In August 2007, Marilyn Traugott left a long career as manager of Mercy Hospice in Redding, California, to embark on a path that has taken her to places she never imagined. A matching program with the then-called Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa paired Mercy Hospice with an inner-city hospice in Johannesburg, South Africa and after her first visit there in 2005, she was hooked. Five days after her very early retirement, she was on a plane to South Africa, and so began her "bi-continental" life, with three months volunteering as a consultant in South Africa alternating with three months in California. In 2009, Marilyn's South African home shifted to Olievenhoutbosch, a developing township between Johannesburg and Pretoria, where she has volunteered with local organizations and continues with the community at large. To continue the work more effectively and extensively, she founded One Future at a Time in 2011.
In 2013, Marilyn had the opportunity to go to Uganda to consult on-site with two remarkable individuals who were trying to build a school in their rural village of origin. They registered an organization called A Bright Child-Uganda, and in partnership with One Future at a Time, established a vocational skills center and for a few years, operated a primary school.
The following year, One Future at a Time began a partnership with Humura, a nonprofit organization in rural Rwanda, to assist them in providing access to health care that was either unavailable in Rwanda or unaffordable - most notably for children who needed heart surgery or corrective orthopedic surgery.
In 2020, another organizational connection resulted in One Future at a Time expanding services to Liberia, primarily to provide access to health care.
Having lived among those she serves, she has witnessed first hand the grinding poverty and the pervasive hopelessness for rising above it. It became very apparent that to become productive members of society, people need four things in addition to the basics of safe shelter, adequate clothing, and good nutrition:
In 2013, Marilyn had the opportunity to go to Uganda to consult on-site with two remarkable individuals who were trying to build a school in their rural village of origin. They registered an organization called A Bright Child-Uganda, and in partnership with One Future at a Time, established a vocational skills center and for a few years, operated a primary school.
The following year, One Future at a Time began a partnership with Humura, a nonprofit organization in rural Rwanda, to assist them in providing access to health care that was either unavailable in Rwanda or unaffordable - most notably for children who needed heart surgery or corrective orthopedic surgery.
In 2020, another organizational connection resulted in One Future at a Time expanding services to Liberia, primarily to provide access to health care.
Having lived among those she serves, she has witnessed first hand the grinding poverty and the pervasive hopelessness for rising above it. It became very apparent that to become productive members of society, people need four things in addition to the basics of safe shelter, adequate clothing, and good nutrition:
- education, training, and skills
- good health, including the ability to see and hear as well as possible
- opportunity
- caring support, encouragement, and guidance