not a newsletter about a charity that already exists; they are the record of one being built, including the weeks where little happened.
What it would take. Nothing but the time to write one and the honesty to publish it when the week was thin.
Next. Write Sunday 3.
Every birr in and out, logged by hand, in public, with the receipt.
Not connected to a bank: it is our own record, kept in the open. Where a payment has a bank or Telebirr receipt we check it against the bank itself and mark it. A gift in kind is shown for what it was worth but never moves the balance, because that money never passed through us.
What it would take. Someone to log each gift the day it arrives. That is the whole cost.
Next. Keep it current. It stops being worth anything the week it falls behind.
A mural, and four packs of nappies for twenty-eight children in daily therapy.
A day therapy centre run by Mena since 2013: buses bring twenty-eight children with profound disabilities in every weekday morning and take them home every afternoon. We painted a mural with them, and a giver bought nappies that were carried over directly, which is why they appear in the audit as a gift in kind rather than money we held.
What it would take. They publish what they need: nappies, milk, oats and soap. We no longer have to guess, we have to turn up with some of it more than once.
Next. Agree with Mena what we bring next, and how often.
Decided on, not started. We know what it is; we are working out what it takes.
A year of sanitary pads for the women at an Ethiopian Orthodox charity home.
The page is written and the pledge form works, but nothing has been delivered and the numbers on it are not confirmed. The head count and the price per pack still have to be checked with the home itself before this can be called anything but a plan.
What it would take. The head count and the shop price, checked in person. Until those two numbers are real, the target is a guess.
Next. Visit the home and confirm how many women and what a pack actually costs.
A small monthly amount, confirmed by hand each month in the office.
Money never moves through the site. Someone picks a plan, the office sends payment details, and each month's payment is confirmed by a person. The plan amounts published today are placeholders: they were written from the mentorship guide, not from receipts.
What it would take. Real costs behind each plan, so the amounts mean something.
Next. Price one full Sunday properly — snacks and mentor transport — and correct the plans.
Volunteers paired with children, meeting on Sundays around clubs.
The interest form, the pairing and the club calendar are all built and sitting behind a switch. They are not linked from anywhere on the site, because turning them on means being ready to answer the people who fill them in, and we are not there yet.
What it would take. Somebody able to reply to every volunteer within a week, and a place to meet.
Next. Decide who answers the form, then switch it on.
Written down so it is not lost. Nobody has done anything about it yet.
Something that earns, so the work is not always asking.
Written down so it is not lost. There is no venture yet — no idea chosen, nothing started, nothing earned. The rule is already fixed even though the venture is not: a venture is funded separately and never from donated money, and nothing it earns is counted as a gift. The audit and this page stay separate ledgers.
Never funded by donated money, and nothing it earns is counted as a gift. Kept apart from the audit on purpose.
What it would take. An idea somebody would actually pay for, and start-up money that did not come from a donor.
Next. Nothing booked. This stays an idea until there is one worth writing down.