And I'm off once again. WHOO HOOO

T-minus 22 hours until I am on a plane headed back to Zambia!

Thank you all for the amazing response and support. Paint the the Movement is up to 115% which is just insane and so amazing. Donations came in from everywhere and we are just so grateful. A school that was pen pals with Cheleshe Chipele have been doing car washes and bake sales and put us over the edge.

It's hard to believe this all came out of one phone conversation and I can't wait to see how it continues to grow. If you would like we are transitioning our website into a blog format so you can come with us! I probably won't be posting much on this blog but using paintthemovement.blogspot.com instead. Because lets be honest, I've never been great at the whole blogging thing at two is just too much to handle. But please subscribe or check in every once in a while at Paint the Movement and we will be posting pictures and stories along the way.

Thank you so so so much for making this happen

Love you all!
stevie

Almost there

Hey Y'all!

 I thought I would check in and give you an update on Paint the Movement. If you haven't seen the video or the site yet or are just in the mood for some mj and adorable kids, check it out

www.paintthemovement.blogspot.com

We launched the site on leap day, February 29th, and in just under a month have raised 71% of the funds. The support we have been getting has been absolutely amazing. People have been sending out emails to their friends and family, putting us on their blogs, talking about us on facebook and its working! We are getting wonderful messages of support and donations from people we didn't know but are now part of the paint the movement family. And getting an astounding amount of love from those that have been putting up with us for years. It actually feels like we are going to be able to do this. I'm looking at flights!!! (sorry for the amount of exclamations in this note but this is too awesome. and for those of you that don't know-I get a huge rush off of buying plane tickets) The more we work on the project and planning the actual week long learning event, the more excited I get. I know I have a slightly biased view but Paint the Movement is going to rock our faces off and have the potential to be better than any of us thought posible. I just can't wait til we are with the kids and teachers painting up a storm! And who doesn't love talking about practical but creative ways to teach and grow. I know I'm a dork but for real.

 We gave ourselves two months to raise the money and were able to raise 50% in the first two weeks. We now have only 2,500 to go. The rate of our donations has slowed down but that is to be expected. We need to reach beyond our immediate network and keep spreading the love. So if you've thought about it but haven't yet, send it out. If you have, we love you and keep it up.

Sending love and joy (and hopefully a post soon saying we made it!)
stevie

Start Spreading the Word

Hey everyone sorry for the cliff-hanger of a blog last time and then silence for awhile. We have been planning, organizing, and figuring out the best way to get out project out! We have landed on using a website called chip-in. It is a crowd-funding site where people can read about the project and donate whatever they desire through paypal. We have some pretty awesome incentives coming up for donations. We will also have all kinds of information, videos and pictures about the project. The challenge with chip-in is the only people that will see it, are people we share it with. So that is where you come in! We need help passing this project and site around. Our chip-in will go live Feb 29th and we will have til the end of April to raise 8,500 dollars. But we want to started with a bang. So start thinking of who you know that would love to be a part of this. We have put together a little video get the energy and excitement started. Enjoy! 1 week and couting...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmagRBlqqtA&feature=youtu.be

The basic idea of the Paint the Movement. Moving Bodies. Growing Minds.
We are going back with the goal of helping physically disabled children at Chileshe Chepele Special Needs School in two significant ways.

1. We will be holding a teacher training for all the teachers focusing on utilizing physical therapy materials and equipment they have, fine motor skills, and alternative and creative ways to include physical therapy in the classroom. The best way to grow is through education and who better to educate than teachers that can turn around and pass it along. It can be the beginning of sustainable change and give some needed support to these motivated teachers.

2. While Ellyn and the district Physical Therapist are facilitating the workshop. Ashley and I will be prepping a mural. On the final day, students and teachers will come together and paint a mural at the school with everything we got; from the fine motor skills development to the hand prints of the children. It will be a chance to bring art to these children, something that they rarely get. We hope it will allow them to express themselves creatively and contribute to a powerful group message that will impact the entire community.

Love you all

Thanks for staying tuned
Stevie

coming to americaland

Hello all who are still reading!

First let me say I kind of failed at the whole blogging thing. I started strong and then it seemed life happened and I moved away from writing it down. I want to say thank you for all the letters, packages, emails, and thoughts. I don't think letters have ever been so exciting. Many were reread, shared and all of them were saved and brought back to America with me. Thank you for all that posted blogs for me! I am so thankful I had such a supportive network here. It was a big two years for y'all with engagements, weddings, kids, family loses, adventures, and funny daily stories that make life amazing. Thank you for sharing them and seeing that I was still connected to them even though I was half a world away. And thank you for putting up with all the stories about Zambia stateside. I feel like everyday the phrase "in Zambia..." comes out of my mouth and I don't think they are stopping anytime soon so thanks for patience and interest; both feigned and genuine. 

You might think its weird that I choose now to write another post but I feel like I can finally reflect a bit on my experience. Plus the education group that came the year after me and I helped trained just had their close of service conference. They are headed back to their villages and communities, passing off their projects, and saying goodbye. I can't believe its already time for it to all happen again. I can't really believe I've not only left but have been home for over 6 months. So it got me thinking...

The two questions people ask now that I'm back are; "How was it?" and "Did you love it?". And while the full answers to those questions will take years to fully realize and explain, I can say for the record it was truly amazing and I loved it all. I would often find myself saying I can't believe this is my life. While there were hard days and moments, there was never a day I wanted it to be over or come back. I left sad to leave, a little bit heart broken but knowing that chapter was done and I was coming home. Well I was partially right. A chapter might be done but the journey continues and home is slowing starting to feel like a place spreading across the globe. I thought about trying to recap my last year of service for you seeing as this was supposed to be a blog about my time in Zambia. But nothing really ever turns out the way you intend it to and often that slow shift and change makes things more valuable. So lets see what happens.

Over the last few months I have been trying to figure out what it all meant and what it means my next big step is. I have always walked into my adult life with set time breaks and experiences. college 4 years: goal-graduate and do the whole college thing. portland no more than 2 years: goal-support myself, learn a new city, and make sure peace corps was what I still wanted. and it was so Zambia 27 months: goal-be apart of as much as I could and help along the way. But now here I stand with no time limits, many goals in life, and difficult decisions to make. My time in Zambia gave me more confidence as a person but has made me realize how complicated and layers our world is which in turn as made me an even more indecisive person. (i know- who knew that was possible) My heart is pulled in two directions. I go back and forth between my ideological self "a person can add value and change to the world" and my now slightly jaded self "it was an amazing experience but we can't change whats happening". I question what change I made while in my community and if that change was good. I feel I probably got the better end out of the exchange. I wonder could I have done more? Did I loose part of myself as an artist and musician by stepping away for so long? Is the expat life the one I want? Or is teaching what still makes me happy? And can I combine all the worlds and I lives I want?

I know the problems of a privileged white girl. So I'll stop spinning and making you listen or more read any more of it. What will come out of all the indecision is yet to be seen but I'll keep you posted. For now I am only trusting the direction my heart is telling me to go. Which is first BACK TO ZAMBIA! and the adventure continues...

A few months ago my friend Ellyn (fellow returned peace corps volunteer) and I were talking on the phone and were both struggling with many of the same questions and one thing seemed to be so true. We both knew we had to go back to Zambia soon and had the next project in mind. Ellyn worked with this amazing special needs school in Northern Zambia and was now back still thinking about a physical therapy and fine motor skills training she had been planning and writing a manual for but never got to do. I was wishing I had included more music and art into my teaching time and was dying to get back and do another project with kids. We pulled in our other friend Ashley to help us merge these thoughts and make it actually happen. So now we have this awesome four day workshop involving bringing art and painting a mural into physical therapy and fine motor skills. As three broke ex-volunteers needless to say funding is going to be a problem but we're working on it. We are looking at different grants and ways to raise money so stay tuned!

I always feel a bit egotistical when writing a blog so thanks for sticking with me and indulging my thought process. Sorry this is a long one but its been awhile. I hope you'll continue to follow my journey. I'm starting the blog back up and hopefully we can make this project come to life! Enough about me how are you?! I'd love to hear how life is looking for you

Love to you all-Mutende Mwane (peace to you)

Stevie