A version of this post originally appeared on Medium.
***
I could see him becoming agitated as I started to cross the street. He was dressed all in black, dirty, ragged, with matted hair and beard.
“B%#&@, you better have my money!” he started to yell at no one in particular.
I was tired, annoyed to be met with this after a late night at the office.
As I walked, he came towards me. He was still yelling, now at me.
“B%#&@, you better give me a dollar!” he raged.
I can’t explain it, but some voice inside me told me that he would not hurt me.
I looked him in the eye, and replied calmly and softly, “I’m sorry, honey.”
His energy immediately shifted. He smiled, touched my arm and said sweetly, “That’s all right.”
***
We live in a world where this is possible — where with our actions, we can change how others react, make decisions, grow, and live.
In a world of consumer-driven everything and hyper-connectivity, it’s easy to forget that we are part of a community in our real lives. We are part of the social fabric.
Self-proclaimed philanthropy wonk Lucy Bernholz recently started a “why I give” series on Medium’s new magazine, The Development Set. What she wrote resonated, “Giving is a way to express myself, to signal what I care about, and what I stand for.”
It got me reflecting about my own giving. When I give a donation to an organization or cause, it is usually because a trusted someone has asked me. I am called to rejoin my community. I am being invited to step outside myself and focus on something bigger than my individual concerns.
I give to usher in a new level of social transformation. I give because this is only possible in relationship to one another.
Members and staff of the Women’s Awareness Centre Nepal and IDEX in 2015.In my work to shift the cognitive frameworks with which we practice and portray global development and international assistance, it is my personal and professional calling to support nonprofits that demonstrate respect for — and unleash the potential of— bottom-up, local expertise all over the world.
At the Latin America Agroecology Learning Exchange of IDEX partners in Chiapas, Mexico in 2013.
I donate to my organization, IDEX, and others*, because they walk their talk. When movements and initiatives to make others’ lives better spring from communities built on existing and mutual relationships, people have a very different stake and long-term commitment to the success of their efforts. IDEX is demonstrating what can be done when trusting and lasting relationships are built with the people leading the change at home and in the Global South.
I give when members of my community ask me to donate. I give because I am blessed to know and love people engaged in making the world a more just and caring place for all of us to live.
I give because living in community, we discover what’s possible. I give because in being willing to be connected to each other, we find peace and joy.
And that’s all right.
***
*In the spirit of transparency and community, below is a list of the organizations to which I’ve donated in 2015, in no particular order. (There’s also another good list here of organizations that get money to the ground internationally.)
Thanks to all those who asked me!
IDEX – International Development Exchange
Luapula Foundation, Zambia
Dalia Association, Palestine
Community Development Resource Association, South Africa
Spirit in Action International
Namwera AIDS Coordinating Committee, Malawi (through GlobalGiving)
