Having the courage to take action- Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today we honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a leader of  enormous stature.

“A society of justice where none would prey upon the weakness of others; a society of plenty where greed and poverty would be done away; a society of brotherhood where every man would respect the dignity and worth of human personality”, that was his dream for the world.

Though the world is far different because of Dr. King’s vision and the courage to take action so that it may become reality, we still march towards the road of accomplishing social justice. On this day, as we celebrate Dr. King’s life, let us also recommit ourselves to #MakingTheDreamTheReality

Share your thoughts with us using the hashtag #MakingTheDreamTheReality.

What is your dream for the world? How are you making it reality?

LETS DO OUR LITTLE BIT OF GOOD WHERE WE ARE: We owe it to humanity

“This morning, I suddenly began to think about the primary reason why I am a community organizer. Why am I in Tatua Kenya doing what I do and not any other place? What draws me to Tatua? I began to think about the issue- what hurt me so much and made me so angry that I had to ACT. At the end of the day, when you ask people to do this or do that, it all boils down on the action. I came to a conclusion. It’s not just because I wanted to feel better about doing some good in society but because despite the existence of so many charities and philanthropists/ well wishers there is still so much that needs to be done by all of us to create real impact. I was curious about how to create real impact instead of short-term charity

The truth about Community organizing

Being an organizer takes a keen awareness of where energy exists and moving on that energy. It means seeing how a community works, what resources it has, what its needs are and helping match already present resources to existing needs. It’s about helping people see that they already have the answers to the problems they want some one else to solve. It’s looking at the community with a different sense of eyes.

The job isn’t about me or you doing everything. It’s about the community doing everything or at least as much as we can do together. This isn’t always the easiest thing to ensure. People often want you to do everything (I often want to do everything) but if we (me or you) do everything it leaves a lot of time and a little responsibility on everyone else’s plate. The truth is, we ALL have something to give to this world. This is our home and the other people living here are our community members, our neighbors and it’s time we act like it.

We may be thousands of miles apart or living in drastically different place but deep down, we’re all in this together, that’s the truth. And, to see change, we’re going to need to start living by that truth.

Helping you realize that truth, helping me realize that truth, helping the global community realize that truth – that’s my job as a community organizer.

In Memoriam: Katherine Mcquade-Toig

What we have done for ourselves alone die with us; what we have done for others and the world remains…immortal.Tatua and the world have lost a great woman in the past week, beautiful both inside and out. Last year, a time like this, Tatua Kenya had the honour of hosting Katherine Mcquade-Toig. She began a blog  http://iseeafrica2013.blogspot.com/ to capture her experience. She wanted to run a campaign on health here in Kenya and had her heart out for the Community Health Workers (CHWs)in the slums. Here’s an excerpt from her blog, that challenges all of us to do better. Even in her passing on, she will continue to challenge us with the passion she had in creating a just world.