Welcome to Wonder Woman Wednesday! Every Wednesday we feature women who are using their business or work as a force for good. The intention behind this blog is to raise awareness on the impact of doing good and to inspire others to think of ways in which they too can use their business or work as a force for good. By doing this we hope we will be creating a better community one business at a time and leaving this world a little bit better than we found it for future generations.

Tell us about your work and how you use it as a force for good?

My background is as a high school teacher. I loved teaching and thought I’d spend the rest of my life teaching in a classroom, but one night I sat in my study and wrote a letter of resignation. It was time to leave a happy seventeen-year teaching career and get serious about a dream. You see there was a trunk in my study. It sat in the corner filled with jottings and scribbles on random pieces of paper filled with ideas for books that I hoped to write. It was a trunk of dreams.The trunk represented safety. As long as those scribbled pieces of paper were in the trunk, the dreams were safe—always kept in the realm of possibility, but never exposed to the risk of failure.I took the ink-filled pieces of paper out of the trunk and stacked them on my desk. Hopes, dreams and aspirations would be transformed into something tangible and real.
It was time to write a book. I spent the next year writing my first book, completed some post-graduate studies and began crossing more things off my list of dreams. Life is not a linear list and often looks a lot like a plate of spaghetti. There are detours, twists, and turns that we don’t expect.

A detour, in the form of an invitation to fill the position of acting principal at a primary school, was a surprise. First of all, I was a high school teacher and secondly, it was a step back into the world I had left. I felt there was a reason for this particular detour and that, with time, the reason would become clear. At the same time, some friends of ours were setting up an organization in Cambodia that would educate the poorest of poor children. Because of my experience in the primary school, my friends asked me to travel to Cambodia and put together a research report. A dream on my list to work overseas for a season was about to become a reality. I only had to say, ‘Yes.’ This began a ten-year journey of training teachers in Cambodia—a job that didn’t pay, but had untold rewards. I took the skills from my teaching career and began to invest them in the slums of Phnom Penh.

So, my high school teaching background, my year as the principal of a primary school, and a dream combined in a way I never expected.
Eventually, I did myself out of a job and the teachers I’d helped train began to train each other.

Now, I choose a project or organisation each year somewhere in the world and give time and expertise as a gift. Writing is my core work and not all of it is paid. I write voluntarily for several blogs and also help people who want to tell their story. Often, it is someone who works in a not-for-profit organisation and needs to tell their story. I’ve published novels and non-fiction books, I’ve written blogs, and for the last fifteen years, I’ve spent at least three months of the year travelling. Part of these travels is donating time to different causes. I also hope that my writing inspires people to live lives bigger than themselves and to have a sense of hope about the future. I’ve met all sorts of people through my travels–people who live on the streets of Skid Row in LA, kids who have family members shot in the ganglands of the projects in LA, people who thirst from the lack of fresh water, people whose sexuality has separated them from family members for twenty-five years, people who struggle in everyday life. I believe my work as a writer is a vocation that serves others.

What led you to using your work as a force for good?

The purpose of life is to discover your gift.
The work of life is to develop it.
The meaning of life is to give your gift away.
David Viscott

I’ve always been a person who volunteers. I love helping people and teaching. Even though I don’t work in a classroom on a daily basis, I teach writing workshops, do volunteer tutoring, speak at MOPS groups around the city, and so on.

My interests primarily revolve around my passions—in particular, education and the creative arts. My husband is an amazing landscape photographer and we decided very early on in our marriage that we would always give our time and resources to those in need wherever we could. The causes my husband and I are involved with are ones we connect with on a personal level, not only in a financial sense. Our support comes out of relationship and a hands-on approach. We like to see the work first-hand and contribute in a practical manner.

I travelled to Cambodia to train teachers for Transform Cambodia for ten years, went to East Timor to work with a child rescue organisation, volunteered in Skid Row in LA, volunteered in Tanzania with Water for Africa and many other organisations. My husband and I pay our own way and contribute through photography, writing, training, or any other way in which our skills may help. The motivating part is not just sending money, but becoming involved. Seeing the results first-hand brings us great joy. Work is not just about making a living, it’s about making a difference.

What inspires you to make a difference in the lives of others?

Choosing to act on what matters is to choose to live a passionate existence.
Peter Block

I think we have a responsibility to do what we can to help others, no matter what our capacity or resources. I’ve been blessed with skills and resources and feel responsible to use them to help others in need.

I often think about these words: From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

What is one act that anyone can do today to make this world a better place?

A couple of years ago, I was feeling very run down, depleted and not able to cope. It’d been a journey I’d been taking alone. I tend to squash my feelings and work through things on my own. I don’t often invite others to walk alongside me. My husband was away for an extended time, so I took myself away on retreat and rested, but that wasn’t enough. I tentatively shared my feelings in a blog as I tried not to do it all on my own. Anyone who knows me, knows that I tend to process through my writing. I admitted that my mental health wasn’t great and a few close friends read the posts, picking up on my call for help. No one judged—they lifted me up with prayers and sent sweet messages.

I stayed with a friend for a few days on a writing retreat and she gave me the gift of a safe place. The sort of safe place you get up and stay in your pyjamas, forget about makeup, and admit that, even though you were supposed to be there to write, the words weren’t coming. Who comes alongside quietly and gives you the words, or the presence, you need to bring hope and peace back into your world? I am a person of faith and know God is always there to give peace and comfort, but I’ve found that He also sends friends at just the right time. These friends bring a contribution to your world that helps you get through, just when you’re at the end of your rope. We all bring something to each other, whether it’s on a personal or community or world stage level.

Bring what you can to someone today. Whether it’s sitting with a friend, providing a meal, giving finance, or sending love and prayers–what you do for someone today makes a difference.

Find out more about Elaine and the work she does here

The Power of Hope

Welcome to Wonder Woman Wednesday! Every Wednesday we feature women who are using their business or work as a force for good. The intention behind this blog is to raise awareness on the impact of doing good and to inspire others to think of ways in which they too can use their business or work as a force for good. By doing this we hope we will be creating a better community one business at a time and leaving this world a little bit better than we found it for future generations.

Tell us about your business and how you use your work as a force for good?

x

What led you to using your business as a force for good?

x

What inspires you to make a difference in the lives of others?

x

What is one act that anyone can do today to make this world a better place?

x.

Find out more about #NAME# and the work she does #here#

The Power of Hope