Tag: ubuntu

93 days and I cant wait!

We are exactly 93 days until I leave for Malawi for 2 months. malawi 10

For those who are unaware of this trip or what Something Amazing does, Something Amazing is a nonprofit that helps lower the cost of volunteer trips more affordable for anyone to go. Along with, making trips affordable Something Amazing partners up with a local village and school in order to help the children and people in that village. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world where many people lack basic necessities. In order to help, we must raise enough funds before our first group trip this summer! We currently have two people signed up to go on this group trip.

All money raised will go to our efforts to:malawi 12

  • Send more kids to school
    • It cost roughly $45 a semester to $$125 a semester to send someone to secondary school or college
    • We currently send two boys, Andrea and Freddy, to Secondary school and college.
  • School Supplies for the village
    • Roughly $100 to $150 can supply enough school supplies for 200 students for 6 months.
    • We have two schools we are currently helping.
  • Other projects
    • Bring Freshwater
    • Soccer supplies for the local teams.

This is where you can help!

Below are two links where you can donate:

This link you can donate and ALL proceeds go towards our current programs:

This link you can buy a Spa Basket that is fully handmade with all natural oils. The basket includes soap, bath bomb, soap scrub or bath salts and a handcrafted wooden soap holder.

This basket is $22 or two for $40. Half of the proceeds go towards our programs. 16523173_10212420019240511_1042214776_o-1

Our goal is to raise $1000 in order to help a great help while our there this summer. Do something Great today and help! Majority of money will go directly towards the programs we have planned!!Stay Awesome!Jill

New Things to Come

Everyone says 2016 was their worst year yet. For me, 2016 was one heck of a roller coaster. This year may have had its downfalls, but I enjoyed every curve ball, crying nights, laughing mornings, new adventures, and scary moments. This will not be a blog where I tell you about every amazing or not so amazing things that have happened in the last 364 days. (If you are interested in those adventures, read my previous blogs.)

But I will tell you 3 things I have learned this year:

  1. Travel as much as you can

There is nothing more satisfying in the world than traveling to new destinations. If you have always wanted to travel someplace book your plane ticket. Travelling doesn’t have to be super expensive, nor do you have to wait until you are established in order to travel. In 2017 I am trying to reach as many countries as I can. This year I went 3 (South Africa, France, Bahamas) next year I will aim for 6. I have already booked my ticket for an awesome summer in Southern Africa, but I cannot wait for the other adventures to come.

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  1. You never will have enough money

The biggest thing I learned is money always comes back. Stop working every day and not enjoying life. Take that vacation you always wanted, go to the restaurant you never got a chance to try, buy that shirt you love. In 5 years you’re not going to look back and think I wish I didn’t spend all that money; instead, you will remember the memories you are making. Start saving. Each check after all responsibilities put 50 dollars to the side and after 4 months do something fun with what you saved.

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  1. Meet new people.

Stop being shy and talk to people. 85% of the time if you start a conversation with someone they will answer back. I do not know why people have lost hope in humanity, but not everyone is a serial killer. If you like a person’s shirt, say something,. Want to hang out with someone, invite them over. Stop being shy and staying home alone, meet new people. It is okay to meet new people. Some of my best friends are people I have met overseas, or someone I started a random conversation with.  Start small, all you have to do is say, “Hi.”

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It’s a new year to become a better person than you were last year. Embrace all the downfalls and cheerful times this year has to bring. Something Amazing has some awesome things planned for this year. Including, but not limited to our very first group trip to Malawi. My plane ticket is purchased and I am more than excited.  5 months to go, and a lifetime of memories. 2016 is was amazing and now I am ready for 2017.

 

Happy New Year

Until Next time,

Stay Awesome

Jill

Why Change?

I have officially been home for three months. These three months have been a heap of fun, heartbreak, changtable mountain.jpges and anything else that could have turned my life upside down. Through these three months, I have learned the true meaning of adapting to change. Many of us hate change. As people, we get comfortable in how we live. We tend to stray away from anything different from the usual routine. Coming back home to simple Georgia was one of the hardest things I have done. The transition back to an everyday life of not being in a foreign country has taken a toll on my mind and soul. Some days were extremely difficult and in order to get through the day I reminisced on my adventures and time with my kids.
Other days were great, especially days I ate all the food I missed while aboard. I even went to the extreme lengths and cut my hair off, I am loving my new cut now, but that decision rocked my world for a few weeks.cut hari
Every day for the first month I yearned to be back outside of these country’s borders. Of course, as soon as life started to settle down, and being home didn’t weigh as heavily on my heart, life took another turn. We live in an age where pictures tell a story, every picture is a memory that won’t be lost. I lost majority of my pictures from my South African trip due to my IPhone crashing. It took a few weeks to mentally recover, but I had to realize that the pictures of my kids weren’t the only thing I had left of them. Every day for the second month I did everything I could to find internships in another country. Once presented with an internship in Costa Rica, I was excited to branch my talents and explore a new environment. At this point everything was falling into place, everything I asked for was given to me. Everything does not come at the correct timing’ therefore we must make further adjustments.

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On the third month, everything changed again. I thought Costa Rica was exactly everything I needed at this point in my life. Working alongside a nonprofit as an intern and learning everything needed to properly run a nonprofit. Sadly, I had to turn this opportunity down; in order to study at THE University of Georgia. For those of
my readers that aren’t from the Southern parts of the United States or Georgia, THE University of Georgia is one of the best universities in Georgia and the Southeast. At first, I couldn’t understand why good opportunities kept presenting itself for me to make hard decisions. I was devastated when Costa Rica had to be turned down, but when one door closes God always opens another. Now I am all moved into my new apartment in Athens, Ga and I couldn’t be more excited about the new opportunities awaiting for me at THE Unversity of Georgia.
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I cannot be abroad right now, but everything I do now is to make a better future to travel the world later. Something Amazing has been working hard to secure our trip for next summer. If you or someone you know is interested in going to Malawi please fill out the application.
UPDATE: Freddy has been sent to school with the help of our supporters. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram in order to get weekly updates.
Until next time
Stay Awesome
Jill, Ceo of Something Amazing

Umhle Kakhulu, You are Beautiful.

Our ultimate goal on this road trip was to reach Coffee bay. The only thing we kept hearing is Coffee Bay is amazing, unsure of what we were to expect we drove open minded to one of the best surfing spot in the world.13187846_1164315830275952_1739072613_n
The further we drove to the east coast of South Africa the worse the roads became. Pot holes, sheep, cows and people were casually everywhere on the streets. There were times that a cow would just decide to walk across the street with no warning and each car would have to stop immediately. As we made our way closer to Coffee Bay we were leaving the normal way of life, just by watching how many people walked for hours to a small 3 store town. The houses along the road started to form villages painted with bright florescent colors.

I had an opportunity to hang out in one of the villages with a local drummer. The name of the town translated to “Look Out” because tourists visit because of the colorful houses.
I do not have any pictures of this portion of my trip because  these are just average people living their lives. Many companies take people on tours and watch the locals in their village like a human zoo. This is not fair to the people because they are merely living life. While walking to the village, I ask Zuko how he felt when people would take pictures of him or his family. His simple response was, “Why don’t people just ask to take my picture instead of being a paparazzi?”13235758_1164316190275916_1946271984_n

As we continued the journey one hill away which was a SHORT walk of thirty minutes. We came to the top of the hill where everyone in the community was, ranging from the oldest to the youngest running around dancing to music and enjoying each other’s presence. We came to a circle of about 10 guys who were sitting on a plastic cartons, surrounding about three large beers, just enjoying a chat about life. We walked around the village and saw where his whole family lived: aunts, uncles, brothers, and sisters. His entire family stayed in the same area together. My misconception when I first saw the clay houses was a vision of uneven floors, simple furniture and humble surroundings. To my surprise his grandfather’s house had marble counter tops, beautiful floors, a gorgeous dining room set and a flat screen TV, with many rooms inside. There was electricity and running water inside each hut that was hand made by the owner.13235711_1164316246942577_379499897_n

Many people from the city depict people that live in the village as the most dangerous, and scary people you will ever meet. Every single person we walked said, “Molo, Unjani?” (Hello, how are you?) Then would follow with “Umhle Kakhulu,” (You are beautiful.) The respect level for the elders was high and their words were treated as valuable. I was greeted with cool drinks and a Xhosa lunch, Samp n beans, that everyone in the village eats, which was extremely good. The family bond is extremely strong.  Although the sense of community was powerful, there were the inherent issues. It was 2 o clock in the afternoon and almost every adult was not working, they sat around, drank, and talked all day. No one ever wanted to leave the village. This village was their home and no one could take that away from them. There were things that needed to be fixed and not being addressed.GOPR2259.JPG

The one thing I have taken out of being in Coffee Bay is happiness comes from within, money can solve problems, but in the end its internal happiness. This village in Coffee Bay has stolen my heart and I will return. I do not know when, but I will accomplish this task. Zuko and Akhona have promised me a spot of land to build my colorful hut.

I will be posting more blogs and stories shortly. I was limited on my wifi due to the areas we were in.

Until Next time Coffee Bay,

Stay Awesome

Jill

 

Ubuntu

There is a South African philosophy, Ubuntu, which was widely taught by Nelson Mandela and many other inspirational figures. Ubuntu roughly means, “I am, because of you.” In order to impact the world you must impact a person; when you impact one person you then impact a community. Many people have donated to my trip and have sent many encouraging words. I want to publically say thank you, nothing anyone has done for me has gone in vein. The donations I received have put me in an amazing position to impact many children’s lives.

I love all of my kiddies from the top of my heart to the bottom of my feet. I give these kids all of my love each day. From the moment I walk into the room at 9 am, to the moment I leave the place at 4:30pm. Any one working with children will tell you that it is 12648170_1089227457784790_1676866789_nnot a job for the weak at heart. Volunteering at Christine Revell is an extremely emotionally draining roller coaster that I must endure. For example, today the little boy, Immunati, he is a 2 years old and has been at the orphanage since the beginning of January and hasn’t made any noise other than crying. A 2 year old boy that does not make any joyful noises or say any words is a bit odd. Today his Aunt came to visit, in the beginning they discouraged the family to come visit because it was making the adjustment period worse for Immunati. In the last week, I have seen him smile, and today he actually started to make happy sounds while he was playing. The joy that filled my heart is something I cannot put into words. He has made such an amazing progress in the short three weeks I have been here. While his Aunt was leaving his cries were piercing to the ears and the heart; I can only imagine what his Aunt was feeling. Although Immunati may not truly understand what is going on now; she made an incredible selfless decision to give him a better home.

Nelson Mandela once told a reporter, “Ubuntu does not mean that people should not address themselves. The question therefore is, are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you, and enable it to improve? These are important things in life. And if you can do that, you have done something very important.” There are many days where at the end of the work day I am drained beyond belief, but because I was able to comfort one child it made it worth the while. These kids need me at my best; therefore I use my weekends to recharge and come back stronger than ever. The giant smiles I receive when I walk in on a Monday morning confirms my decision to volunteer here.