It was the end of World Cup 2010 when I left Cape Town on the day before Nelson Mandela’s 92nd birthday. I was quite inspired by his birthday wish for everyone to give 67 minutes of service to represent the 67 years that he fought poverty and racism. Taking one small step at a time, I decided to do whatever I could, however small, to promote acts of kindness and to provide service to humanity. Many of my blog entries from the past year reflect those small steps. In order to sustain myself, I’ve now been working towards securing project based work in the finance industry. (read: time between projects)
It’s common knowledge that the US workplace boasts the shortest amount of time off per year in the industrial world. This fact is hard for me to digest and certainly led to my decision to pursue freelancing. I’m beginning my first contract, which I was fortunate to obtain in this economy, in a few weeks. This gives me just enough time to make one more venture before putting my nose to the grind stone for several months...until I head to my next destination.
While in San Francisco, I’ll continue assisting with and fundraising for disaster relief. I will also continue volunteering with immigrants and refugees through Upwardly Global. Traveling,exploring and providing selfless service; these things have become as essential as water to me. Like water, it’s rare that I’m even able to stand still. Like water, hope is quite a fluid and transformative entity, possessing tremendous impact. My commitment of 67 minutes became a full time job for me for 19 months. I’m looking forward to the future volunteer work that I'll partake in and the additional nomadic adventures that my time between projects will offer. At the same time, I'll be certain to enjoy the doses of freelance project based work during those necessary ‘layovers.’
