I love to say, “I have a lot of ideas. Most are bad.” No one seems to enjoy me saying that as much as I enjoy hearing myself say it but whatev :) It’s my way of brainstorming out-loud all the time. It relieves me of owning the ideas that I come up with. Some are great, some suck, but the more I put out there, the more likely I’ll come up with something brilliant.
Fundraising for Africa has been close to my heart for years. In college I felt like the only ethical path was to make as much money as possible here in the US and ship every penny to Africa. I lost that youthful idealism in the grind of my day-to-day desk job over the last five years. The job is gone now and I want a healthy dose of idealism back in my life. Hoop Technique is awesome! I love what I share with so many with the hoop but how can I make it mean something more on a global scale? How can I contribute to humanity as whole? How can I regain the optimism I had in college that I had the ability to end some amount of suffering in the world?
Four days ago at Floydfest I had an idea. Hoop Technique is going to start working with African aide organization. Lauren and I had worked with Asante Africa in the past so as soon as I returned to SF, I called a friend to find the phone number of Erna Grasz, President of the Asante Africa Organization.
Yesterday Erna and I met to brainstorm collaborative ideas. I’m excited to say we’ll be collaborating in the near future, Hoop Technique will be doing a West Coast Tour fundraiser for the organization. This is a trial run of something potentially larger but we have to see how it all works out. We’ll be raising funds for 2 main purposes: bringing hoops to Africa and contributing to the construction of wells.
I love the idea of bringing hoops to Africa, they have no toys and the experience of joy, accomplishment and flow is a powerfully transformative experience. So some of our fundraising will be going to that end but that rings a bit hollow for me without also contributing at the sustenance level in area of the world that severely needs help. Building wells in Africa is something I’ve wanted to do since college. The return on investment, through increased health, and increased opportunity, is huge. Asante is a perfect partner to help us make something like this happen. Though our financial model may change, the current idea is that 50% of our fundraising will go to hoops and 50% will be going to well construction.
To top this all off… through hearing my story a few years back… Erna is now a hooper and teaches classes to the elderly, inspiring them to get back in their bodies and exercise. She’s found and shares the joy and power of the hoop. Now we can spread that joy on a global level. We all can.
What is the ethos of our community? How can we direct it? We’re in an infantile state of a growing community that is wrapping the world. What impact will we as a whole have on the history of humanity? We get to decide that everyday. I’m excited.