How to make a big difference for very little
July 16th 2008 04:13
Every now and then I get acquisition-anxiety.
I look around at all I own and I feel burdened by the weight of the baggage I call my ‘possessions.’ When this happens, I go through all my clothes, my books, my jewelry, my crockery and cutlery and I have a huge spring-clean leaving a large pile of black bags outside St Vincents.
I am quite certain this anxiety is related to death, albeit tangentially. The thought of someone having to wade through all my ‘things’ when I finally kick the bucket feels like an onerous and rather selfish legacy to leave behind.
So this past Mothers’ Day I gave strict instructions to my family that I didn’t want anything. The only concession I did allow, given how driven people are to ‘spend money on’ us, especially on a consumer-fuelled day like Mother’s Day, was for a gift through Oxfam or World Vision. I was pretty sure some ‘mother’ out there in the Third World could do with a bag of rice or a goat or a mosquito net more than I needed another bottle of perfume or a Rebel sports voucher (despite my penchant for fancy running gear).
It has occurred to me more than occasionally that perhaps I am not Sydney-material. I am a girl from Africa, after all. We are all connected in this great energetic experience of life, and those who think otherwise have much bigger commitment issues than they imagine. It is possible for each of us to do ‘good’ in small (but ultimately big) ways without any major disruptions to plastic surgery, renovations or private schooling we may have planned.
They say of the hedgehog that it is a creature that is ‘innocent of its greatness.’ For this reason I am particularly fond of hedgehogs. Every now and then one meets a person who is, far from being filled with a sense of self-importance, very much like a hedgehog.
A few weeks ago, I met Adam Ordish, a young Australian lawyer, who together with his wife Rebecca, went to Kathmandu in Nepal in 2000 for five months to do some volunteer English teaching like many good young people with a social conscience and a sense of adventure.
I envy people who know what they are about and what their work is. Not many of us have a sense of utter clarity when it comes to our life’s purpose. So there is something compelling and confronting about people who have literally found their place in the world. And who, with every breath they take, are making it a better place – for others. Dear God we could do with a few more of those.
The difference between Adam and Rebecca and most other people who notch up life experiences for the old memoir, is that this experience fundamentally altered not only their perceptions but their actions. They did return to Sydney, to their jobs and a mortgage, but it was hard to take this middle-class existence and its concerns seriously after the poverty and the hardships they had seen and experienced in Nepal.
They returned to Nepal and set up the Mitrataa Foundation (mitrataa is the Nepalese word for friendship) a non-profit organization that is simply, beautifully committed to educating girls and women. Why the focus on females? Adam explains that research shows that a girl is more likely to do something with an education than a boy. And that a girl who is educated is more likely to ensure that her children are educated. Just like teaching a man to fish, you feed him for life, by educating a girl, you ensure a regenerative inter-generational commitment to learning.
Mitrataa works to fund scholarships for girls to go to school. So far the organization has fundraised for over 110 girls to go to school on the Dream Catchers scholarship scheme. Adam and Rebecca are also in the process of setting up a model school and have introduced Nepal’s first ‘Pets as Therapy’ program where animals are brought in to provide some touch therapy for children who have lost parents and who are starved of affection and cuddles. As I listened to Adam describe the first moment when some dogs were brought into the school and how the children shrieked (they’d never been that close to a dog before) but how the disabled children bonded with a dog that was paraplegic, having the use of only its two front legs, I came close to understanding how the smallest things can make the biggest difference.
Mitrataa has also initiated the Daisy Chains program, a women’s literacy, business mentoring and micro-finance program and a program for training women journalists in English. Libby Hathorn, the well-known Australian children’s author has been integrally involved in teacher-training and in introducing the 100Views Literacy and Art program. A documentary of her work with Mitrataa will be available shortly – and I will post further information about its screenings.
When I was a law student at Yale, we were addressed by a man who worked to save people from the death penalty in a poorly funded non-profit organization. He ended his presentation to our class of up-and-coming young lawyers by saying: ‘It is better to be about something and get nothing for it than to be about nothing and get something for it.’
Of course first prize would probably be to be about something and get something for it. But I am struck with awe and a sense of humility when I meet people who put their bodies where their mouths are. People who are not about themselves. Big Picture people. Hedgehog people.
In the next while, I will be doing what I can to promote the work of Mitrataa, which will include updates on this blog. If anyone out there has abundance-anxiety or consumer-fatigue and would like to provide a Nepalese girl with a scholarship to attend school for one year, all it will take is $300 to cover her school fees, books, uniform, stationery and incidentals.
I worked out I spend over $300 on daily skinny cappuccinos over a period of three months. While I will get my daily caffeine fix, nobody will learn to fish. And another Nepalese girl will get lost in domestic child labour, never to experience the joy of a mind that has been opened to the world through literacy.
Thank you to Libby Hathorn for introducing me to Adam.
And thank you to Adam and Rebecca for being the coolest hedgehog-folk I’ve met in a long time.
To learn more about Mitrataa’s work, go to www.mitrataa.org
www.joannefedler.com
I look around at all I own and I feel burdened by the weight of the baggage I call my ‘possessions.’ When this happens, I go through all my clothes, my books, my jewelry, my crockery and cutlery and I have a huge spring-clean leaving a large pile of black bags outside St Vincents.
I am quite certain this anxiety is related to death, albeit tangentially. The thought of someone having to wade through all my ‘things’ when I finally kick the bucket feels like an onerous and rather selfish legacy to leave behind.
So this past Mothers’ Day I gave strict instructions to my family that I didn’t want anything. The only concession I did allow, given how driven people are to ‘spend money on’ us, especially on a consumer-fuelled day like Mother’s Day, was for a gift through Oxfam or World Vision. I was pretty sure some ‘mother’ out there in the Third World could do with a bag of rice or a goat or a mosquito net more than I needed another bottle of perfume or a Rebel sports voucher (despite my penchant for fancy running gear).
It has occurred to me more than occasionally that perhaps I am not Sydney-material. I am a girl from Africa, after all. We are all connected in this great energetic experience of life, and those who think otherwise have much bigger commitment issues than they imagine. It is possible for each of us to do ‘good’ in small (but ultimately big) ways without any major disruptions to plastic surgery, renovations or private schooling we may have planned.
They say of the hedgehog that it is a creature that is ‘innocent of its greatness.’ For this reason I am particularly fond of hedgehogs. Every now and then one meets a person who is, far from being filled with a sense of self-importance, very much like a hedgehog.
A few weeks ago, I met Adam Ordish, a young Australian lawyer, who together with his wife Rebecca, went to Kathmandu in Nepal in 2000 for five months to do some volunteer English teaching like many good young people with a social conscience and a sense of adventure.
I envy people who know what they are about and what their work is. Not many of us have a sense of utter clarity when it comes to our life’s purpose. So there is something compelling and confronting about people who have literally found their place in the world. And who, with every breath they take, are making it a better place – for others. Dear God we could do with a few more of those.
The difference between Adam and Rebecca and most other people who notch up life experiences for the old memoir, is that this experience fundamentally altered not only their perceptions but their actions. They did return to Sydney, to their jobs and a mortgage, but it was hard to take this middle-class existence and its concerns seriously after the poverty and the hardships they had seen and experienced in Nepal.
They returned to Nepal and set up the Mitrataa Foundation (mitrataa is the Nepalese word for friendship) a non-profit organization that is simply, beautifully committed to educating girls and women. Why the focus on females? Adam explains that research shows that a girl is more likely to do something with an education than a boy. And that a girl who is educated is more likely to ensure that her children are educated. Just like teaching a man to fish, you feed him for life, by educating a girl, you ensure a regenerative inter-generational commitment to learning.
Mitrataa works to fund scholarships for girls to go to school. So far the organization has fundraised for over 110 girls to go to school on the Dream Catchers scholarship scheme. Adam and Rebecca are also in the process of setting up a model school and have introduced Nepal’s first ‘Pets as Therapy’ program where animals are brought in to provide some touch therapy for children who have lost parents and who are starved of affection and cuddles. As I listened to Adam describe the first moment when some dogs were brought into the school and how the children shrieked (they’d never been that close to a dog before) but how the disabled children bonded with a dog that was paraplegic, having the use of only its two front legs, I came close to understanding how the smallest things can make the biggest difference.
Mitrataa has also initiated the Daisy Chains program, a women’s literacy, business mentoring and micro-finance program and a program for training women journalists in English. Libby Hathorn, the well-known Australian children’s author has been integrally involved in teacher-training and in introducing the 100Views Literacy and Art program. A documentary of her work with Mitrataa will be available shortly – and I will post further information about its screenings.
When I was a law student at Yale, we were addressed by a man who worked to save people from the death penalty in a poorly funded non-profit organization. He ended his presentation to our class of up-and-coming young lawyers by saying: ‘It is better to be about something and get nothing for it than to be about nothing and get something for it.’
Of course first prize would probably be to be about something and get something for it. But I am struck with awe and a sense of humility when I meet people who put their bodies where their mouths are. People who are not about themselves. Big Picture people. Hedgehog people.
In the next while, I will be doing what I can to promote the work of Mitrataa, which will include updates on this blog. If anyone out there has abundance-anxiety or consumer-fatigue and would like to provide a Nepalese girl with a scholarship to attend school for one year, all it will take is $300 to cover her school fees, books, uniform, stationery and incidentals.
I worked out I spend over $300 on daily skinny cappuccinos over a period of three months. While I will get my daily caffeine fix, nobody will learn to fish. And another Nepalese girl will get lost in domestic child labour, never to experience the joy of a mind that has been opened to the world through literacy.
Thank you to Libby Hathorn for introducing me to Adam.
And thank you to Adam and Rebecca for being the coolest hedgehog-folk I’ve met in a long time.
To learn more about Mitrataa’s work, go to www.mitrataa.org
www.joannefedler.com
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Comment by Mrs M
Mum's Word
Now I do the same. I'll look into this one.
When I decided to sponsor a child I decided it had to be a girl. Didn't care what country, just find the most needy baby girl and I'll sponsor her.
It's safe to say that money (or lack thereof) stopped me from having a fourth child. But money wasn't going to stop me from having a sponsor child.
Great post Joanne.
Love & stuff
Mrs M
Comment by Louie
Climate Forum
Climate Red
randomthoughts
Phil's Wellness Tips
Hedgehogs is a great way to describe them,
Hope the book sales are going well.
Comment by tlcorbin
Coffee Quip
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Comment by Jessicca
Learning Something Everyday
Malaysia Found
I am sure to pass this around to my remaining friends in Australia and hope that everyone can truly make a difference.
Hm.. a gift to World Vision from one mom to another, that is neat.
Have a blessed day!
Jessicca
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Jayne Kearney
Writers In Writing (and other writing)
Jayne
Comment by D. Armenta
The Florida Keys and Everglades
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L.A.M.P.
May I add, please another great thing you can do for a very small amount of money?
Kiva allows you to loan $25.00 (U.S. value) to small business starters in developing countries, which they pay back. My Mum has lent that amount and been paid back 5 times now. I'm joining right now myself!
I love the places that start things at the grassroots level, so average joes like us can help in a concrete way.
Thanks again for the wonderful post.
Comment by Joanne Fedler
Jo
Comment by Cibbuano
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D - I forgot all about Kiva. Love the idea, I really do!
It's a great thing you did, Joanne, not asking for anything on Mother's Day. That takes a rare turn of perspective. The last time I saw my parents, I asked my mom what she wanted for Christmas, and she said 'nothing'. I persisted and she said she wanted me to take my brother and donate blood at the blood bank! Great mother!
Comment by Joanne Fedler
Since I don't earn a lot, I don't like the idea that gifts have to cost a lot. I also think that when you don't spend a lot, you have to think harder. You can cook a meal, babysit, make something for someone and people love that. I want my kids to know that giving is easy, and there are so many ways to give for free - like giving blood.
Jo
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
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Padsoc
And the list of charities to donate to when I start to make money keeps on growing... Thanks for publicising this incredibly worthy cause!
It has occurred to me more than occasionally that perhaps I am not Sydney-material.
I find this hard to conceptualise of because Sydney is composed of people with such varied worldviews... You are adding to its culture with your own (and I bet a lot of Sydneysiders appreciate it) without even trying to just by living here, Jo.
I am similarly not seduced by possessions, and spend any money my parents give me on travel. I think this makes me a better person, and more equipped to help people around the world. I have attempted two paid positions as an English teacher in developing countries in Europe and Asia, but I find I am not thick-skinned enough not to be affected by the suffering that went on there.
Comment by Jessicca
Learning Something Everyday
Malaysia Found
I'll look into it and hope that I can pay-it-forward from those who have blessed me when I needed fundings to save my mother's life.
Thanks D.Armenta!
Have a blessed day