There is nothing essentially wrong with power. Dr King  once said it best:

Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love. Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.

Community Organizing  at its core is about justice. Community Organizing  brings the talents, resources, skills and knowledge of a community together to increase  their collective power.  When used correctly this  collective power is used to transform lives, not just the lives of  of a few but the lives of many. Organizing is different than advocacy . Its different than service work and its definitely different than mobilizing. It is using power to correct everything that stands against love.

So lets get started . If you can not honestly answer YES  the following questions do not pass go, do not collect $200 and DO NOT start a project where organizing is critical to its success:

• Are you courageous? Are you able to work through your fear?
• Are you willing to take risk to achieve your goal?
• Do you value new voices? Do you create space for emerging leaders?
• Are you committed to change? Do you walk your talk?
• Do you believe in the people  in your community?

At the heart of community organizing are inclusion, ownership, relationship building and leadership development.

Organizing is a long term process. It’s extremely important that you get to know the community you will be working in and the history of the issue you will address. Let me say that again get to know the community. Deeply. Allow two to three months to become familiar with the community, its history, make-up, demographics, geography and political leadership.You need to articulate passionately  about the history and culture of the people  in the communities you serve. Attend football games and potlucks. Go to church  and  This will help you learn about the concerns of the community and develop personal relationships. None of this happens overnight- this is a marathon my people, not a sprint. Building healthy relationships  is fundamental to  successful organizing and we all know that building HEALTHY relationships take time.

What you do and how you do it are equally important. Being credible, trustworthy  and accountable – doing what you say and living up to your promises are critical. Truthful and open dialogue are key. Innovation should be  encouraged and supported. Always bring maximum benefit to your goal through the  resources your given.

Just because you think it is an issue does not make it an issue. Just because you think it is not an issue does not mean it is not an issue.

Issues must be made specific before anything can be done: there is a big difference between a concern and an issue. You can’t do anything about concerns; you can win issues! Bad housing is a concern. The building at 1283 MLK Drive with no heat, broken porch railing, owned by absentee owner Mr. Smith, is an issue and can be organized on. The people who live in that community get to  determine  what’s an issue and what’s a concern.

We organize to build power for social change. There is an ancient Chinese saying: “Talking will not cook the rice.” Cooking the rice makes space for change, for justice, for equity.  Its hard work but someone has to stand up and cook the rice.  Will it be you?

We spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need to create impressions that won’t last on people we don’t care about. ~Anonymous

Did you buy the  house you currently have  because you felt pressure to live in a certain neighborhood?

Did you ever buy  clothes or a vacation that you knew was too exspensive  but you did it because you did not want people to think less of you?

Did you buy the wrong car because you felt pressure to make an impression on your brother-in-law of your old college roommate?

Have you ever spent money on items because you did not want people to think less of you?

 I have.

And I felt weak and ashamed that I could not stand up for myself and admit  that I just  did not have the money or even worst, I did really did not want what I purchased.

A few  weeks back I wrote  a blog post asking  when is enough really  enough….how much “stuff” do we as humans really need?  The other side of that coin is how much stuff do we purchase  and KNOW we can do without?  Know that we did not need it, but  buy it nevertheless.  How many things  do we have in our homes that as we were purchasing them they made  our stomachs flop and our mouths dry up? It’s an interesting place to be in when you are with friends or family  and you first notice that you  have VERY different  ideas on  the definition of expensive . Even more importantly that you have very different definitions of  what  really adds value to your lives.

It’s hard to wake up and realize that you are different.  That you have very different  priorities from your loved ones.  Very different wants and needs.

No one wants anyone they love to think less of them. And sadly many of of us in this country  equate worth with income  and things. The more stuff you have the more popular you are and well liked  you may be.  Some where along the line money and self-esteem  made some kind of unholy pact that the majority of  modern society took to be true. So how did I find myself  in these horrible situations?

I was not honest. I was not honest with my friends, family or myself. I did not want others to find me lacking or be disappointed in me. And honestly I was not ready to own my voice.

Trying to impress somebody is a lie. It’s inauthentic , it’s dumb and it makes me feel yucky. Why should I try so hard to get other people to like a person that isn’t really me? It makes no sense.

When you surround your self with cars, houses or clothes  that do not fit with who you are, that do not reflect your authentic self then guess what happens?  Your life gets filled up with things you do not need and people you do not care about.

 In 6 months I will be 45.  Next summer I send my youngest child off the college.  I will live alone for  he first time in 20 plus years.I am super excited! I am focusing on what the next 20 years of my life will look like. How will I live it, where will I live and what do I really need to be happy. The first 44 years of my life  I have focused on wants  and I would like to spend the next 44 focusing on needs and creating  a lifestyle for myself  that supports them.  Personal consumerism impacts the world and impacts who I am.

We should learn to live and love our neighbors as ourselves for the sake of peace and progress.
David McCallum

 I believe the idea that one individual, with determination, dedication, and great passion can change the lives of many.

Yeah, I said it.  Call me a sucker, but it’s what I truly believe. I have seen it with my own eyes. I know people in neighborhoods around the world do this every day.  They do it daily with very few resources and  a  huge odds stacked against them.  Success for these warriors is not always measurable but the results are widespread and encouraging. They are lowering teen pregnancy rates, building a broader economic base, educating young girls  and creating work programs that  create higher employment  rates. All  of these signs indicate that this work makes a difference.

The residents of these communities be they in Nairobi or Little Rock  work hard to  seize control of their lives and make smart decisions that help them overcome the many barriers that they face. They remind me of why I do the work I do – sitting behind a desk…staring at a screen ..writing yet another report. Sigh.

These citizen warriors,  of tough neighborhoods are often portrayed in the media as apathetic bystanders as weak or powerless. However, in many communities, angry citizens who were once polarized by fear have discovered a new tool to take back their lives. They  claim ownership of their community including its problems . They do all of this really hard work for one reason.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Yeah they decided to follow the golden rule, the only rule that really matters  and love their neighbors.  Love as a verb.  Love as movement. Love as action. Love as an event.

Neighbors do help neighbors. Every day, they use their time and their gifts to keep their friends and families going. Many, especially those living in tough communities, work hard to deal with the challenges. In the face of these obstacles, community residents look for the connections to vital resources that would improve their odds of succeeding.

This country was built on the premise of neighbors helping neighbors.  They  would gather and work together to build a house or  help clear a field , often in a single day. Neighbors lent a hand when they became aware of neighbors they could help. Nobody expected pay. No one knew if they would be helped when they needed it. They took responsibility for one another. More than crops were planted in the process.

 Community spirit was built. 

Love in action.  Today, grandmas are taking care of and feeding  children who are not related by blood, watching neighborhood children as they play. There are young men shoveling snow and coaching softball and building community gardens . The term for stepping in to take care of others is neighboring. 

 Neighbors as movement. Neighbors as action. Neighbors as an event.

And it’s my favorite kind of volunteering in the world.

From the equality of rights springs identity of our highest interests; you cannot subvert your neighbor’s rights without striking a dangerous blow at your own.
Carl Schurz

Over the next few months we will have lots of anniversaries hitting our radar and not in a good way.  This month we will be at  the 6 months since  the  devastating  Haitian earthquake and in August  and September  we will have the  5 year anniversaries  of  Hurricanes Katrina and Rita .

Across the capital of Port-au-Prince, hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by the Jan. 12 earthquake have settled into camps.   Aid workers and government officials say it’s clear that some of the almost 2 million people displaced by the quake will be living in “temporary” shelters for another year or more.

Many of the camps are dangerous. Some are at risk of flooding, and landslides threaten others. Many worry that some could be breeding grounds for disease, or that a hurricane could tear them apart.

 Katrina and Rita forced over 1.5 million people from their homes and killed  more than 1,000. The storm and the breaching of the levees in New Orleans destroyed or damaged close to 300,000 houses. The disaster devastated an environment, and  shattered a regional economy. In case we had forgotten about the devastation, BP comes along and hits this area one more time.

Disasters expose our race and class fault lines. They put those hard ugly pictures that we like to ignore up front .

But the storms in each of these situations was just one part of the disaster.

 Bone deep  inequalities based on race and class — along with massive institutional failure — and with a country as poor as Haiti- turned  natural disasters into a man-made catastrophe. This catastrophe laid bare our societal fault lines, race and class, which determine people’s vulnerability in disaster. Where you were in society when the storm hit largely determined how you were able to pick up the pieces of your life.

Today, almost  five years after Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast, communities across Louisiana and Mississippi are still struggling to restore their homes and their lives. It could take the people of Haiti  10 to 20 years  to restore their lives. People of color and low-income communities have found it particularly hard to return and rebuild because they have less access to wealth, resources, and decision-making power. Many lower-income and less-wealthy families whose homes were damaged have limited financial means to repair or rebuild them. Government aid programs have been a maze of confusion, inefficiency, power struggles, and red tape.

Rebuilding  with equity
Whether the  crisis is  on the Gulf Coast or in Haiti one thing needs to happen – the local people  need a vision of rebuilding towards justice.  The communities that have suffered most — both during the hurricane and in its aftermath and after the earthquake — unjustly suffered because of  underlying racial and class inequalities and discrimination.

 Vulnerable people, without strong organizations to struggle for and with them, would not be able to return to and participate in the rebuilding . There are still many obstacles to returning, including a lack of affordable housing and social services, but it’s the perfect opportunity for us to right a lot wrongs. It’s an opportunity for all of us to love our neighbor as ourselves.

 In the kind of world we have today, transformation of humanity might well be our only real hope for survival.
Stanislav Grof  

I have Superpowers. I do. Really, I do. I help to change people’s perception of the poor & marginalized -and in doing that help people change their perceptions of themselves.  Some people  share their gifts via  sculpture,dance or visual arts.  My medium of choice is service and social media.    

I have had people ask me  how can I  handle  all the devastation that I see globally. I can and I do because I know one thing to be TRUE…Service is transformational.   

Compassion and tolerance  are  just as important to folks as the new iphone or a new boat. The images we see on TV and the Internet of devastation and hunger, of pain and despair open up our hearts and call us to action.  The more we learn about how our food  or products are produced  the better choices we make. With every drop of oil gushing from the Gulf.. the less plastic we want in our homes and lives.. the less we want to drive, the less we want to have…. the more we want to  be, the more we want to do.   

The more we say NO to injustice than the more we say YES to love.  I think this cool guy in this funky group once said Love is all you need. And he was so right. We say YES  once we know people. Once we  connect with the humanity in all of us the easier it is to love-Once we look in their eyes and see ourselves. We have to SEE to love.   

Seeing is hard. Its painful and sometimes its riddled with guilt and shame. You feel bad for what you have, the stuff you own and shame because you do not give more. I am here to tell you  to let it go.   

LET IT GO.   

Agape is my favorite type of love . One definition is that Agape is the  highest and purest form of love, one that surpasses all other types of affection. Its a divine active love. Its a thoughtful love. Its the type of love that you feel after having engaged your heart, head and hands in building community with others.   

Let me share a secret…when you direct  divine  active love out into the world, the world will direct divine active love  back to you.  When  you bless another, you bring that blessing into your world. When you give goodness to another, you  encourage goodness to show up in your life and on the earth.   

So when you see pictures of conflicts and disasters around the world and feel overwhelmed about all of the pain and suffering  know one thing—If you do not like what you see happening in the world, you can change it.  It may not happen overnight. It may not happen in 3 years — 33 years or 333 years, but know it WILL happen. The question is not IF — the real question is HOW . Never  underestimate the power of YOU. The power of your experience and the role it plays in the healing of the world.  Ghandi  once said that his life was his message. He was a living example and his actions  transformed the world.  

Personal transformation is the secret and you will show your  faith, your beliefs and what you love by what you do  

Take care of yourself and each other
  

I hope we can use this day to honour the courage and resilience of the millions of refuges around the world who push forward each and every day with the hope that tomorrow might bring a return home or the hope of a better life. I certainly intend to remain committed to making that hope a reality.~ Bill Clinton 

As millions of people around the US were celebrating Father’s Day  many people around the globe were  marking World Refugee Day on Sunday.  Let’s get down to the brass tacks: Migrants, especially economic migrants, choose to move in order to improve their lives and the lives of  their families. Refugees have to move if they are to save their lives or preserve their freedom. Its all about survival. If other countries do not let them in, and do not help them once they are in, then they may be condemning them to death – or to a life with out rights. 

Annual figures released Tuesday by the UN refugee agency show that some 43.3 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide at the end of 2009, the highest number of people uprooted by conflict and persecution since the mid-1990s. Why so many? Where are they ,you maybe asking? Grab a map and lets take a quick trip– conflicts like those in Afghanistan, Somalia and the  Congo show no signs of being resolved anytime soon. Conflicts that had appeared to be ending or were on the way to being resolved, such as in southern Sudan or in Iraq, are stagnating and do not look like they will be resolved anytime soon.   Oh and now lets add  Kyrgyzstan to the picture.  An  estimated 300,000 people have  had to flee their homes and seek shelter elsewhere in the country. This is in addition to some 100,000 people who have fled  alreeady fled to  neighbouring Uzbekistan since Ju 

The international community has  to do more for the forcibly displaced. In any refugee population, approximately 50 percent of the uprooted people are women and girls. Stripped of the protection of their homes, their communities and  their family structure, females are often particularly vulnerable. 

Let’s be clear, not every Refugee is the same.  

A refugee is a person who (according to the formal definition in article 1A of the UN  Convention), “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country”. 

 Nationality is a legal bond between a state and an individual, and statelessness refers to the condition of an individual who is not considered as a national by any state. Although stateless people may sometimes also be refugees. Statelessness is a problem that affects an estimated 12 million people worldwide. 

Internally displaced people, or IDPs, are often wrongly called refugees. Unlike refugees, IDPs have not crossed an international border to find sanctuary but have remained inside their home countries. Even if they have fled for similar reasons as refugees (armed conflict, generalized violence, human rights violations), IDPs legally remain under the protection of their own government – even though that government might be the cause of their flight. At the end of 2008, there were an estimated 26 million IDPs around the world  in 22 countries, including the three with the largest IDP populations – Sudan, Colombia and Iraq. 

For  many people forced from their homes, a voluntary return home in safety and dignity marks the successful end to the trauma.  Only a small number of  refugees have the opportunity to be resettled to third countries or to be locally integrated into their host societies. Over the years many NGO’s have managed numerous large-scale voluntary repatriation programmes returned  brought many millions of refugees home. In Afghanistan alone, some 5 million refugees have been turned into returnees when they had the opportunity to return home. 

Whether you are a  Honduran teenager fleeing homophobia  or  Congolese  elder  desperately trying to start  a new life  all alone in  a strange land after escaping conflict or a woman from Afghanistan who has walked  the long journey  into exile  having to engage in “survival sex”  to feed her children - even after reaching an apparent place of safety. 

We must not forget them or the  despair of their displacement. Each of the statistics given in this post is a story– a human story of loss and survival of hope and ambition –of strength.  Every one of these statistics has a face. So today let’s remember their struggle  and  honor their courage. They can take their homes, but not their futures. 

  

 Hunger also changes the world – when eating can’t be a habit, then neither can seeing. ~Maxine Hong Kingston

Let’s start with the facts. 1 in 6 people do not get enough food to be healthy. When you are not healthy you cannot play with your kids, concentrate in school, work and make a living for your family. Umm it’s kind of a big deal.. A really big deal. I say that with just a little snark, but hunger and malnutrition are the number one risks to health worldwide.   That means there are more than 1 billion hungry people in the world. The majority of those that are hungry are not surprising women and children. If you dig a little deeper you will find out that 60% of chronically hungry people are women. We know this in part because women are feeding their children before they are feeding themselves.

Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to the health worldwide — greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Let me say that again as clearly as I possibly can- More people die of hunger every year than from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. One child dies every 6 seconds from hunger related causes. 

It’s a BIG deal.

   So let’s look deeper

  Who are the hungry?

• Asia and the Pacific region is home to over half the world’s population and nearly two thirds of the world’s hungry people;
  65 percent  of the world’s hungry live in only seven countries: India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia.
•  Around 50 per cent of pregnant women in developing countries are iron deficient.  Lack of iron means 315,000 women die annually from hemorrhage at childbirth. As a result, women, and in particular expectant and nursing mothers, often need special or increased intake of food.
• Child hunger is inherited: up to 17 million children are born underweight annually, the result of inadequate nutrition before and during pregnancy.
• 75 percent of the hungry people in developing countries, half are farming families, surviving off marginal lands prone to natural disasters like drought or flood. One in five belongs to landless families dependent on farming and about 10 percent live in communities whose livelihoods depend on herding, fishing or forest resource

     Umm yeah that’s right….the majority of people who are hungry in developing countries are farmers. I have been trying to wrap my head around that fact for a week.

As well as the obvious sort of hunger resulting from an empty stomach, there is also the hidden hunger of micro nutrient deficiencies which make people susceptible to infectious diseases, impair physical and mental development, reduce their labor productivity and increase the risk of premature death.  Economists estimate that every child whose physical and mental development is stunted by hunger and malnutrition stands to lose 5-10 percent in lifetime earnings.

Medicins Sans Frontieres  recently travelled to malnutrition “hotspots” around the world to produce a series of multimedia documentaries that shed light on the underlying causes of the malnutrition crisis and innovative approaches to combat it. Check out the website, it will make you think, make you cry, make you angry and hopefully make you act.  http://www.starvedforattention.org/

We have confused, as a society, wants and needs, and a lot of people have raised up their wants way above their needs and way above their abilities to support all those wants”  Millard Fuller       

The title of my post is an ode to a chapter in one of his books.  Fuller refered to it as the Theology of Enough. Its the  idea that there is a point where consumers possess everything they need  and buying more makes their lives worse rather than better. Like simple living,“enough-ism” emphasizes less spending and more restraint in the buying behaviour. Enoughism is an antonym to consumerism      

 What do you really need in your home or in your life? Its really a question that I want you all to answer.  What do you really NEED?I have been ruminating on this for the past few weeks, and because I have been struggling to answer this question for myself, I have not been able to actually write this blog post.  For the past two weeks I have been reading and meditating on the “Theology of Enough”.  We humans (especially those of of us from more developed countries have a hard time differentiating a need from a want.  We believe the commercials, the ads, the hype and honestly the bullshit.      

We consume  and consume and consume more stuff everyday. I want to say that the real issue is not consumption itself but its patterns and effects. Yet, I think that would be a lie. The real issue is consumption and what does it take for us as humans to feel full…satiated…satisfied….whole.    

That’s why I think of this post as the Theology of Enough..its about  filling up something deep within ourselves..some place in our soul that we think one more flat screen TV or 1,000 additional square feet will help fill.      

Who exactly ARE the Joneses and why have we decided to let them be the stick by which we measure ourselves.  Why are we letting them define us and mold us into bigger, better consumers  rather than  more compassionate, loving  people?     

Today’s consumption is undermining the environment. You all are smart folks, you know this.  That oil spill in the Gulf is happening because we as as society continue to want to  feel satiated by STUFF, PHOO-PHA  and THINGS.  It is exacerbating inequalities. And the dynamics of the consumption-poverty-inequality-environment nexus are out of control. Runaway growth in consumption is killing the earth, and killing us….Spiritually, physically and emotionally.      

Inequalities in consumption are stark. Globally, the 20% of the world’s people in the highest-income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures — the poorest 20% a minuscule 1.3%. More specifically, the richest fifth:       

• Consume 45% of all meat and fish, the poorest fifth 5%
• Consume 58% of total energy, the poorest fifth less than 4%
• Have 74% of all telephone lines, the poorest fifth 1.5%
• Consume 84% of all paper, the poorest fifth 1.1%
• Own 87% of the world’s vehicle fleet, the poorest fifth less than 1%

These numbers go beyond meeting basic needs.  They actually make me nauseous. The facts I just quoted come from an old UNDP report…so if anyone can point me to more  recent figures please do.     

If the trends continue without change — not redistributing from high-income to low-income consumers, not shifting from polluting to cleaner goods and production technologies, not promoting goods that empower poor producers, not shifting priority from consumption for conspicuous display to meeting basic needs — today’s problems of consumption and human development will worsen.     

We can tell our values by looking at our checkbook stubs. ~Gloria Steinem  Oh man do I dig Gloria. Seriously. Consider the following which shows  the world priorities ( i.e. OUR priorities):     

• We spend $8 Billion a year in the US on cosmetics.
• We spend $12 Billion a year in the US and Europe on perfume.
• We spend $50 Billion a year in the US and Europe on cigarettes

And compare that to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries:     

• Basic Education for all $6 Billion
• Water and Sanitation for all  $9 Billion
• Reproductive health  for all women  $12 Billion

(Source: The state of human development, United Nations Human Development Report 1998, Chapter 1, p.37)       

The Theology of Enough is about being filled up from the inside out. Its being satisfied with the  old television because you know its enough. It does its job  without problem or worry. It meets my needs.  Its Enough.    

 Others may expect that some one of your status, education level, or  income should own a new car, a large house  and  flat screen televisions. Its about understanding that the somewhere across the water a 15 year old girl has worked as a virtual slave in a blue jean factory in China  making less than 2$ a day so that I can buy ANOTHER pair of 10$ jeans from a big box store to fill my already overflowing closet .  Will I be judged by friends, family, colleagues and neighbors  for choosing to own  only one  pair of jeans or live in a smaller house or not have all of the  stuff that a person my age is supposed to have ? Probably, but I am OK with that because in my mind enough really is enough.  

 A community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess.
A. Philip Randolph

Sometimes those that want to help–actually hurt.

I am talking about those large  institutions like corporations, governmental, academic and even professional ones like social service agencies. Just for the record, this is where I take out the mirror and look at myself.  Pot, please meet kettle. At various times in my 20 plus year career I have belonged to each of those large entities I just named. And if I am being honest sometimes we have probably done harm where our intent was to help.

These institutions have resources and  they can be amazing supporters and advocates, they just can not be in the drivers seat.   They do not  get to drive, hold the map or  determine the road that  will be utilized.  The vision  has to be driven by the people. True movements  do not have CEOS or benefits. They happen when thousands of people discover their power and in doing so discover their possibilities. Movements take courage. It takes courage to discover your own way and own your  destiny. 

The American poet Audre Lorde  said it best:

If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive.

And sometime other’s vision of our self or our communities come from a  historical place of lack- a place of dependency. They tell communities  that they are inadequate, problematic, incompetent or broken, but  of course they know what the community need. They know how to “fix” it, how to help.  I believe that at their core they do want to help–and sometimes when you are bone  and soul weary it feels GOOD to have someone tell you that they will help you, give you what you need.  It is sometime very hard to ignore  these strong, loud voices, and hear your own heartbeat. We are all called to find our own way– no one walks your path for you.

The gifts of neighbors. The voice of strength. The path of abundance.

Strong local communities are vital and they are not created in a vacuum.  They come from the freedom and opportunity to create vision and the power to make that vision a reality. You noticed I said POWER and not RESOURCES.   In every local community we have the power to build a strong economic community. Every neighborhood in the world  has some locally started enterprise- car mechanics, beauty shop, seamstress– so many basements, dining rooms, kitchens and garages offer great prices and impeccable work.  As neighbors we have the power to utilize these services, choose their power to  support these businesses over large institutions. When neighbors support  neighbors  they are really allowing them to share their gifts and talents.

When communities walk the path of abundance  they join all of their gifts. When they grow food together and feed  another. When  they raise each other’s children together and invest in their future leaving none behind. When they care for  all of the elders and value the wisdom they share. May we all have the opportunity to  use our gifts to contribute to the healing of the world.

 We all have the right to live in a safe and secure place. Freedom is our divine right. We all should be  free to move beyond past limitations and become all that we were created to be. This can not happen  if  communities give others the power to define them. The gifts of community are endless. They need  to be magnified and celebrated. They should be cherished and every community should be allowed to define themselves.

We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.” ~ Pema Chodron

I just spent the past few days listening and watching an amazing case study in real time. Have you heard of the campaign to send 1 million shirts to Africa?.  If not, google it and  read the many blog post written in support or opposition of it. Some of you might not think that it was a very savvy idea, but for me it did bring up a critical point. Ultimately this guy just wanted to help– he wanted to do good. I commend him on his drive and big heart. I do not want this experience with a failed idea to crush him or his dream. I want to encourage him to keep learning, failing, dreaming and working hard. That is what  helps all of us grow.  I would also  like to offer him one  piece of advice, offered to him with  love and compassion:

You have to KNOW people, their lives and stories BEFORE you can offer help.

If we took a quick survey in Africa – How many people would choose a 1 millions shirts over  malaria drugs or  accessible clean water? 1 million shirts vs.1 million new jobs? I am not going to assume I know which option would  be more popular or  is the most needed. I do not live in Chad, Niger, Kenya or Tanzania and never have, because of that I will not speak for others.I have been in the business of  working with communities in need  for the past 20 years I have learned a few things , the main one being:  Helping others is about listening to their expressed needs.

In successful projects the reciepient and the donor are  partners. Equal partners- helping, learning,working and laughing together in the most perfect of worlds. Partnerships are built through conversation, connection and collaboration.They take time. Years and years and years and years.

 Relationships are key. You must create connections in neighborhoods, schools, businesses, congregations, and other settings across all generations. Formal relationships may become less important as “natural” relationships, networks, and activities emerge.

 Everyone contributes to the vision. In an asset-building project, problem solving  is not the sole responsibility of the  professionals or the donors. All members—parents, neighbors, young people, educators, business people, senior citizens, congregation members, and others—are guardians of the community and have amazing stories, assets and history to bring  to the table and they have to be deeply engaged in any proposed solutions. Let them.

The project is holistic. If you spend time working on an asset-building community project, you quickly need to communicate clear consistent  messages to the community. Just as marketers have learned that people need to hear a message several times before they fully grasp and act on it, the asset-building community knows that a community  need to experience many expressions of care, guidance, and opportunities in all areas of community life.

Ultimately this discussion and this post is less about sending a million t shirts or flip flops or anything else to Africa. At its core its about lessons  learned and solutions. Its about the connection that makes us all human.Its about personal growth and community growth. Its about being humble and open. 

 Meaning well and doing well really are two different things.