Today, I am sharing a sermon that has inspired me recently. It’s by Rev. Shawn Newton of First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto and it’s about how to show love by reaching out to those in need. ********************** All summer, I’ve been reflecting on an image—the one pictured below. The photo was taken on July 8th, in Panama City, Florida. What you can’t see is that one hundred yards off shore, ten people – including a family of six – are fighting for their lives, as a str

Last week, twelve Girl Scouts (ages 10-12) took the first step toward making new friends. The girls from Santa Barbara, CA wrote letters to their new pen pals: students at Samro School in Eldoret, Kenya. They sent the letters and now they wait to hear back from their new friends! The idea for the cross-cultural sharing came from one of the girls. Last spring, her 6th grade class had the opportunity to Skype with students in Rwanda. This sparked an interest to continue this in

Winkly and Jane with their pigs in Malawi. By the time I launched into my opening story about Winkly and Jane in Malawi the classroom at Illinois College was pretty full. About 60 students and faculty were there for my discussion of micro-finance and my passionate defense of micro-grants as the best pathway out of poverty. In the three minutes before I remembered to press record on my iphone, I started with some thank yous to Joe Genetin-Pilawa (who invited me) and IC’s Leade

Have you seen this map? It shows just how BIG Africa is. It’s easy to lump a lot all together under the label of “Africa.” And yet, Africa is an entire continent – one that could fit the United States, India, China, Eastern Europe, and a number of western European countries, all within it’s borders! Africa is 20% of the world’s landmass and has 54 separate countries. Traveling in Malawi, just a tiny sliver on most maps of Africa, I was in awe of the vast countryside to see, s

This is an excerpt from a talk that I gave at Bonny Doon Presbyterian Church, sharing my personal journey and about my work with Spirit in Action. ˜ Tanya If you’ve ever moved to a new place, you know that it can be really hard. New places can be uncomfortable; they force you to encounter new things and new cultures, even within different regions in the US. You have to find a new grocery store, a new bank, new friends. And yet these moments when we are lost and lonely are mom

I went to a great “story swap” last night, where I and other non-profit professionals heard and shared our personal stories about what drives us to work for social change. The exchange of such inspiring stories left me yearning for more time to contemplate my motivations, core goals, and professional “origin story.” So until I have more time to reflect (during my family’s backpack trip in the Sierra Nevada mountains next month!), I’ll take just a bit of time and space now to

Did you catch the hype and fury around the KONY 2012 video about Uganda last week? The video, by Invisible Children, Inc. told about the violence in Uganda in the recent past. However, many people in Uganda are presenting their own responses to the video. “How do you tell the story of Africans?” asks Rosebell Kagumire, a Ugandan blogger, “because if you are showing me as voiceless, as hopeless… you shouldn’t be telling my story if you don’t believe that I also have the power

Last year, Jacky Buhoro of the Democratic Republic of Congo told me, “As Christians, we are called to change by doing.” Where does this responsibility come from? I’m far from being a Bible scholar and so I love it when someone can make the stories come to life and inspire me to action. Recently, this inspiration came through Will Brown, a graduating student at Yale Divinity School, in a sermon about Jeremiah answering God’s call to serve others. In 6th grade, Will got his fir