Mr. Toads Wild Ride

This has deffinately been an roller coaster week.  I have felt the swoosh of decending down the steep hill only to dip back up to crest of another peak.  When all looks lost we must look forward and continue on. 

The week started with the loss of an important sector key to taking this thing to the next level, the battered women we were training.  It looked hopeless, like this was yet ANOTHER set back to getting the co-op started,  but the universe will provide.  Another door has opened, and the future looks bright for now.  

  I am learning that when dealing with a completely different culture, and being thousands of miles away, that in and of itself presents a  whole new set of challenges, but also the uncertainty that we constantly face.  Will we be thrown out of our current location?  What if we loose our current group of women?  What will happen to them?  How will we get more funding?  How do I make the most of our virtual networks? How do I maximize our exposure? If it were easy then everyone would be doing it.  

  For now the program will continue in a positive direction inching closer to formation of a knitting co-op.  Closer to having these women who have been cast aside by society to having a better future. Closer to that utopian world I so dream of.  I am a realist, I understand that true utopia will never exist, but is it so bad to continue to strive for it?  

  In the meantime I will continue to learn more about the virtual network and how to build it.  How to best gain exposure in this mass market glut of NPO's all looking to grow and gain market share.  Each one having a compelling story, each one looking to be heard.  I will look for the formula that resonates out.  I will shamelessly advocate for those whom society has cast aside because they were broken.  I will advocate for their repair because I care, because they are worth something.  I will advocate on their behalf because they can't.  Someone has to speak for the voiceless, until they can find their own.  I will do what I can.
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The Passion

So I have figured out my passion, what gets me moving and motivates me, it's working in the nonprofit sector.  I have always had drive for it, my former and current employers usually having something to volunteer for, I always sign up.  I'm not sure what floats my boat about it, other than I can sleep at night and wake up knowing I have played a part in changing or improving another human being's life.  It keeps me humble too. I have always wanted to work with a group that actually teaches people how to improve and empowers them with the skills to help themselves.  I have found such an organization, grass routes starting from scratch, with one goal in mind, that morphed into a greater goal.  An incredible mission with an incredible goal, and need for growth, and funding.  

  I have grown so much in the last four months, learning on a curve, sometimes  flying by the seat of my pants, but still growing.  Some days my brain hurts from information overload, but still I want more.  I so want to see the individuals in this program succeed.  I want them to taste the flavors of success and accomplishment.  I already see the pride in their eyes coming through in pictures that don't lie.  That's what it's all about, giving someone a sense of self worth that once was not there.  

  So I continue on, pressing towards the goal.  Working towards a greater good, after all it's not a sprint, but a marathon.  I constantly think how can I improve this or that? What can we do different?  What is working, what isn't working.  It's amazing how consuming passion can be, but it keeps my brain firing on all 4 cylinders, maybe even upgrading it to a V-6, with the eventual goal of a V-8.  It keeps me sane.  It keeps me grounded.  I just wish it would pay the mortgage, but when one is doing what they are passionate about, "the universe will provide" a friend has unknowingly reminded me, more times than she knows.

This is what keeps me going. Click to check us out