04.15.10
Posted in Empowering Women, Gardens, Global Gardens, Making a Difference at 7:10 pm by Administrator
In March 2009, while the First Lady, Michelle Obama was planting the White House Kitchen Garden, I was in Guatemala, building 40 vegetable gardens with women.
Mongolian women with seeds
This weekend seeds were distributed in Mongolia.
We are now expanding the gardens on a global basis. I am organizing an international group to go back to Guatemala in June, and am starting a gardens project in Africa. Mongolia is already in process. India is also on the list.
The pictures you see are the women, distributing the seeds among themselves, and the gardens. This is a self reliance project where we build gardens in each womens home. We do it together as a team and each week tour several gardens to see the fruits of the labor.
Check out the CNN report at: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-431459
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04.04.10
Posted in Central American Adventure, Empowering Women, Gardens, Guatemala at 2:55 pm by Administrator
Join us for a journey to Guatemala – June 19 – July 3!
The Gardens of El Remate
Visit the beautiful village of El Remate where we will work with local women to build and maintain vegetable gardens for the care and feeding of their families. Empowering ourselves while empowering others.
Journey to Tikal, the ancient Mayan pyramids, on summer solstice (June 21) for a daykeeper fire ceremony on this very powerful day in the Mayan Calendar, 13/Transformer.
Experience Lake Peten-Itza where we will swim, relax, and meditate on the unique gifts we each bring to this world and the greatness we have to offer.
Learn, love, and laugh in the spiritual heart of the hemisphere.
Travel Itinerary
Saturday, June 19 Fly to Guatemala City, GUA and to Flores, Peten, Guatemala (FRS), ground transfer to Hotel Gringo Perdido, El Remate
June 20: Travel to Tikal, overnight at the Tikal Inn
June 21: Sunrise and Fire ceremony for Summer Solstice in Tikal, return to Gringo Perdido for the next 5 nights
June 22-29: service in El Remate
June 30: Travel back to Guatemala City for return flight
Central Plaza - Tikal
:
- Gardening, gardening, gardening (morning and late afternoon)
- Yoga and meditation
- Swims in the lake, sunbathing on the dock
- Guided tour of Tikal with visits at sunrise and sunset
- Authentic Mayan teachings, ceremony and cultural anthropology
- Workshops and coaching to identify your soul’s purpose, unique gifts and talents to be given to the world
Dock at Gringo Perdido
Beautiful Hotel Gringo Perdido: quiet, on the lake, great food
Lodging: Double occupancy at El Gringo Perdido eco-lodge on Lake Peten-Itza. http://hotelgringoperdido.com/ - 11 nights.
1 night Tikal Inn, http://www.tikalinn.com/
Solo travelers will be paired. If special needs require single occupancy, an additional $250 fee will be required.
Food and Drink: Large breakfast and dinner provided – 3rd meal and alcohol are available at travelers expense. Bottled drinking water is readily available.
Costs – $1200 per person including accommodations at Gringo Perdido, in and out bound ground transfers, NOT INCLUDING AIRFARES
Deposit: 50% required upon registration by Monday, May 3, 2010
Balance Due: 50% required by Monday, May 31, 2010
Fee does not include airfare, gratuities, or other discretionary expenditures.
REFUNDS WILL ONLY BE MADE IF YOUR SPACE IS FILLED
Other information:
- No visas required
- No shots required
- Tetanus shot suggested since we will be working in the gardens
- Bottled water readily available
- Translators or Spanish speakers available during tours and activities
Hosted by Allison Haynes 714.271-5103 – Allison_Haynes@hotmail.com
Barbara (BJ) Sadtler 630.334.7826 - bjsadtler@breatheinc.com
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03.26.10
Posted in Central American Adventure, Gardens, Guatemala, Making a Difference, Travel at 11:45 pm by Administrator
Today is the 1 year anniversary of building the first garden in El Remate…. That was an amazing day. First, it was my birthday. Then, while working in the garden with one of the fist 15 women, with my hands in the dirt, I realized I was doing something to end hunger – my wildest dream…. And then, when I went up to the bus stop to meet with a new group of women who wanted to work with me…. 25 women showed up, each wanting a garden. It was the beginning of an amazing year. I am so grateful to everyone that has participated in my growth, success, and contributed to my life. Things are moving in interesting directions that I never imagined…. Who knows what I’ll be doing next year, but the journey sure is fun!
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03.21.10
Posted in Life in General, Travel at 3:18 pm by Administrator
I just surpassed 100 countries, to which I have travelled, or at least touched down…. Those are only a few – Iceland, Nigeria, Bulgaria… the rest I have travelled, and worked, and had the pleasure of getting to know the local customs and people. That is the most amazing lesson – that ultimately, people are people, and if treated with respect, they will respond in kind with humility and genuine willingness to help you out.
Perhaps the exception to that is in the souks – the marketplace – where hawkers vend their wares day and night, and the competition is so stiff that they are lucky to have a person enter their 8 X 10 stall once a day. In those cases bargaining is essential… and I have been taken advantage for my share of the “ tourist” contribution to the economy. However, in most cases what I am buying will be displayed or used back home and I will look upon it with fond memories of the experience visiting that country.
In the Blue Mosque in Istanbul I covered my head and took part in the call to prayer and walked into the women’s section of the mosque. Although my cultural background bristles at the segregation, in fact I understand that it eliminates the nature distraction when men and women are together. I came to see their custom of prayer 5 times a day as an offering of gratitude – and where would we be if we did the same for all the blessings in our lives?
In Guatemala I rode the chicken buses around the country, squeezing between infants and mothers, grandmothers, and farm workers. In all cases they moved to give me more room, taking less for themselves. With a smile and Hola!, I would break the ice and inquire about their lives. In most cases they had rarely left their villages, let along left the country.
In Brazil I ran in the park, marveling at how the trees and flowers reminded me of India. In fact, the flora and fauna between the Latitudes of the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn seems to be very similar around the globe…. The smells of humanity are recognizable – burning trash, exhaust, and of course the local spice of choice – curry, cumin, cardamom, cilantro, mint….
Morocco was number 101… actually my new address in San Clemente. I am on my way home, where I will continue to plant and grow my roots. I live on Avenida del Reposo – Avenue of Rest – and there I shall do just that, preparing for the next journey. Where in the world that will be is anyone’s guess! Actually, not true, it’s Mexico in May, and Guatemala in June. But having just been on 4 continents in 2 weeks (Europe and Asia in Istanbul), Africa (Morocco), and soon I will land in North America. I only have 3 left to have visited all 7. My goal is to do just that before by March 2011… 1 year – Australia, South America, and Antarctica – that should be a breeze!
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Posted in Central American Adventure, Gardens, Guatemala at 3:05 pm by Administrator
The gardens continue to grow, as we all do in our own way.
I am organizing a trip to El Remate in June 2010. The purpose is to work with the women in the gardens, and to share our lives with them. This is not the rich coming to give to the poor. This is a partnership in which we each learn from the other as we live and share our lives….
The lives of the women of El Remate do not change dramatically from year to year. They may experience a marriage, a death, the birth of a child, but they still live in the same village, and rarely have a sense of where or how they will pay for the next month’s rent, or perhaps even the next meal… Life is different. There is a calm in the routine and slowness to the pace of life. And a basic trust that there will be enough – enough to eat, enough to live.
Don’t get me wrong, they would all love to have the money we work and strive for in the developed world. For me it is a question of what I want versus what I need. Then again, I have the opportunity to make a living and to choose how I want to live. I suppose that having the choice is what makes it possible to have an understanding of the perspective.
At any rate, for the past year since I was last in El Remate and started the 2nd group, Brisas del Itza, the women have continued to meet twice a month, and plant their gardens. The government of Peten, the State in Guatemala (like California in the US) is building a women’s community center near the village. The mayor has dedicated a plot of land where they can have a community garden to grow vegetables for sale. That will create an income stream that they can use to invest in other projects.
One day I was talking with Rose, the other volunteer that started the gardens project 5 years ago. We were discussing how to move both Group 1 and Group 2 forward. An idea emerged to build gardens in each of the villages around the lake. If we can figure out a way to pay the women for the work they do in training the next group of women to build gardens we can create a self-perpetuating cycle that has the potential to take the gardens worldwide…. What an amazing vision!
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12.04.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:38 pm by Administrator
I had a wonderful, FUN, day in Amsterdam today! My last trip of the year and I’ll be moving into my new apartment in San Clemente, California – yes California. I plan to spend more time on the ground there in 2010!
But today I had a day to explore. I started out to walk around Amsterdam. As I left the hotel I saw a lot the bikes, as I had seen all over the city the past few days. I decided to ask if I could hire a bike. I could! In fact, the concierge, just gave it to me for the day…. Off I went.
I wanted to get something to eat. I road past several cafes and then into a park. I saw a café with a nice garden – I parked the bike and went in – low and behold it was a center for spiritual growth. Everything was in Dutch, but I certainly felt at home. I had coffee and cake and then went on my way again.
I rode over toward the museums, and intended to go to the Van Gogh museum. Then I saw the Rijks museum with works from Rembrandt, Vermeer – the Dutch masters. I decided to go there, and Van Gogh in the afternoon.
After the museum, I rode through town along the canals with the little Dutch houses lining the streets. Next to the central train station is the wonderful, 7 story library, overlooking the city and harbor. There is a café on the top floor. I enjoyed a lovely lunch. They have large banks of computers on every floor, and seating where you can essentially hide yourself from other watchful readers. I did just that and took a little 15 minute snooze after my lunch.
On my way back I rode my little push bike through the red light district. It’s actually quite fascinating. Not that I like it, but it seems so much more civilized than I imagined. I suppose legalization and taxation make sense.
I got a little lost, but just kept asking people and finding my way. Eventually I found the museums again so I went into Van Gogh. I was pleased it’s not too large and spent just an hour looking only at those paintings that called to me…. The colorful ones.
It took me another 30 minutes to find my way back to the hotel and it is now dark. It was quite a day! I’m going to relax for awhile, and then have dinner with a woman I met on the plane to Beijing last September. She is Australian, lives here in Amsterdam, working for Accenture. We met the other night for dinner and had a lovely time. We’ll do something fun tonight!
It was quite a day!
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11.07.09
Posted in Life in General, Uncategorized at 4:11 pm by Administrator
My life seems to be a series of touch and goes. My stepfather, who was an Airforce Pilot says that’s a landing that doesn’t complete and a takeoff that never started….
China – California – Pennsylvania – Florida – Pennsylvania – California – Pennsylvania – Amsterdam – California…..
Today I’m on my way back to California from Philadelphia. I came here to visit my brother and his family. Dave had brain surgery 3 weeks ago. He is doing amazingly well and will be going back to work in a week. My parents were here when he had the surgery – I was still in China – and I came in as relief caretaker for them a week ago. The good news is that I didn’t have much caretaking to do! Dave was already taking the dog for a walk and circling the mile track close to their house.
And since I’m on the right coast I went down to Florida to speak with Patty at DEMA – a scuba diving convention. We spoke about creating a repeat customer and identifying buying styles. And we marketed our services as the Dynamic Duo… that was one of the great outcomes of our time in China – we had a fabulous time presenting together and discovered that we work very well together.
I’m coming back to Philly for Thanksgiving, then heading out to Amsterdam to teach a Microsoft workshop in December. It’s a crazy schedule, but I’m happy, healthy, strong, and flexible. And I have wonderful friends and family who are patient with my schedule – Like you!!
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10.06.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:27 pm by Administrator
Well, we have a few days off and decided to explore more of China. What a difference! Shanghai is an amazing bustling city. When I was here 13 years ago, it was nothing like this today. It’s actually quite clean and organized. And very crowded. Patty and I had lunch today overlooking the Bund, the oldest part of the city near the waterfront. There are skyscrapers and high rises as far as the eye can see. You can find small neighborhoods like the French Concession and some older shopping and eating areas that are quite quaint with beautiful old architecture.
This has been a welcome change for us. SIAS University is the amazing dream of a Chinese American man, Shawn Chen, who has built it from nothing to todays student population of over 20,000 in just 10 years. It is however in a much more rural and remote part of China that is quite different. The university itself is a bit like disneyland. Shawn knows that most of these students may never leave China so his goal has been to bring the world to them. We meet in Washington Hall (which looks like the US Capital building on one side and the Forbidden City on the other), eat on European Street and have coffee in Italian Square. It’s rather cosmopolitan…..
More to explore her in Shanghai tomorrow and then back to SIAS for our final 10 days!
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Posted in Uncategorized at 2:14 pm by Administrator
That’s the swine flu…. I had a little scare a few days ago. I started coughing, then had a fever and headache. There is a flyer in the hall of our dormitory that describes the symptoms of the H1N1 vs. the common cold. It seemed I might have been kissing a pig… After 2 days in bed Patty dragged me down to the SIAS University clinic/hospital. After a series of hand signals and broken translation by a student angel that stopped in they put me on an IV and pumped me full of pills and potions. I didn’t know until yesterday that we were actually there in the hospital for 6 hours. It was a miracle cure. I woke up the next morning feeling normal. I still have a hacking cough – it seems that everyone in China has that from the air pollution. I don’t know if we’ll ever know exactly what it was, but I’m better now and ever so grateful to have had my guardian angel Patty and Ronny (the student) watching over me!
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Posted in Uncategorized at 2:12 pm by Administrator
Ni hao! Hello from China!
Did you think I had fallen off the great wall? Just about. We have been going non-stop since arriving. I can’t believe it’s been 10 days already. It seems like a month actually.
Accomplishments so far are that we have interviewed 130+ applicants and selected 97 members for the first World Academy for the Future of Women. We conducted an information session in the Opera House for about 750 students including men, and are ready to start tonight with the first welcome session and banquet. We’ve been meeting daily to organize the application process and launch of the academy.
Other activities have included a symphony, welcome banquet, the military drill with 6000 freshman students, the candlelight opening ceremony to welcome the new freshman including spectacular performances by the fine arts departments, the Zhengzhou Friendship awards ceremony and banquet, Brenda Institute Opening ceremony, and many other meetings where we have been paraded around as the foreign dignitaries. Phew…. That and trying to fit in a little exercise and rest have left almost no time for anything else.
The highlight of the trip is the students. They are incredibly gracious and sweet. All are anxious to learn and practice their English as well as get to know us. Patty and I are roommates in the foreign faculty dormitory. We have three rooms – a bedroom, small bathroom and sitting room. We have a red phone so we’ve affectionately coined this “the bat cave”. Patty is Batman and I’m Robin. We make a good team. We’re enjoying working together immensely. That’s also a highlight.
Challenges are that nothing was really well planned out and we are dealing with a fair amount of chaos. That’s an interesting learning experience for me. I am realizing that I have extremely high standards and want things to be well planned out – this chaos has been quite difficult for me. However, the results have been good so I am having to look at my need for organization and planning and am learning to go with the flow.
There will be a lot of life lessons from this trip. I haven’t had a chance to process it all, but we have a few days off next week and are planning a trip to Shanghai so hopefully I’ll have time then.
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