Gratitude
November 23, 2011
According to Wikipedia, Gratitude, thankfulness, gratefulness, or appreciation is a feeling, emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.
If there was only one thing that bubbled up for me as a “lesson” from Peru, it’s that we are overwhelmingly blessed here in America, so much so that we often don’t see it. In conversations with my best girlfriends, we so easily descend into the tougher parts of life — kids that aren’t sleeping, busyness that barely lets us breathe, the responsibilities of household tasks, and the list goes on.
And life can be tough. My challenge — and the challenge for all of us, I think, is to move beyond basic thankfulness for the “things” and the people in our lives and instead approach gratitude as a lifestyle, a discipline. In the middle of a pretty crappy day, it’s not an easy practice.
Once again, Henri Nouwen, gives inspiration, saying:
“Gratitude.. goes beyond the “mine” and “thine” and claims the trust that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now i realize that grattitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowlege that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.”
Grassroots Artisans in Peru..a Powerful View from Their World
November 8, 2011
When I joined the Board of Directors of Ten Thousand Villages, I expected to tap into my Mennonite heritage. I even knew it would be an opportunity to give back, using my skill set, for the cause of fair trade. What I didn’t expect was how much I would be educated on the difficult and messy work of finding sustainable, talented grassroots artisans and bringing their stories and products to North American markets.
Fresh off our Board trip to Lima, Peru, my heart is both proud and heavy because of the work we do. In all of our meetings – from the coiled wool weavers in Lima to the silversmith jeweler who works with his son in a back alley of Cusco — these artisans told us that Ten Thousand Villages accounts for the bulk of their business. They are able to send their children to University and hire more workers in a land of 40% unemployment because we have found them, spend time training them, and pay up front.
Most of these shops are small, largely undiscovered, and have relative degrees of sophistication — a combination which makes it difficult to break into North American markets. Most big retailers frankly won’t take the time or invest in the logistics of bringing these small shops their business.
Working with ethical, fair-trade minded groups like the Ten Thousand Villages network means access to North American markets ..and a chance to obtain many of the values and goals that truly know no borders… family advancement.. university….a good job…a fair wage…pride in one’s work. Turns out that people like Juan Carlos in Cusco, Peru are just like us.
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Tonya is a Community Content Producer for
WUSA9.com, DC's CBS affiliate.