Stories and cuddles between dinner and bedtime with the orphans. Steve, Zacharia, Peter, Jane, Joseph.
You may be thinking, what rubbish, I don’t have the energy to add something else to my busy life! So pause for a moment, and consider what you’re so busy doing, how you feel about it, and your levels of stress. They are all interconnected, and all having enormous impact on your health. Volunteering is about breaking that cycle, giving purely from love, and being open to receiving in turn. Don’t short-change yourself by being too proud to receive.
Lunchtime – 200 plates of beans and maize going down!
I’ve just returned from three weeks living in Kaptembwa slum, Nakuru, Kenya and felt the healthiest I’ve been for ages. Admittedly I was sleeping in the Gabriel Learning Centre homestay, and careful with water and food, but I’ve been very ill in 5 star hotels during high stress times. Listening to Dr Bruce Lipton today, on The Cath Vincent TV Show, I realised why. He reminded me how our mind fills our body with chemicals in response to our thoughts and interaction with the world. Our thoughts can literally poison our bodies. In fact genes are only responsible for 1% of disease on the planet, according to Dr Lipton.
Teacher Grace with Baby Class at Gabriel Learning Centre
Stress floods your body with toxic chemicals. The more you think about how busy, poor, tense, unloved you feel, the worse you’ll feel, literally. 95% of our daily life is playing subconscious programming that is our default when our mind is thinking those thoughts. If your childhood programming is less than empowering you easily get caught in that stuck place or downward spiral. Fortunately we can rewrite your subconscious program so it has the same wishes and desires as your conscious mind – I do that every day with my clients. That way when you are thinking those thoughts (everyone has bad days) at least your default behavioural programming is empowering and moving you forward still.
Kids and cameras! With Jane, Sheila, Zacharia, Margaret.
Every day at the Gabriel Learning Centre & Orphanage in Kenya I was immersed in love, giving and receiving smiles, handshakes, gentle touch and hugs – even leg tackles from more energetic needy 3 year olds in Baby Class! Plus I had care of two young puppies who were just as affectionate, just more chewy at times. I helped kids and puppies get used to being gentle with each other. No wonder the orphans in particular, rescued from truly horrendous situations (starvation, abandonment, abuse of all kinds, neglect), blossomed in incredibly quick periods, assisted by the extra support of Angela, the social worker. (Perfect name for her, don’t you think?) They can feel safe, clean and relax knowing they will be fed well, have clean water, bedding and warm clothes, and be part of the caring Gabriel Learning Centre extended family. Appropriate loving attention made them literally glow.
Yes, of course physical environment plays a part in health. There was a cholera outbreak in the slum while I was there due to poor sanitation and shortage of clean drinking water. Those who are mentally and emotionally stronger are more likely to survive, often through being able to identify better choices, and having supportive connections, as it is all over the world, in any disaster situation, including Australia. Love = hope = love. The kids at our school have a different look in their eyes to those on the streets outside, and are hopefully building the mind-body resilience they so need to get ahead in their society.
No food for 3 days and an absent mother, so a stop for juice and bananas on the way to Gabriels for shower, food and clean clothes.
You don’t have to go to Africa to volunteer (if you do, visit www.NakuruHope.org ) You can gain similar benefits in your own neighbourhood, school or sporting club, or by helping an elderly neighbour or young parent with little kids. It’s about shifting your focus off yourself and giving without expectation to others, while remaining open to receiving in return, in whatever form. This doesn’t mean becoming a doormat on call 24/7, but being fully present when you are there. Doing whatever is in your capacity to help at the time, and accepting that you can’t change everything to your liking, because people have their own lives and choices to make. Rather than battle for them, support and encourage their resilience and confidence to battle for themselves. That’s how they, and you, grow. (Of course, in the case of small children, mentally incapacitated, very elderly, and animals, stepping into battle for them is appropriate, if you have the capacity to see it through.)
Volunteering, like Life, is a case of ‘what you get out depends on what you put in’. Given what I received in the past 3 weeks, I must have put much more in than I realised. It’s a reminder to never underestimate the power of a smile.
P.S. To find out more about the Gabriel Learning Centre, to donate, sponsor a child or volunteer, go to www.NakuruHope.org 100% of the tax deductable donations go to the centre, and if you have a particular interest in social work, school, orphanage, medical care, nutrition for example, just make a note on the form where you’d like your money used. I met the founder, Susan Saleeba, way back in 1999 on a trek in Nepal. She
Sue Lester, Susan Saleeba & Juliette Strickland Nepal 1999
Susan Saleeba with Nakuru Hope children
doesn’t draw a wage, and continues to pay her own way, including airfares and living costs in Kenya and Australia, ensuring all donations go to the centre. An amazing woman! (And yes, she can be available as a speaker for your organization, club, school etc.)
Fantastic… volunteering gives not only a new an enlightening perspective to oneself but the difference a single person to another can make is pure amazement.