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For Immediate Release

Manchester, UK (March 23rd, 2024) - This Sunday, March 31st, at the Fuji Grand Hotel in Taipei, Slap English is hosting a unique event: SLAP Training in Taipei: Musical Language Training Hotels + Schools.

This exciting event showcases their innovative "English by Singing" method, a scientifically proven way to make learning English fun and effective for children.

LYRICAL TRAINING COMPETITION WINNERS Tha Pyay (2018)

Why should you care?

Imagine children from underprivileged backgrounds in Taipei gaining valuable English skills through the joy of music. Slap English's program unlocks opportunities for education, career advancement, and increased confidence.

Here's how you can make a difference:

Become a sponsor! For just $13, you can give a child access to this transformative program. This includes their participation in the event, a delicious pizza lunch, and the chance to showcase their English skills and win prizes!

In return, you'll receive:

@StuAlanBecker Tweet (2024)

Join Stuart Becker and the Slap English team this Sunday at Fuji Grand Hotel in Taipei and be a part of something special! Together, we can create a lasting positive impact on these children's lives.

For Immediate Release

Manchester, UK (March 15th, 2024) – Calling all social entrepreneurs. Are you a passionate social entrepreneur with a revolutionary idea to change the world? Do you dream of scaling your impact and connecting with a global community of like-minded changemakers? Then prepare to pitch your vision at the Global Gatherings: Changemakers Virtual Pitchfest – a dynamic online event designed to empower and amplify the voices of social entrepreneurs driving positive change around the world.

Pitchfest

Taking place on April, 25th 2024 at 1pm GMT, this electrifying virtual gathering will bring together a diverse network of social entrepreneurs, investors, mentors, and supporters from across the globe. Participants will have the opportunity to:

Whether you're just starting your social impact journey or have years of experience under your belt, the Global Gatherings: Changemakers Virtual Pitchfest offers a unique platform to elevate your voice, gain essential skills, and connect with the resources you need to make a lasting difference.

"The power of the Global Pitchfest lies in its ability to connect brilliant minds across borders. Social entrepreneurs often face isolation and resource limitations, but this event creates a vibrant ecosystem where they can share ideas, build partnerships, and access the support they need to thrive. It's a beautiful dance of collaboration, and witnessing it unfold is truly magical."

Varle, Amy
Amy Varle Pitchfest 2024
(Image credit: Carole Neales | Amy Varle at Churchill War Rooms | Copyright 2021)

For Social Enterprises:

For Individuals:

Don't miss this groundbreaking opportunity to join a global movement of changemakers and create a ripple effect of positive impact. Register for the Global Gatherings: Changemakers Virtual Pitchfest today and take your social venture to the next level!

#ThePeoplesHub #PitchFest24

Visit Eventbrite for more details and tickets.

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Growth must be intentional—nobody improves by accident.

The poet Robert Browning wrote, “Why stay we on the earth except to grow?” Most people would agree that growing is a good thing. Few dedicate themselves to the process. Why? It requires change, and most people are reluctant to change. The truth is that without change,growth is impossible. 

Author Gail Sheehy asserted:

If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we are not really living. 

Personal growth demands a temporary surrender of security. It means giving up familiar but limiting patterns. Safe but unrewarding work. Values no longer believed in. Relationships that have lost their meaning. As Dostoevsky put it, “taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what most people fear most.” The real fear should be the opposite course.

I can’t think of anything worse than living a stagnant life, devoid of change and improvement.

GROWTH IS A CHOICE

Most people fight against change, especially when it affects them personally. As novelist Leo Tolstoy said, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” The ironic thing is that change is inevitable. Everybody has to deal with it. On the other hand, growth is optional. You can choose to grow or fight it. But know this: people unwilling to grow will never reach their potential.

The question here is “How have you changed . . lately? In the last week, let’s say? Or the last month? Last year? Can you be very specific?”

Growth is a choice, a decision that can really make a difference in a person’s life. Most people don’t realize that unsuccessful and successful people do not differ substantially in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential. And nothing is more effective when it comes to reaching potential than commitment to personal growth.

PRINCIPLES FOR SELF-IMPROVEMENT

Making the change from being an occasional learner to becoming someone dedicated to personal growth goes against the grain of the way most people live. If you asked one hundred people how many books they have read on their own since leaving school (college or high school), I bet only a handful would say they have read more than one or two books. 

If you asked how many listen to audio lessons and voluntarily attend conferences and seminars to grow personally, there would be even fewer. Most people celebrate when they receive their diplomas or degrees and say to themselves, “Thank goodness that’s over. Just let me have a good job. I’m finished with studying.” But such thinking doesn’t take you any higher than average. If you want to be successful, you have to keep growing.

Because of the crucial needs for  growth and development, the Peopleshub organization will like to help you make the leap to becoming a dedicated SELF-DEVELOPER. It’s the way you need to go if you want to reach your potential. Besides that, it also has another benefit: it brings contentment. The happiest people we know are growing every day.

Take a look at the following eight principles. They’ll help you develop into a person dedicated to personal growth:

1. CHOOSE A LIFE OF GROWTH

It’s said that Spanish composer-cellist Pablo Casals in the final years of his life, a young reporter asked him, “Mr. Casals, you are ninety-five years old and the greatest cellist that ever lived. Why do you practice six hours a day?”

What was Casals’s answer? “Because I think I’m making progress.”

That’s the kind of dedication to continual growth that you should have. The people who reach their potential, no matter what their profession or background, think in terms of improvement. If you think you can “hold your ground” and still make the success journey, you are mistaken.

You need to have an attitude like that of General George Patton. It’s said that he told his troops, “There is one thing I want you to remember. I don’t want to get any messages saying we are holding our position. We are advancing constantly.” Patton’s motto was, “Always take the offensive. Never dig in.”

The only way to improve the quality of your life is to improve yourself. If you want to grow your organization, you must grow as a leader. Wanting others to treat you more kindly, you must develop better people skills. There is no sure way to make other people in your environment improve

The only thing you truly have the ability to improve is yourself. The amazing thing is when you do, everything else around you gets better. The bottom line is that if you want to take the success journey, you must live a life of growth. And the only way you will grow is if you choose to grow.

2. START GROWING TODAY

Napoleon Hill said, “It’s not what you are going to do, but it’s what you are doing now that counts.”

The best way to ensure success is to start growing today. No matter where you may be starting from, don’t be discouraged; everyone who got where he is started where he was.

Why do you need to determine to start growing today? There are several reasons: 

  1. Growth is not automatic
  2. Growth today will provide a better tomorrow . Everything you do today builds on what you did yesterday. Things determine what happens tomorrow. That’s true in regard to growth. Oliver Wendell Holmes offered this insight. “Man’s mind, once stretched by new ideas, never regains its original dimensions.” Growth today is an investment for tomorrow.
  3. Growth is your responsibility. When you were a small child, your parents are responsible for you—even for your growth and education. But as an adult, you bear that responsibility. If you don’t make growth your responsibility, it will never happen.

There is no time like right now to get started. Recognize the importance that personal growth plays in success, and commit yourself to developing your potential today.

3. FOCUS ON SELF-DEVELOPMENT, NOT SELF-FULFILLMENT

There has been a change in focus over the last thirty years in the area of personal growth. Beginning in the late sixties and early seventies, people began talking about “finding themselves,” meaning that they were searching for a way to become self-fulfilled. It’s like making happiness a goal because self fulfillment is about feeling good.

But self-development is different. Sure, much of the time it will make you feel good, but that’s a byproduct, not the goal. Self-development is a higher calling; it is the development of your potential so that you can attain the purpose for which you were created. There are times when that’s fulfilling, but other times it’s not. But no matter how it makes you feel, self-development always has one effect: It draws you toward your destiny. 

Rabbi Samuel M. Silver taught that “the greatest of all miracles is that we need not be tomorrow what we are today, but we can improve if we make use of the potential implanted in us by God.”

4. NEVER STAY SATISFIED WITH CURRENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Rick Warren says, “The greatest enemy of tomorrow’s success is today’s success.” And he is right. Thinking that you have “arrived” when you accomplish a goal has the same effect as believing you know it all. It takes away your desire to learn. It’s another characteristic of destination disease. But successful people don’t sit back and rest on their laurels. They know that wins—like losses—are temporary, and they have to keep growing if they want to continue being successful

Charles Handy remarked, “It is one of the paradoxes of success that the things and ways which got you there are seldom those things that keep you there.”

No matter how successful you are today, don’t get complacent. Stay hungry. Sydney Harris insisted that “a winner knows how much he still has to learn, even when he is considered an expert by others; a loser wants to be considered an expert by others before he has learned enough to know how little he knows. 

You must continue to learn.

5. DEVELOP A PLAN FOR PERSONAL GROWTH

The key to a life of continual learning and improvement lies in developing a specific plan for growth and following through with it. I recommend a plan that requires an hour a day, five days a week. I use that as the pattern because of a statement by Earl Nightingale, which says, “If a person will spend one hour a day on the same subject for five years, that person will be an expert on that subject.” Isn’t that an incredible promise? It shows how far we are capable of going when we have the discipline to make

growth our daily practice. You can consider a plan athis…

MONDAY: Spend one hour with a devotional to develop your spiritual life.

TUESDAY: Spend one hour listening to a leadership podcast or audio lesson.

WEDNESDAY: Spend one hour filing quotes and reflecting on the content of Tuesday’s tape.

THURSDAY: Spend one hour reading a book on leadership.

FRIDAY: Spend half the hour reading the book and the other half filing and reflecting.

As you develop your plan for growth, start by identifying the three to five areas in which you desire to grow. Then look for useful materials—books, magazines, audiotapes, videos—and incorporate them into your plan.

I recommend that you make it your goal to read twelve books and listen to fifty-two tapes (or read fifty-two articles) each year. I think this will be a great way to walk with you through 2023. Exactly how you go about your plan may not really matter, but do it daily.

7. PAY THE PRICE

I mentioned before that self-fulfillment focuses on making a person happy, whereas self-development proposes to help a person reach potential. A trade-off of growth is that it is sometimes uncomfortable. It requires discipline and it takes time that you could spend on leisure activities. It costs money to buy materials. You have to face constant change and take risks. And sometimes it’s just plain lonely. That’s why many people stop growing when the price gets high.

But growth is always worth the price you pay because the alternative is a limited life with unfulfilled potential. Success takes effort, and you can’t make the journey if you’re sitting back waiting for life to

come along and improve you. President Theodore Roosevelt boldly stated, “There has not yet been a person in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering.” Those words were true when he spoke them almost a century ago, and they still apply today.

8. FIND A WAY TO APPLY WHAT YOU LEARN

Jim Rohn urged, “Don’t let your learning lead to knowledge. Let your learning lead to action.” The bottom line when it comes to personal development is action. 

If your life doesn’t begin to change as a result of what you’re learning, you’re experiencing one of these problems: You’re not giving your growth plan enough time and attention; you’re focusing too much time on the wrong areas; or you’re not applying what you learn.

Successful people develop positive daily habits that help them to grow and learn. One of the things I do to make sure I don’t lose what I learn is file it.  Ask yourself these questions anytime I learn something new:

Where can I use it? When can I use it?

Who else needs to know it?

These questions will take your focus off simply acquiring knowledge and put it onto applying what you learn to your life. Try using them. 

Author and leadership expert Fred Smith made a statement that summarizes what committing to personal growth is really all about. He said:

"Something in human nature tempts us to stay where we’re comfortable. We try to find a plateau, a resting place, where we have comfortable stress and adequate finances. Where we have comfortable associations with people, without the intimidation of meeting new people and entering strange situations"

The Peoples Hub organization will love you to start growing today and we'll stand by you at each stage.

Do you have questions you need answers to? Reach out to us today…

The Ugandan sun beat down mercilessly, a constant reminder of the challenges we face here. Yet, despite the heat, my heart brimmed with excitement. We were making progress! Today, I stood in the newly established demonstration garden at All Souls Primary School, a testament to the unwavering spirit of this community.

This project, fueled by The Peoples Hub support, is our attempt to challenge poverty with a fundamental need – nourishing the children. The sight of the neatly raised beds, filled with the promise of vegetables and fruits, brought a smile to my face. We will be nurturing not just these crops, but also the knowledge that would empower these children to grow their own food.

seeds of hope, children in Uganda
(Image credit: Kimbowa Ivan | Children of Mityana | Copyright 2024)

But All Souls was just the beginning. The need echoed across the district, particularly in Mpanga, where children spent entire school days with empty bellies. I secured a half-acre plot of land in Kassanda. A fertile canvas waiting for transformation. Here, we envisioned another demonstration garden, a beacon of hope for Mpanga Primary School and the surrounding community. Clean water is a big problem in Uganda so we are researching best locations and practice.

Mityana-water-map
(Image credit: https://ubos.maps.arcgis.com | Map of Mityana district showing the location of rainwater harvesting tanks)

Seeds of Hope: Community School Farming

Imagine the impact! These gardens wouldn't just provide food – they would be classrooms, where children and parents could learn vital agricultural skills. Knowledge passed on, generation to generation, breaking the cycle of hunger and poverty. These seeds of hope fueled a fire within me, a burning desire to see this dream take root.

(Image credit: Kimbowa Ivan | Mealtime at the orphanage | Copyright 2024)

However, the journey wasn't without its hurdles. Technology proved to be a bit of a foe. Despite my best efforts, the videos and pictures capturing the joy in these children's eyes refused to reach Peter Lawal, the person at The Peoples Hub who made this project possible. But even this setback couldn't dampen my spirits.

Investing in Poultry Fertilizer

There was another matter that needed your attention. Initial funds used to secure land in Kassanda. Along with essential tools. Thankfully, a balance of 30,000 shillings remained. However, a recent outbreak of Kalusu disease in cattle farmers had imposed restrictions on cow dung fertilizer, our usual choice. This presented an opportunity – a chance to invest in poultry fertilizer, a viable alternative for these fertile soils.

So, the remainder of the funds will be used to purchase two sacks of poultry fertilizer. Ensuring the Kassanda gardens flourish just like the one at All Souls. Every contribution, big or small, is a vital seed on the path to a brighter future.

This journey is far from over, but the progress we've made so far is an inspiration. The sun that once seemed a source of hardship now symbolizes the growth and potential within these communities. With your continued support, we can watch these seeds of hope blossom into a future where no child goes hungry, a future where knowledge is cultivated alongside food.

(@NewzUganda | Tweet 2021)

This is just the first chapter in our Ugandan story of collective action. Stay tuned for more updates on the progress of these gardens and the impact they have on the lives they touch. We would love to meet you personally through The Peoples Hub Global Gatherings online events, where we showcase our progress in Mityana. Let's Get Creative!

The traditional high-street banking model, focused on maximizing shareholder profits, often leaves consumers feeling like a cog in a money machine. Fortunately, there are ethical banking alternatives that empower individuals and communities. This piece explores two options: credit unions and public banks.

Public banks
(Image credit: Adam Zyglis | Copyright 2015 Cagle Cartoons)

Credit Unions: Member-Owned for Mutual Benefit

Credit unions are non-profit cooperatives owned by their members, the very people who deposit and borrow money. This flips the script on traditional banking. Here's how credit unions champion ethical banking:

The Public Bank Difference: A Government Mandate for Public Good

Public banks are government-owned financial institutions with a mission to serve the public good, not private interests. Here's a glimpse into their unique approach:

Ethical Banking - Real-World Example:

(@ThePeoplesHubHQ | Tweet 2021)

Choosing the Right Fit:

The Takeaway:

Both credit unions and public banks offer ethical alternatives to traditional banking. By understanding their unique strengths, you can choose the option that best aligns with your values and financial goals. Remember, your ethical banking choices have the power to create positive change. So, research ethical banking options in your area and consider putting your money where your morals are.

‘Challenge Poverty Week’ always gets me thinking. What is it that keeps people bound by circumstances, and what is it that sets people free? No child in the history of mankind chose poverty. Some children have an anchor, a passion that sets them free and some have dig deeper to out work the circumstances handed to them at birth.

Our Social Uganda: Photograph by Fahad, Muwanika, "Children at the orphanage", Uganda. Poverty Challenge
Our Social Uganda: Photograph by Fahad, Muwanika, "Children at the orphanage", Uganda

This is more than political ideology. The fabrics of poverty run way deeper than studies report, and will take more than one off sporadic payments to mend the tapestry of the families affected by poverty.

Let’s talk about skills/passion. Do you pursue the passion, or does the passion pursue you?

Take Fatima Whitbread for example, a tragic start in life, one that could have led to a lifetime of adversity. What would her life have been had she not found her anchor in sport; was it her gift that set her free or was it determination to fight against the hand she was dealt that changed the trajectory of her life.

After attending he the local athletic club, it was her coach who fostered her and offered her a new life. A life Fatima feels extremely grateful for, one she explains solidified her understanding of love and the power of support.

What about the young who either don’t have an obvious gift and even if they do there is no-one there to notice or nurture it, where do they go?

Challenge Poverty: Do they become a lost in the system another statistic?

'A 2013 study links school exclusion to prison

Pupils excluded from school at 12 are four times as likely as other children to be jailed as adults, a new study shows.

Researchers found that boys, children living in single parent families, and those from the poorest communities were most likely to be barred from school.

They also concluded that equally badly behaved pupils from more affluent areas and those from two parent families were accorded greater tolerance and, as a consequence, were far less likely to be expelled.

"The study findings show that one of the keys to tackling Scotland’s high imprisonment rates is to tackle school exclusion. If we could find more imaginative ways of retaining the most challenging children in mainstream education and ensuring that school is a positive experience for all Scotland’s young people, this would be a major step forward. (Professor Susan McVie. Co-director of the study)

Five times as likely to end up in jail

The study compared the outcomes of children who had been referred to the hearing system by 12 with a closely matched group of young people involved in equally serious levels of offending who had not been referred.

Researchers found that those who had been referred were around five times more likely to end up in prison by age 24.

Groomed for imprisonment

The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, conducted by the University of Edinburgh, tracked more than 4000 people who started secondary school in 1998.

It concludes that early intervention in the lives of children identified as presenting “the greatest risk” does not necessarily reduce offending, but may well groom young people for later imprisonment.

Researchers found that the criminal justice system “constructs, reproduces and recycles its client base”.

"In practice, the criminal justice system serves to punish poverty, the socially marginalised, and vulnerable individuals, as much as those who steal, assault or murder. For youngsters who come to the attention of formal agencies at an early age, we need to ensure that intervention does not label and stigmatise." (Professor Lesley McAra, Head of the University’s School of Law and co-director of the study)'

What can we do as society to challenge poverty?

We can pay attention to young people; we can offer opportunities to engage. We could be creative in our approach and offer well being sessions, art, reading, writing, history, sport. We can provide after school clubs, harness the skills of our community development workers, and follow their lead. We can pay attention to the children who can only find the courage to whisper, we can make the extra effort to notice the whispers as well as the noise.

Amy Varle and Henry, Challenge Poverty
Challenge Poverty with Henry Winston YouTube video photo

If we open community hubs and open our doors to the local community to challenge poverty. Teach financial skills and how to manage money. Advise about credit unions in their local community. We can offer peer mentor sessions. We can bring in motivational speakers who have walked 100 miles in the shoes of these people. Helping them to alleviate the shame and strive for more.

We can link in with our criminal justice system and catch people before they fall. This has to be done in such a way that leaves no one on the side-lines, this approach must include not only those at risk of offending, but those at risk of being abused.

We can have counsellors in every school, from primary age, see children young, before they enter teens and often for many the pattern of behaviour has become unmanageable.

Prevention before intervention.

Every child born is a gift and we must treat them as such.

We can at the very least do no more harm.

"There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about."

Margaret J

They say all you need is love. It is true to a certain degree. If it could feed families, educate children, and nurture humanity the world would be a greater place.

Love is a wonderful starting point. They need water and food. We need opportunities. They need education.

Now let’s look at love and agriculture; this is what this community needs to strive. It has love in abundance. They need more.

Background Story

Let me introduce you to Mr Ivan Kimbowa.

I would like to introduce the program of skill advanced agriculture methods of Farming Gods Way in schools, and this system of agriculture is so friendly to the environment and can be done on small land but higher harvest. Due to high prices of food in the area we have decided to start growing our own food through agriculture programme.

We need to rent a piece of land where we can grow more food to feed the children on daily basis, but we can't do it without support because the costs. Renting land is higher and it's about 300000 Uganda shillings an acre. From this we can manage to get more than 10 to15 bags of maize, that's equivalent to 1500gms of maize flour and this can feed our children for 1 year and from it we can also help to feed other vulnerable families like the elderly.

Kimbowa Ivan, photo in Uganda, orphaned children looking for food, oh good Lord help us help them

Kimbowa, Ivan, Mityana, Uganda with orphaned children

Building a strong youth platform generally for youth orphans, elderly and young children because they are being abandoned hence they are the generation of the future. 


This will be done through up skilling the youth through different hand and technical skills.  Our goal is to end poverty and dependent syndrome from parents, the government and other institutions which are not able to support all the people.


I am so happy to share the testimony of happiness for the fund The People's Hub donated to us last time. It did very beautiful work to our project, money for buying materials, for the book making and art projects, soap and Vaseline and these will help our work to go smoothly and to raise more fruits in our community and we appreciate that heart of kindness to us.

Kimbowa Ivan, Mityana, orphanage, The Peoples Hub

We are building capacity of vulnerable children's service provider starting with Mityana and Jinja. Fundraising for the Bursaries and funds to assist orphans and vulnerable children from school, institutions, companies, NGOs, government, and individuals inside and outside through the spirit of Samaritans and Unity. We are so happy to be in communication with The Peoples Hub and Dr LeeAnn Teal Rutkovsky, who are helping us with social enterprising ideas in both ethical organic agriculture and fashion sustainability.

Dr LeeAnn Teal Rutkovsky, Susan Dolan, Peter Lawal, Kimbowa Ivan, All Souls School, Mityana, Uganda Impact Fashion Hub project

Promoting Bamunaanika Youth Development group and the voice to advocate for orphans, elderly and vulnerable children's information identification, service linkage and discrimination of the vulnerable in different communities of Mityana through lack of services.

Kimbowa, Ivan

The Peoples Hub

The People’s Hub supports Mr Ivan Kimbowa's mission. We have connected Mr Ivan Kimbowa with Mr Abdul from the Institute of Leadership from Kampala Uganda. The Institute is located opposite the American Embassy in Nsambya. They have met, discussed and made plans for progress in Mityana.

Mr Abdul is experienced in leadership in Uganda and is offering to guide Mr Ivan with this project.  Using his skills and abilities to create a very good platform for the children to be skilled in many courses. This is a great opportunity for the project aligned to the mission of Mr Ivan. It will help lift the lives of abandoned vulnerable, youth, elderly in the community. By skilling them up, and empowering them to have a sense of autonomy over their own lives. In turn empower others to do the same. Allowing parents to pursue their own path and lead the way for their children.

Mr Abdul offered the youth development team the opportunity to study at a low cost. He will support connections and a visit to Kampala.

I am happy that God has made move forward as youth of vision. By making good friends with people who share the same goals as ours. Thank you to The Peoples Hub, Peter Lawal, Institute of Leadership, Social Homes’, and so many other well-wishers of change. I appreciate whatever you are doing for us.

Kimbowa, Ivan

Can you help?

Do you have the skills, experience, means to fund such a heartfelt and meaningful project?

Do you have anything in your toolbox that could help transform the lives of a struggling village and in turn change the trajectory of the people there and generations that follow?

Let's Get Creative

Are you in position to fund, sponsor or offer advice on taking this project forward?

We would love to hear from you.

I will take my warm thanks to appreciate the work you are doing for us, and I call upon all the good-hearted people to help us throughout making all this happen. I Will take my opportunity to ask for the support from the well-wishers and we are raising funds to support our projects in buying materials, for the book making projects, soap and Vaseline and these will help our work to go smoothly and to raise more fruits in our community and to give more support to many souls in the communities of Mityana Uganda. Thank you.

Kimbowa, Ivan

"Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals & happiness” (Thomas Jefferson)

People like me don’t write books…. Until they do.

Michelle-Bauge-a-heart-full-of-love

My name is Michelle, and I am as ordinary as they come.

When not working or writing, you will find me playing football, walking the parks, sitting in coffee shops, reading, or listening to podcasts.

I have completed academic qualifications and spent most of my career in sports development. My love of sport and staying active has taught me the value of strength, endurance, tenacity, commitment, and grit. Transferable skills that have served me well in life. I would say that my greatest lessons have come from living, from life and from challenges.

Life Lessons

Life has taught me some very valuable lessons, and I did not want to keep those lessons to myself. To say I loved my family well, just didn't feel good enough.

I didn’t set out to write a book. The words just appeared and as each word appeared, I would write, and I just kept on writing. This is when I got intentional. I wrote story after story.

Gradually I started to share my work, all be it in very small stages. I had no big plan. No big goal, only to write and use my words to promote love, compassion, hope and kindness.

Universal Shift

Then there was a shift, and I have never been able to articulate what caused or created the shift. Only that when you start to dream and believe, the universe pays attention.

Of the 86 stories I had, there was one that resembled a story. Not a reflective account, a story I could share.

I sat with it for a very long time, I thought ‘people like me don't write books’, but after great research, I transferred the story into a manuscript. I finally found the courage to send it to a publisher.

And so here I am! Author of a children’s book

My dream is that any child, anywhere in the world can pick up this book and feel visible. My hope is they will know the world can see them and they are not alone in their suffering. While our suffering varies, the feeling of being alone in that suffering is universal. I don’t want that for the children of today. I don’t want children feeling discarded.

Michelle-Bauge-a-heart-full-of-love-book

Whatever environment children are born into is completely out-with their control and regardless of how alone they may feel. I want this book to remind children they matter Every life matters. Every child matters, and no one life is more valuable than another.

I know a book cannot solve the world’s problems, but I want my words to offer comfort. Offer them an escape into the possibility of love. While they are in a position that they have no control over.

I believe LOVE is the one thing no child should ever have to go without. 

Just for today: Allow yourself the space to dream, to ponder, to hit notes you never thought possible.

Thank you for reading.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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