Interlude & Reflections

While in Togo we visited an existing well that needed our support
to refurbish, decontaminate and  develop additional
infrastructure including building bathrooms

Each day I have been posting the daily giving reflection from my e-book along with the journal exercise that accompanies the day. When the post publishes it goes out to a wide variety of social media and I have no idea who reads the post nor how many. The reach is greater than I thought as was evidenced by a note I received the other day...the day I shared about "small gifts, huge impact."  A Rotarian friends of mine from Togo, whom I have not seen since 2005 responded. Dear Bibi Azaria Akue, you made my day when you responded to my post, but it was the reason that you responded that touched my heart. After 8 years, our friendship is cemented in bathrooms...border crossing bathrooms to be specific...between the countries of Togo and Benin in West Africa.

Who would have known the day that my Group Study Exchange team was stranded in "no mans land" between Togo and Benin in 2004 without any facilities that a plan would be dreamed, hatched and implemented. Thousands of people spend time in the land between the countries of Togo and Benin (known as no mans land because neither country owns the land) and yet there are no bathrooms, in fact there is nothing but barbed wire fences, clay soil, lots of sun and people and nothing more. We were stuck there for hours while our paperwork was being processed. While the wait time was unusually long because of the circumstances, we were the few US citizens traveling in West Africa and our country had just invaded Iraq two days before...so there were a lot of eyes on us and suspicions may have been aroused. But we were with Rotarians who were determined to help us fulfill our mission of international goodwill.

Without getting into the gory details (your imagination can take over here...) being stuck in no mans land for hours meant that at least some of our group would need to use the facilities, of which there were none, so we had to take turns turning our backs to give at least an appearance of privacy, and even then - it was quite a sight. So needless to say that when I was invited to help build border crossing bathrooms between the two countries the following year - I jumped at the opportunity.

On the Togo side of the border crossing
meeting with the partners

The work required that I go back and visit with all of the partners, raise the funds and vet the project all while working with a number of Rotarians on the ground in West Africa. They hosted me, protected me and supported me and my team as we negotiated the property, construction and financing. Once all was in place - Rotarians in West Africa made it happen and the border crossing toilets were constructed. Eight years later, Bibi Akue from Lome. Togo responded that indeed the impact had been huge. Wow, that voice from the past took my breath away and reminded me that we never know the full extent of our impact - thank you so much Bibi Akue for sharing!

Each day of the 100 Days of Giving includes a daily reflection for you to consider. Today, is an interlude so I would like you to fill in your own blanks...reach out, give to someone, anyone and give something, anything and everything. The most important part is to do something...and as one of my favorite mentors Yoda said, "There is no try, only do." Each day in 100 Days of Giving offers you an opportunity to read about alternative giving options as well as some questions to consider...

Please feel free to write about your experience in the comments section, share with someone else, or keep to yourself...whatever works for you, just keep in mind that one of the most important part of giving is being open to receiving and the more you share with others, the more you will receive in return. As difficult as receiving may be for you, it is an essential part of giving, so challenge yourself and give receiving a try, or a "do...there is no try, only do."

Now that 100 Days of Giving is available as an e-book you can purchase it for $3.99 at Smashwords: 100 Days of Giving e-book at Smashwords and get all of the daily experiences, journaling exercises and stories.

To read about all 100 days's giving experiences you can download the e-book in a variety of formats at: 100 Days of Giving at Smashwords
or through Amazon for your Kindle: 100 Days of Giving e-book at Amazon