[photo from michael_tischer]

Not everyone is a visionary, but everyone has vision.

A visionary, in the usual sense, envisions something huge and impactful, something that is an astounding leap from anything that came before it. Making that vision real takes enormous focus and dedication, and often enormous sacrifices in other parts of life. I’m struck by a passage in “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” a book about visionary doctor Paul Farmer, that highlights his shortcomings as a husband and father. His wholehearted pursuit of a beautiful vision left him with little time for family.

Not everyone is going to have the capacity or desire to be a visionary. But everyone has vision.

Having vision on the usual scale looks a lot like setting goals. In fact, it looks exactly like that. You envision something you want to accomplish, and you set about doing it. Even something as simple as making dinner benefits from our vision.

The great challenge of having vision is achieving clarity. Seeing the details of something that has not yet happened is difficult. But I’ve learned that it’s an important challenge to attempt. Clarity of vision will enliven many parts of your life, from tonight’s dinner to the impact you’d like to have on the world.

In smaller tasks, like dinner, clarity is often achieved by creative and emotional labor, envisioning something a certain way and then committing yourself to that vision. But in larger goals, like your life’s impact, clarity is harder to come by.

I’ve found that one of the best ways to seek clarity in the larger picture is by trying things. Choose a pursuit that promotes your deeper values and dive into it wholeheartedly.

For the most part you’ll find that you were right, that this pursuit satisfies and enlivens you in many ways. But inevitably there will be parts of it that rankle you, little friction points where you can feel that this is not the end point of your journey. So learn from those, and then try your next, better idea.

Ironically, when we lack clarity, trying things doesn’t feel like an option. After all, we’re not clear on what things we want to try. But in my experience doing things is the best way to figure out what it is you want to do.

Over time, by process of elimination and refinement, you’re vision will become clearer, you will be more satisfied with your life, and your impact on the world will grow and become more personal. This process is the work of a lifetime. And I can hardly think of a better way to live.

In Stella’s honor we’re donating 50% of online sales for one month to Action Kivu, a group funding the visionary work of Amani Matabaro in Congo. Click here to shop.

Stella with Amani Matabaro and the women of the Mumosho Peace Market.

This July I took my first trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country that has not seen sustained peace for more than a century. I was lucky to travel with an amazing young woman by the name of Stella Safari, who was taking a different sort of first trip. This was her first time to Congo in 12 years, since fleeing war at the age of eight.

As she returned 12 years later, now a student at Dartmouth and a leader among her peers, she brought with her a mission: to inspire Congo’s youth to invest in their country, so that future generations can enjoy peace and prosperity in Congo.

Read the rest of Stella Safari, Ember Hero »

photo from Alex on flickr

When I was younger the world looked like a network of incontrovertible systems: the Education System, the Banking System, the Motor Vehicles System, the Restaurant System, even the Movie Rental System. It seemed like all you had to do was work these systems properly, and you would be rewarded with a happy and successful life.

So after graduating from college I expected that, having completed the Education System, I would quickly be plugged into some other lucrative System, like the Banking one.

But it didn’t happen. And even more disconcertingly, the closer I looked at these systems the less they looked like big, incontrovertible systems at all, and the more they looked like a bunch of people just figuring things out, hacking things together until they worked.

The systems, I realized, weren’t systems at all. They were just particularly successful hacks that many people came to rely on.

Everything is a hack. When this first dawned on me it made the world seem terribly complex and fragile. But then I saw the great opportunity of it. These systems aren’t incontrovertible laws of society, they’re just our best ideas so far, our most successful hacks.

So if I can come up with such a hack, I can build into the world the sorts of systems I’d like to see. We are not bound by the systems of today, but rather the world relies upon us to come up with the hacks that will create a better tomorrow.

[Cross-posted on Charles Lee's Blog]

artwork from Barabeke on flickr

Evolution works because it’s not afraid of its children dying. It’s constantly trying new ideas and new combinations of ideas, and a lot of them are really bad. For example, I have asthma and bad eyesight. Thanks evolution.

But evolution doesn’t care. And because its willing to throw so many failed ideas out into the world for testing, it comes up with a lot of good ones as well. Like the brain. Like those little hairs in your ears that keep you from falling over. Like the nuchal ligament on the base of your skull that keeps your head from flopping around when you run (just learned about that today).

Our own idea-making is an evolutionary process as well. But most of the time we hamstring it by holding back most of our ideas, waiting until we find one we’re almost certain will succeed. We’re afraid of our children dying, and maybe even more afraid of how it will reflect on us if they do.

But 2 billion years of R&D tells us that, when it comes to ideas, the more you try, the better. So release a few more into the world for testing. See what happens.

Our friends over at Plywood were kind enough to publish a piece I wrote about one of the quotes that inspired the Ember Arts ethos. Here’s an excerpt:

Life is not given special treatment on our planet. Life struggles. The elements wear down life far more quickly than they do a stone.

But against what often seem terrible odds, life persists. Mothers have babies and teach them to be good. Babies grow and try to make a difference. People find each other and commit to love each other for life. Communities gather to encourage and support and build safety nets for one another. People care for each other.

Somewhere deep in this human thing is a drive to care, a realization that alone before this universe we will perish, but together, somehow, we will persist.

To read the rest, go here.

Our Ugandan partner Esther is a comedian, an entrepreneur, and a dreamer. She cares for nine children, has cultivated six different sources of income, and has countless nicknames. When we asked her for three dreams she’d like to accomplish in her life, this is what she told us:

1 – To send her children to college
2 – To build her family a home in her ancestral village
3 – To buy and drive her own car

This year, thanks to her partnership with Ember, she has made some amazing progress. Here’s an update:

1 – This year her eldest son started studying at a local university, and she has several kids making their way through high school and primary.
2 – She has laid the foundation of a 12-room house in her village (including bedrooms, sitting rooms, kitchen, etc.) and has already built the brick walls up to window-level.
3 – The car, she says, will have to wait until after the house is finished and she gets a handle on university tuition. But you can bet she’ll do it.

Esther has a dream, and through her partnership with Ember Arts, she aims to achieve it. Below is a poster celebrating Esther. Click on it to download the hi-res printable file.

(Our deep thanks to Caava Design for creating this poster for free, so that we can offer it freely to our supporters! Follow Caava on Facebook.)

Right now we are driving through the rain; slowly and steadily approaching the Kansas state line.  We are about a week and a half and 5 states away from our home.  My U.S. geography is coming back!

So here is what our world looks like:

two kids that now call our traveling caravan home,

one Tahoe packed full with Ember jewelry and displays,

a roof box that holds our clothes and is collecting stickers from our favorite places,

and a Viking trailer that folds up and down like an accordion.

Somewhere in all of that we are finding a rhythm to everyday life on the road.  Like knowing where the diapers are at all times, or making sure the top hatch in the trailer is closed when a lightening storm and downpour comes out of nowhere in the late afternoon.  Twice.

We figure that most days we will find a campsite as home base and unfold the Viking while we visit a new town and meet with an Ember account.  And there will also be the occasional night where we will appreciate the reprieve of a hotel room to clean up and do some laundry.   And then there will be days where in order to cover some ground, we need to drive late into the night and we will just transfer the sleeping babes into the half pitched Viking for a quick over night stop.

A couple of nights ago was one of those nights.  We were nearing the end of an epic drive through southern Utah.  We had stayed in breathtaking Zion for a couple nights, then were awed by the hoodoos of Bryce canyon, and were on our way to Arches National Park before crossing the state line into Colorado.  It was late when we pulled into Torrey, Utah hungry and tired.  At this point we hadn’t quite worked out dinner on the fly outside the Viking’s small kitchen area .  (Don’t worry, we have since coined the term “road-dillas” thanks to the Colman stove and a few tortillas).  Against all odds we found the only restaurant open at that hour in the tiny town.  Diablo cafe quickly seated us and served one of the best meals we have ever had.  This place is a diamond in the rough with two professional chefs creating unique southern style dishes.  Better yet, our waitress suggested a close by spot where we could pull over and camp below the radar.  She instructed us to go to the end of a nearby dirt road and park anywhere and not to worry because it’s BLM land.  I’m still not sure what that means.

So we found this little spot and although we agreed that it was a little too close for comfort to the few surrounding homes, we were too tired to switch course and we popped the Viking just enough to fit inside.  Meanwhile another car pulled up, intending to do the same. It was a little awkward, but as soon as we decided we were safe, we all climbed in and hunkered down for the night.

Within an hour both Clay and I woke up to the sound of a raging windstorm ripping through the canvas of the Viking.  It sounded like large objects were being thrown against our small trailer.  It was impossible to sleep and we spent the night checking in with each other every hour or so wondering if the whole trailer was going to blow over.  Luckily the girls slept through the whole thing.  So when the sun finally rose, they were bright eyed, rested and full of energy and we crawled out of the trailer about the same time the people in the car next to us did…all feeling like we had been beat up.

So on we went, laughing about our attempt at some quick free camping.  Later that day we crossed the Colorado state line and wound our way up to Gunnison, a small town nestled in the beautiful Rocky mountains.  We met with Western State College and introduced them to the Ember story and welcomed Deb and the bookstore staff to the family of Ember retailers.

Driving down the east side of the Rockies, we got an invitation to stay at the Peace home.  6 years ago when we moved to Shell Beach the first thing we did was inquire about a bright red VW bus for sale on the side of the road.  This led us to the home of Jeff and Terri Peace and thus began our friendship and our bus story. Little did we know they had moved to Greeley CO, and they had answered our call for places to stay.  We enjoyed warm beds, laundry and Colorado brewed beer for a few days before hitting the open road to the mid-west; uncharted territory for both of us.

To be continued…

A couple months back I wrote about the “true poverty line,” the income level below which transformational change is nearly impossible, and above which it becomes feasible.

I’ve renamed it the “Prosperity Line,” and we’re going to find out where it lies. At least for the women we work with. My friend Max and I have been working on a questionnaire to determine how much income one of our Uganda partners really needs in order to pursue her dreams. Dreams of educating her children, building a family home, starting a business, and more.

Not only will we keep you updated on our findings, we’re also going to post the questionnaire here when it’s completed, so other businesses and organizations can use it.

The poverty line is only step one. Here’s to chasing the Prosperity Line.

Last week I ran into my friend Tyler at a restaurant. He was there with one of his business mentors, a Ugandan real estate mogul by the name of Anatoli Kamugisha. Tyler introduced us and luckily for me Anatoli thought it appropriate to share one of his favorite quotes. It quickly became one of my favorites.

Download this photo of Mama Esther (click thru for the big version) and add one of your favorite quotes. Share it with us on facebook.

Our good friends at Caava Design designed this poster for free, so that we could offer it as a gift to you. Click here or above to download the hi-res printable version.

Every woman has a dream — of personal success or building a family or lifelong adventure, or any combination of 1,000 goals. And today more women than ever have the liberty and resources to pursue their dreams.

But in places like Uganda where conflict and poverty limit opportunity, women’s dreams are often postponed and forgotten. Families invest their few resources in opportunities for boys and men, while girls are pulled out of school and women are confined to little more than domestic servitude. Over time their dreams flicker and fade.

Not only is this unjust, but new research shows that empowered women are often a family’s best hope to overcome poverty. They typically invest 90% of their income in the education and well-being of their families, as compared to only 30% or 40% among men. And as families succeed, so do communities. And as communities prosper, so do nations.

Ember Arts exists to rekindle the dreams of women in poverty. We build successful business ventures in partnership with these women and invest in their training and education, and they invest in their families and communities as only they can.

Every woman has a dream. And as more women around the world have the liberty and resources to pursue their dreams, more families, communities, and nations will prosper.