Grateful in Peru.

A new day. Truly deep goodness gifts itself to everything in this world. Everything.

The day began with beautiful sun reflecting off the green sea of grass in the morning. I found myself riding on the back of a motorcycle inhaling black exhaust with little boys calling me Barbie on the streets. Walking the streets today in between meetings, I simply watched people. People are beautiful. Everyone of us has deep connected lit up roots to something amazing, and you can see it on every human, if that is the projection you want to see in the world.

The kindness of people here in Cajamarca amazes me. Today Nora and I had amazing conversations and confidence building with our partners here, creating even more new routes to add in more amplified business, leadership, and health training in our development curriculum. So much occurred in the spaces of the day filled with meetings, but TRUST is the overriding feeling I have in my heart. I adore the transparency of our partners here and the willingness to work absolutely hard to make this project a systematic collective change opportunity for women who want to be involved. I am looking forward to DHF including all of this awesome information in the development of our Microcredit Toolkit…essentially a manual that answers the question HOW DO I DO THIS in (any) country. We are in process of putting together the first stages of this A-Z compilation so that people can benefit from the model and knowledge of this work. We have a dedicated team of 12 interns in the USA compiling the data around their research pieces for this project. All together exciting stuff going on, all made possible by the effort, love, and desire of so many beautiful folks.

A reminder of the gifts in life came in a conversation with wonderful longtime friends of mine here, Wally and his wife Miriam. Over a full Spanish conversation and some pisco sours, I listened to Miriam tell me about birthing her second daughter two months ago and a day later her child dying. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain she was feeling, and I knew my job was just to listen. Her strength was incredible. This little girl had a heart defect and there was only one surgeon in the country that could perform this heart surgery to save her life. They were in Cajamarca, and this surgeon was in Lima, 20 hours by bus or 1.5 plane ride. They called this doctor and asked him to perform this surgery and he said he had 15 other children in line for a similar procedure and he couldn´t do it. Little Alexandra died after 18 hours. I couldn´t help but pain inside, thinking that if she had access to modern medical help, she would have had an amazing chance at living. Miriam told me after all of this, that she just wanted to tell me one message: to be Grateful for what we have when we have it. I just felt this ruminating in my soul on the way home and wanted to share that.

I am blessed with you all in my life.
Maggie

maggie in the mountains

Dear UCOH Family,

Back in the Andes for another round of exploration on my annual trip to our microcredit plus site here in Cajamarca Peru. The smell of dust and mountain air remains the same after five years since I once lived here…the familiar sound of horns honking and colorful campesina women walking the streets with plants on their backs and children at their breasts. We are surrounded by a sea of green mountains that engulf the “caja” (box) that is this town of Cajamarca sitting high in the Northern Andes.

It is always wonderful to get back to the field. I think at heart I have always felt akin to program field work, as this is how the DHF roots began when I had the awesome chance to work with the humble people of this place back in 2004 as a pilot project. I remember the pulse of everything close to my heart as I see the faces of women who are grateful to us for giving them opportunities on the streets with their children. I can feel the excitement of women as our 2010 entrepreneurial trainings are set to begin in the new and improved Hope House women’s development center. DiscoverHope and Nora are deeply loved in this community and that makes my heart soar, especially thinking back to days in 2004 when I sat in an old beat up velour red chair someone gave to me for my simple apartment…reading about the power of creating what we desire and wondering why I had given up my life in San Diego and what the heck I was doing in the mountains of Cajamarca, doubting. Those journeys always show us the way and what is meant by their existence in our lives…I am learning little by little to be patient as they show the path.

And now, years later, DHF is supported by more than 30 volunteers. The team of people that lift the work daily continues to amaze me, in the US and Peru. I attribute it to all of the amazing souls who are attracted to DHF feeling our utmost value…that we all deserve to wake up each day and give our greatest to the world via our passions. When we do this, we shine, individually and collectively. We hope this transfers into our work and all those that work with us. The greatness of all this I am breathing in today in the crisp mountain air, and simply Grateful.
I arrived to Caja yesterday after a 20 hour journey and an all nighter at the Lima airport. Nora picked me up graciously at 6:30am from the airport and brought me to her home. Nora is now married to her Peruvian love, Hugo and they are generously hosting me for the week I am here; they live in an amazing campo (countryside) home that belongs to Hugo´s family. I love the picture here of the trek with my suitcase full o goodies …you can see the house in the distance. Eventually two small children under 8 years old came down the long path to greet us with a wheel barrow and to push my luggage up the hill! The giving of people here has always warmed my heart and the willingness to do things simply because they want to give what they can to you.

Our work schedule is jam packed with newness. Nora begins her third year in the field with DHF and when we have moments to ourselves, we are building out her program goals for the year and how the DHF team can support those program goals on the US side. We established a relationship with a new microcredit partner (the folks who help dole out our microcredit money here in Cajamarca). MULTICREDIT, an NGO of Peru and a local agency who provides microcredit to for small business, is our new partner for this side of our work. We met with them all morning and they are incredible. The level of integrity, work quality, and professionalism is absolutely exciting for us as we grow up as an organization. We started brokering a contract with MUTLICREDIT back in the early fall as we sought to find partnership with an organization that could grow our microcredit programming into sustainability with their skills, connections, ideas, etc. Today I met with Oswaldo, the Founder, and Elizabeth the promotora (bank officer). We had an awesome discussion around the quality of the microcredit process and the importance of letting women direct the formation of their village banks so that the ownership and responsibility is engrained in the system of microlending. We opened our first new banks of 2010 in February (Las Triunfadoras and Las Progresistas) and we are set to dole out 100 new loans this year. Exciting stuff! We will spend much of the rest of this week with MULTICREDIT and making sure all expectations about process, reporting, etc are understood. This is going to be an incredible year for DHF.

Nora is back at leading the helm for our second goal of microcredit plus, which is to provide women with entrepreneurial training after they receive their loans. All trainings are based on what women say they want to compliment their lives as entrepreneurs, mothers and women. Nora is beginning to meet with all the new banks to assess their class desires, and setting up the monthly training schedule for March based on what our older clients asked for. We expect to do more than 300 trainings this year for women. If you are in Austin and want to come join us at our first event of the year, Spring Into Hope, our entire goal of the evening is to raise support for 300 classes at $25 a class at HopeHouse. See the details at http://www.springintohope.eventbrite.com/.

As you might have read, we moved into the new HopeHouse development center. Some folks have asked me WHY we moved from our old location? Essentially, we found an incredible space with much more space for less money. We developed a partnership with local St. Vincent de Paul sisters who opened their doors to much of their unused space, including a computer room (picture to the left), a sewing machine room, an auditorium, classroom, childcare room etc. The space is clean, light, and gorgeous. Another new great beginning for our women.

It will be an exciting week filled with meetings, field work with banks and women, HopeHouse activities, and 2010 programming. I will write as much as I can while I am here. So many good thought crossing my mind as we move into 2010 and a year of exciting work for DHF: site vetting in Mexico for our 2nd site, anywhere from 2 to 7 interns who will be working at our Peru site this summer, launching our new website and branding soon…we are growing up! In the meantime, know I am breathing your life into all that we are doing here and into the future. We are the collective of every person who is connected to us and one thing I know, is I never want to lose that.

Sending love from the Andes,Maggie

Haiti in our Hearts

At Unity Church of the Hills in Austin, TX, we responded to the Earthquake in Haiti with an immediate donation to Save the Children. We established a prayer for our Prayer Team to focus on and then broadcast emailed that prayer to our email list sharing in that message that we would be receiving a special offering after each service on Sunday, January 17. The response was amazing with over $8,600.00 being given. Those funds were divided between Mercy Corps and Partners in Health. Our International Outreach Team Leader was instrumental in researching organizations with an excellent BBB rating and accreditation from Charity Navigator. So we know 93% or more of the funds given are going to the field. We collectively ministered as a congregation with our Word and with our Hearts and we will continue in that focus. We are ever grateful for the great uprising of generosity of hands, minds and hearts here and and with all of you! Rev. Steve Bolen
Steve Bolen

Shoes Across America, Number 2!

Hello again UCOH!

We have succesfully completed our mission! The oodles of shoes were delivered to the Las Vegas Soles4Souls warehouse, and are in que to be treated, sorted, sized, and shipped off to their destination countries within a couple of months. Just think - the wonderful, loving energy from Unity Church of the Hills will travel around the world connected us to so many other beautiful souls in our world!

When we arrived at the Soles4Souls warehouse, our load was so large that we were re-directed to a dock several warehouses over where Joe Page, the warehouse manager, met us with a forklift. He was very excited and grateful to see our sizeable contribution of shoes! Since we had not been able to get a count, we relied on Joe's expertise and experience in giving us an estimate. There was a total of 59 large bags and 9 boxes, and by Joe's estimation, our final count of shoes was approximately 1,600 pair! Realizing the difference these shoes would make in the lives of 1600 people made every second of the 22 hours of driving well worth it!

We are so grateful and thankful to everyone who had a part in this huge success...from the Association of Unity Churches International whose partnership with the Soles4Souls organization spawned the Shoes4Unity campaign...to Maggie Miller, the leader of the International Outreach Team, who coordinated the UCOH effort...to each and everyone of you who contributed both shoes and dollars to the cause...to the volunteers and staff who helped bag, box, store and then load the donations onto the truck...to the GPS that Ellen's daughter, Courtney, lent us for the trip and kept us on the right streets and highways...to the Livingston's who housed us overnight and made us feel so welcome...to all who texted, called, prayed, and sent their loving energy to us on this wonderful journey. You are all blessings to this cause, this Church and this world!

Shoes Across America!

Good evening Austin!

First of all, thanks to everyone who contributed to the Shoes4Unity Campaign. Several volunteers showed up Tuesday night to help load the 40+ bags and boxes of shoes that are going to make their ways onto the feet of people all around the world. Every pair that was donated is going to make a person half way around the world smile, and they will be eternally grateful. Again, thank you!

The 12' truck was loaded last night swiftly and efficiently by a wonderful group of volunteers. The shoes are now on their way to the Soles4Souls Collection Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

We just made it into Albuquerque, New Mexico, and are settled in at the home of Mark and Ayesha Livingston, pictured with us above at the Route 66 Diner where we all went to dinner. Mark and Ayesha are the sponsors of the YOU of Unity Spiritual Center here in Albuquerque.

We left Austin at about 6:00 am and trekked through the land of cows and wind turbines, and into the Land of Enchantment. We are safe and well, and greatly appreciate all of your prayers and support.

We would like to give special thanks to Maggie Miller for all of her hard work and dedication to this excellent cause. The energy that she has poured into this campaign has been fantastic; we are very blessed to have her as our International Outreach Team Leader. Thank you Maggie, for everything.

And, thanks to Rev. Steve and the UCOH Staff for all their support!

We will have another update up tomorrow when we arrive in Fabulous Las Vegas!

Blessings,

Ellen Fannin and Dillon Zavala

Mali Africa Kori-Maounde elementary school cafeteria project

UCOH recently sent a tithe to support the creation of an elementary school cafeteria project led by The Tandana Foundation of Ohio who is supporting development projects in Mali Africa.

Tina Williamson of our UCOH spiritual community and Founder of Women Worldwide, a portal for people to come to and find opportunities around the world to help women and children in need, helped usher forward this abundance through her previous experiences working on projects in Mali with the Tandana Foundation. Below is Tina’s story about her visit to Mali and the blessings of the school cafeteria for the beautiful young lives in Mali:

Mali, January 2009. On that trip, our service project was to donate and plant 85 trees to a school garden in Kori-Maounde, Mali (West Africa). Mali is the 3rd poorest country on the planet, and schools are typically only found in the larger towns, not outlying villages. I found the Tandana Foundation, based out of Ohio, and worked with Anna Taft to develop the project. Anna has been going to the Dogon Country in Mali for several years, and developed a relationship with several villages and NGOs in the area. She speaks French (the business language of Mali), and ours was the first group trip she organized for Mali. She does this in Ecuador, also. She’s an amazing, dedicated young woman. We had the opportunity to work with community centers and some building projects, but the one that spoke to my heart was helping the school in Kori-Maounde.
Because there are no school buses, and no villagers own cars or motorized vehicles, the children were unable to get to school in Bandiagara, 30km away. A French couple donated school buildings, and an Italian foundation donated some (limited!!) school supplies. Daniel, the school director, looked for a way to buy more school supplies, and came up with the idea of a school garden. He got some agricultural training and started the first garden. Anna’s church donated the fence around the garden. The children care for the fruit & vegetables, sell the produce at market, then use the money to buy some more school supplies. They are very organized, with a treasurer and everything! The school started with Grades 1 & 2, then added Grades 3 & 4. Daniel hopes to add Grades 5 & 6 soon.

For our project, we donated 85 fruit trees, and helped the children and villagers dig holes and plant them in their school garden. We also helped the villagers dig a trench, lay a pipe, and create a watering basin, so that the children can water the trees more easily. One volunteer taught the kids how to play Frisbee, another taught them "head, shoulders, knees, and toes," and we lead them with call-and-response to a water hole to bring water for the trees. In the evenings, we gave English lessons to middle school students at a dormitory in Bandiagara.

When there, Daniel told us he dreamed of building a cafeteria. About half of the children walk from surrounding villages. The lunch break is from 12n-3pm, then they return for the afternoon session from 3-5pm. Some of the children walk 1.5 hours one way, so they often don’t return for the afternoon sessions. Traditionally meals are hot – one pot for carbohydrates (rice, millet, etc.) and one pot for the “sauce” (water, spices, vegetables, meat if there is any). Therefore, it’s traditional for kids to go home for lunch. The outlying villages like Kori-Maounde aren’t familiar with the concept of packing a lunch for their children. And if they did, it would be pretty hard to pack and keep (much less heat) these kinds of meals. There are no refrigerators; no electricity; no Tupperware; no sandwiches. So, a cafeteria and food service would help keep these children in school.

That’s the project that UCOH is helping. The villagers will build the school. They make their own bricks out of mud and water in the fields. There is no electricity or running water, so it will be a fairly simple building. Food is cooked on pots over a wood fire, so no “kitchen” like we’re used to. A mason will create the bricks and build the building with the villagers help. The UCOH contribution will help towards buying the cooking utensils, and other things needed to set up the cafeteria. Tandana will work with Daniel directly and report back to us as the project proceeds.

Global Grace Photos

Maura shared some of her wonderful photos from her inspiring journey to South Africa! Pictured here (top to bottom) are the following:

St. George's Girl's School (Orphanage) during our knitting/crochet lessons.
Clearing the path to school on former President Mandela's 91st birthday! (2 photos)
The quilting/craft supplies arrived!
Thank you to UCOH community for spreading their global grace!