Tomorrow is the big day. Have you been thinking about who you might give your $10 to? Don’t over think it. Follow your heart. Tell them what you are doing. Explain to them quickly what the Year of Giving is about. If you are at a loss on how to start the conversation, maybe this example that I sent to some friends will help.
Hi…I was wondering if you could help me on a personal project that I am doing…well, let me explain to you what the project is and you can decide for yourself. I am participating in the Worldwide Day of Giving, a day that celebrates altruistic giving and community engagement. The project is simple….I find one person who I don’t know and give them $10, no strings attached. I would love for you to be the recipient of my $10.”
If they say yes, you can ask other questions and learn more about them….etc. If they are still unsure, explain that if they say no, then you will simply have to find someone else. If they say they are not worthy of the $10, tell them they do not have to keep it and that they can do anything they want to with it. If they say that they prefer that you give it to someone who needs it, remind them that they can also do that. Sometimes you get a few objections….but hang in there and you will find the right person.
Changing subject a little, I didn’t get any takers to meet up and use my $100 game card at the ESPN Zone. They were not very flexible in letting me use the credit for anything else (like food at their restaurant, etc) so I gave my card to some school kids there on a class trip. They were ecstatic.
I wish I had captured Doña Myriam smiling in this picture, but she had her serious artist look going on (Photo: Reed)
Today I have a beautiful story to share with you. While I was in Manizales, I spent a good amount of time at the Rafael Pombo Foundation. One day there was an adult art class taking place. I was taking some photos of them painting when the work of 85-year-old Doña Myriam caught my eye. We started to talk and I knew I had found my recipient for the day!
Doña Myriam gave me so much energy. She has so much passion to learn new things and live an active life. She has taken up painting and if you take a look at the video, you will see that she is quite talented.
She raised 10 children. Sadly her one son, an electrician, has passed away. I think back to the recent death of my cousin Ricky and how hard it was on my aunt. My heart always goes out to parents who lose a child. There is just nothing that prepares us for that. She also lost her husband who died in 1976.
Our conversation turned to happier times, like her childhood. She shares that at 12-years-old she wanted to join the communist party. By 15 she had changed her mind. But this interest in politics and government led her to want to pursue a career in law. “But times were different then. My father forbid me to go study at the university.” Well, she is making up for lost time now as she follows her passions.
Photo: Reed
I asked her how she planned to use her 20,000 pesos. There was an electricity in her voice when she answered me. She smiled and placed her hand on top of mine and said, “I am going to buy some more painting supplies so that I can do more painting!” She has been making paintings for each of her children. Maybe with the additional funds she can start making paintings for all those grandchildren!
This woman had something special. She warmed my heart and I was sad when I left. It was like I was saying goodbye to my own grandmother. I gave her a hug and we exchanged phone numbers. I have uploaded some of the video from our conversation. It is in Spanish, but even those of you who don’t understand Spanish might enjoy seeing her paint and just watching her expressions. She’s beautiful.
VERSIÓN ESPAÑOL
Mañana es el gran día. ¿Has pensado a quien te gustaría darle tus $10? No lo pienses tanto, sigue tu corazón. Mi consejo es que les cuentes lo que estás haciendo, explícales rápidamente que significa el “Año del Dar”. Si no sabes cómo iniciar la conversación, quizá este ejemplo te sirva.
“Hola.. quería saber si me puedes ayudar en un proyecto personal. Déjame te explico mi proyecto para que decidas si me quieres ayudar. Estoy participando en el día mundial del Año del Dar, un día que celebra el dar sin condiciones y el compromiso de la comunidad. El proyecto es muy simple… yo encuentro a una persona que no conozco y le doy $10 sin ninguna condición. Me encantaría que tú seas la persona que recibe mis $10 el día de hoy.
Si la persona te dice que sí, ahora puedes hacer más preguntas y aprender más sobre él/ella. Si no está seguro, explícale que si dice que no, simplemente tendrás que ir a buscar a otra persona. Si dice que no vale los $10, dile que no se los tiene que quedar, que puede hacer lo que quiera con el dinero. Si dice que prefiere que tú se lo des a otra persona que lo necesite, recuérdale que él también puede hacerlo. Algunas veces recibes algunos rechazos… pero sigue intentando para que encuentres a la persona correcta.
Después, comparte con nosotros tus historias aquí!
Cambiando de tema, no pude encontrar a nadie para reunirnos y usar mi tarjeta con $100 para jugar en la Zona de ESPN. La gente de ESPN no fue muy flexible y no pude usar el dinero como crédito para otro gasto (como comida en el restaurante, etc). Acabé dando la tarjeta a unos niños que estaban de paseo con su clase de la escuela. Los niños quedaron encantados.
La profesora de la clase de arte (Photo: Reed)
Hoy tengo una historia muy linda para compartir. Ahora que estuve de visita en Manizales, pase un buen tiempo con la Fundación Rafael Pombo. En una de mis visitas, tuve la oportunidad de entrar a tomar fotos en la clase de arte para adultos. Estaba tomando fotos de los alumnos y de sus pinturas cuando de repente encontré el trabajo de Doña Myriam, una señora de 85 años. Comenzamos a platicar y supe que había encontrado a la persona que le daría los 20,000 pesos de ese día.
Doña Myriam me dio mucha energía. Ella tiene muchas ganas – y mucha pasión – de aprender cosas nuevas y vivir una vida activa. Ahora está tomando clases de pintura y si ves el video, veras que tiene talento.
Doña Myriam crió diez niños. Desafortunadamente, un hijo hombre, un electricista, murió. Esto me hizo pensar en la muerte reciente de mi primo Ricky y lo difícil que fue para mi tía. Mi compasión siempre va para los padres que han perdido un hijo. No existe nada que lo prepare a uno para eso. Doña Myriam también perdió a su esposo que murió en 1976.
Nuestra conversación cambio y comenzamos a hablar de los buenos tiempos, como su niñez. Me comentó que a los 12 años, quiso unirse al partido comunista. A los 15 ya había cambiado de parecer, pero siguió teniendo mucho interés en temas políticos y de gobierno por lo que decidió estudiar la carrera de derecho. “Pero los tiempos eran diferentes, mi padre me prohibió ir a la universidad.” Ahora trata de recuperar el tiempo perdido y de seguir sus pasiones.
Photo: Reed
Le pregunté cómo planeaba utilizar sus 20,000 pesos. Hubo electricidad en su voz cuando me contestó. Sonrió y puso su mano sobre la mía y me dijo, “Voy a comprar más provisiones de pintura para poder pintar más!” Ella ha estado pintando cuadros para cada uno de sus hijos. Quizá, con las nuevas provisiones de pintura, Doña Myriam podrá comenzar a hacer pinturas para cada uno de sus nietos!
Esta mujer tiene algo especial. Me sentí triste cuando me fui. Fue como si le dijera adiós a mi propia abuela. Le di un abrazo e intercambiamos números de teléfono. Subí un video en español de nuestra conversación. Es muy linda.
Este blog fue traducido generosamente por Carla Tena en Washington, DC.
It looks like there is a glitch with the website today. Instead of my usually banner of the open hand that is at the top, I have a nice picture of a foot bridge and some trees. Not sure why that is happening. Is anyone else seeing the footbridge picture instead of my normal banner?
For those of you who will be participating in the Worldwide Day of Giving and sharing your stories with the world, you need to post them here. If you have photos and video to share, you will need to do one of two things. Either upload those on the Facebook page or write the stories here and put links to the photos/videos on a 3rd party website (such as YouTube or Flickr). Sorry to do it this way, but there are some technical challenges that prevent uploading the pictures and videos straight into this website.
I am so excited to hear about your giving experiences! If you have some questions, check out the comments here that should help answer any questions you might have.
So this morning I have an interview with DeLuca and the morning team at Q92, a Canton, OH based radio station. I have spoken to them before and had a good time with those guys. Later in the day I am talking with Tim Day of KG Country 99.5, a radio station in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. I spoke with Tim about a month or so ago and he wanted to check in and see how things were going.
Then I was thinking about going over to the ESPN Zone tonight. I heard that they are closing tomorrow for good! I have some game cards with like $100. Although there is no mention of them closing on their website, I did hear it on two different news programs. Anyway, I don’t think they are going to refund me the balance on the cards, so they need to get used. If anyone wants to meet up tonight and help me use the rest of the credits on my card, let me know!
Today’s entry is a very special one. While I was in Manizales, I met with the Secretary of Education for Manizales, Dr. María Constanza Montoya Naranjo. She is a wonderful woman who is working hard to deliver the best education possible for the students in Manizales. One day we were talking about the Year of Giving and she suggested I give my $10 to the Mayor, Juan Manuel Llano Uribe. I had seen him on Friday at the event with US Ambassador William Brownfield. Anyway, she said she would give him a call and try to arrange something. Well what do you know? She arranged a meeting the next day!
Mayor Juan Manuel Llano Uribe
I get invited into a large conference room to wait for the Mayor. Already seated are four students and two teachers from a local school that had recently returned from a science fair in Dallas, TX. These students had built some robots that are prototypes for larger scale versions that would be used to help in the coffee production process and they were there to demonstrate their ingenuity to the Mayor.
Well, how the hell am I going to follow that act?
Anyway, the school children leave and I get a few minutes with the Mayor. He invites me to walk over to an adjacent room which turns out to be his office. It’s spacious with very nice views of Manizales. There are a couple of comfortable chairs arranged around a coffee table on one end. He disappears for a moment and then returns. We chat for a little while and I try to do my best to explain the Year of Giving. I am not sure what he thought of it, but he agreed to talk with me.
He spoke about the growth and globalization of Manizales and the expected increase of tourism to the city. “What should a tourist be sure to see or do while they are here?” I asked. He said that one should definitely try to see the eight different shades of green that Manizales has. He was referring to the vast natural beauty and the stunning variety of greenery that exists there. I was certainly doing that by staying on Roberto Gonzalo’s plantation. He also mentioned that I should visit Nevado del Ruiz, a snow-covered volcanic peak that has been active in recent history. The current cone was formed about 150 years ago. Atop the mountain is a massive glacier. The Mayor says that this is the only peak of its kind that is accessible by car. That is impressive, not to mention that it’s at 5,135 meters, that’s more than 16,000 feet! Well, I didn’t make it there unfortunately, but next time!
He stressed his commitment to making Manizales a bilingual community and that they were strongly behind the educational transformation that is needed to make this shift. There are two critical investment areas for this to be a success according to the Mayor: technology and human capital. “It’s sowing the seeds for the future,” he said. Here the Mayor speaks about his vision for Manizales (in Spanish).
When the Mayor is not hard at work on the future of Manizales, he says that he enjoys playing golf and riding motorcycles. I wonder if he has taken his bike up to Nevado del Ruiz. That would be pretty spectacular!
So what do you think the Mayor is going to do with the $10…or 20,000 pesos in this case? That was what was on my mind throughout the entire conversation. I circled back to the 20,000 peso note that sat in front of him and asked what he planned to do with it. I got an answer that I have never heard before. “I’m going to take your 20,000 pesos and give you 100,000 a year from now.” I am not sure exactly how he plans to do this and I didn’t ask. I just let it be.
If anyone is located in an area affected by the oil spill or knows someone who is, please drop me a note.
Today’s recipient has a very special treat for you so I hope that you have a way to watch the videos that are posted on here.
Giovanni at work at the Batuta Foundation (Photo: Reed)
While I was in Manizales, I met Giovanni, a 31-year-old talented musician. Although born in the nation’s capital of Bogotá, he originally came to Manizales to play the bass for the city’s orchestra. He continues to perform in Manizales and cities throughout the region in addition to teaching music at the renown Batuta National Institute; a national system of youth orchestras that aims to foster social development through music.
He says he really likes life in Manizales. I got a rather first hand view of his life as I was Giovanni’s neighbor for the 12 days I spent in Manizales. He was living in the area of Guacas where Roberto Gonzalo lives and has his coffee plantation. To go to work, he regularly makes the exhausting 30 minute walk up the mountain to grab a bus that goes down into the city. It’s at least an hour or more to get into the city. I know that because I did that several times while I was there!
Giovanni invited me into his home. It’s simply decorated with the essentials. I can not help but notice the large bass leaning against the wall. I was hoping he would play it for me.
We speak a mixture of Spanish and English. He is very comfortable talking to me and even starts to prepare some dinner. Dressed in a t-shirt, pants, flip-flops, he moves around his kitchen. I asked him what he was cooking. “I am kind of inventing right now.” I tend to do the same thing.
Before I know it he had made some coffee and served me a cup.
This is what was on Giovanni's music stand (Photo:Reed)
He says that he personally likes jazz, symphonies, and chamber music. With a music degree from the Technological University of Pereira, he has a solid appreciation of many music genres. If Pereira sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because that is the airport where I arrived. Giovanni added that it is also where his parents live.
Since I have been here during the election period, I also asked Giovanni who he felt would be the best leader to continue Colombia’s positive development that it has experienced over the past several years. He gave me that slightly uncomfortable look that many people do when you move the conversation to political views. He says that he has the most faith in Antanas Mockus from the Green Party. “But I think Juan Manuel will win,” he says referring to Juan Manuel Santos who leads the poles.
Like Viviana from Day 164, he opted to receive $10 instead of 20,000 pesos and also said he planned to keep the money as a memory of this experience. That is touching that he would want to keep it to remember our meeting.
I asked Giovanni if he would play for me and he obliged. Take a listen to this. It’s beautiful.
Giovanni had some questions for me as well. When I told him that I grew up in Pennsylvania, he told me that he had been there and that he travelled there regularly to perform. His grin told me something was not as it appeared though as he divulged that he was referring to Pensilvania, another city in the state of Caldas. Somehow I think that William Penn had no idea that years later there would be a city in Colombia that would share the name of the US state that was named after the colonial leader.
We are three days away from the Worldwide Day of Giving! Check here for more details.
Also for those of you in DC, many of us are getting together on Tuesday at The Dupont Hotel. There will be former recipients of the Year of Giving, blog followers, and a special appearance from my Dad! Come out and join us from 6-8pm…the hotel will have some free appetizers and reduced drink menu for Year of Giving followers! Also, I will be organizing some grass-roots relief for those out of work in the Gulf region due to the oil spill.
On Day 168 I didn’t have any meetings scheduled in the morning so I decided to find an internet café in Manizales where I could get caught up on my blog. I found a place in the heart of the city and logged a few hours of work there. It was really cheap too! About 65 cents per hour. And the connection speed was fast!
After I finished, I wandered down to the small plaza and fountain in front of city hall. It was there that I saw Jorge just sitting in the center of the plaza.
An out of work telecom technician by trade, Jorge is actively looking for work. Something I could identify with. The feelings one has and the challenges one faces while being unemployed are not so different in another culture. Being out of work triggers similar emotions and responses regardless of the language that is spoken or the geography of the locale.
Realistically Jorge doesn’t even have that much of an option to consider moving from Manizales to other areas in search of work such as Medellín, Cali, or Bogotá. He was born and raised in Manizales…in the Barrio Caribe area. He is separated now, but has a 14-year-old daughter. So this makes his situation a bit more complicated.
I asked Jorge what he would ideally like to do professionally. “Unfortunately due to the complexity of the current economic situation you got to do what comes your way” he laments. I thought I would see what Jorge’s political views were given the correlation to the economy. “It’s too bad Uribe had to go…I think things here have been pretty good,” he says about Colombia’s current president who managed to change the law in order to serve two terms but was not successful in further change so that he could continue in power.
Despite his general content with Uribe’s time in office, he chose yesterday to vote for a candidate from a different party. He gave Antanas Mockus from the newly formed Green Party his vote. “Juan Manuel is too aggressive militarily and he never asked for forgiveness,” he said about current President Uribe’s Minister of Defense, Juan Manuel Santos, who leads the poles and is a member of the current administration’s U Party. His comment about never asking for forgiveness most likely refers to the “False Positives” scandal where the Colombian military, under Juan Manuel Santos, has admitted to murdering civilians and dressing them up in guerrilla or paramilitary garb so that they could claim to have caught and executed members of these radical cells.
I shifted the conversation away from politics and toward what he planned on doing with the 20,000 pesos. “I’m going to buy some resume paper,” he told me.
I was able to shoot a short video with Jorge where he talks about two dreams that he has: be an ecological volunteer and skydive. This video is in Spanish.
VERSIÓN ESPAÑOL
Estamos solo a tres días del Día Mundial de Dar! (Revise aquí para mas detalles)
Además para aquellos de ustedes en DC, muchos de nosotros nos reuniremos el martes en Hotel Dupont. Ahí estarán algunos recipientes del Año de Dar, seguidores de blogs y una presencia especial de mi padre! Vengan a unirse a nosotros de 6 a 8 PM… el hotel tendrá algunas picaderas gratis y un menú de bebidas reducidas para los seguidores del Año de Dar! Además , estaré organizando alivio de raíces para aquellos que se quedaron sin empleo en la región del golfo debido al derrame del aceite.
En el día de dar numero 168, no tenía reuniones pendientes en la mañana, entonces decidí buscar un Internet-café en Manizales en donde podría ponerme al día con mi blog. Encontré un lugar en el corazón de la ciudad y allí me conecte por un par de horas de trabajo. Además fue bastante barato!, acerca de 65 centavos por hora y la conexión era muy veloz!
Después que terminé, vine a parar en una pequeña plaza y una fuente en el frente de la Alcaldía. Fue allí en donde vi a Jorge, sentado en el centro de la plaza.
Un técnico de telecom fuera de empleo, Jorge esta activamente buscando empleo, algo con lo que yo me podría identificar. Los sentimientos que uno tiene y los desafíos que uno enfrenta mientras se esta sin empleo no son tan diferentes en otras culturas. Permanecer sin empleo desata emociones y respuestas similares a pesar del lenguaje que se hable o la geografía del local.
Manizales (Photo: Reed)
Realísticamente Jorge ni si quiera tiene mucha opción para considerar mudarse de Manizales a otra áreas en busca de un empleo, tales como Medellín, Cali o Bogota. El nació y creció en Manizales…en el área del Barrio del Caribe. El se encuentra separado, pero tiene una hija de 14 años y esto hace que la situación sea un poco más complicada.
Le pregunte a Jorge que es lo que idealmente le gustaría hacer profesionalmente. “Desafortunadamente, debido a la complejidad de la actual situación económica, uno tiene que hacer lo que venga” se lamenta. Yo pensé en ver lo que Jorge opina políticamente debido a la correlación de la economía. “Esta muy mal que Uribe se tuvo que ir..pienso que las cosas estan mucho mejor,” el dijo sobre el Presidente actual de Colombia que se las ingenio para cambiar la ley para así poder servir dos términos pero no obtuvo el éxito en dichos cambios para poder permanecer en el poder.
A pesar de su contentamiento general con el tiempo de Uribe en el mandato, él decidió ayer votar por un candidato de otro partido. Le dió su voto a Antanas Mockus del recientemente formado partido “Verde.” “Juan Manuel es muy agresivo militarmente y nunca pidió perdón” dijo él acerca del Ministro actual de defensa del Presidente Uribe, Juan Manuel Santos, quien lleva la ventaja en los polos y quien es miembro de la administración actual del partido U. Sus comentarios acerca de no haber pedido perdón seguramente se debe al escándalo de los “Falsos Positivos” donde se encontraba la militaría de Colombia bajo Juan Manuel Santos asesinando civiles y de haberlos vestido con atuendos de guerrilla o atuendos de paramilitares para luego poder reclamar haber capturado y ejecutado miembros de células radicales.
Cambié la conversación fuera de la política y hacia lo que el planificaba hacer con los 20.000 pesos que le di, me dijo “Me voy a comprar hojas de vida (papel de currícula).” Tuve la oportunidad de hacer un corto video donde Jorge habla acerca de sus dos sueños, ser un voluntario ecológico y paracaidismo. El video que se encuentra arriba, esta en Español.
Esta traducción fue hecha gratuitamente por Jeannette Pérez.
For those of you who have not seen the video I posted yesterday about my life on the plantation in Colombia, check it out. Although totally different than my life here in DC, life there on the plantation was excellent.
Are you ready for the Worldwide Day of Giving? It’s this Tuesday. It’s your chance to do what I do for one day and then share your story with the world. I want to collect as many experiences from around the world about giving that day and share them here…let’s make something beautiful happen. I need your help though to get as many people involved as possible.
For those of you in DC, I am looking forward to actually meeting up on Tuesday evening with those who are interested. I am currently working out the final details with a local venue (Dupont Circle) and hope to host the event there. In addition to celebrating the Year of Giving and the Worldwide Day of Giving, we will do something to help those who are out of work in the Gulf region due to the oil spill. I hope you can join me!
Sunday the 30th was election day in Colombia. I was excited to see how the election process took place in another country. Roberto Gonzalo’s sister was working at a polling place. He was voting at another place. It was pretty much like it is here. Voting levels are about the same as here I think, somewhere around 50% of the population voted. As I mentioned yesterday, the election resulted in two candidates going to a run-off election on June 20th. It’s widely believed that the Juan Manuel Santos will prevail.
While I waited for Roberto Gonzalo to vote, I met Giliante. Giliante works for the El Gran Cafeteiro company and sells coffee on the street. Dressed in somewhat of a space suit, he walks the street with a metallic canister on his back filled with piping hot coffee. He then has a hand control that he dispenses coffee out of for about 25 cents per cup (he makes about six cents per cup). Check out Giliante in action preparing a coffee for me.
The 34-year-old Manizales native has been doing this for nine months. It beats the construction jobs he was doing before. He enjoys the fact that he meets a lot of different people every day.
I asked him what he would do with my 20,000 pesos and he said he would use it to buy some medicine he needed: flouxetina (prozac) and acido valproico (valproic acid). I had never heard of flouxetina and acido valproico so I asked what they were for. The educated and well spoken mobile coffee barista looked at me and said, “They are medicines to help me not get depressed, because when I get depressed I have a problem with cutting myself…with self mutilation.” It was then that I started to notice small scars on his hands and on the right side of his neck. He must have noticed me staring at them and said, “I have hundreds more…most of them on my arms and stomach.” He lifted his shirt up and I was stunned. His chest and stomach were completely covered with crisscrossed lines. It was impossible to look away from the center of his chest where a fresh-cut was present and maybe a half-dozen stitches protruded through the skin.
Giliante (Photo: Reed)
Giliante was so calm and mild-mannered, I could not envision him doing this to himself. He said that when he does not take his medicine, he gets depressed and feels the need to cut himself. The latest cut happened about a week ago he told me.
I asked to take a picture of his chest, but he got very shy and said he would prefer not to. I respected that and we said goodbye.
Roberto Gonzalo then asked me what his answer was to my question about what other people might be able to help him with. I had not asked him that question though. I scanned the crowd, but he had dissolved into the sea of anxious voters.
As we walked back toward our car, I hoped we would see Giliante again so that I could ask him how people could help him. Would you believe that about a half hour later we saw him five blocks from where I originally saw him. I got his attention and asked my question. He didn’t hesitate, “I would like to find a surgeon who would remove some of my scars for me. They are painful reminders.” I vowed to try to find a surgeon who would help him with that and also offered to try to get the medicine that he needs. He was so thankful. If anyone can help Giliante or has suggestions on ways to help him, please let me know.
I couldn’t stop thinking about him for days.
Gilante talks about his job and the elections…
Spanish Version
Para aquellos de ustedes que no han visto el video que publique ayer acerca de mi vida en las fincas en Colombia, échenle un vistazo. Aunque totalmente diferente a mi vida en DC, la vida allí en la finca fue excelente.
¿Estás listo para el Día Mundial del dar? Es este martes. Es tu oportunidad de hacer lo que yo hago por un día y luego compartir su historia con el resto del mundo. Quiero reunir la mayor cantidad de experiencias de todo el mundo de tratar de dar en ese día y compartirlas aquí… hagamos que algo hermoso suceda. Necesito su ayuda para conseguir el mayor número de personas que participan como sea posible.
Para aquellos de ustedes en Washington DC, estoy deseando una reunión en la noche del martes con los que están interesados. Actualmente estoy trabajando en los detalles finales con una sede local (Dupont Circle) y espero poder realizar el evento allí. Además de celebrar el Año de Dar y el Día Mundial del dar, vamos a hacer algo para ayudar a quienes están sin trabajo en la región del Golfo debido al derrame de petróleo. Espero que pueda unirse a mí!
El Domingo 30 fue el día de elección en Colombia. Me emocioné al ver cómo el proceso electoral se llevó a cabo en otro país. La hermana de Roberto Gonzalo estaba trabajando en un centro de votación. Él estaba votando en otro lugar. Fue más o menos como aquí. Los niveles de votación son casi lo mismo que aquí, creo que alrededor del 50% de la población votó. Como dije ayer, la elección dio lugar a dos candidatos a una segunda vuelta el 20 de Junio. En general se creía que Juan Manuel Santos seria el determinante.
Mientras esperaba que Roberto Gonzalo votara, me encontré con Giliante. Giliante trabaja para la compañía El Gran Cafeteiro y vende café en la calle. Vestido el algo como un traje espacial, camina por la calle con un bote metálico en la espalda llena de café humeante. Luego el tiene un control de mano que le dispensa el café por unos 25 centavos por taza.
El nativo de Manizales de 34 años de edad, ha estado haciendo esto durante nueve meses. De acuerdo a el es mejor que los trabajos de construcción que estaba haciendo antes. Le gusta el hecho de que se encuentra con un montón de gente diferente cada día.
Le pregunté qué iba a hacer con mi 20.000 pesos y me dijo que lo utilizaría para comprar unas medicinas que necesitaba: flouxetina (Prozac) y ácido valproico (ácido valproico). Yo nunca había oído hablar de acido valproico y flouxetina así que le pregunté qué eran. El educado y bien hablado barrista móvil de café me miró y dijo: “Son medicamentos que me ayudan a que no me deprima, porque cuando me deprimo tengo un problema con cortarme mí mismo… con la automutilación.” Fue entonces que empecé a notar pequeñas cicatrices en las manos y en el lado derecho del cuello. Él debió de haber notado mi mirada fija en ellos y dijo: “Tengo muchas más… la mayoría de ellos en mis brazos y el estomago.” Él se levantó la camiseta y me quedé atónito. Su pecho y estómago estaban cubiertos completamente con líneas cruzadas. Era imposible apartar la vista del centro de su pecho, donde un nuevo corte estaba presente y tal vez una media docena de puntos sobresalían a través de la piel.
Giliante estaba tan tranquilo y apacible, no podía imaginar que él hacia esto a sí mismo. Dijo que cuando él no toma su medicina, se deprime y siente la necesidad de cortarse. El último corte sucedió hace aproximadamente una semana, me dijo.
Le pedí que me dejara tomar una foto de su pecho, pero él se puso muy tímido y me dijo que preferiría que no. Yo respete eso y nos despedimos.
Roberto Gonzalo me preguntó cual fue su respuesta a mi pregunta sobre lo que otra gente puede ser de ayudarlo a él. No le había hecho esa pregunta. Lo busque entre la multitud, pero él se había disuelto entre la aglomeración de votantes ansiosos.
Mientras caminábamos hacia el coche, yo esperaba ver a Giliante de nuevo para que yo pudiera preguntarle cómo la gente podía ayudarle. ¿Creerían ustedes que alrededor de una media hora más tarde lo vimos cinco cuadras de donde originalmente lo vi. Llame su atención y le pregunté mi pregunta. El no dudó: “Me gustaría encontrar un cirujano que eliminara algunas de las cicatrices en mi cuerpo. Ellos son un recordatorio doloroso. “Juré tratar de encontrar un cirujano que le ayudara con eso y también ofrecí tratar de obtener el medicamento que necesita. Estaba bastante agradecido. Si alguien puede ayudar a Giliante o tiene sugerencias sobre los medios para ayudarlo, por favor hágamelo saber. No podía dejar de pensar en él durante días.
Encima hay dos videos de Giliante grabado en español.
Este blog fue traducido generosamente por Nancy Alvarez en Los Angeles.
Version en espanol va ser publicado al final de jueves.
On Friday Roberto and I decided to have a few beers at a local convenience store that has a TV, two billiard tables, and a few tables where locals can sit and relax.
After our second beer some neighborhood kids asked if we wanted to play some street soccer. We agreed.
Not only am I terrible at soccer, I was completely out of breath running back and forth on the gravel road that was our “field.” We are at about 7,000 feet which is about 6,990 feet higher than Washington, DC. That on top of the 24 ounces of beer sloshing around my stomach had me completely incapacitated. Thankfully Roberto played well and scored two or three goals for us while I rambled around wheezing.
The next morning was Saturday and Roberto took me down the mountain to show me his plantation. He grows coffee, bananas, guavas, etc. and has pigs, chickens, turtles, dogs…you name it. Here is a short video in English about life on the plantation.
Later that day he took me to his mother’s house where the entire family met for a long lunch filled with conversation about the following day’s presidential election. Most people in the household were supporting Antanas Mockus, however he ended up coming in second place with less than half of the votes of Juan Manual Santos. Nevertheless, there will be a run-off election between the two candidates on June 20th.
We spent a few hours relaxing at their house after completely gorging ourselves with homemade soup, rice, beans, chicken, fried plantains and crunchy coconut clusters for dessert.
That evening we stopped at a small food stand in front of a residential building in the Francia neighborhood where Rubiela stood stoking the charcoal fire. There was only one thing on the menu: arepas.
Grilled arepas (photo: Reed)
Arepa is a flat bread made of corn that is very popular in Colombia, Venezuela, and even parts of Panama and Spain’s Canary Islands. Picture a pancake-like bread…or maybe a really thick corn tortilla.
Rubiela takes ground corn and mixes it with water, salt, and butter to make the dough. She then takes the dough, cooks it on the grill, and serves it with a thick tomato and onion stew (guiso) or cheese or both. Every day she makes at least 3 kilos of arepas which yields about 66 pieces of bread.
I found that there are several varieties of arepas and that they are consumed just about any time of day.
Rubiela and her son Cristian (photo: Reed)
Rubiela, a single mom, has been firing up the grill in front of her home for seven years. This is the way she provides for her and her 12-year-old son Victor Manuel. “There was nothing else to do so I started selling arepas,” she tells me referencing the economic struggles in Manizales. She says that it is even hard to find a job as a maid, much less an office related job with benefits. Ideally she would like to work in an office environment where she could help with receiving guests, serving coffee, and other small tasks.
Her laugh is contagious and fills the air with joy. I try not to let it completely hide the fact that I know that she dreams for something different. She is thankful though for her and her son’s health. “There are good days and bad days, but we never go hungry,” she tells me.
Roberto and I left to run some errands and agreed to come back later that evening. When we returned hours later, the sun had set, her son had retired into their home, but Rubiela was still tending the fire and cooking arepas. Her hearty laughter had subsided and she was noticeably tired.
We both got two arepas. I got mine topped with the tomato and onion guiso. Roberto got his with guiso and cheese. Each arepa with guiso was $0.40. If you wanted cheese on top, add another $0.60. Pretty cheap. They were delicious. We ate, laughed, and talked politics…hard to avoid with the election the following day. She was voting for Juan Manuel Santos, the candidate from the incumbent U Party.
Rubiela said she was going to hold on to my money and put it toward the rent that is due on June 4th.
Here is a short video of my time with Rubiela, part of it is in English part in Spanish.
Today’s story is going to move you. I have been thinking about Alirio since I met him.
On my third day in Manizales, I participated in a very interesting event. The Centro Colombo-Americano in Manizales invited the youth choir from Colegio San Agustín to sing at an inauguration of the recently renovated and rededicated Centro Colombo-Americano’s cultural center and John F. Kennedy library. This event was attended by Manizales Mayor Juan Manuel Llano Uribe, Caldas Governor Mario Aristizábal Muñoz, and US Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield. The children performed beautifully and Ambassador Brownfield was very gracious in taking time to shake their hands and share a few words with each of them.
Later in the day, I attended a meeting at the Manizales Normal School with the representatives of the 12 schools that the Secretary of Education has selected to concentrate their efforts on for the Manizales Bilingüe project. After the meeting, Roberto and I walked about a block to where his car was parked. A few feet away from the car was Alirio, a 33-year-old parking attendant. The local system is to put a slip of paper on the window for each hour that the car is parked. We had three slips of paper on our window.
Reed talking with Alirio and his son Cristian (Photo: Roberto Ceballos)
In theory, this job is simple. Accurately account for the time that each car is parked there, go and collect payment from the vehicle’s driver when they return, and report the totals to the city’s Department of Transportation. But this job presents unique challenges for Alirio who is paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair. I contemplated asking him about how he became paralyzed and took a risk and politely inquired. I was not prepared for the horrific story that accompanied the explanation.
Alirio’s family had owned three coffee plantations in the 1990s. The paramilitary forces paid him and his family a visit on multiple occasions trying to extort money in exchange for protection from the FARC guerrillas. He always refused.
The threats began to intensify and culminated in a bloody massacre which resulted in the murder of his parents. He was shot twice. A bullet that entered his neck and exited under his arm left him paralyzed. Three years later the harassing continued and his sister and her boyfriend were also murdered in a roadside attack.
Click below to hear Alirio speaking about the loss of his family members as well as what he plans to do with the $10.
I listened to his tragic story. My attention 100% focused on every painful detail.
His life was forever changed. With his son Cristian by his side, he does what he can to get by. His dream is to drive a car again. “I still own a car and would really like to be able to drive again someday. But for that to happen I would need a special adaptation for the car so that the foot pedals can be controlled by hand.” This is out of Alirio’s economic grasp. I have added this to the Lend a Hand section. Perhaps a company who learns about Alirio’s tragic story will graciously modify his car at no cost so that he can once again experience the freedom of being able to drive himself places.
As for the $10, Alirio will add it to his savings. He has worked since an early age and has always been a person that saves so that he can hopefully retire at an early age and provide for his family.
Spanish Version
La historia de hoy te va a conmover. He estado pensando en Alirio desde que lo conocí.
Después de tres días in Manizales participe en un evento muy interesante. El Centro Colombo-Americano en Manizales invitó el coro juvenil del colegio San Agustín para cantar en la inauguración de la recientemente renovada y re-dedicado Centro Cultural Colombo-Americano y la librería de John f. Kennedy. En este evento participo el alcalde de Manizales Juan Manuel Llano Uribe, el gobernador de Caldas Mario Aristizabal Muñoz y el embajador de E.U en Colombia William Brownfield. Los niños hicieron una actuación muy linda y el Embajador Brownfield fue lo suficientemente grato en tomarse su tiempo para darle la mano a cada uno de estos niños y compartir unas cuantas palabras con cada uno de ellos.(vea el video arriba)
Mas tarde en día participé en una reunión en la Escuela Normal de Manizales con los representantes de las 12 escuelas que el secretariado de educación ha escogido para concentrar sus esfuerzos en el proyecto bilingüe de Manizales. Después de la reunión Roberto y yo caminaos una cuadra en donde estaba su vehículo estacionado. A unos pies de distancia de donde estaba el carro estacionado, se encontraba Alirio, un empleado de parqueo de carros de 33 años. El sistema local es poner un papel en la ventana de cada carro por cada hora que un vehículo está estacionado. Nosotros teníamos 3 papelitos en la ventana de nuestro automóvil.
Parking lot tickets (Photo: Reed)
Teóricamente este trabajo es simple. Un conteo actualizado por el tiempo que cada auto permanece estacionado, ir a colectar el pago del chofer del vehículo cuando regresan a sus carros y reportar el total colectado al departamento de Transportación de la ciudad. Pero este empleo presenta retos únicos para Alirio que está paralizado de la cintura para abajo y confinado a una silla de ruedas.
Contemplé en preguntarle acerca de como él fue paralizado y me cogí el riesgo y le pregunté. Yo no estaba preparado para la horrible historia que acompañaba su explicación. La familia de Alirio eran los dueños de tres siembras de cafetales en los años 1990. Hubo un tiempo en que algunas fuerzas paramilitares trataban de extorsionar dinero de Alirio y su familia para protegerlos de las guerrillas del FARC. Alirio y su familia los rechazaban.
Las amenazas empezaron a intensificarse y culminaron en una sangrienta masacre que resultó en el asesinato a sus padres. A él lo abalearon dos veces, una bala que penetro en su cuello y salió por debajo de su brazo lo dejó paralitico. Tres años más tarde las amenazas continuaron y su hermana y el novio de su hermana también fueron asesinados en un ataque de carretera. Haga un click en el video mostrado arriba de Alirio hablando sobre la perdida de los miembros de su familia y de lo que él piensa hacer con los $10.00 dólares.
Escuché su trágica historia. Concentre mi 100% de atención a cada doloroso detalle. Su vida cambio para siempre. Con su hijo Cristian a su lado el hace lo que puede para seguir adelante. su sueño es poder volver a manejar un auto otra vez. “Aun tengo mi carro y me gustaría muchísimo en realidad poder volver manejarlo algún día, pero para eso necesitaría una adaptación especial en mi carro para que los pedales del carro puedan ser controlados con las manos.” Esto está fuera del alcance económico de Alirio. He incluido esta historia en la sección del “Lend a Hand“( Prestar una mano). Quizás, una compañía que descubra la trágica historia de Alirio podría gratuitamente modificar su auto sin costo alguno para que el pueda una vez más vivir la experiencia de poder movilizarse libremente.
En referente a los $10.00 dólares, Alirio lo va a añadir a sus ahorros. El ha trabajado desde muy temprana edad y siempre ha sido una persona que ahorra para poderse retirar a temprana edad y apoyar a su familia.
View from my open living room on the coffee plantation (Photo: Reed)
My second day in Manizales was wonderful. My main contact for the project I am doing here is Roberto who works for the Secretary of Education for the city of Manizales. Roberto owns a coffee plantation where my accommodations have been graciously arranged for during my stay. Although Cielo was right about it being hilly, it is not ugly here. It is beautiful. And as far as being cold, coming from Washington, DC I don’t find it cold but it does get a little chilly in the evening. If she had told me it was the city of rain, I might have agreed with her. It has rained a lot but then again it is the rainy season.
Colombia has taken on a very aggressive mission to become a bilingual country by 2019. To do this, every state, or department as they call them, and city has made action plans for how to reach this goal. One of the unique ways that this can be achieved is by leveraging the interest that students have in the arts to assist in language acquisition. Part of my involvement here is to work with an amazing non-profit organization focused on the arts, the Rafael Pombo Foundation. This is an excellent organization with a 25 year history of giving the community a place to explore the finer arts. Their Bilingual Performing Arts School can play an integral part in the efforts to improve the English proficiency in Manizales and even accelerate language acquisition rates.
On Thursday I visited the San Agustín Elementary School, a primary school that serves a severely impoverished area of the city. We worked with a wonderful group of students who were chosen to sing at a ceremony the following day for the governor, the mayor, and the US ambassador. Roberto and I, along with the school’s music teacher, Camilo, rehearsed two English songs with them.
Rain drops drip inside the Pombo Foundation soaking the 75-year-old floors (Photo: Reed)
Later that afternoon I stopped by the Rafael Pombo Foundation. I met the small staff and took a tour of the facility. The building is an impressive old European style mansion that is owned by the city of Manizales. Unfortunately, the city has completely neglected the upkeep of this historic landmark. From chairs that need reupholstered to holes in the roof that allow water to flood the building to overgrown landscaping. The facility is in dire needs of some funding so that it can make the needed repairs and continue to be a cultural epicenter in the city for the arts.
While I was there I met Viviana, the coordinator for the foundation. Viviana is 27 and lives in the Belen area of Manizales. With a degree in art education, she fits right in at the Pombo Foundation. In addition to her role as a coordinator, she also teaches some of the art classes. Her interest is in abstract painting and she credits local artist Margoth Márquez as an inspiration and mentor.
When she is not helping to run the Pombo Foundation, she is running her own foundation, Manizales Florece, an environmental group focused on issues in the Caldas state.
Viviana opted to receive ten dollars instead of 20,000 pesos and plans to keep it as a rememberence of our meeting and the Year of Giving project. Here is a short video in Spanish of her talking about her impression of the Year of Giving.
You will certainly hear more in the next two weeks about the Rafael Pombo Foundation, the Manizales Bilingüe Project, and the children of the San Agustín school.
SPANISH VERSION
Mi día segundo en Manizales fue maravilloso. El contacto mayor para el proyecto que estoy haciendo es Roberto, quien trabaja para la Secretaria de Educación para la Cuidad de Manizales. Roberto también es el dueño de una finca de cafe donde mi alojamiento se han organizado durante mi estancia.
Aunque Cielo fue correcta que el área es falduda, no esta feo aquí. Llegando de Washington D.C., el frío no me molesta pero los noches siento algo fresco. Si mi ha dicho que Manizales fue una ciudad de lluvias, de acuerdo. Ha llovido mucho así es el tiempo de las lluvias.
Colombia ha tomado una misión muy agresiva que hacer un país bilingüe por 2019. A hacerlo, cualquier estado – digo departamentos como se llaman – y ciudad han hecho planes como hacer este meta.
Una de las maneras que pueden hacerlo es aprovechando el interés de que los alumnos tienen en las artes para ayudar en la adquisición del lenguaje. Parte de mi participación aquí es trabajar con un organización sorprendente sin fines de lucro con un foco de las artes se llaman Fundación Rafael Pombo. Es un organización excelente con una historia de 25 anos dando a la comunidad un lugar para explorar las artes fines. Su Performing Arts School bilingüe puede hacer un parte integral en sus deseos a aprovechar fluencia en Ingles en Manizales aun acelerar sus niveles de adquisición.
Students of Colegio San Agustin (Photo: Reed)
Jueves pasado fui a visitar La Escuela Primaria San Agustín que sirve los gravemente pobres de la ciudad. Trabajemos con un grupo de alumnos escogidos a cantar al una ceremonia el día siguiente para el gobernador, el alcalde y el embajador del EEUU. Yo y Roberto con el profesor de música, Camilo, ensayemos dos cantos de Ingles con los alumnos.
Más tarde esa tarde dejé por la Fundación de Rafael Pombo. Me reuní con la reducida cantidad de personal y tuvo un recorrido por las instalaciones. El edificio es una antigua mansión de estilo Europeo e impresionante que es propiedad de la ciudad de Manizales. Por desgracia, la ciudad completamente ha descuidado el mantenimiento de este sitio histórico. Desde sillas que necesitan reparación hasta agujeros en el techo que permiten agua inundar y un jardín descuidado. La facilidad es en terribles necesidades de algunos fondos para que pueda hacer las reparaciones necesarias y seguirá siendo un epicentro cultural en la ciudad de las artes.
Mientras estuve allí conocí a Viviana, la Coordinadora de la Fundación. Viviana tiene 27 anos y vive en el área de Belén de Manizales. Con una licenciatura en educación de arte, ella encaja justo en la Fundación de Pombo. Además de su papel como coordinadora, ella también enseña algunas de las clases de arte. Su interés está en la pintura abstracta y ella menciona la artista local Margoth Márquez como una inspiración y mentor.
Cuando ella no está ayudando a realizar la Fundación Pombo, ella está ejecutando su propia Fundación, Manizales Florece ~ un grupo ambiental centrado en cuestiones en el estado de Caldas. Decidí Viviana a recibir diez dólares en lugar de veinte mil pesos y tiene planes a guardarlo como una memoria de conocernos y el proyecto Un Ano De Dar. Arriba tiene un video corto de ella dando su impresión del Un Ano de Dar.
Seguramente vas a escuchar más en los próximos dos semanas sobre la Fundación Rafael Pombo, el proyecto Manizales Bilingüe, y los chicos del colegio San Agustín.
Esta entrada del blog se tradujo amablemente por Penny Pérez.
Last Wednesday I made the journey from Washington, DC to Manizales, Colombia. I didn’t sleep the night before. I had a lot to do to get ready for my trip and I had to leave for the airport at 3:45am, so it wasn’t really worth going to sleep. Besides, I would have all day to sleep on the plane right?
On the leg from Washington to Panama I got a window seat and the two seats next to me were empty. It was odd, since the flight was fairly full.
I arrived in Panama and had a few hours until my connection to Pereira, Colombia. I have been through Panama before, so the airport was familiar to me and I walked around browsing some of the shops. I picked up a few last-minute gifts to give to people along the way.
Cielo (Photo: Reed)
I boarded the plane around 11:30am. Much to my surprise, my seat was in business class! That was nice. I was hoping to give my $10 to someone on the plane, but there was nobody seated next to me. There was a woman in front of me whose cellular phone must have rung or made noises a dozen times before take-off and there was a woman sitting quietly across the aisle from me. I thought I would ask her to participate, although I have to tell you that I was nervous about it. I don’t know why, but giving my $10 away on the plane seemed very awkward! On the positive side, the people can not go anywhere so I have a captured subject for the length of the flight. On the flip side, if things go bad or if it is awkward I will be a captured subject and be forced to endure the awkwardness for the remainder of the flight.
The cabin was completely silent after take-off. I waited until the seatbelt sign was removed and people started to move around the cabin. Right as I was going to ask her they served us food. I took the opportunity to tell her that I was doing a project and hoped that she would consider participating after she finished her meal.
Our trays were cleared and I invited Cielo to become my 163rd recipient. She agreed with a sincere but reserved smile and we began to talk. She was on her way back from Costa Rica where she had been visiting her sister who just had her third child.
Cielo lives in the town of Armenia, the capital of the Colombian department (like our states) of Quindío. Armenia is a mid-size city of about 370,000 that is situated between Colombia’s three largest cities: Bogotá, Medellín and Cali.
Both Armenia and Manizales are part of the heart of the coffee region in Colombia. It’s hard to talk about these areas without talking about how coffee and the coffee industry has shaped this region physically, socially, and economically.
Scheduled to graduate in June, Cielo has spent the last seven years studying biology. Although she had a job lined up to start after she graduates, she recently found out that she lost this opportunity as a result of her trip to Costa Rica.
Cielo says she is not sure what she is going to do with the 20,000 pesos yet…but agrees to let us know when she decides. I have a feeling that it might get used in a giving way, given her story about helping the woman at the airport (see the video) and lessons about giving that she said she learned in the Girl Scouts as a young girl.
The following video is in Spanish. Cielo shares a little bit about her thoughts on Manizales. She is not a big fan…calling it the city of the three F’s: Fria (cold), Feia (Ugly), and Falduda (steep/hilly). She also talks about an experience earlier that day helping a stranger out in the airport.
Our flight landed and we said goodbye to one another at the customs declaration area. I found my ride to Manizales and embarked on a two-hour journey through the mountainous coffee region and finally arrived at the Finca (Farm) Loma Linda where I would be staying while in Manizales. It is atop a very steep mountain with a stunning view of the town.
Let the adventure begin!
SPANISH VERSION
El miércoles pasado hice el viaje desde Washington, DC a Manizales, Colombia. No dormí la noche anterior. Tenía mucho que hacer para prepararme para mi viaje y tenía que irme para el aeropuerto a las 3:45 de la mañana, así que no valía la pena dormir. Además, tendría todo el día para dormir en el avión, correcto?
En el tramo de Washington a Panamá me tocó un asiento de ventana y los dos asientos a mi lado estaban vacíos. Algo extraño, ya que el vuelo estaba casi lleno.
Llegué a Panamá y tenía un par de horas antes de mi conexión a Pereira, Colombia. Había pasado por Panamá antes, por lo que el aeropuerto era familiar, así que camine alrededor viendo las tiendas. Cogí unos cuantos regalos de última hora para dar a la gente en el camino.
Abordé el avión alrededor de las 11:30 de la mañana. Para mi sorpresa, mi asiento estaba en clase de negocios! Eso estuvo bien. Tenía la esperanza de dar mis $10 a alguien en el avión, pero no había nadie sentado a mi lado. Había una mujer delante de mí, cuyo celular debe haber sonado o hecho ruidos más de una docena de veces antes de despegar y había una mujer sentada en silencio del otro lado del pasillo frente a mí. Pensé en pedirle a ella que participara, aunque tengo que admitir que estaba nervioso por ello. No sé por qué, pero dar mis $10 en el avión parecía muy incómodo! En el lado positivo, la gente no puede ir a ningún lado así podría capturar un tema por la duración del vuelo. Por otro lado, si las cosas salen mal o si es difícil seré un tema capturado y estaré obligado a soportar la incomodidad para el resto del vuelo.
La cabina estaba completamente en silencio después del despegue. Esperé hasta que la señal del cinturón de seguridad fue retirada y la gente comenzó a moverse alrededor de la cabina. Justo cuando iba a preguntarle que participara nos sirvieron la comida. Aproveché la oportunidad para decirle que yo estaba haciendo un proyecto y esperaba que ella considerara participar después de que terminara su comida.
Nuestras bandejas fueron retiradas e invité a Cielo a convertirse en mi beneficiario numero 163. Ella acepto con una sonrisa sincera, pero reservada y empezamos a hablar. Ella estaba en su camino de regreso desde Costa Rica donde había estado visitando a su hermana que acaba de tener su tercer hijo.
Cielo vive en la ciudad de Armenia, la capital del departamento colombiano (como nuestros estados) de Quindío. Armenia es una ciudad de tamaño medio de alrededor de 370.000 habitantes, localizada entre las tres ciudades más grandes de Colombia: Bogotá, Medellín y Cali.
Tanto Armenia y Manizales forman parte del corazón de la región cafetalera de Colombia. Es difícil hablar de estas áreas sin hablar de cómo el café y la industria del café han dado forma a esta región física, social y económicamente.
Programado para graduarse en Junio, Cielo ha pasado los últimos siete años estudiando biología. A pesar de que tenía un trabajo en línea para comenzar después de que se graduara, recientemente se enteró de que había perdido esta oportunidad como resultado de su viaje a Costa Rica.
Cielo dice que no está segura de lo que se va a hacer con los 20.000 pesos… pero está de acuerdo a hacernos saber cuando ella lo decida. Tengo la sensación de que podrán ser utilizados en un forma caritativa, teniendo en cuenta su historia sobre cómo ayudo a una mujer en el aeropuerto (ver el video) y lecciones sobre lo que aprendió en las Girl Scouts cuando niña.
El siguiente video es en español. Cielo comparte un poco sobre sus pensamientos de Manizales. No es una gran fan… dice que es la ciudad de las tres “F: Fría, Fea, y Falduda (cerrado/montañosa). Ella también habla sobre una experiencia ese mismo día ayudando a un extraño en el aeropuerto.
Nuestro avión aterrizó y nos despedimos en la zona de declaración de aduanas. Encontré mi transporte a Manizales y me embarque en un viaje de dos horas a través de la región montañosa cafetalera y finalmente llegue a la Finca de Loma Linda, donde me voy a quedar mientras en Manizales. Es la cima de una montaña muy empinada con una impresionante vista de la ciudad.
Que empiece la aventura!
Esta entrada del blog se tradujo amablemente por Nancy Alvarez
I often get asked if I regret giving my $10 to anyone. The question has always seemed foreign to me. Sure, some encounters go better than others, but I don’t regret having met any of the people that I have come in contact with on my journey. I find that even the people who I don’t feel a strong connection with teach me something. Well, the person that I met last Tuesday comes the closest to being a regrettable experience.
Lately I have noticed a woman sitting north of Dupont Circle at 1625 Connecticut Avenue during the day. It’s very close to the Chipotle there. Anyway, I have walked by this woman a couple of times now and haven’t had time to stop and speak with her. But Tuesday I decided to introduce myself to Arlen.
The 29-year-old was dressed in an oversized sweatshirt sitting on some blankets with her legs tucked under her. She looked like she had not showered in some time. She had a considerable amount of somewhat long facial hair covering her face. She sat almost motionless, staring out toward the street. As I got closer she slowly moved her head to the right and up to look at me. I crouched down in a baseball catcher’s position and introduced myself. She took the ten dollars and slowly moved her head back center and looked downward and started to smile.
“Do you have a cigarette,” she responded in a slow hypnotic tone. I explained that I didn’t smoke and she asked if I would go find her a cigarette. I decided to try to speak to her a little more before I went on a scavenger hunt, but she seemed obsessed with finding a cigarette and managed to pull herself up and stagger over to some people and try to bum a cigarette off of them. Although she seemed to be talking to them for a few minutes, she continued to another set of people where I imagine she posed the same question. A few minutes later she returned with a lit cigarette and sat down.
She was so out of it that I thought I better cut to the chase and ask her what she was going to do with the $10. She said she was going to buy food with it. “Are you homeless,” I asked. He head moved again slowly and her glassy eyes met mine “Now you’re being disrespectful!”
I apologized and explained that I was not trying to be disrespectful in any way but that I just wanted to understand her situation better. “I make $10 a day and you ask shit like that,” she said. I apologized again and said that I hoped my $10 would be of great help. “Whatever, you’re a son of a bitch,” she snapped back.
Although she seemed to obviously be completely drugged out of her mind, I could not control feeling offended by her behavior. I responded back, “You say that you only make $10 all day long, I just gave you $10. A thank you might be more in line than calling me a son of a bitch.” She sighed and mumbled something under her breath. We both sat there in silence for about 10 seconds until she got up and walked over to the people who had given her the cigarette. I waited for her to come back for about five minutes but she didn’t even look back over toward me. I decided to leave.
I try to focus on taking something positive away from this experience. It’s hard to know what that is though. She was not a likeable person although I know she was not in her right state of mind either.
So, do I regret giving Arlen my $10? Not at all. Do I wish it had went differently? Absolutely.
Day 163 is the day I arrived in Manizales…so get ready for the Year of Giving to go international! I give my first $10 away on an airplane too!
Last night was a late night trying to get the bike video put together and uploaded. Today I found an internet cafe downtown that seems to be working a little better for me.
Yesterday they had elections here in Colombia. No candidate got more than 50% of the votes, so there will be a run-off on June 20th between the top two candidates: Juan Manual Santos and Antanas Mockus. Most the people that I have met here support Mockus, the son of Lithuanian immigrants. A philosopher and academic, his opponents say that while he seems intelligent that he doesn’t have clear ideas, has flip-flopped on ideas, and isn’t capable of being a strong leader. On the other hand, those who support Mockus say that Santos is too much of a military-style leader. Serving as President Uribe’s Secretary of Defense, he has been very aggressive toward neighboring Ecuador and Venezuela. I think Santos will end up being elected as it will seem like the safer vote for many Colombians. Just like in the US, people were glued to their TVs and radios following the results.
Anyway, back to last Monday where I had a busy day getting ready for my trip to come here to Manizales. On top of everything I had to do, I was foolish enough to get locked out of my apartment and lost several hours waiting for the locksmith company that said they would be there in 30 minutes. I should have hung up with this company after the following conversation:
Woman: Hello?
Me: Hi, is this the locksmith company on New Hampshire Avenue?
Woman: Hello?
Me: Yes, hi, is this the number to the locksmith?
Woman: What do you want?
Me: I’m sorry, is this the locksmith on New Hampshire Avenue?
Woman: Why are you calling?
Me: I’m looking for a locksmith. Have I called the right number?
Woman: What do you need?
Me: (now a little frustrated) I need a locksmith…am I calling the right place?
Woman: I am not a locksmith, but I can have a locksmith call you back….
Well this went on for a while, anyway I finally figured out that I did have the right number and she was going to send a locksmith. It would cost $29 to come out to the house and then an hourly labor fee for the work. I asked how much the hourly rate was and the woman said that the only the locksmith would be able to tell me that.
So the locksmith arrives and assesses my “simple lock” at $199 plus the $29. I asked how long it was going to take and he said he didn’t know. He also wouldn’t tell me what the hourly rate was, but $199 seemed insane. In the end, I negotiated it down to $29 plus $71 to get the door opened. He had it open in less than five minutes.
Ok, enough venting…but hopefully you learn from my experience. If you haven’t already make sure one or two people have a spare key to your home and if you have to call a locksmith remember that you can probably negotiate with them.
Later that night I was walking through Dupont Circle and saw a couple that seemed to just be enjoying the beautiful night sitting near the fountain. I stopped to talk to them. It turns out that Julia and Ken became my first recipients from Canada! It was not easy at first convincing them that there was not catch to the ten dollars. Ken was particularly suspicious. “At the end of all this you’re not going to try to get me to join some church are you?” Afterall, we were sitting a couple hundred yards away from the founding Church of Scientology. I assured them that there were no conditions related to my gift and that I just wanted to take some time to get to know them. Ken cautiously agreed to proceeded.
Julia & Ken (Photo: Reed)
Hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba, they had been in DC for 5 days and were leaving on Tuesday. They came to DC for a small wedding but managed to extend the trip a few extra days and make a mini-vacation out of it. They were staying a stone’s throw away at the newly renovated Dupont Hotel. After a full day of visiting the Air and Space Museum, Museum of Natural History, Museum of American History, and the National Art Gallery, their tired legs and feet were enjoying a peaceful moment in this urban respite. They really enjoyed the wedding. There was a musical group made up of several Ukrainians who were excellent. “They were only supposed to play three songs but they played all night,” they told me. While they were at the wedding the met a man who was from Winnipeg as well. After talking some time they realized that he used to live in the same neighborhood where Julia and Ken also used to live. After a few more questions they realized that the man actually used to live in the exact same house that they did. Bizarre right. What are the chances to run into someone who used to live in your exact house, especially in a different country! Well this couple is no stranger to coincidences. As we sat on the bench, another Winnipeg couple from the wedding strolled by and said hello. They weren’t staying at the same hotel even, but they happened to be walking through Dupont Circle after getting turned around after dinner. The $10 they assured me would go to someone else or some organization. “I promise you it wont be spent on anything for us,” Ken assured me.
Kelekis, Winnipeg, Manitoba
If I ever get to Winnipeg, they gave me a few pointers on what to see and do there. Grand Beach, a very shallow sandy beach, is a very nice place to visit in the summer they told me. Ken added that this beach was once rated on of the top ten beaches by Playboy Magazine (Ken only read the magazine for the articles apparently.) “You should also go to Kelekis and get a hot dog, they are the best,” according to Julia. They also have wonderful theaters, symphonies, operas and even the Royal Ballet. I particularly enjoyed a story that Julia shared with me about leaving Kelekis one time and seeing an old man walking back and forth looking confused. She approached him and learned that he was looking for the bus stop. Well, Julia recognized him as Leo Mol, a Ukrainian (they seem to like Ukrainians!) born artist that achieved worldwide notoriety as a sculptor and offered to give him a lift and he accepted. He was already in his 90s and still working regularly. There is a sculpture garden in Winnipeg she told me that has several pieces of his work.
I asked if there was anything that we could help them with, but they couldn’t think of much. “Perhaps some tips for our son who is going to travel through South America for six months,” Julia mentioned. If anyone has some tips on making the best out of a six-month backpack style adventure in South America, leave a comment for Julia and Ken.
We said goodnight. I made a quick joke that I wanted Ken and Julia to join my church and went on my way.
Ok, so now I am really behind….I am a week behind on posting my blogs.
I have really struggled here with technical issues. My internet connection is extremely slow and video, etc just does not upload and usually crashes my system. I will continue to try to get a better work-around in place.
Anyway, last Sunday morning I woke up early and participated in Bike DC 2010. It was a fantastic event where they close down several of the major roads in the DC area and only allow bicycles. It’s rare that you get to see some of these areas by bicycle. Even the areas that are accessible by bikes are not as enjoyable when you are constantly concerned about sharing the space with cars.
I got down to the starting area at around 8:00am, picked up my registration materials, and got on my way. I shot lots of video along the way. Although I don’t believe that Oprah’s initiative to eliminate cell phone use while driving specifically addresses photographing while on a biking, it’s safe to assume that she would not be happy with this. Sorry!
One of the monuments that the ride took us by was the Air Force Memorial in Arlington. I have driven by it many times but I have never stopped. Established in 2006 it serves as a memorial to honor the service of the personnel of the United States Air Force and its predecessors. While I was there I took the opportunity to stretch my legs and find a recipient for my $10.
I found Joseph, a 17-year-old student currently living in Maryland. He is not so much of a cyclist, but some of his buddies told him about the event and he decided to give the 20 mile course a try. Despite being tired from climbing some of the hills, he said he was holding his own. Click on the photo below for a video showing several parts of the ride (including lots of famous landmarks and monuments) and a few moments with Joseph. (When I get back in the US I will add some music to it. I discovered that downloading MP3s outside of the US from Amazon and other places is not allowed)
Joseph during Bike DC (Photo: Reed)
Joseph is very active in theatre at his high school and hopes to major in theatre in his home-state of Texas. In addition to his passion for theatre and music, Joseph is a black belt in Tang Soo Do. He and his friends rode off. I took an extra minute to take in the view of DC from the Virginia side of the Potomac River. Then it was back on my bike for another mile or two to arrive at the finish line.
I highly recommend you to take part in the next Bike DC event. For more information on this event and other biking related events and news in the DC area, check out the Washington Area Bicycle Association.
Two quick updates. I finally got video up for Anthony’s post yesterday and Victor from Day 139 posted an update from him on his page.
Colombian 16 string guitar in need of some strings (Photo: Reed)
Manizales continues to be a wonderful and inspiring place for me to be. I am trying to catch up on my blog writing so that I can start to share the stories of Manizales with you. But for now, we have to transport ourselves back to the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC.
I had just finished seeing my friend Annie in a production of Rhinoceros…she was amazing and the show itself was really good too. On my way home I stopped at the Social Safeway to get a few items. I still hadn’t given my $10 to anyone. I am not sure how much I really needed items from the grocery store or I just figured that a 24-hour grocery store would certainly have a few candidates for my $10. Would you believe the first two people I approached refused. The first woman, Mary Pat, was studying the pet food options when I approached her. She spoke with me for a while but I couldn’t convince her to participate. The second person, who was buying paper towels, refused and didn’t tell me their name.
Angela getting items for the Lost viewing party. (photo: Reed)
The third person I approached was over by the bakery and the rotisserie chickens. Her name was Angela.
The 39-year-old is a resident of DC and works as a news writer for a media company in DC. I didn’t ask which one and she didn’t offer the information. She said she was on her way home from visiting a friend and since she wasn’t tired thought that she would pick up some groceries. The next day, Sunday, she was attending a party for the final episode of Lost. I don’t watch Lost and have never really been interested in the show, but I thought a celebration about the show finally coming to an end was a good idea…although I don’t think most people who were excited about the finale were excited for the same reasons that I was. For years friends have been telling me that they hoped that the next episode would explain things…but it never does…it hasn’t for something like five years. “I really hope the finale explains some things,” Angela says to me. If the past is any indicator of the future, she is going to be disappointed with what the show reveals.
I on the other hand was not disappointed because first of all, I didn’t watch the show, and second of all, I was busy watching the grand finale of Celebrity Apprentice. I know it’s a cheesy show, but I enjoy it. And there is not a constant mega cliffhanger incorporated into the plot like Lost. Each show is pretty straight forward. Somebody gets fired at the end. Despite being a fan, Mr. Trump could make this a one hour show…heck a 30 minute show. He of all people should know time is valuable. (actually he does know that and that is why it is two hours. Time is money and he gets lots of money for the commercials that are run during the superfluous two-hour time slot.
Anyway, sorry, I got off on a tangent. When I am typing nobody brings me back on track.
So Angela told me that her life and job was pretty “regular” and that there was nothing particularly interesting to share. Just after saying that though, she mentioned that through her job she did get to join an interview session with the legendary Ray Charles.
“Everything that I had ever hoped about meeting someone of his stature came true. He was the smartest guy in the room. He was very nice, but he was clearly in control of everything that was going on.”
photo: Reed
Working in news, she said other stories have often stuck out in her mind for long periods after the story is over. She mentioned a story from Frederick, MD about a student basketball player who rarely got to play and was put in a game finally and finally made a basket. The crowd went nuts. It reminded me of this story! I love it. I even made team members at my last job watch this!
Angela had a caring nature about her. It really showed when she shared that she was going to donate the $10 to the Homeward Trails Animal Rescue, a non-profit organization that provides pet adoption in Virginia, Washington, DC and Maryland. They find homes for dogs and cats rescued from high-kill animal shelters or whose owners could no longer care for them.
It was getting late and I had to get up early the following morning to ride in Bike DC. We parted ways and I went to check out in possibly the slowest checkout lane in the world.
Manizales has been great…despite the almost constant drizzle and heavy fog. This morning I visited one of the schools that the group I am consulting for is working with. The kids were amazing. It was sad, when I left they all gave me a massive group hug. I am actually going to see them tomorrow too…but they don’t know that! Check out this video of us working with some of the children who are in a bilingual choir in one of Manizales public schools.
I am still writing up blog entries from last week!
Photo: Reed
So I told you in the previous blog posting about my trips to see the Mets vs. Nationals games last week. After the game I was sifting through the crowds a the subway station platform trying to position myself so that I would make the next train. I walked by Anthony who was leaning against a short wall that overlooked the lower level of the station where another train line runs. As I walked by he leaned his head back as if to rest it against the wall, but there was not wall behind his head so his head went back further than he expected and his sunglasses fell from their resting position on top of his baseball hat and fell 20 feet onto the tracks below.
“Did you just lose something,” I asked him as I saw him quickly look over the side of the wall. Shaking his head back and forth he smiled and said, “Yeah…my sunglasses.” We both peered over the wall to see if we could see them but they were gone.
“They were cheap. I paid like $7 for them.” He shrugged it off and I continued my way toward the other end of the station.
I wasn’t ten feet away when I realized he should be my $10 recipient for the day! I rushed back to see if he was still there. He was.
Anthony is a 40-year-old Caddie Master at a prestigious local country club. He was born and raised in Maryland. After a few minutes I realized that he was a Met’s fan as well! Let’s go Mets! We reminisced a little bit about the days of the 1986 Mets. “People even used to say that I looked like Dr. K when I was younger,” he said referring to Dwight Gooden, the former star pitcher for New York.
It turns out that Anthony he himself is a former professional baseball player with the Texas Rangers’ farm team. He spent two years with them from 1992-1994. He also played on the USA national team and won a bronze medal in 1996.
Below there is a clip of us talking about Anthony’s attitude toward life and his experience with the Texas Rangers. You might catch a glimpse of his father directly behind Anthony if you look close. They had went to the game together. I still like to go to games with my dad. In fact, he and I went to see a game the last year that Shea Stadium was being used and then the first year of their new stadium, Citi Field.
Anthony is a really nice guy. I love that I met him and it is sad to think that if I had not been doing this project, I might not have stopped and spoken with him. With every person I meet through the Year of Giving, my life becomes much richer. An interesting irony given the negative cash flow of my current situation.
Oh, I almost forgot. You guessed it. Anthony is going to buy some new sun glasses with the $10 I gave him.
View nearby where I am staying in Manizales, Colombia (Photo: Reed)
I have arrived safely here in Manizales, Colombia. I am a little behind with my posting but that is somewhat acceptable if you consider what my internet set-up might be in such a beautiful location like this.
By the way, I have been thinking that it would be a good idea to document the giving experiences from Colombia in both Spanish and English. For one reason, if a recipient doesn’t read English very well they won’t be able to read their own blog posting which just seems wrong. Given my schedule, it would be great to have a native speaker “guest translate” for each of the days that I am here. If you are interested, let me know.
Last week the New York Mets baseball team was in town to take on the Washington Nationals. I grew up a huge Mets fan. Living in Central PA you would think that I would be a Philadelphia Phillies or Pittsburgh Pirates fan. The only explanation that I can give is that I started to follow them because we got WWOR Channel 9 from Secaucus, NJ which carried almost all of the Mets games at the time. It certainly wasn’t because of the team’s record back then. I started following them in the early 1980s when they were not a pretty sight. They got better though and went on to win the 1986 World Series. My father took me to game 5 of the National League play-offs that year against the Houston Astros. It’s one of my fondest childhood memories.
Anyway, I made it to two Mets games last week. My friend Chris and I were leaving the game and getting on the Metro when I saw a young guy playing the violin. I offered him the $10 but he declined when he learned that I would write about the encounter on the blog.
I scanned the scene for another recipient. It was almost as if a river current was carrying everyone to the Metro. In the middle of this swift moving mob was a woman holding her own against the current while she handed out the Express newspaper; a free paper published by the Washington Post that is mostly distributed to commuters. I have given several times to the vendors of Street Sense, but I have never given to anyone from the Express organization. So I did.
Sharon hands a Metro rider the Express (Photo: Reed)
Sharon was busy trying to capture the attention of the mostly disinterested passersby. She has handed out the Express for three years she tells me. “On a good day I hand out about 1,500 papers.” I remember responding to her with something like, “Wow, you sell a lot of papers!” I knew the paper was free but I just misspoke. She quipped back, “Honey, if I was selling these things I’d be a millionaire by now!”
She went on to tell me that “the people are the best part of the job!” Although that evening was almost perfect, Sharon says that she dreads the hottest and coldest days of the year. “That’s the worst part about this job: the weather.”
Originally from West Virginia, the 49-year-old now calls Washington, DC her home. She certainly makes a lot of us feel at home here when she give’s us our paper and wishes us a nice day. She told me that she was going to use the $10 to help pay for her transportation to and from work. I didn’t want to keep her from her job much more so I thanked her (and she thanked me right back) and said “goodnight.”
I am looking forward to writing more about Manizales this week. It’s a beautiful tranquil space. This should be a very busy and exciting 10 days!
As I pack my bags to leave for Colombia tomorrow, I started to think that I should publish the blogs in Spanish while I am there. That way if the person I give to doesn’t read English they can at least read their own blog entry! Any volunteers to translate the blogs for those days
I am interested to find out how my project is received there; a mixture of nervousness and excitement is brewing. Tell all of your friends in Colombia to keep a look out for me!
Photo: Reed
So last week I was walking through Dupont Circle when I saw a bunch of people hula hooping. There was just no way to walk by this and not stop! So I did and asked a woman there if she would accept my $10. She said yes on one condition: I had to do some hula hooping first!
Let me just tell you that the last time I did any hooping (they prefer hooping over hula hooping) I was probably in Mr. Montgomery’s gym class in the 7th grade! Anyway, if you check out the video you will see me attempting to hoop.
Eileen has been hooping for about two years now and recently received her Hoopnotica certification and has started teaching hooping classes. She recommends that if anyone would like more information about hooping in the DC area that they check out www.hoopdancedc.com or www.hoopnotica.com. Or you can just go down to Dupont Circle any Wednesday night at 7:30 pm and hoop away! Eileen also mentioned that there is free yoga at Dupont Circle starting at 6:30…so you can come for hours of relaxation and entertainment FOR FREE
Now, hooping does not come without risk. Eileen told me she has busted up her lip and sprained an ankle in her hooping pursuits. So if you are not up for the risks, this is not a sport for you. Thankfully there is no waiver that you need to sign to hoop with Eileen and her friends though. Unlike my past experiences with skydiving where you sign your life away pretty much.
Photo: Reed
When Eileen is not hooping, she is making a tremendous contribution to society by teaching. She is a special education teacher in a local school. Other than that she claims that she lives a boring life. “I have a cat and I belong to a book club…that’s about it.” She fails to mention that she is also a fire eater…fire breather…or fire spitter…I don’t know what you call it but someone who puts something flammable in their mouth and then releases it into flames. How do you forget to mention this! I mean this is really interesting! Hey, want to spruce up your next office party? Get Eileen and her friends to do a hoop dance and spit fire! Ok, speaking of fire, you might get fired…but trust me it will be a hell of a good time!
Anyway…I am not going to bore you any more with my feeble attempt to convey the friendliness and talent of these hoopers…check them out for yourselves in this video! Better yet, go and join them Wednesday nights at 7:30 at Dupont Circle! You will also see Eileen giving her $10 away!
Good morning! There is nothing I like more than waking up early on a Monday morning and getting a head start on things I need to get done! A lot of people complain about Monday’s… I love’em!
So I’m considering putting together somewhat of an advisory board for my Year of Giving. I believe that there are some interesting ways that the project can develop and hope to get some critical perspectives on it. If anyone knows someone wickedly smart or creative who they think would be an asset to this thought process, please shoot me an email.
Last week I was meeting with Abby Strunk, the executive director at Street Sense. As you know, I have enjoyed getting to know their vendors. As it turns out, she was following the Year of Giving journey and reached out to me a few weeks back. So we decided to meet up for coffee. She has been with the paper for six months and seems to be driving the organization in the right direction. I really believe in this organization and offered to help them out if there was anything I could do. Coincidentally, as we were chatting, she pointed out a Street Sense vendor who was selling the paper just on the other side of the frosted glass of the Caribou Coffee shop we were at. After our meeting, I walked over and gave my $10 to Tommy.
Photo: Reed
He is vendor # 003. That’s right…he is the third vendor hired. Tommy’s been selling Street Sense for about six years. He credit’s his friend Jose for encouraging him to sell the paper. At first Tommy didn’t think he would be good at it, but he proved himself wrong. Having a job turned out to be one of the key elements in Tommy’s sobriety. After years of drug and alcohol abuse, the 54-year-old father turned his life around seven years ago by getting sober. He is currently homeless, but stays in a local shelter and is an active voice in housing issues for the homeless.
I found a link on Street Sense’s website that had a small write-up on Tommy. I have copied a Q&A section that was part of the write-up that I thought you might find interesting.
What is your favorite kind of music?
Jazz, Korean and Jamaican music
What is your favorite food?
Steak with mashed potatoes and gravy
What is your favorite movie?
I like Batman and Spiderman but also like horror movies.
How did you become homeless?
I got myself into trouble doing stuff I wasn’t supposed to.
Were you ever homeless before?
Yes, about 20 years ago.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Tommy sees himself getting his drug counselors license and giving back to the community that helped him. He would also like to find a permanent residence.
Tommy never graduated from high school so now he is working on getting his GED. He hopes that once he gets his degree that he can go on to be certified as a drug counselor for recovering addicts. I think this would be a fantastic role for him.
He plans to use the $10 to pay bills. Selling the Street Sense is a big part of Tommy’s life, but he still lacks the funds to secure private housing. As he said in the interview excerpt above, he would really like to have his own place. I asked Tommy how we could help him and he gave me a list of several things that he needed.
Here’s a short video from my chat with him. You’re gonna like him!
Tommy can be found weekdays at either 11th/G, 13/G, or 14th/G and on Thursdays, Saturday, and Sunday at 29th/M.
Update July 7, 2010: Here is a little video from my first delivery of items for Tommy. Thanks to all who continue to help Tommy out. Be sure to check the Lend a Hand section for updated items that he needs.
Update June 26, 2011: Congratulations to Tommy who celebrated 8 years sober on May 27th!
Update December 4, 2012: I learned today hat Tommy died on November 18th. He was 56. He was battling some health issues, but I didn’t realize it had gotten that dire. He was a good man that I admired. I will miss him. I hopefully will get some more details tomorrow.
Remember Mike from Day 146? You may recall that he works as a Physical Therapist at a Rockville, MD PT clinic. He shared my story with his boss Bill. They graciously offered for me to come in to their clinic at no cost for some PT sessions on my neck and back to see if I can improve the pain that I have. Isnt’that incredibly nice of them! It means a lot to me. Thank you guys! I look forward to the day when I no longer have pain and numbness in my neck, arm, and hand.
After my first session, I was feeling good. I went out that day with a little more pep in my step and my posture a little better.
Photo: Reed
Some days I find myself walking around the city…seeing potential recipients but never thinking that they are the right person for that day. I passed all kinds of people who I debated giving my $10 to, but for some reason I kept on walking. I walked all over the city, 67 blocks in total. The light rain was just enough to keep my umbrella up the entire time, but I didn’t mind. I started to get hungry though and decided to make my way over to John’s burrito stand. On my way over my cousin Cheryl called and we talked until I came face to face with a large protest that had taken over the intersection of 15th and K Street. The mix of angry cries for justice and police bullhorns trying to control the situation was making it difficult to talk on the phone, so we hung up and I went to find out what was going on. This is when I ran into Joan.
Joan, a retired small business owner living in DC, was holding one end of a banner that read, “WE WANT OUR $$$ BACK!” Although I hadn’t taken her money, in fact, I didn’t even know Joan, I hoped that my offer to give her $10 back might help her and her colleagues out. Thankfully Joan wasn’t mad at me. She was fed up with big businesses and lobbyists owning our government. She feels that they have taken all the power away from the people.
Photo: Reed
As a CODEPINK activist , Joan actively participates in protests that the grassroots peace and social justice organization puts on. The organization emerged out of a desperate desire by a group of American women to stop the Bush administration from invading Iraq. On November 17, 2002 CODEPINK was launched when a group of women set up for a 4-month all-day vigil in front of the White House during the cold of winter. I wonder if they went over and spoke with Connie and Thomas at the Peace Vigil. Anyway, they inspired people (mostly women) from all walks of life, and from all over the country, to stand for peace. Now the organization has grown international.
Photo: Reed
On this specific day she was a little disappointed because CODEPINK received information about the protest very late which limits their ability to mobilize and produce a large turnout. She cites messaging and timing as areas that need improvement in these types of protests. Despite falling short of her expectations, the protest still managed to attract an estimated 1,000-1,500 people. Plus it shut down a major corridor of transportation. Their location at 15th and K was no coincidence given that K Street has long been home to a sea of lobbyist offices.
As Joan and I started to talk, the mass of people began to march South on 15th Street. I tagged along and pulled my video camera out and started to record.
Photo: CBS News
The march came to a halt near the White House and I parted ways. Later they went on to Capitol Hill to voice their disapproval of BP at the Homeland Security Committee Senate hearing where BP America President Lamar McKay testified. CBS News later reported that “only three Senators – Joseph Lieberman, Susan Collins, and Mark Pryor – of the 17-member Homeland Security Committee showed up to ask any questions at all.” In fact, Lieberman and Collins reportedly praised McKay for his cooperation and dismissed him in less than 45 minutes.
I had to run over to Home Depot to get some things and as I was driving home I saw Alfonso pushing his ice-cream cart up the slight incline of Patrick Henry Drive to where it intersects with Arlington Blvd.
Alfonso and his ice-cream cart (Photo: Reed)
I past him and then double backed, parked the car, and waited for him to reach my car. The sound of the tires rolling over loose gravel was mostly muffled by the cheerful bells that rang with every movement of the cart.
Alfonso has a kind face and smiles naturally, although his mustache covers up most of it. He said that the company he works offered people the opportunity to come to Arlington, VA for the summer months to sell Mexican style ice-cream. So Alfonso came here from Dallas, TX. He didn’t know a soul in the area. Now he interacts with hundreds of people every day.
Photo: Reed
He pushes his cart filled with a large block of ice and about 200 hundred ice-creams up Patrick Henry Drive from Route 7 to past Arlington Blvd into the neighborhoods behind the shopping center where the Target is. Back and forth he travels under the burning sun. He usually sells about 100-150 ice creams. On a good day he might sell 200; coconut is the best seller. I asked if I could take a peak inside the cooler.
Having lived most of his life in Palm Springs, CA, six years ago Alfonso moved to Dallas searching for his 28-year-old son that he didn’t know. He knew he was living somewhere in the state, but that doesn’t help much when you are searching in the second largest state in the country that boasts more than 268,000 square miles. Luckily for Alfonso, his son was also trying to find him. He found him in Austin, TX.
“We are friends now. I will never be his father to him.” He is hopeful that they can have a relationship, but it is hard after so many years and so much pain. “You see, I was living in California and was lost on drugs and alcohol. Then 15 years ago I received Jesus Christ as my savior.”
Photo: Reed
He is also not in touch with his ex-wife any more. The last he knew she lived in Monterrey, Mexico. Maybe I could try to find her like I am trying to find Victor’s mother from Day 139.
He seems happy to be here. “Arlington is nicer than Dallas,” he says. “There is less crime here.”
Despite a nice relaxing conversation, I could feel that he needed to get on his way. He needed to earn his daily wages and the ice-cream would not stay cold forever. I asked him what he would do with the $10 and he softly replied that he would save it.
We exchanged telephone numbers and I got back in my car. Alfonso returned to his position behind the cart and started to push it the remaining 30 yards to the intersection. The bells began to sing again.
Before telling you about the amazing woman I met last Saturday, I wanted to remind you to tell your friends and family about the Worldwide Day of Giving on June 15th! If they are on Facebook, they can sign up for the event here, you can also use this link: http://tiny.cc/WWDoG.
We have about 500 people officially signed up on Facebook right now, but I am still hopeful that together we can reach 10,000 people worldwide! Details about how to participate can also be found on the Facebook Page.
There has been some confusion about the event. This is a virtual event that you can do anywhere in the world! In addition, I am planning an in-person event here in DC. It would be fun to meet in person, share your stories and meet some of the previous recipients of the Year of Giving $10 who will be there! I would like to get an idea of how many people would attend an event in the Dupont Circle area at around 7pm on the 15th. You can sign up for the in-person event on Facebook or here.
For those of you in other parts of the world who want to organize an event in your region, I encourage you to do so. If you need help or ideas on how to organize this, send me an email.
Photo: Reed
Last Saturday I was at the Goodwill on Glebe Road off of Route 50. I found Trish, a 37-year-old registered nurse. After 12 years in the profession, she decided to go back to school to pursue a career in nurse anesthesia. It sounds like life is not so easy right now juggling the demands of school while trying to make ends meet and pay her tuition at Georgetown University.
“I used to do a lot of stuff outdoors like biking, skiing, snowboarding, but lately I haven’t done much. I am pretty much studying all the time.” She went on to say, “I would even play golf at this point, I’m pretty desperate.”
Trish said that she really liked the Year of Giving concept. “I think I might have heard about this,” she told me. “Even though money is tight right now, I think I might give the $10 to my sister. She just lost her job.” Trish said she would update us all when she decides for sure what she is going to do with the money.
Photo: Reed
Trish told me that there was nothing very interesting about her and then she remembered a small “boring” detail, “I climbed to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro a few years ago and watched the sun rise over Tanzania.” I was like, oh my God! Wow. That is amazing! Trish had a friend who got let go from their job (I know the feeling) and was given six months severance (I don’t know that feeling…I only got one month!) and decided to travel the world. She had some time off and decided to meet up with her friend some place along his journey. They agreed to meet in Tanzania and climb the world’s fourth tallest peak. Crazy!
Fast forward and Trish is in Tanzania with two friends and 19 Sherpas scaling the tallest mountain in Africa. They made it up the stratovolcano in three days. “We could have never done it without the local guys who helped carry so much of our equipment and had meals ready when we arrived at camp.” We laughed over a story she shared about losing one of her jackets at base camp only to see it again a few days later on their way down the mountain being worn by a guy twice her size. “I just let him keep it…the sleeves came to his elbows!”
Trish hopes to graduate in December and would like to move to Colorado and find work as a CRNA. If anyone has some contacts, please let me know and I will pass them along to Trish!
Last week I found out that Woman’s World Magazine is doing a story on the Year of Giving. The article will be in the July 19th issue which hits newsstands the week of July 8th. I will post something here when we get closer to the date. The reason I mention this is because last Friday they sent a photographer to take some photos of me giving away my $10.
It was a pretty day and I suggested to Pete, the photographer, that we walk up to Dupont Circle. After arriving, I took some time surveying the potential recipients and found a woman sitting on the grass playing with her daughter. Perfect!
I walked over to Cecilia and explained what I was doing and asked if she would participate. She agreed but mentioned that she might have some difficulties answering some of the questions because as Spanish was her first language. I offered to do the interview in Spanish and she said that that would be more comfortable. Her daughter Emilia was full of energy and a bit awestruck by the attention, especially the camera!
Pete deftly maneuvered around us as we spoke, capturing the scene unfold on his Nikon D300.
Cecilia and Emilia (Photo: Reed)
Cecilia and her family moved here for her husband’s job18 months ago. A teacher back in her native Chile, Cecilia has had to adjust to a lot of new things here in the US. As she is not working while they are here, she has had the opportunity to dedicate the majority of her time to five-year-old Emilia and her nine-year-old brother Santiago. Additionally she has been taking English classes and learning to cook.
Cecilia spoke to me on camera about some of the challenges that living abroad has presented. Besides learning a new language, culture, and city, Cecilia shared that being far away from their family has not been easy. Family serves as our support network in multiple ways. Luckily technology helps minimize that void. I noticed how technology impacted communication from the time I lived in Mexico as an exchange student in 1990 to when I lived in Brazil four years ago. In 1990 I would only call and speak to my family once or twice per month because of how expensive it was. Going back just a few years though, it was not unusual for me to talk to my family several times a week while living in Sao Paulo. Tools like email, Skype, more economically priced long distance service, etc. helped reduce the miles between us.
This video clip of some of my conversation with Cecilia is in Spanish…hopefully this will be an interesting new element to the blog for Spanish-speakers who are following the Year of Giving. And for those who don’t speak Spanish, you might enjoy watching it just to see how playful and happy little Emilia is.
As for the $10, Cecilia shares on the video that “the $10 will travel with me to Chile.” She plans to go next month and will donate the money to the relief efforts for the recent earthquakes there. Thankfully her family and friends are all ok and only suffered minor inconveniences.
On a different note, I want to take this opportunity to share with you some exciting news about me and the Year of Giving. As you know I have been searching for work. I have some good news on this front. No, I didn’t find a job…but I did secure a small consulting project in Manizales, Colombia. Next week I will travel there and spend ten days in the heart of Colombia’s coffee-belt working with a nonprofit foundation with their role in helping the region meet the Ministry of Education’s goal of being a truly bilingual country by 2019!
This is a very exciting opportunity for me and I feel that it will enrich the Year of Giving in many ways as well as change the landscape some and see first-hand how people from another part of the world react to my commitment. I will of course continue my daily giving and blogging. More news on this in the coming days!
Have you ever wondered how your life would have turned out if you had dropped out of school your freshman year of high school? Well today’s recipient Kylie knows the answer to that question first-hand. She did it.
Kylie in front of the fountain at Dupont Circle (Photo: Reed)
Kylie, who turned 21 on Friday, decided half way through her freshman year of high school that she didn’t want to go any more. Probably we have all thought about dropping out, but she actually did it. Then she visited three or four other schools to see if she liked them any more, but didn’t find what she was looking for. She tried home schooling for a while, but that didn’t work out either. So what did she do? She says she ended up hanging out with some friends that were freshmen at a Delaware college. They too were not going to class much either. She “experimented with lots of things” she said and wound up finding herself. She discovered that she really liked to write.
Today, she is taking classes at American University and hopes to open creative writing centers in youth correctional facilities. She has already started the process but has a way to go to launch her first center.
I asked Kylie to describe herself and she said, “I am empathetic to a fault. I’m maybe a little lost…but definitely passionate.” I felt her passion when we spoke about our mothers. “I love her more than anything,” she said about her mother. She asked about my mother and I shared with her what a wonderful person my mother was. She started to cry. “I don’t know what I would do if I lost my mom” she said fighting away a tear.
Photo: Reed
I was interested in Kylie’s tattoos. She has seven “professional” tattoos and one “prison” tattoo. I call it a “prison” tattoo because it was one that a friend did with a BIC pen. Ouch! That one didn’t look so good either. On her right arm she has a large tattoo that says “Love Killer.” It hurts me just to look at it as I imagine the tattoo needle hammering into the veins that ran along her forearm. She got this tattoo because of an ex-boyfriend she had. She shared with me the details of a couple of past relationships. “Who was the Love Killer,” I asked. “Maybe I was” she answered.
Something she said about two former boyfriends stayed with me. “The one guy I loved, but I never told him that I loved him. The other one I never loved, but I told him that I did.” Ironic isn’t it. “I sometimes regret not telling him that I loved him.” I asked her if she thought that things would have ended up different if she had told him that she loved him and she shook her head to tell me “no.” “In that case” I said, “it doesn’t really matter, does it?”
Kylie told me that she was going to give the $10 to somebody else. As for ways that you can help Kylie, she said she would give that some thought and see if she came up with something.
Photo: Reed
We were heading in the same direction, so we walked through Dupont Circle and headed toward the Metro entrance. On the way over we passed a woman sitting on a crate panhandling. Kylie pulled the $10 out of her pocket and dropped it in the woman’s bucket and kept on walking. “I had to get rid of it! I didn’t want to be tempted to spend it.” I sneaked a peak back at the woman…her face was pleasantly shocked.
Happy 21st birthday Kylie!
By the way, check out what Start from Day 126 did with the $10 I gave him…he posted his experience today on his website!
If you have ever went into the CVS at Dupont Circle, there is a good chance that Jeffery held the door open for you. I have gone to this CVS several times and most times there was someone holding the door. I am not sure if it has always been Jeffery, because I sadly have not paid enough attention.
Jeffery is 47 and was born and raised here in our nation’s capital. He was wearing an oversized sweatshirt, jeans, and a dark ball cap. A latex glove covered his right hand which holds an ice tea canister that holds the money that he receives from those who stop and help him out.
Jeffery’s soft polite voice greets the customers:
“Good evening”
“Hello ma’am, how are you today?”
“Have a nice evening.”
You might assume that he is homeless, but he is not. He brings in about $100 a day panhandling. He also has another job that he does during the summer months where he works with high-profile clientele in the DC area. He preferred that I not share the name of his other place of employment.
Jeffery is charismatic. He talks about how panhandling has taught him how to interact with others and how to deal with diversity. “You gotta be able to deal with people out here.” He explains that many people don’t carry much cash and prefer to use debit and credit cards, but that doesn’t deter him. “I know that it is just a matter of time before they help me out. I just try to be nice to everyone.”
CVS however has asked him not to stand right by the entrance. They would prefer that he stand a few yards away. “But the people don’t give as much when I stand over there,” he says pointing to a spot closer to the street curb. Being next to the door recently turned out to benefit the store. Jeffery told me that a person ran out with some stolen goods and he was able to run after the person and recover the stolen merchandise.
Jeffery (Photo: Reed)
While I was taking some photos of Jeffery, a woman yelled at me and told him to have more respect for himself and not allow me to take photographs of him. He told me that he didn’t mind.
He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with the money. That’s OK. I know where to find him. I told him I would be back this week to see what he had decided. As I walked home I couldn’t help but wonder why a smart, charismatic man like him was panhandling.
This past week we had some late “April showers.” I actually like to walk the city when it is raining. There are less people out and you can focus on the city. You see things that you normally don’t see due to having fewer distractions from those around you. I walked over to Dupont Circle. This is one of my favorite places to go to people watch and interestingly enough it is also a great place to go when it is raining and nobody is out. You really get to take in the greenery, the sound of the water cascading over the fountain, and the overall peacefulness of this urban respite.
Dupont Circle Fountain
In the center stands a fountain. Built in 1921, it replaced the statue of Samuel Francis Du Pont which was moved to Rockford Park in Wilmington, DE. The fountain was designed by the same folks who designed the Lincoln Memorial. They created three figures that represent the sea, the stars and the wind.
It makes a nice backdrop for photos.
As I made my way around the circle I found David sitting on top of the backrest of the benches that corral the fountain. To his right rested a bicycle still beaded with the previous hour’s raindrops.
David in an empty Dupont Circle (Photo: Reed)
David had just finished his job waiting tables at a local Italian restaurant. He is also an English student at the University of the District of Colombia who expects to graduate in December of 2011. I’m pleasantly surprised to discover that David belongs to an elite subset of my recipients who live in the DC area and were also born here. It’s a very transient city so this is not as common as one might think.
At 27 David has decided to go back to school to get his college degree after years of working odd jobs: bike messenger, construction, life guarding, etc. He also enjoys painting and drawing in his spare time.
I really enjoyed meeting David. He mentioned that the Year of Giving
(Photo: Reed)
reminded him of Time Banks. This concept was vaguely familiar to me, but I went online and checked them out and absolutely love the concept. Basically you give of your time to others. For every hour of time you give, you earn an hour of credit that you can “cash” in to receive someone else’s time. Brilliant idea. There are a couple of DC Time Bank groups that I will explore. If anyone has experience working with Time Banks I would love to hear from you.
He also shared with me a quote from Martin Luther King’s “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” speech given at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967.
I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing-oriented” society to a “person-oriented” society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. – Martin Luther King
I love this quote. David and I share King’s belief in a people oriented society. All too often today our brains get cluttered with unnecessary garbage that clouds our vision. We lose sight of the basic principles that once guided my grandparents’ daily lives. But I realize that this only happens if we allow it. I am more committed than ever before to focus firmly on what really matters: our brothers and sisters in our community and the world.
As I left, I circled back to my leading question. David said that his impulse was to give the $10 away to a homeless person. I hope he shares with us the details of his experience.
Last Monday I spent the morning doing some phone calls and interviews. I got outside a little to walk Ruben, the dog that I have been taking care of, but other than that I was pretty much inside.
That evening I had plans to have dinner with some former colleagues of mine from my last job. We decided to meet up at my friend Patricia’s house in Arlington. I took Ruben out for another walk before leaving, stopped by a wine shop and a new gelato shop to get some wine and gelato for the evening. By the way, I got the gelato from Dolcezza in Dupont. I sampled a bunch of the flavors, but settled on dulce de leche granizado and lime cilantro. The lime cilantro was such a unique flavor, I had to get it. The citrus flavors combined with zest of the cilantro created a deliciously refreshing dessert!
The evening was great. I got to spend time with some old colleagues. Laura and her husband brought their four-month-old boy Griffin too! He is amazing!
Bar at the Afterwords Cafe (Photo: Reed)
Anyway, the night winded down and I dropped Kate off at her hotel in Chinatown. It was 11:45 and I still had to give away my $10. As I drove I kept my eyes open for somebody on the streets. I passed a couple of large groups of people, but didn’t think that stopping them and explaining what I was doing would go very well at midnight, so I pulled over at Kramerbooks near my house. Inside I found a young couple sitting at a table and offered the guy my $10. He politely declined and I looked toward his friend. She somewhat reluctantly agreed.
It turns out that she is the bartender there at Kramerbooks. I didn’t realize that though because she was sitting at a table at the otherwise empty bar. Get this, I realized I didn’t have a ten dollar bill. For that matter, I didn’t even have $10! I think I had $8. Then I remembered that I had a bag of quarters in my backpack and grabbed them and counted out the rest of the money for her. It was a little embarrassing, but Cynthia rolled with it and didn’t make me feel awkward at all.
Cynthia said she likes to travel. Two of her favorite destinations are Dubrovnik, Croatia and Budapest, Hungary. Camping and snowboarding are also high on her list of things to do.
About this time several people made their way into the bar and I let Cynthia go wait on them. She returned shortly with a glass of water for me and asked if I had any other questions. I could see that she was busy and I didn’t want to take up more of her time…so while she was preparing things I asked her what her favorite drink and food items were on the menu at Kramerbooks’ Afterwords Café. Her favorite drink was a tie between the Brewmaster Reserve by Brooklyn Brewery and the Old Brown Dog by Smuttynose Brewery. Her favorite dish is the Bison Burger. Honestly, you almost can go wrong there, everything is good.
I wrapped things up and let Cynthia get back to work.
Her $10 is going toward the purchase of a new dictionary for a homeless man who she knows. Someone stole his bag which contained his dictionary. I asked if there was anything that I could include in the Lend a Hand project and she mentioned that her car needs some work so she would love to get some help with that. Heck, maybe a show like Overhaulin would come and help her out!
Last Sunday I went to a party for my friend Dan who was celebrating surviving three years of law school. There was some really good food there too. Somebody made some shawarma that was fantastic.
I met a guy there named Mike and decided to give him my $10 for the day.
Mike E. (Photo: Reed)
Mike is married and lives in Burtonsville, MD with his family. He got a degree in Engineering but decided that a career in engineering wasn’t what he wanted and went back to school at the University of Maryland at College Park to study kinesiology.
Kinesiology, from the Greek words kinesis (movement) and kinein (to move) and ology (branch of study), is the branch of physiology that studies the mechanics and anatomy in relation to human movement.
Mike has been working at a physical therapy clinic in Rockville, MD for three years. “I love the gym and I love sports,” he said. “This was just a natural fit for me.” Mike’s work is truly rewarding. He shared with me a story about a woman who slipped and fell and pulled her hamstring as a result. She didn’t take care of it and the problem got worse. It got so bad that she couldn’t sit for a year. Mike then got the opportunity to work with her and she started to improve and was finally able to sit again. Mike added, “When you are able to help someone feel better, you feel good too!” It’s not so different than my experience of daily giving.
You know how when you meet a lawyer, you feel compelled to ask some legal questions. If you meet an accountant, you’re certain to think of some obscure tax question that you have wanted to get resolved…well, I am no different I guess. So I have been suffering from neck and back pain which results in numbness down my right arm and in my hand. I shared this with Mike and he asked me some questions about the pain.
This is where my back pain seems to stem from. And no, this is not me!
Before I knew it, I was lying down on the floor and Mike was working on my neck. He got it a lot looser and improved my range of motion. I still had pain and numbness, but there seemed to be some improvements just after 20 or 30 minutes. Mike gave me some exercises to do at home to try to reduce my pain. It was so incredibly nice of Mike to take time to try to help me feel better. Thanks Mike!
I also have an appointment with a physician later this month, but I am looking into trying to do some physical therapy as well. Anyone who has ever had similar pain knows how much it starts to affect your life. I can’t wait until I am pain-free.
Mike decided to donate his $10 to Freeset, a fair trade business that offers meaningful employment to women trapped in Kolkata’s sex trade. According to the group, there are more than 10,000 sex workers in Kolkata, formally called Calcutta. These women were forced into prostitution by trafficking or poverty. Freeset offers them a real choice. When they choose to work at Freeset, they can start new lives, regain dignity in their communities, and begin a journey towards healing and wholeness.
For those of you who have not seen the CNN report, check it out. Reporter David Banks put together a really nice piece.
Last Saturday I met up with a journalism student from the University of Maryland who was doing a story on the Year of Giving. Ruben and I met her near the Dupont Circle Metro stop and walked over to the circle. It was pretty busy and Ruben was excited to see all the people and fellow dogs out enjoying the day. I ran into Danny Harris from Day 64 in the center of the circle.
Shortly thereafter I spotted Peter under a shaded tree reading a biography of the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock. Peter is an Actor living in the East Village of NYC. Originally from Louisville, KY, he studied at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA and then moved to The Big Apple.
Originally drawn to the stage by Shakespearean plays, now Peter is focusing most of his energy on some short films. He shared with me a the link to a rough cut of one that he recently finished…he’s very good in it, check it out!
So you may be wondering why the heck Peter is 250 miles away from his home sitting under a tree reading about Hitchcock. As it turns out his sister lives in DC and was performing one of the lead roles in The Marriage of Figaro at the Kennedy Center this week and he came down to watch her. She was working during the day, so he was just relaxing seeing a bit of the city.
Peter contemplated the $10. He said that it would probably get spent on some bourbon, beers, or maybe some food. Later he told me, “Maybe I’ll do something else with it…all these other people have done something amazing with it, so who knows.”
He had more time to kill and I probably didn’t help the chances of my money being passed forward as I showed him where the Brickskeller Pub was. We said our goodbyes and thanked one another.
Here is some footage of him being interviewed by the University of Maryland journalist as well as a few of my own questions. The wind is really bad…sorry. It actually blew over my Flip camera at one point!
Last Friday I went for a walk around DC with Ruben, the dog that I have been taking care of while my friends Chris and Karrin are traveling. I thought I would let Ruben help me pick the recipient of the day. We walked around for a while and made our way over to Dupont Circle. He spotted another dog and started to lunge forward toward Chief, his new canine buddy.
Chief’s owner Meghan accepted the $10 on their behalf. Meghan is from Philadelphia and splits her time between the City of Brotherly Love and the Nation’s Capital where she is working toward her masters’ degree at Johns Hopkins School of International Studies (SAIS) where she is focusing on International Public Health. Coincidentally through the Year of Giving I have met four or five people who are studying or recent graduates in this field.
Meghan was taking a much needed break from writing her remaining three papers and studying for her last exam. Despite being in the eye of the storm, she seemed rather relaxed. Perhaps that is because she is graduating in two weeks and will be done with all of her studies. As we get close to those momentous occasions our brains seem to somehow remind ourselves that we only have to suffer a little bit more before things improve.
With no job lined up after graduation, Meghan’s life after school is up in the air right now. She has decided what area she wants to work in though. Meghan is passionate about maternal health, particularly the areas of child survival and vaccinations.
As the 27-year-old finishes her school and internship at UNICEF, she would love to find a job in Philadelphia or possibly Baltimore. If you know of any positions in Public Health in or around Philadelphia, please leave a comment here or send me a note and I will forward that to Meghan.
So where did this $10 go? Well, Meghan said the actual bill would probably get spent on lunch that day, but she would most likely think of some way to “pay it forward or donate it” and let us know where it ends up. I heard from Meghan today and she said:
I ended up giving the $10 to someone who is usually asking for money near my house and always hangs out with and pets Chief when we walk by. I hope this helps. Thanks again for making my day of studying a little more enjoyable and social!
Watch this video to meet Meghan, Chief, and Ruben for yourself. Let’s just say that trying to conduct and film an interview with two dogs was a new experience.
Thanks to all of those who have become Facebook Fans and especially those who have signed up to give on June 15th, the Worldwide Day of Giving. So far there are only a little over 300 people who have committed to giving in their own community on June 15th…so pass the word along. My goal is to get 10,000 people around the world to do this and then have them share their experiences, pictures, etc. here with the rest of the world. It should be amazing, but I need your help to make it happen!
Will and Matthew (Photo: Reed)
Last Thursday I found Will with his skateboard at the north end of Dupont Circle. Will is an 18-year-old who lives in the Fort Totten area. He was reluctant to accept my $10 because he felt there were others who were more deserving of the money, but then he decided to accept it and pass the money on.
He describes himself as a “furry artist, tattoo apprentice, capoeira student, skateboarder, traceur (person who performs parkour), film editor, and musician.” I have to say that I felt like a huge under-achiever after learning all about his interests. I had never even heard of parkour for example. It is a non-competitive, physical discipline of French origin in which participants run along a route, attempting to negotiate obstacles in the most efficient way possible.
Will said that he was going to give $5 to his mom who “could really use the money right now.” He is going to break the other $5 into singles and give out a $1 to 5 random people. I asked him if there was anything that people reading the blog could do to help him. He shook his head “no” and said, “I feel that I can give more than I can receive.” I definitely understand his thinking.
About this time, Will’s friend Matthew came along. Matthew and Will met at the same capoeira training center. They both share a lot of the same interests. Matthew also trains in Japanese sword play and Japanese staff fighting.
Here is a small portion of our conversation.
If you would like to check out some of Will’s artwork, click here.
This blog entry was supposed to be posted yesterday. It was Mother’s Day and I was just not motivated to do much. Sorry. Happy belated Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!
I have been dog-sitting for a few days, so I got up yesterday around 7am and took my new best friend Ruben for a walk. Meandering around Washington early in the morning was so peaceful. There was very little traffic and I had some time to reflect on my Mom. I wish that I could put into words how much I miss her. I know that she would have loved the Year of Giving.
After a long walk, I grabbed a copy of El Tiempo Latino newspaper and made our way over to Dupont Circle. I played with Ruben in the shaded grass for a while and then we found a sunny bench to relax on. I read through the paper and Ruben slipped in and out of a slumber.
Photo: Reed
Last Wednesday I had an opportunity to participate in the Gala Celebration of the re-opening of the Safeway grocery store located at 1855 Wisconsin Avenue. My friend Patricia works for Dufour and Company, one of the nation’s most respected event management firms that was hired to make the Gala a spectacular experience. She invited me to help with the reopening. It was incredible. I have never seen a grocery store turn into such an elegant locale. Props to the Dufour team!
Photo: Reed
This Safeway is amazing too! The produce section was flawless, every pepper and bean was in it’s place. I could go into detail about how phenomenal this grocery store is, but check out Bonnie Benwick’s write-up in the Washington Post.
While I was there, I met Angie who was also there helping out with the event. She is a 26-year-old District of Columbia resident who, like me, is currently unemployed. She has a background in nonprofits and marketing. I really liked Angie’s answer when I asked her what she wanted to do professionaly. “I recently did my 10 year plan. During the next 10 years I want to start my own marketing firm that focuses on the needs of nonprofits, schools, and small businesses.”
Angie (Photo: Reed)
I asked Angie to tell me a little about herself and she said, “I love traveling, laughing, and great ideas. And I love cheese…Gouda and other soft cheeses!” We talked about some of her favorite places she has visited. “I really like San Juan, Puerto Rico. The people are so welcoming.” She went on to say, “I love that you can get a delicious meal, a drink, and dessert for $12 there!”
She came to Washington five years ago and enjoys every minute of living here. “There is so much to do in DC. There isn’t a monotonous culture here like some places.”
In response to my question about what she would do about with the $10, Angie said, “Well, I’m a pedestrian. There are a lot of times that I haven’t had enough money to go from point A to point B. So, I am going to keep the money until I find someone who needs help getting someplace.”
Angie allowed me to take speak with her on camera for a few minutes. She talks about the most influential person in her life; her mother. As I said earlier, this was supposed to be posted yesterday. It would have been a perfect tribute to Mother’s Day. Angie also talks about Rwanda, where she was born, and how the genocide there has affected her life.
I gave $10 every day for a year. Would you make a $10 donation (that's less than 3 cents a day!) today to help those in need that I have met through the Year of Giving. You will get updates on how your donation is used.
Year of Giving 