Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it’s at the end of your arm, as you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others.”
― Sam Levenson author
Feeling helpless today? help someone!
Pictured above is me working on a rock garden in Ghor al Safi, Jordan. As the hours passed and the older children returned from school more and more children gathered and worked their little legs and arms to produce the best rocks they could find. The sheer size and weight of the rocks was of no consequence to my lovely little helpers. How gratifying it was to see them burst with pride at producing the biggest rocks!
I had needed to get down to the ground because I was getting dizzy on the scafolding. Feeling rather useless I came up with some busy-work for myself. There is a tremendous water shortage in Jordan. Every single drop is re-used whenever possible so these palms were watered by dishwater but in the desert heat the water would promptly evaporate. With permission of the home owner and the building manager I installed six rock-garden bases around the trees, figuring that it would keep the weeds to a minimum and serve as a water retainer. It seemed to be received as a novel idea…
I have visions of visiting there in a few years to find improvements on my rudimentary attempts scattered through all the homes in the village as it has an abundance of natural rocks.
- “a” is for Awesome Artifact of Fertility (inspirationimport.wordpress.com)
Inspiration Import 
You’re an inspiration to us all – you are out there actively doing something about it – well done!
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Thanks Donna. I feel good making a dent. No Habitat trips for a while for me but I fill in the void volunteering (literacy, mental health) Habitat rules though 😀
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Exactly. A hand up rather than a hand out. I have also found, especially with the global program that barriers and misconceptions about each others cultures disappear as all hands work as one.
Naomi, I have commented on a couple of your posts at Writing Between the Lines but the comments are likely in Spam – will you release them? Thanks very much. Les
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Habitat for Humanity is one of the organizations that we support. Like Heifer International, it is empowering for someone build something with their own hands, with a bit of encouragement.
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