Colombia

Real quick post...

Returned Monday from a 6 day trip to Bogota. Traveled with Lynn, Mark and Baby Claire Patterson and Betsey Hance. Worked with Uniminuto, met with Dona Teresa from Yo Mujer, meeting with Nestle, trip over the mountains to Montenegro, Colombia and the National Coffee Park. Of course, it was way much more than that but, I need to quit goofing off and write a blog for the MTF blog! Great staff at Uniminuto - they work so hard to work with us and to help us out - arranging meetings, traveling with us to our meetings, making sure we are okay - eating, sleeping...It's awesome to be so well cared for!

Pattersons leave next week and, I'm excited for them and sad for me! I will miss them a bunch! But, I suppose I will get on with things. We are meeting very briefly tomorrow to talk about what needs to be done now...I need to go back to Bogota and get this project moving. But, I've got to get some more information from Uniminuto. But the first thing I've got to figure out is how to bridge the communication gap!!!!!

Maddening when you have so much to say but lacking a little creativity to write it.

check out the MTF web site: www.mangotreefoundation.org.

Unique Opportunities

As I walked this morning, with my Ipod in my hand and great music playing in my ears, I had some interesting thoughts.

Our lives are so simple. Think about it. Take my morning for example...I got up early, made coffee, kissed my hubby good-bye, took the dog out, glanced at the paper and went for a 3 mile walk, came home to a very nice, comfortable, air conditioned home and got a big drink of clean water straight from the faucet. I'll take a nice warm shower in a few minutes. Later today I will jump in my 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid and make a run to the grocery store for some last minute supplies for the kids at home and get gas in the car so the kids can use my car if they need to while I am gone. My daughter is going to drop me at the train station at 1 so I can take a train down to the airport to hop on a flight to Bogota. I'm busy but I really don't have to put a whole lot of effort into my daily life.

My life is easy because my basic needs are met daily. I have a place to live, food for my family, clean water to drink, to bathe in. My kids go to school (even though at the collegiate level it doesn't seem like they are in school nearly enough). I don't have to spend the majority of my day walking for water, wondering if my family will be able to eat. Instead I can think about taking a nice long walk, listening to music, updating the blog...Yeah, things are pretty simple here.

Think though if I lived in a different area of the world. Would my life be this simple? You already know the answer...probably not!

I'm not trying to lay a guilt trip on anyone. Guilt isn't the point anymore. A few years ago, I had an amazing shift in my thinking. I was able to move away from the belief that I had an obligation to give out of guilt; that because we had some success in our lives I should feel guilty. Yes, there is some ease and success in my daily life, we've worked hard. But the transformation in my mind has been that I should embrace that success, not feel guilty about it; but realize that because of that success I have a very unique opportunity to participate in the world around me. I have the chance to make a difference!

We leave for Bogota today! We will be working on finalizing plans for the rooftop vegetable garden, securing a facility to use for the laying hens, making arrangements for purchasing hens, working out a deal for feed and discussing options for setting up a micro-finance opportunity for Yo Mujer. Lynn will also be finishing up the details for the virtual class that is going to be taking place in the Spring between students at Kennesaw State University and students at Uniminuto. Such a unique experience to be able to utilize technology to bridge communication gaps and distance for college students to discuss theories of social change and to begin to implement change in their own communities. The future starts today!

I have had success in bringing the Nestle corporation, in Bogota it is Nestle Colombia, in to talk and hopefully work with Dona Teresa and the women of Yo Mujer. We are arranging a meeting with their representative in Bogota. We will also be meeting with a representative from Avicola Colombiana to discuss laying hens.

None of this would be happening without the support of our friends and families. Your generosity at the Chicks for Chicks event was amazing. We are taking that money and your commitment to this project with us today.

It will be an extremely busy trip! There will be meetings (in Spanish of course) but also the opportunity to reconnect with new friends in Bogota who share our very strong commitment to social justice. We will have a translator with us but meetings in Spanish are still so challenging for me - listening in Spanish, translating to English, trying to remember Spanish words so I can actually respond in Spanish..my brain is so tired at the end of the day!

But I am so excited about the possibility for success, and am determined to make a difference in the daily lives of these women.

Stay tuned. If I can get back online (remember my passwords, etc) I will try to update the blog from Bogota.