The Good Things Around Me
I used to tell people I was going to make the world a better place, I believed I could create positive change. People saw that as a little crazy, words of a dreamer living in a fantasy world, but I still believe in my statement.
I now understand that the world (my world) is only as I see, feel and understand it and that every person has the ability to change their world (or how they perceive the external world). Only by making myself and my world a better place can I hope to help others make their world better. It is not a coincidence that as my world becomes increasingly positive, the more positive experiences I witness in the world.
A shining example of this is the program participants at FAT. No words I write are going to help anyone reading this understand the sheer positive power of these girls. They are simply incredible. While I know that a number of these girls have suffered (or are still suffering) in their lives, their smiles, hearts and energy overpower everything else. They are making their world a more positive place and that in turn is infectious. Everyone, from every walk of life, has a lot to learn from these girls. They should be rightly treated as pearls of inspiration and glowing examples of positive change.
I tried not to get too attached with the girls in the program, so the fast approaching goodbye would not get so emotional; I have been through this turmoil a number of times before and it is never one that I enjoy! That said, I have been somewhat unsuccessful on this note again, which I know from comments (and tears!) already.
Yesterday I helped out at an exhibition in a community, I deliberately controlled my excitement about this event before going (I really love getting fully involved at the ground level), but I think everyone knew by the end! There are moments in life when I stop and realise for a moment that something truly powerful is happening around me, this was one of them.
I saw the girls proud and excited to show the community the projects they had made, I saw them look teenage boys straight in the eyes and tell them how a solar light works, I saw the YWLP (Young Women’s Leadership Program) Level 3 girls and our staff showing true leadership and pride in the participants and their work. I saw small children, including many girls their eyes lit up with interest and curiosity, I saw grandmothers wanting to learn about everything, actively seeking out information, smiling in total happiness that someone was making these things happen, I saw women not just smiling from a distance but taking time to listen and understand and I saw men stopping their scooters and bikes to read the project signs and watch the demonstrations with intrigue.
It helped me to realise the level of understanding the girls have for the concepts they are learning (they all even attempted to explain to me in English!) and more importantly their fulfilment and joy of being a participant in the program. In these moments I feel so incredibly privileged to witness the huge positive energy that radiates from these girls.
In a year, I have just a handful of these moments, when I struggle to hold back tears of happiness; in the past week alone there have been a few. Today I sat with a girl, who I know is sometimes sad in her own company, but with others she is so full to the brim of positive, happy energy that it is impossible to think that anyone in the world could be sad in her company. I will be more surprised if she doesn’t change the world than if she does!
Ironically, the more that I am exposed to the sorrows in the world, the more I am overwhelmed by the sheer power and scale of the good things around me. They are real. It is not just possible, we actually are making the world a better place.
- Kirsty Brettell, short term volunteer in FAT, wrote this blog when she was leaving FAT after 3 months of volunteering in December 2017
