The defining moment in my life that shifted the way I was thinking...and brought me to ubuntu.
Great question. Tough to answer.
In the sense of living and breathing and working and playing.
On my last day in Ahuchapan, we were invited to speak at a campecino meeting in a squatters village. As we walked in, I recognized several of the farmers as those that we have seen over the past weeks - in the fields and in the community. The meeting was to discuss the opportunity for the clinic here to become a working project again - and about the Food Security project. On this last day, a very special moment occurred:
Jim & Felix were speaking (as I am still a-stuttering away in Spanish) and one of the gentlemen in the crowd motioned for me to come and sit between him and my favourite special lady - Maria - on a bench in the front row. Things slowed down for me a bit as I walked over, sat down, hugged Maria and gave her kisses and thanked him for inviting me in. It was a moment of being invited to sit with them, rather than stand apart from them. As I sat there, listening with the rest of them, tears came to my eyes because I felt for once that the difference between us evaporated - and just for a moment - I was one of them.
So how do you begin to digest these intensive weeks I've had here? I've received big real life lessons in sociology, philosophy, theology, geography, agronomy and international development. There is a long road ahead of me over the coming days and weeks and months as I get my situation at home worked out. However, a number of priceless knowledge has been given to me and my heart - just as I felt coming home six months ago from India.
I love how every conversation I've been having lately - be it with the community here, with the Canadians that were here building stoves, with my sister or with my friends that I met on the other side of the world - comes back to how we can make a sustainable difference in our own lives and the lives of those around us. And that starts with basic needs. We need to shift the way we are eating as we are causing ourselves all kinds of diseases. We need to shift the way we take care of Mother Earth as environmentally, again, we are causing all kinds of diseases and unrest...when in fact we are given this fertile earth that can grow amazing foods - without chemicals of any kind (unless you buy Monsanto-plagued seeds) - to nourish ourselves and our family. If each family had a little plot of land, a garden and some training, we would all eat well and be fully taken care of.
It's almost as if we need to revert back to simpler times, keeping our knowledge and advancements where they serve humanity only. It means nurturing Mother Earth to provide for us only what we need and then giving back to her where we can. It means if I have a dollar in my pocket - and you have none - I give you a quarter to get started. To share and live equally and in harmony. This is true abundance.
Abundance is not in having "things". It comes in having conversations and living in community. Abundance is having enough food to nourish our bellies and conversation, community and love to nourish our souls.
In going to Central America, in simply taking notes and giving a few smiles and organizing the project a wee little bit, I have given a tiny bit of myself. Yet, I have been given so much. I've been given the gift of reflection and appreciation for my own life, family and friends. I've been given lessons in what it means to truly live and thrive off of a tiny amount. I've been given the gift of renewal in my faith for a better world...if only we can all work together to make that happen.
Do I have to go back to my job? Yes. Do I like what I do everyday? Sure, most days. But in the end, does it give me the means to connect with others, to thrive in a communal workplace where we try to rise up for the greater good - that is left up to me to ensure. It could, if I work with the right type of clients who are wanting to do the right type of good out there. But does my job give me the means to try to continue on now, one step at a time, with my life? Yes. And as I figure out over the coming months where I'm going to move and what I'm going to do, I'm grateful for this.
And where will I go with this gigantic development project that still goes on down in El Salvador? Well, I need to find what skills I can give best to it. That makes me think it's important to look at when I was happiest there. And that's easy, in two situations do I feel really excited and happy: 1) in organizing the projects and getting a handle on what is being done, what has been done, and what needs to be done. In making sense of the chaos. This is the business side of me coming out. 2) in walking with the people. I simply feel my best when setting one foot beside the other with the campecinos and their families.
So what does that mean for next year? I have the opportunity to go down for a much longer time...to live and thrive within the community and to handle some of the project management. I'm not sure how I would make it work as this would not be a paid job, but from what I've seen, anything is possible. I just need Warren Buffett to read this blog and consider me as an investment...
In the Mayan calendar, the 13th baktun is ending. A cycle of 5,125 days. In December, we'll be starting the next cycle on this planet and from what I've heard, it's going to be one much more focused on how we can undo the hurts that we've laid on Mother Earth and start to thrive together.
The times...they are a changin'.
Jim & Felix were speaking (as I am still a-stuttering away in Spanish) and one of the gentlemen in the crowd motioned for me to come and sit between him and my favourite special lady - Maria - on a bench in the front row. Things slowed down for me a bit as I walked over, sat down, hugged Maria and gave her kisses and thanked him for inviting me in. It was a moment of being invited to sit with them, rather than stand apart from them. As I sat there, listening with the rest of them, tears came to my eyes because I felt for once that the difference between us evaporated - and just for a moment - I was one of them.
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| Our last morning in the fields. To supply each of the campecinos one manzana - just enough for their family & them - we would need to fundraise between $150,000 - $450,000. |
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| The clinic building that is currently abandoned, but ready to be fixed up provided we could find doctors and medicine. |
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| Our community meeting. Faces of the heartbeat of ES. |
I love how every conversation I've been having lately - be it with the community here, with the Canadians that were here building stoves, with my sister or with my friends that I met on the other side of the world - comes back to how we can make a sustainable difference in our own lives and the lives of those around us. And that starts with basic needs. We need to shift the way we are eating as we are causing ourselves all kinds of diseases. We need to shift the way we take care of Mother Earth as environmentally, again, we are causing all kinds of diseases and unrest...when in fact we are given this fertile earth that can grow amazing foods - without chemicals of any kind (unless you buy Monsanto-plagued seeds) - to nourish ourselves and our family. If each family had a little plot of land, a garden and some training, we would all eat well and be fully taken care of.
It's almost as if we need to revert back to simpler times, keeping our knowledge and advancements where they serve humanity only. It means nurturing Mother Earth to provide for us only what we need and then giving back to her where we can. It means if I have a dollar in my pocket - and you have none - I give you a quarter to get started. To share and live equally and in harmony. This is true abundance.
Abundance is not in having "things". It comes in having conversations and living in community. Abundance is having enough food to nourish our bellies and conversation, community and love to nourish our souls.
In going to Central America, in simply taking notes and giving a few smiles and organizing the project a wee little bit, I have given a tiny bit of myself. Yet, I have been given so much. I've been given the gift of reflection and appreciation for my own life, family and friends. I've been given lessons in what it means to truly live and thrive off of a tiny amount. I've been given the gift of renewal in my faith for a better world...if only we can all work together to make that happen.
Do I have to go back to my job? Yes. Do I like what I do everyday? Sure, most days. But in the end, does it give me the means to connect with others, to thrive in a communal workplace where we try to rise up for the greater good - that is left up to me to ensure. It could, if I work with the right type of clients who are wanting to do the right type of good out there. But does my job give me the means to try to continue on now, one step at a time, with my life? Yes. And as I figure out over the coming months where I'm going to move and what I'm going to do, I'm grateful for this.
And where will I go with this gigantic development project that still goes on down in El Salvador? Well, I need to find what skills I can give best to it. That makes me think it's important to look at when I was happiest there. And that's easy, in two situations do I feel really excited and happy: 1) in organizing the projects and getting a handle on what is being done, what has been done, and what needs to be done. In making sense of the chaos. This is the business side of me coming out. 2) in walking with the people. I simply feel my best when setting one foot beside the other with the campecinos and their families.
So what does that mean for next year? I have the opportunity to go down for a much longer time...to live and thrive within the community and to handle some of the project management. I'm not sure how I would make it work as this would not be a paid job, but from what I've seen, anything is possible. I just need Warren Buffett to read this blog and consider me as an investment...
In the Mayan calendar, the 13th baktun is ending. A cycle of 5,125 days. In December, we'll be starting the next cycle on this planet and from what I've heard, it's going to be one much more focused on how we can undo the hurts that we've laid on Mother Earth and start to thrive together.
The times...they are a changin'.
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