On Changing The World

A few months ago I picked a book at the library about how to be an everyday activist. I read most of it quite quickly, and then decided to observe and alter my habits in order to become one of those exceptional people who change the world.

So many things anger me. This world is full of unfairness and my mind is so full of opinions. I don’t understand how bad things keep happening and why the perpetrators keep getting away with it. Why hasn’t the world changed yet?

Well, what have I done yet?

Nothing. Why? Because my emotions burn like bush fire and don’t generate anything that can grow and live.

I can get outraged about the state of the world for two weeks and I get tired. My mind wanders to simpler things to bear or it shuts down under the weight of my helplessness. The world’s problems are too big for me to think about, let alone change.

The book I read tackles exactly that by stating that before you can change the world, you have to change your own life. It is not a sudden life overhaul it talks about, rather the small daily things that seem insignificant. It’s about turning the negative into positive action and frame of mind.

For example, I noticed how I never clean my shoes unless the dirt becomes noticeable enough to embarrass me. Swearing upsets me but my favourite songs are full of it and I sacrifice perfectly good days listening to them. My short term memory has a hole in it and it is kind of hell dealing with it.

This is the kind of human being I am. But now in my conscious effort to turn the negative into positive, I pay more attention to my shoes and clean them more often. I listen to clean versions of my favourite songs whenever possible and reduce my intake of the ones I already bought. Whenever I forget something (which is every single day) I forgive myself. Simple as that. Though, it took me a lot of soul searching and a trip to the doctor’s.

Challenging myself for the better is not easy. So how expect the world to be suddenly better because we are upset with it? I don’t think anger can change things; balance, positivity and passion do. Before you go after the problem in the world that bothers you, you have in good shape yourself.

It took me two years of repeated failure to understand that as much as I want a miracle solution for everything in the world and for myself, it takes time. Change happens one day at the time. It’s only by being better, positive people that we can have a go at changing bigger issues in the world one step at the time.

I am glad I even started this journey.

On Dealing With Failure

This Kili project has been going on for so long I sometimes wonder if it’s worth continuing. I moved the date of the climb twice, cancelled many events and froze into inaction out of sheer panic. Months went by and I was hiding under my duvet. Is there such a thing as the wrong kind of fear? I tried to reason with myself, find ways to deal with the problem, bypass my mind. For every victory I would sit there and say “oh, it wasn’t so bad!”

Nothing is ever so bad. I just haven’t found the bridge between drawing out a plan and doing what I am supposed to do.

I first I thought there would be a magic formula that would solve all this and that I just needed more time. But I could buy myself more time and still run around in circle.

In June after returning from a training weekend in the Peak District the only thought in my mind was “just get on with it.” There’s no formula, there’s only every day to try my luck at getting on with it.

Last month after the car boot sale I was very disappointed with myself. I was telling my landlord about it and he said “you tried.” Just that.  It was enough to shift my perspective on the project and how I am managing it. Recently, a friend said the same and she added that I was being too harsh on myself.

Now instead of playing the self-punishing game, I constantly remind myself that this is everything I ever wanted. Written on pieces of paper in my bedroom and in my notebooks as a reminder is this sentence I hold on to dearly: I am doing this because I love it.

I am raising money for Plan UK with the aim to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in December to champion girls’ rights.

Plan’s campaign Because I am a girl is the biggest girls’ rights campaign in the world. It was launched in 2007 and has since reached millions of girls in 50 countries.

The campaign aims to fight unfair and harmful practices towards girls like child marriage, genital mutilation, exclusion from school for various reasons, superstition surrounding bodily functions and many unbelievable theories out there.

Follow the links on the top right to know more about Plan UK and to donate!

 

Car Boot Sale!

Last Sunday in my effort to raise money for project Kili I went to a car boot sale for the first time ever. My dear landlord drove me. He even added more stuff to the carload. I was in charge of finding where to go. I found something which I thought would do. On the day ( landlord was up before me) we loaded the car and off we went!

On the motorway we drove past a field where a boot sale was already in full swing and it was only half past seven. We got to the place I found only to find out there wasn’t anything on for the rest of the year. Yep, my kind of planning. So my mum-landlord took charge and decided we should try the field we saw earlier, they might let us in. And they did. The minute we got off the car people swarmed over looking for a bargain. I was taken aback. I felt that we were being attacked. I eventually got used to the rhythm of people coming and going and at the end it wasn’t so bad.

We mainly had books that were kindly given by people who wanted to help, which we sold for each 50p and £1. We had children’s toys, some clothes, shoes and few random items.

I was delightfully surprised to meet women who knew about Plan and the work they do for young girls. One argued that targeting girls only would not be enough. Men who marry young girls too should be re-educated. We can save young girls from marriage all we want be the root of the problem is that some men would still want to marry them. I mentioned the programs done with young men and boys to tackle the problem early.

I am raising money for Plan UK with the aim to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in December to champion girls’ rights.

Plan’s campaign Because I am a girl is the biggest girls’ rights campaign in the world. It was launched in 2007 and has since reached millions of girls in 50 countries.

The campaign aims to fight unfair and harmful practices towards girls like child marriage, genital mutilation, exclusion from school for various reasons, superstition surrounding bodily functions and many unbelievable theories out there.

Follow the links on the top right to know more about Plan UK and to donate!

*I wish the picture was clearer but that’s all I have 😦

Bake Sale

On Saturday I had a bake sale to raise money for Plan UK’s campaign Because I am a Girl. It was the first bake sale I have ever done. I had to do everything alone and it wasn’t so bad. I even impressed myself with my baking skills! Who knew I could do this?

I raised £76.

Training Weekend!

Last weekend I went on a training weekend in the Peak District. Honestly, I didn’t expect much but I came back over the moon. Here are a few pictures.

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More later!

In Support of Girls’ Rights

The lovely writer Sefi Atta gave me an interview in support of girls’ rights. She is the author of A bit of difference, News from home, Swallow and Everything good will come for which I wrote a review some time ago. You can check it on my other blog here.

It’s always nice to get support from people whose work I admire. I am very grateful. Enough of me now, this is what she has to say in support of girls’ rights.

Q:What’s your profession and what do you like most about it?

I’m a writer and I love the freedom of expression that writing gives me.

Q:What keeps you going?

My next story. I’m addicted to storytelling.

Q:Was there a turning point in your teenage years that defined the making of you today?

There were many points in my teenage years that defined me. Most of them were negative experiences which may have limited me if I’d allowed them to. At the age of fifteen or sixteen, an academic counsellor at an English boarding school I attended told me African students were not intelligent enough to go to university. He was lying of course, but I actually thought he believed that.

Q:What is the best piece of advice you were given as a teenager?

What I remember is advice I didn’t take, such as “Don’t be outspoken” or words to that effect. They help me now. I’m still learning when it’s necessary to speak.

Q:What advice would you give adolescent girls of the world today in 3 words?

Use your brains.

Market Day!

I was at Streatham market on Saturday to sell natural body care products to help raise money for project Kili. A few extraordinary things happened:

The market manager let me have a stall for free.

I got talking to a few women who were very interested in charity work for adolescent girls. One of them even had plans of going to Uganda to do some community work in the near future.

Two homeless people put money in my collection tin. I felt bad. They probably needed the money more than my project does but I guess on a human level the act of helping others shouldn’t be done by material comparison. They felt they could help and they did. I’m glad I was there to witness such kindness.

Most people I spoke to wished me the best of luck with my project, which I felt meant a lot more than the sales I made. Someone said he was helping because he knew I was doing the project from the heart and that was all that mattered. 🙂

Well, after being nervous and excited and many other feelings on the day, I made £35 only 😦 but I’m glad I went.

 

I am raising money to support Plan UK’s girls’ rights campaign Because I am a Girl. It is the biggest girls’ rights campaign  in the world and it has reached 58 million girls since 2007.

Follow the links on top of the page to know more about Plan UK and to donate to my project 🙂 .

 

Walking the North Downs Way, part 2

On Sunday, I went to Folkstone to walk a bit of the North Downs Way trail as part of my training to stay on my feet for long periods of time. I first heard about Folkstone from my boss who likes spending her free weekends there with her family. So when I had a chance to go, I took it. The trail goes from Folkstone to Dover, along the coast line and the view is  breathtaking. Like I say after enjoying myself so much anywhere: I’m glad I went 🙂

 

In Support of Girls’ Rights

My good friend Nabilla accepted to give an interview to support my campaign for girls’ rights and inspire adolescent girls. We actually met during our 1st year of university in the Ivory Coast when were both 18, so young and full of hope and ambition. So here’s to the young girls we were before and for the girls I hope would read this and be inspired.

What’s your profession and what do you like most about it?

I am a sales manager. I like the contact with customers, I like solving their issues and making them happy.

What keeps you going?

My determination to succeed.

Was there a turning point in your teenage years that defined the making of you today?

Yes. My first trip outside my home country. I went to the UK when I was 19. I learnt a lot about other cultures, especially the British one, and my professional experience in sales started there. Till then I have never stopped selling.

What is the best piece of advice you were given as a teenager?

Never give up.

What advice would you give adolescent girls of the world today in 3 words?

Courage – positivity – perseverance

Nabilla T.O

World Book Night

I have been chosen to be a book giver for World Book Night 2016 on April 23rd, and I am beyond excited about it. It’s not related to my campaign for girls’ rights but I used the campaign as an argument in my application so I might as well share the good news here.

World Book Night brings together a powerful collaboration of national partners – publishers, printers, distributors, libraries, booksellers, private donors, trusts and foundations – to inspire more people to read. Thousands of volunteers share their love of reading by giving out books to people in their communities who, for whatever reason, don’t read for pleasure or own books. National, regional and local events up and down the country celebrate the difference that reading makes to people’s lives.*

I heard about it in 2012 and I really wanted to take part too one day. This year was the first time I applied and I was chosen. I usually don’t win things, so this is kind of a big deal. Being part of it this year means a lot to me because of the fact that reading is a big part of my life and I know the power a book can have in changing perspectives and planting the seed for a more analytical mind.

I got an email today confirming that my books have arrived at my collection point. Could I be more excited? I don’t know.

I am giving away Perfect Daughter by Amanda Prowse.

 

*Taken from worldbooknight.org