HUB Goes to Africa - July/Aug 08

Africa photo video track from Charlie

Watch this photo track from Charlie - make sure your speakers are on so you can hear the music....

Olympic Gold Heart Medallions: Memories of Africa

Olympic Gold Heart Medallions: Memories of Africa

Are we back? "Are you back?" friends and family ask. Yes and no. My mind is so full of memories it's hard to say. Going to Africa with Shauna, Spryte and Charlie has been a phenomenal experience  that is hard to put into words, so I'll try to find time to post video stills and links to some raw footage as things move forward. HUBbie Leslie will be adding her fantastic photos, stories, insights and adventures in service, coordinating HUB on the ground at the Jubilee Children's Center over in Kenya, in a new blog - click here to read Leslie's blog posts.

The HUB Team worked amazingly well together and I am so psyched, very proud of what HUB has birthed and what we have documented...

Charlie birthed Social Marketing for the Poor.

Spryte's humanitarian vision took on new horizons and she is still
blooming ideas and plans.

Shauna delivered Fair Trade for HUB's Global Marketplace in a big way.

I looked into the eyes of the General and saw the vacant stare of the
most hardened I've ever seen on the planet, before hearing him sing
with the open heart of a new General for peace.

(stay tuned for more on General Benjamin and former child soldiers)

video from Kenya...raw adventure clip #1:

OLYMPIC GOLD: HUB and Feed The Children feed over 2000 school kids twice a day in Kenya's worst slum
http://www.divshare.com/download/5198678-b75
http://blip.tv/file/1181069/
Charlie, Larry and Spryte in action at Olympic Elementary in Kibera. Here is the first 90 seconds or so unedited...the kids were pumped, very happy to be getting fed and maybe take some home to share with their families living in absolute poverty in Kibera.

Yes, the trip was great, and sharing a room and keeping up with Charlie was a trip. Classic Charlie. He DID warn me about the snoring. And the man can give a speech in his sleep as well! Unstoppable brilliance! LOL. Charlie is a champ and knows how to throw credit where it's due. 'God is good...all the time', as the Team likes to say. Chelsea was the soccer team, no matter where we were - and that always sparked a few smiles and lively chatter if no other words were understood. Soccer and music are two universal languages for sure. For music, we didn't even try - our singing was nowhere close to what Africans were pulling off everywhere we went - in church, on Heaven Hill, in the field, under the trees and under the stars - Africans know how to sing with passion. Maybe we would've had some positive affect if we'd attempted singing Hotel California (by The Eagles - that one is adored everywhere it seems, but just doesn't compare to what we heard everyday).

In post-war Liberia, Kimmie Weeks is the man. His brilliance is absolutely unstoppable, especially with his all-star staff of intelligent, well-dressed, street-savvy young professionals at Youth Action International. He also leads and unites youth in action nationwide with his Youth Caucus, which has more than a few brilliant team players making positive change for communities near and far. Kimmie has a vision for the next generation of global citizens. He is a true leader in all matters of service - compassion, courage, wisdom, strength, generosity of spirit and effective leadership - for many critical and timely impact programs in his home country - including orphanages, ravaged communities, former child soldiers, students, future leaders and everyday people. Always looking forward, Kimmie is passing on his vision, skills and legacy by creating a global youth movement that will transform entire nations - empowered community by empowered community - by organizing and providing grassroots democratic frameworks to connect and empower people and provide mentorship and leadership training, as well as the basics like food, water, education and micro-loans which we are so happy to support at HUB.

So yeah Liberia was REALLY non-stop with Kimmie. On our night out in Gran Bassa / Buchanan - way out there with minimal electric and running water in many areas - and after a very long day of travel: torrential rain and potholes for hours, a euphoric church reception and service in Gran Bassa (where Charlie, Spryte and Kimmie were robed and the music flowed), a community meeting that went for hours, a Youth Caucus meeting that went past dark, and then two radio station interviews (the rest of team HUB had already headed back to the hotel in Buchanan), Kimmie and his staff took me out for some 'local food'.

"We're go-ing to have some lo-cal food" Kimmie said in his customary slowly-purposeful drawl, and just a little tired. "You're invited to join us if you choose, it's my fav-o-rite food....although I have to warn you...it's raally haard-coore." I wasn't sure what he meant but if it's his favorite food I figured it must be pretty good so I went for it. And it was. Tapageé is the local dish that resembles a cajun fish and rice dish, but has much more going on. What, exactly? Not sure, just know that is is hardcore. And delicious, and goes well with cold Club beer, another local tradition in Gran Bassa. By the time we got to the hotel it was a veritable dance party across the street - in Gran Bassa, about 20 people and a disco ball and a dancefloor in one room eventually got put to good use before we all pretty much collapsed. Charlie had a rough night - and a great story - texting Kimmie 'help' with a bad stomach and a locked bathroom door at 2:30am - you have to hear Charlie tell that one. Absolutely classic!

Liberia Recap
with Kimmie Weeks, founder of Youth Action International (YAI)
http://www.youthactioninternational.org/yai/
Day One Arrival: from LAX- NYC - Ghana to Monrovia, Liberia, we left the airport in a three-vehicle motorcade and averted classic chaos with Kimmie's help and went directly to two different  orphanages - the second (Eleanor's was way out there off the beaten path and in great need) and then we went to downtown Monrovia's YAI office for a press conference that was in the paper the next day. Most of Liberia was a blur - and a few adventures have already been chronicled:
Eleanor's orphanage - in great need of basics
Doris' orphanage - where we are building a school
Kimmie's Buchanan church, community and youth caucus events / meetings
Women's empowerment - at least 3 groups Micro Loan / Fair Trade in Liberia
Logantown: "worse than Soweto" - Shauna spotted embroidery on a clothesline,
                      next thing you know she is starting a fair trade, microloan operation
Amazing Grace, Inc. - recycled plastic bottles into beautiful jewelry
Juliet and the women's center, introducing microloan and business opportunities
Charlie and Kimmie - a microloan discussion with the local Governor
Child Soldiers and Social Marketing For The Poor, say hello to the General for Peace
Community Building with Kimmie across the board
Spinal Chord Injury - Kimmie's friend Pi bedridden for over three years
The Enabled Project - empowerment for the disabled on Heaven Hill

So yes the schedule was intense - even after Kimmie's non-stop tour in Liberia, we found new definitions for traffic in Nairobi, Kenya, which slowed us down, but we still had very full days like the road trip to meet with the artistic, cantankerous Massai tribespeople who create very cool beaded jewelry, belts and things - and then went off to discover the modern day creative brilliance of Julie and her recycled flip-flop paradise shop. Shauna was on fire that day in particular - said she'd been waiting two years for it and it was pretty amazing to document all that went down (didn't even mention the meeting beforehand with the fair trade non-profit research and policy gurus at SIMA). Safari Park Hotel in Kenya was great - perfect for a conference or a jumping off point for adventures in the slums, the wilds or the city. Thanks to Christopher & Toni Law and their daughter Tana for their worldly expertise navigating Kenya. Larry and Frances Jones are the real deal in Kenya - you have to see it to believe all they have taken on and committed to in all-star fashion with his Feed The Children and her Abandoned Baby Center. And let's not forget AlyceJo and Joe Symmon and their Child of Destiny operation with their magical Jubilee Center. AlyceJo welcomed us with a meal made for kings and queens - homegrown vegetables and homestyle cooking on their flowing sustainable farm, orphanage and school compound. I will save the surprises with a certain newly-inspired preacher / arch-bishop in the making...meanwhile Joe delivered one incredible sermon with all the children leading their own delegation, with songs as well. Oh yeah, then there's the women of Korogochu, inspired with the seeds of hope and plans to have their own trade business through the sudden possibility of micro-loans, singing "Love is Sweeter Than Honey" and dancing, lighting up an otherwise downbeat super-dismal unidentifiable street in the slums. Then there is the Kenyan coffee, and the Lebanese coffee, and the trip south to Kimusu with Charlie on our last day with Fred Mango (Jack's man on the ground in Kenya from Raincatcher). Lots of happy singing. More on that later. We have tons and tons of footage...

HUBbies on the road and at home, our enlightened impact partners, amazing new contacts and friends alike are all realizing our collective potential as we join together under this big umbrella called HUB. It's time to get beyond what is happening with your email, your commute, your day-to-day ritual and look over the horizon, expand our visions and make more effective change happen. Visiting and sharing stories from Africa provides an opportunity to easily shift our perspective in that direction - and see that what HUB is introducing as a model is something that is in complete alignment for a very positive and powerful global transformation. We are the catalysts of change so thank you for reading this and sharing your experiences of positive change happening in the world, of connections large and small, and vision far and wide.

And now back and wanting to keep charging despite the 30 hour road trip back...and just getting through the jet lag and fatigue of a long stretch. Thanks to Shauna helping out with audio as a boom operator, and to Charlie, Spryte, Brandon and everyone who helped make the trip possible and to everyone reading this now. Looking forward to hearing more from inspired HUB members visiting Africa in October! Much love & many blessings, Francis

Out of Africa...

Our last day in Africa we got a nice surprise. Shauna and I went back to the outskirts of the Korogocho slums to meet up with EcoSandals, a fair trade group she discovered that makes sandals out of recycled tires, leather, and blue jeans. She was excited to see if they could teach our new microloan group with Joe and Alyce, as well as be open to teaching a new trade in Liberia, whose number one natural resource is rubber. We got the thrill of our lives when we met Leslie and Alyce there, and Leslie told us that they had met with the ten microloan women again just a couple hours before, and had some great news for us!

The 10 women of Korogocho had decided - among themselves - after we had visited them the afternoon before, that they were no longer viewing themselves as sick! They chose to see themselves as well and empowered and capable of creating a new life. Remember Amena and Nuria, the mother and daughter I wrote about who both have AIDS? She was the first to stand up in a new commitment of health, according to Leslie.

Who could have guessed or predicted that our visit, and our offer of hope would create such a ripple of empowerment? It was the perfect send off. A confirmation of the work we were doing here, of the foundation we were laying. And I got a bigger glimpse of the difference we as an entire community are and will be making as we continue to grow HUB together.

Does that just make you commit all the more to your decision to support HUB? If that doesn’t, I don’t know what will. Products will come and go. People you may or may not know in your impact team will come and go. Your experiences every day will come and go. But the impact you have already had on that one woman’s life – in that moment when she chose that she was no longer ill because she had hope that somebody cared about her and her family – is forever etched in the book of time.

A thirty-hour travel schedule to get back to the US. Was it worth it – every neck ache, stiff muscle and sense of exhaustion I felt?  In more ways than I can count really.

The pain of leaving was great. It felt like home. Even though I still felt uneasy driving through the crowded, crazy streets, tempted to roll up my window even though there was no immediate threat of danger. Even though the smell of exhaust fumes choked me, made me feel nauseous at times and have wreaked havoc on my complexion (yes, that's why Charlie lovingly calls me a Diva!). Even though there were people living everywhere in what we would call “filth” here is the States, and I couldn't wait to get back to my hotel every day to shower.

That sense of “home,” I will conclude, is from something I can’t explain in words. It is a deep resonance. Maybe it is from witnessing and having the opportunity to learn from a very connected people who have managed to survive in unbearable conditions. Maybe there is, in the midst of having little, a sense of community and family and connectedness to each other and to Spirit, that we in more developed countries long for, amidst our “things” that make life comforting.

Whatever it is, I REALLY miss it already. And I cannot wait to go back. I did not feel that way after I spent seven glorious days in vacation in Mexico. I did not feel that way after spending ten luscious days in Tahiti. Sure I want to go back to those places – but I did not LONG to leave my bags at the airport in that moment and head back to my destination as I did with Africa. It’s not about what, but WHO.

So I propose, HUBbies, that we take this into each of our hearts and remember that it’s not about "what" we are doing at HUB, but WHO we are doing it with, and WHO we are affecting.

“It’s not about what, but WHO,” is my new mantra.

I hope that each of you will make the decision and commitment to join us in Africa for a Purposing Your Brilliance conference, where you will get to witness with your own eyes, and touch with your own hands the lives that are being changed – including YOUR OWN.

I thank you from depths of my heart for your commitment to HUB; for your willingness to help us launch this grass roots organization; for going through the uncomfortable stages of birth with us; for celebrating our diversity; for your patience; for your absolute BRILLIANCE that is making HUB the largest force for good on the planet. Thank you.

My promise to each woman and child as I left them each day was, "I will continue working hard." That seemed to me a strange thing at the time to come out of my mouth. But as I reflected on it, I realized that we all work hard at something when we are committed to it! I'm grateful to be able to work hard for something that brings me and others such immense hope and joy. To me, there is no greater reason - and that's where working hard becomes joyous. I hope you join me in that commitment.

God Bless you! Please keep checking in for new updates from our HUBbie in the fields of KENYA, Leslie Brown, as she helps us prepare for Purposing Your Brilliance in October. With love and gratitude, Spryte

home

Well, we have arrived back in the United States after the most amazing heart-opening two weeks of my life. You will find when you go to Africa that it is not entering Africa that gives you culture shock, but it is upon return to the U.S that you become a little freaked out.  Freaked out by the unnecessary amount of things we consider necessities. There is something about Africa that always calls me back and on this past trip I finally realized what that was - it is the feeling and total witnessing of the fragility of life, and through recognizing the fragility of our lives, we begin to appreciate every moment and look at each new day as a gift and an unknown adventure.  Nothing in Africa is planned or organized; it is chaotic, but there is order in that chaos, and a stillness that runs through it all, a stillness that I have never felt in any other place.  This stillness and connection with a divine source is what I believe fuels the unbelievable strength of the human spirit that I witnessed throughout Africa - the spirits in the tin sheds who were HIV-positive and alone but still said thank you God; the spirits that were thrown into garbage cans when they were babies but still they sing loud and dance with such joy. 

Thank you, Africa, for showing me your true self, for sharing your stories, and wisdom, and above all showing me the potential of the human spirit. 

HUB community, what you are supporting is a new world, a world that says all is possible, leaving no one behind.

In overwhelming gratitude this morning for all that is in life, and for all that there is to come, and for HUB being a part of creating a world that works for everyone.
sincerely, shauna

Shauna's Day of Brilliance!

What an honor it is to know that HUB is already (having officially launched less than two months ago) not only helping in the fields of compassion, but also helping its members discover and live in their purpose and brilliance! I'm so proud of Shauna, and so grateful HUB gets to benefit from her love and creativity.

We called yesterday, "Shauna's Fair Trade Day." Our first stop was to CIMA - Center for International Market Access, which is a foundation funded by the Gatsby Trust (yes, of the actual Great Gatsby! F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about). This is an incredible organization that trains, sets up and supports Microloan programs in Kenya. This group was like finding gold! In fact, they will be providing us all who come in October for Purposing Your Brilliance a microcredit education of a lifetime, and guidance for programs we wish to establish in Liberia, and the US as well! After a fabulous meet and greet meeting, two from the organization, Susan and Lucy, drove with us an hour to a Massai village where we met with a group of mostly women who started a microloan business beading in the Massai tradition. It was the experience of a lifetime spending time with these beautiful women, learning about their craft, their vision, their challenges, their hopes - and of course, welcoming them and their goods to our HUB Global Village and Marketplace - to which we got an incredible celebration song in their native tongue, and ear to ear smiles and gratitude! What a gift to know that every purchase of their beautiful beaded jewelry, belts or coasters is supporting the rescue of Masai girls from forced marriage and FGM (Female Genital Mutilation), their education and supporting an entire village.

We then went to the city of Karen (founded by Karen Blixon who wrote "Out of Africa") where we visited UniqueEco, what Shauna calls "Fair Trade Heaven," full of the most beautiful and totally creative fair trade products I've ever seen! Founded by a woman who was a marine biologist who discovered flip-flops in the thousands washing up on the shores of Kenya from other lands. She turned a national issue of waste and environmental disaster into a lucrative business of ingenuity by recycling the flip flops into everything you can possibly imagine - from jewelry to toys, to artwork! Now known world-wide, she will also be leading us through an incredible journey of discovery in October, where we will actually get to participate in the recycling and creation of fair trade products!

Shauna deserves an incredible round of applause for her vision for our Global Marketplace, and for leading us to groups, programs and knowledge that is Uniting us with great talent with great hearts for change.

Our day ends with dinner in Karen, actually on property that once belonged to Karen Blixen, for dinner with HUBbie Tana - Christopher and Toni Law's daughter (Kenya Water Wells Trust) who has lived in Kenya for 15 years, and shares incredible stories with us of her amazing adventures in this grand, proud, beautiful and deeply transforming country.

Today, Charlie and Francis left at 5am to catch a charter plane to visit and film our FOUR Raincatcher schools in another part of Kenya. Shauna and I are off to another slum with the ladies of CIMA, to meet with another fair trade microloan group of women who we will invite to "teach" the women in the Koragocho slums whom Joe and Alyce are helping, a new trade! The unity and brilliance spreads with a little support from us all.

If you've been on the fence about coming to Kenya in October, the time is now to get off the fence, and know that you will have the experience of a lifetime that will affect you, your family, your business, your path and purpose in ways you cannot know, but will be blessed from greatly. Bringing those blessings back to the US or Canada will help you support your own country in ways that are needed - now.

God bless you all - see you soon...love Spryte

Ricky

They call him Ricky - he is a massai boy who has lost both of his parents and is HIV positive; he was found a couple weeks ago on the verge of death out in massai country, and now he holds my hand. His face is so fragile and his eyes look distant as though he is still trying to make sense of this all. He has been given a second chance at life, a life in which he will be given food, medication, an education, and above all an outpouring of love.   

I met Ricky today at Larry and Francis Jones' abandoned baby center. The best word to describe this place is heaven, but can only be fully understood when you witness first-hand the situations these children are coming from. Coming from dumps, tin houses, and buses, into a place where every child has a beautiful hand-made bed with a smiling lamb to hold at night. Being with Larry Jones today was a surreal moment in life - to be with him here in Kenya and watch him in the field. He has become a new mentor for me; a mentor that portrays what it truly means to serve endlessly, without ego, without an agenda, but to serve because you are human and there is another in need. 

Another eye opening day; each day brings a new layer, going deeper into the soul of humanity. Thank you HUB!!! Leslie Brown here in Kenya sends her love, and dad I love you, and can’t wait to share this all with you.

shauna

Holding Hands

Yesterday afternoon was our first half-day off in eleven days - Shauna has a great photo of Charlie, Francis and myself "crashed" in lounge chairs on the patio! That was after a morning I will never forget - one that will viscerally stay with me.

Joe and Alyce Symmons took us to the Korachoco slum - it's the worst slum (meaning dangerous as well as devastating) in all of Nairobi, with over 300,000 inhabitants. We had to be escorted by two armed police officers. Our other guide besides Joe and Alyce, who have been visiting this slum and pulling kids out for over five years, I will call "Saint" Mary. She has lived in the slum for thirty years. Walking thru the dirty, rat strewn streets with her was like being with Santa Claus - everyone loves her so much.

They took us to see two women whom Alyce has been visiting for years - they both have HIV/AIDS, and so do their children. The first woman, Angela, has the saddest eyes I've ever seen, and is frail. We all crowd into her home - an 8 x 10 foot metal shack with a dirt floor where ten family members live. Her daughter Alice and her grandson are also there - also infected with the disease. Angela's mother lives across the street - also infected. Four generations.

The women have little hope for work to earn any money. If they are lucky - and well enough to work - they might get a job washing someone's laundry if they walk out of the slum - very far. They will earn 75 shillings. That's $1.10US. They won't get work every day - which means they won't eat every day. That is not enough for her whole family, so she will feed the children and possibly not eat herself. If things get really bad, the other thing she can do is sell her body for sex. It's all she has - and how she (or many women like her) get AIDS. Her first four children are born HIV positive - and the first two die. She then learns that if she can get to a free hospital (far from her home) to have her next baby, she can be given a medicine so that her baby is born HIV negative. She does for her last child - who is free of HIV ... so far.

We talk to Alice, Angela's daughter, about starting a business, and she smiles uncontrollably at the possibility. (Thank God, I'm thinking, that the HUB community has already supplied Joe and Alyce with the help to begin their microloan program - and we can actually offer real HOPE to her and not an empty promise - THANK YOU HUBbies!) And I was right - the next thing Angela shares is that many people come and visit, and many people promise to help - but don't come back. And, again, I am grateful in that second for all of us and all of you reading this blog.

Our next stop is to the home of Amena and her beautiful daughter Nuria. They both are infected. Nuria's legs are so thin and scarred - I have never actually seen a child up close so sick. I ask Amena if she has to worry about her children when she goes out to find work (when she feels well enough) to get the family some food. She says (through an interpreter, as she only speaks Swahili) "Yes. I am afraid for them. I have no way to protect them, and don't know what I will come home to. My heart is here with them trying to protect them, even when I am gone from here." I sense what she is saying, and Alyce confirms my suspicions, that while gone, her child may be raped. We ask to say a prayer with Amena, and she prays with us in her native tongue. I have tears from the power of her prayer though I don't understand a single word.

I reach over to give her some money - I must. And she begins to cry uncontrollably, barely getting out the words, "I didn't know what we were going to eat today. I've been praying to God. Thank you."

And then...Nuria begins to wail with her mother - the most heart-wrenching sound I have ever heard in my entire life. We are all sobbing and hugging. And when I don't think I can take any more, Alyce says we have one more stop... it's the proposed location of the Women and Children's center in the heart of the slum. When we arrive - all TEN of the women Alyce Symmons has chosen to be the first recipients of the microloans and the training of a usable skill that they will then teach others in the slum, are there - and those lovely women we just met are among them! Thank God - there is a beam of hope rising from the dirt. It is not HUB to the rescue - it is rather HUB uniting the brilliance that is there hidden inside the rusted metal, trash and disease.

I leave emotionally exhausted, and with a smile in my heart as Joe, Alyce, Mary and our HUB entourage talk about the actual plans and activities that are already occurring to birth this dream into an immediate reality.

Today begins at 6am. A quick breakfast and we are in the car by 7am to meet up with Larry Jones of Feed the Children at the Francis Jones Abandoned Baby Center (ABC)  - Larry tells us in his easy-going way that makes everyone fall in love with him, that "Anyone who can put up with me for over fifty years, deserves to have a building named after her!" It is a DREAM COME TRUE to be in the fields of Africa with a maverick humanitarian like Larry. And his ABC is like walking from hell into heaven. You could eat off the floor. It's a model for what can be created with vision, love and sustained abundance. It feeds, houses and educates children through eighth grade, and integrates the children with mental and physical disabilities - no child is turned away.

FINALLY, Larry takes us to the Olympic school that THE HUB COMMUNITY is supporting ... it is in the BIGGEST slum in the world - over one million people. Its called Kibura. We are immediately hit with the stench of trash and I cannot believe my eyes, as to the miles it seems of tattered metal roofs before me as we approach. We arrive on a Saturday, but Larry has arranged for all of the children to be in school so that we can meet them... they got an extra meal this week they weren't expecting as a result. We are now feeding them TWO meals a day - which has risen the school attendance nearly 45% to 2,460! There are still many children on a waiting list, but these children are not only being fed and educated, what we witnessed before our eyes, was that they eat a little, and then bag up the rest and take it home to their siblings not able to attend school - we are helping to feed many more than that "3" we speak about.

Some may say, is it enough? I prefer to see that all we do is enough - no, we aren't feeding them all; no, we aren't feeding them a three course meal. But if we, the HUB community, was not feeding what we are, these children would not come to school - and in those classrooms, they receive an education - and some will get out. No, not all - not yet; but some will. And as we met with the head of the High School next door, who is Obama's cousin, we recognize that if even ONE gets out and shines his or her brilliance - the world is blessed.

Off to bed...thank you HUBbies - we love you so much. Spryte

A Whole World of Difference

Hello All!

Thanks for following our journey here...

With one foot on the gas with an early cup of Kenyan cappuccino, I'm happy to join my fellow HUBie travelers with a first blog. It will have to be short - leaving in 18 minutes and still have to pack camera and audio gear for the day...

Things are a bit non-stop, but all seems to be going very well. We are visiting some of the 'worst slums on the planet' today in Nairobi...so far, first impressions: Liberia feels much more alive and connected - even as a nation in turmoil - it's just so full of good will and hope despite an atrocious prevailing state of poverty. Those impressions undoubtedly have a lot to do with the numerous powerful experiences orchestrated by Kimmie Weeks, from women's groups in the city of Monrovia, to empowering communities in his parents' rural hometown in Buchanan, to an area 'worse than Soweto' known as Logantown, to a couple of wonderful orphanages, to Maurice and General Benjamin's former child soldier encampment - many many amazing people and stories.

In comparison, Kenya feels more 'developed' and stable while choking on its own diesel and poor engineering standards...'colder than its ever been in Africa' here now, dry and very dusty. Our first visit in Kenya yesterday was to our friends' orphanage (The Jubilee Center) and that really was a big ray of sunshine - a sustainable farm with many singing children, created by Joe and AlyceJo who are just incredibly inspiring people who I've been lucky enough to work with since joining HUB back in the USA.

The human spirit is alive and well :)

Here are a couple video stills from Liberia if I can manage to post...

(a large group shot from the former child soldiers' encampment, and a couple of cuties from Eleanor's orphanage)

In Gratitude,

Francis

Farewell and Hello

Leaving Liberia - it’s not possible. There was a part of me that woke each day in Liberia thinking that I couldn’t possibly be shown anything new – I must have seen it all by now. I mean how many war-ravaged houses, store fronts and streets can you see. And how can one poor village or orphanage be that much different than the rest. That must have been the tired part of me – that was longing for that familiar feeling of feeling really safe, clean and comfortable again. Don’t get me wrong. We were in a nice hotel (no roaches!), and always had escorts every second. And yet, even after a week, I still felt uneasy walking down the streets, or taking pictures of people as I drove by, and never fully felt squeaky clean for very long.

And there was another part of me that awoke knowing that what I would yet again experience in this day would add to the incredibly transforming Spryte – that is being reshaped every moment with a new, deeper, sense of destiny and more passionate sense of purpose than I’ve ever known.

Two days ago, we spent the morning in our first Liberian HUB Igniter! We played the new Experience HUB Live, and Sharing the Vision presentation for the Team at Youth Action International from the copy of the Kick Start DVD Charlie had brought with him (Yes, I know! You want YOURS. Don’t feel bad; I don’t even have a copy yet!) They loved Experience HUB Live, and had lots of questions obviously. A long-time vision for the founders has been to see our social networking model itself being the vehicle for third world countries, and not just the humanitarian impact dollars. The key has been to find a way for even the poorest people in the world to get started. Well, Charlie may have come up with it; we ran it by the team, who, once they got it, were ALL smiles, and ready to not only join HUB, but ready to build an army of their people to help create the largest force for good on the planet. We also did this presentation to the Former Child Soldiers led by our new friends, Morris and Benjamin – The General - who were also very excited by the model, it’s brilliance, and the potential for what we are now calling, “Social Marketing for the Poor,” (at least until we officially run it by HUB co-founder Elizabeth Jarosz for a branding and marketing check!)

By the time we made it out of the office, had lunch and got back to the office to reconnect with the team that was taking us to our next stop it was nearly dark. Getting around in Liberia is extremely interesting – there are no stop signs or lights anywhere, and no speed limit. Though you do have to wear a seat belt, as we discovered one day when our beloved Charlie forgot to put his on, and we got pulled over! The driver got a ticket (which Charlie, of course, paid) for $8 American dollars. Some things are very inexpensive here (rent, cell phone usage, water), and other things are just as expensive as in America (food, clothing, household goods, gasoline) – which is really bad, because the average income is $300US a year.

Anyway, we make it to our destination just before the sun sets. It’s on top of a hill, and we immediately feel like we are in a special place – Francis ends up calling it, “Heaven Hill.” It is the site of the combined Youth Action International and HUB project called, “Enabled,” serving the disabled orphans, refugees and former child soldiers from the war. Kimmie shares that the focus of YAI taking on this project is to help the country begin to look at the disabled differently – in fact to see them not as disabled, but enabled (which has a different connotation often in the US, but in Liberia works). We are greeted outside by our First HUB Project Sign! By about forty young men and women in wheelchairs and some on crutches – the sight instantly fills my eyes with tears, as their smiles beam out across the grass to greet us. They form a circle around us and proceed to sing us welcome songs and lead us through a blessed program to understand their gratitude to Kimmie and the HUB community for support. The facility is on fifteen acres, ready for planting, spots for basketball and football, and the newly renovated building, where they will learn skills and trades such as sewing and wood carving/carpentry, smells of fresh paint. These are the blessed ones! They were gifted this land! They are – and we are – as we work with them to support and empower them at the same time - helping them shine a light of love and healing from that hilltop that will surely transform more lives in Liberia.

Yesterday, we left Liberia – today I am in Kenya – a whole new world. I feel like I just left my home and my new family – and I already deeply miss Kimmie Weeks and the team at Youth Action International, and our impact partners there so much. In a week’s time, I feel they are forever a part of me. There is something so incredibly special about Liberia. There is a spirit of hope there that is undeniable. And one can’t help but want to support that.

And Today… we arrived in Kenya - to the open loving arms of another new family. Joe and Alycce Symmons of The Jubilee Center greet us - along with several HUBbies who were here for the July Tour with Christopher Law of Kenya Wells Trust - with a scrumptious organic, home-grown lunch - that is the best food I've eaten since leaving the US! FRESH VEGGIES!!! Hooray! Their farm is incredible that feeds the children at the orphanage and provides surplus for them to sell to the local market as well! What an amazing contrast from Liberia to Kenya - desolation to two lovely people who have found a way to created Sustained Abundance in the midst of poverty! But that’s a story for tomorrow, as I’ve had two hours of sleep, its again after 8pm, we are just arriving back. Time to eat and go to bed …I’ll share later about the ever increasing precious moments from today, as well as our visit tomorrow to one of the largest and worst slums in the World…. We are making such an enormous impact community – thank you!

One more thing? We are finalizing the program for Purposing in October! It is going to be an absolutely life transforming, rich event! Kenya holds the more diverse landscapes of the human experience within her borders - from just a few hours of experiencing her, Kenya is buzzing with the richest wildlife in the world, to the deepest cuts of poverty and bold, courageous human beings reaching one another with the purest love and compassion! Please come join us in October for the humanitarian trip of a lifetime - I cannot wait to spend time with you in the Kenya fields of compassion.

With love and blessings to you and your families, Spryte

Why should I cry like a baby

When I went to Heavens Hill (our name for it), a 15 acre site inhabited by the physically and mentally handicapped former child soldiers and refugees that were abandoned by parents fleeing from the rebels and their villages.  When I saw a train of wheel chairs with little children with stumps pushing veterans in their chairs across the bumpy terrain. When I saw the sign outside the freshly painted building with "sponsored by Humanity Unites Brilliance" on it. When I heard the sound of angels singing to the heavens in thanks to us as we came after all donors had left. When I saw the glow in the smiles and the love in the hearts of so many that have what God has for them.......Then I cry like a baby in public and gratitude floods through me.

I love this country, Liberia and I love you and I love uniting humanity in brilliance.

Today is a travel night to Kenya. We have left giving and receiving new horizons to ourselves and to many  people here.