Subject: Leo, you won’t believe what’s happened in the past week
I can’t remember exactly how that subject line went, but here goes:
The energy in my body is flowing again! The simple recognition that I do not have to endure suffering in Israel Palestine has been freeing. I see now that I want to inhabit a body of joy, and I can do that in Jerusalem just as I can in California.
I accessed incredible energy for one of my fledgling projects two days ago: the energy jolted me from bed despite jetlag and I spent the morning re-thinking my strategy on development and rollout. I called my partner to say, let’s go big. Let’s build an online learning portal and proprietary Arabic content, let’s invest in fundraising and hiring employees. He was onboard; already he had been encouraging me to dream bigger and plan for the long-term, and I could finally take steps forward. The project is called the Tamkeen Initiative, it’s free digital skills education for Arabic-speaking refugees. Starting with Bethlehem and Gaza. Tamkeen means “empowerment” in Arabic.
Yesterday, I found an email in my inbox that I had sent in November 2016:
Three years ago, I had asked:
“Can technology be a pathway to reduce economic inequity?
How can technology be more inclusive to minority groups?”
And… “The idea I’m currently exploring is offering free coding education to minority youth.”
Big things flowed last night after this discovery:
1- the CEO of a Palestinian NGO asked me to collaborate on a coding program for amputees in Gaza
2- I decided to attend a social good tech conference in Paris with a Palestinian friend/mentee
3- my friend’s CEO (social entrepreneur and engineer) wants to connect re: tech education in Palestine
4- I decided to invest $5,000 in Tamkeen to hire a local engineer to build our Arabic curriculum
5- I invited my friend’s sister to join us in Paris for the conference... when I’m embodying abundance, paying for a friend’s flight/hotel is not a barrier but a celebration of what’s possible
Thank you very much for helping me to recognize my own power. I feel it racing through me now; yesterday it kept me up until 4am in China (excitement and jet lag both). How fortunate I am to work on the things I love, live wherever I want, go to a monastery one month, study NVC another, have friends all over the world to learn from. Freedom is alive in me.
Anyhow, thought you should know. It wasn’t only Jerusalem vs. California, but suffering vs. joy.
