Little Steps

As some of you may or may not know, I haven’t been working since September. It’s definitely by choice (I saved around half of my paychecks for like 7 months to be able to take a vacation), and it’s been a learning/growing experience in the neatest ways.

At the beginning of my work hiatus I made a 3 week-ish trip to Texas to visit Kristen, the other IC intern with me during my time in Uganda. We had many great conversations about life and love and living with others in our view-space. We talked about our family, friends and acquaintances who are spending their days making the world a better place for people they’ve never met, organizations that are working to end injustices and small ways we can make a daily difference.

It’s that last thing I myself am working at… small ways to make a daily difference. For the past few months my days have started to blend together. A mix of learning how difficult it is to keep a 5 bedroom house clean, cooking (and sometimes ruining) meals, trying to figure out how to keep in touch with people all around the world when I despise the telephone and attempting to start exercising again. A year ago “my” world was so big, and now it seems to have shrunk to this one house, a few people and me.

But although my immediate sphere of influence seems to be so small, I still want to make a difference in the world at large, so I’m working towards that… here are a couple things I’ve learned so far

1. I can eat sweets and stop slavery: The cocoa industry is rife with slavery, and many of the “big names” in chocolate (re: Hersey, Lindt, Nestle) claim they are not responsible for ending this practice, because they buy the chocolate from middle men, not the slave owners themselves. In order to use my consumer vote to stop slavery, I’ve begun buying Fair Trade chocolate. Trader Joe’s has their own line of fair trade chocolate, Sprouts sells fair trade chocolate chips and Dagoba brand chocolate can be found in many grocery stores. Yes, it often costs a bit more (1.99 for the bar at TJ) but it is much higher quality and it helps me eat less chocolate. (for more information on slavery and chocolate check out: http://knol.google.com/k/responsible-shoppers/modern-day-slavery/3vc4m1bitkaj4/4# and for more information on where to buy fair trade chocolate: http://knol.google.com/k/responsible-shoppers/responsible-shopping/3vc4m1bitkaj4/3#)

2. While browsing the internet, I can feed a family: many different websites will donate food if you click a button (the food is paid for by the sponsors whose ads appear after you click). So, take a few moments and visit sites like www.thehungersite.com or go to ww.freerice.com and for every correct trivia answer donate 20 grains of rice.

There are more: writing letters to congressmen while writing Christmas cards, learning to practice consumer voting through researching which brands and stores treat their employees well (from production through each selling point), and just educating people with the meager amount of information I’ve accumulated.

I’m not going to lie: I haven’t been doing too well at this yet. The chocolate was easy for me, but even remembering to go to a couple websites a day to feed people sometimes slips my mind. But I’m working towards it. Because I have been blessed SO much in my life, and I just want to do the same for others.

Love you all. Hope everything is going well. And if you are working to change your world for the better, let me know how. I’d love to help. :)