Plenty with a little

The Plenty office opened up again on jan 3rd after a nice long holiday break. Upon arriving at the office Gary and Mark had a project for me, an EU grant proposal. It was exactly what I had asked to do, but still sounded a bit daunting. Initially just talking about Mark's idea for the project I was suppose to ask for half a million USD! My current net worth that's a lot of money, and then I starting to think a lot about money... First let me give you the 2 second version of the proposal. We are asking to set up a nationwide women's business network and as an initial pilot for the network set up a food processing supply chain, of canning salsa here in the Toledo district. All aspects of the project would be run by women from the farming of the produce, the canning and processing right to the sales and marketing. This project would also then put in place the infrastructure for other women's enterprises to get started or further developed.
It seems like if this project were to get started it would do a lot for economic develop in Toledo (the poorest district in the country with a poverty rate of 46.4%) and Belize as a whole.
The impact 500Gs would have here hurts my head a little when I think about it too much. Thats the cost of sending 2 kids to BU and here you could lift hundreds of women out of poverty! If only it were that simple: send money->get rid of poverty but it's clear that's not how the world works. This is the reason that humanitarian aid has come into such scrutiny lately. Of course I could write much more on that subject but that's not the point right now. It's been humbling to witness so many people working so hard to improve the lives of others. It shows what money in the right hands can do. It takes planning, patience and foresight, from both the funders and the recipients. Plenty has an amazing staff that are skillful navigating through all the red tape, getting at the money and using it skillfully to create innovative development projects. Lots can be learned from these small scale, efficient NGOs as to how to improve the aid system. They are getting stuff done here and people should start looking.

More to come on my recent travels and heading home
Love
Mariel

Time; There's Only So Much to Go Around

How many of have wished for more free time? Lord knows I did when I was a rower, student, working and trying to fit in some semblance of a social life, maybe volunteer a bit and still try fit in an 8 hour night of sleep (if not you don't really want to talk to me). There were days when I was so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open walking down the street, or when all my friends were going out for dollar draft night on a Thursday  that I wished I had more time to do it all. We always wish for more hours in the day, we wish for more time. But what would you do with it if you got it? Well I have recently come upon such time; since crossing the finish line of my last race and walking the stage in my cap and gown my two biggest time consumers are gone (They were also two of the ways I defined myself but that's another post altogether...stay tuned).

Tick Tock goes the Clock

What did I do with my time you ask? Not as much as I would have hoped. I found after a day of playing with the kids I was often exhausted and I was taking advantage of having the time to have a glass of wine and chat with my mom or play more music. I caught up with old friends (although not as much as I would have like; did you know when you go home everyone doesn't live on Comm Ave?), caught up on TV, but all in all didn't take full advantage. I did take that 6 week trip, which was amazing and could have never done as a rower/student. I started to notice a strange pattern, the more time I had, the less productive I became.

The office was closed for the week between Christmas and New Years, and I found after the first few right after Christmas I was bored and wanted something to do, but I didn't do anything particularly productive. I didn't write many blog posts or finish my last lingering grad school application. I didn't workout that much or explore as much as I could have on my bike. I read a lot, and aimlessly browsed the web a lot (I wasn't a total bum, I didn't go on a lot of walk around town and some bike rides, went to the beach one day, etc).
I had gotten my wish, but "be careful what you wish for"; I've figured it out, I have been confused about a syllable. It's not more free time that I wanted, but more freedom. Time is finite, there is always the same amount; Twenty-four hours in a day, 365 days in a year (...except this one). Freedom is infinite, make of it what you will. I like being busy and now I get to fill my time with what ever I want. I better use that finite time to the fullest, because "being bored is for the boring" and no one wants to be boring.

I have a new project to work on during the days and I am more motivated to run, or bike, do something with my time. I am writing this blog right now.
It's easy to just get sucked into a vortex of not really doing anything. I am trying to figure out what I want to do with my fairly new freedom and fill my time with that. I have been trying to be conscious of what really makes me happy in my free time and spend more time doing that.
I know I said no resolutions but this isn't about that, its about trying to seize the day; something I normally try to do anyways, I just got a little lost on the way.

Lake Louise, AB
That day was truly seized

Much Love and Carpe Diem

Mariel