Thank You For Sharing This Summer With Us!
Friday, September 04, 2015
Hi Everyone,
It’s Maggie here and I’m feeling like I have a lot to share so here goes! We’ve felt so loved and supported this summer. It’s kind of unbelievable that YOU, our Facebook pals and BlinkNow family have grown to almost 20,000 people. 20,000!?!? That’s a whole lot of love. We couldn’t do our work without you. I repeat, we COULD NOT do this without you. As a team we’re always marveling at our community, and how cheerful, warm and positive you all are. You are doers and world-changers and when we have our hard days, the moments of overwhelm, where the work feels really really hard, you’ve been there for us through and through. It makes this space a wonderful place to be and share each day.
As for me, I can’t believe it’s September. I’ve had an awesome summer jamming away at our BlinkNow headquarters, in our little corner of the Community Foundation of NJ, where slowly and surely we’re growing our team and our mission, strategizing and laying the groundwork for our future. In my role as CEO, I work alongside our wonderful U.S. team led by chief of U.S. operations Ruth Dekker. Working in NJ sure is different. The days fly by with meetings, conference calls, work projects, and staying on top of our inbox. I’ve gotten a really good taste of what it means to be a single working mom (with a lot of help) and to be honest the balance between here in NJ and Nepal is pretty healthy for me. I can’t help but compare my two lives and marvel at them.
Ravi actually needed a small surgical procedure this past week. He is now totally recovered and we’ll be here in the states for a couple more weeks for follow up and Do Lectures USA. I feel like this summer was the last big step of Ravi’s healing journey (for both of us) and I want to thanks Summit Medical Group for supporting us and all of you for loving up our #tiniestbud, his 50 brothers and sisters and our entire project.
It’s been hard to be away from the kids and Nepal this long. I miss them so much sometimes my stomach hurts. They’ve been good sports about me being away so much and for so long with Ravi’s health and work here but the countdown has been on for seeing each other again. Things in Surkhet have calmed down. There was a month that was really scary for us with civil unrest, protests, strikes, curfews and political instability. I’d talk to Tope, my co-director every day who would get me to take deep breaths and assure me that the kids were safe, doing their puzzles and spending way to much time glued to screens and watching movies. I have to thank our BlinkNow fellows, summer volunteers and the aunties and uncles who were there through the grueling days of the curfew and stayed inside with 50 children. We are hoping for peace in the coming year as Nepal drafts its constitution.
Thank you all for sharing this summer with us! Buckle up, we have some exciting fun news in the months ahead. Big love to all! your support and cheering means the world to us.
xoxo Maggie