“Look how cute I look in my chitenge!” This was Theresa’s first response as I walked her through the 2018 Bridge Walk campaign site on a recent Skype call. She was looking at the landing page of the site, featuring a photo of Josephine and Theresa, who do, indeed, look cute. And I would add beautiful and stately.
Raising funds for a project can sometimes place a spotlight on a sense of lack, and we were very clear that we wanted to gather together around celebrating what there IS. There IS a great deal of love, courage, generosity, tenacity and inspiration in this project.
This year’s campaign is laid out in 9 -- 10 counting the landing page -- lovely stories of the everyday leadership of the Living Compassion community in Kantolomba. The campaign recognizes the 35 heroes who show up to do the work of nourishing 1,000 children on every level. The theme Follow Their Lead celebrates the transformation in the last 13 years and acknowledges that, thankfully, we will never be complete.
It was deliberate that we used the word Family in the tagline of the campaign: Celebrating Courage, Generosity and Family. As we read the stories and viewed the stunning photos on the site, Theresa and I found ourselves overwhelmed with the gratitude and seeming impossibility that a chance encounter in Assisi, Italy, some 15 years ago would have led communities 10,000 miles apart to become family.
This is our family. What a particularly poignant time to take in that we belong to something that is love, courage, generosity, compassion, kindness.
If you have not done so, I invite you to visit the campaign site and begin with reading Josephine’s story. Watch to see in what way you feel inspired to “Follow Their Lead,” and when the voices object, see if you can borrow the courage and willingness of our heroes in Kantolomba. You might even consider having fun!
And for extra credit, follow Theresa’s lead today and acknowledge, preferably out loud, how cute you are!
In gassho,
Jen