My beautiful daughter and her friends dancing to try to save the world
Funny, I was having a desperately sad day yesterday, as I was trying to make head or tail out of my life and why I’ve become who I am: a white African girl who used to have a chip on her shoulder because she was white living in an apardheid-ruled South Africa. Timing is EVERYTHING and after having a good weep, I checked my e-mails to see what was going on in the world today and my friend, who I never see, or very very rarely ever see sent me this message .
“Hi SueAnn- I was driving to work the other day and heard this on CBC: “Today I”m going to try change the World” It made me think of you. Clare” The song just blew me away I’ve never heard it before, and of course I wept some more. I wept because this is the theme song for this site, it has to be. Here’s the ONE again, Johnny Reid is going to change it one day at a time, I’m going to try to change it one person at a time. I wept because of Clare’s intentional act of kindness in actually taking the time to send it to me and let me know she was thinking of me. Clare was my ONE at that moment in time. The weird thing was that we were sitting at dinner last night, the song came on the radio (remember I had never heard it before), and my friend Liz said “Sue-Ann this is your song”. I then checked my messages before bed, and my Crossfit friend, who I admire every time we work out together had facedbooked me to say “this is my favourite song”. I LOVE IT! One last thing, I believe that artists need to be paid for their work, so please, if you like Johnny Reid’s song and therefore his work, pay for it when you download it.
The following is a LONG story, so I’m not going to get into it, other than to say that I had the privilege of meeting this young woman named Lovetta Conto, last year, a refugee from the civil war in Liberia. She moved MANY while she was here, including The Dalai Lama. The organization that rescued her from the camp is, The Strongheart Foundation. Coincidentally, they contacted me about 3 weeks ago just to let me know about a young Ugandan woman, who was abducted by the Lord’s Resistence Army (LRA). You can read more about this on the “Current Initiatives” page of this site. The next “coincidence” was that I met a Canadian Senator who is originally from Uganda when us Linwood House ladies were cleaning soaps at Mission Possible for the Clean The World Organization. I told her about Evelyn and she immediately said, you must bring her to Ottawa, her story needs to be told. So I have begun an initiative to get her here. If you would like to participate in any way, like pay towards her visa application, or pay for her education or travel fund, or whatever that may be, you may do so just click here. WOW, talk about EACH ONE REACH ONE!
And while I’m on the subject of Africa, I must tell you about this brilliant work being done in my beautiful home country, South Africa. I miss it so much, I love it so much, and may the work that Warren Te Brugge’s organization is doing there be THOROUGHLY blessed. Click here: Arms Wide Open and listen to Warren’s beautiful heart. GO WARREN GO!!!!!
7 comments
BJ says:
September 26, 2010 at 1:47 am (UTC 0)
I love your new blog!!!
eachreach says:
September 26, 2010 at 3:16 am (UTC 0)
BJ, you’re responsible for putting it out there, thank you thank you thank you!!! I love your blog too and I hope you get hundreds of thousands of votes for it!!!!
Kristin says:
September 26, 2010 at 9:31 am (UTC 0)
Sue Ann, I believe whole-heartedly that you are going to change the world.
Brilliant post.
eachreach says:
September 26, 2010 at 1:51 pm (UTC 0)
Kristin, you inspired me THE DAY you walked into Crossfit. You and that hunk of yours (that I still have a very innocent crush on, only because he’s so special) are two exquisite souls that put a big smile on my face every time I lay eyes on you both.
idelette says:
October 2, 2010 at 6:47 am (UTC 0)
Oooo, I love this song. Put it on my blog today–thank you for the heads up, Sue-Ann. Love that you’re blogging. Yeah!
Today I’m Gonna Try and Change the World « idelette says:
October 2, 2010 at 11:46 am (UTC 0)
[...] This little bit of Johnny Reid might just have to be part of my morning ritual now. (Thanks to Sue-Ann for the [...]
eachreach says:
October 2, 2010 at 1:30 pm (UTC 0)
It’s a GREAT song, and I want to see it broadcast all over the world, he deserves every dime he gets for it, what an INCREDIBLE message for everyone to start their day with, Idelette. One day at a time. One person at a time…. EACH ONE REACH ONE!!! Big hug!!