As you've probably read by now, next week, Mama Lucy and her students Leah & Gideon will be on their way to the US for a month-long visit. Yesterday I received this email from Gideon's father:

Dear Stacey, My heart is really broken for this wonderful story for my son Gideon coming to America at this age. I can now imagine his dreams of going to the universe not being a joke as I thought before when he was telling us that one day he will step on the moon or Jupiter a big planet!!! Ok, LET HIM GO. The trip of 1,000 miles starts with one foot step. Let that first footstep be non-stop until the dream of walking to Jupiter the big planet becomes true! "Together we excel" Fanuel I. Gidori

I was in tears from the second sentence. When I originally posted on my personal blog this invitation for friends to help bring Gideon, Leah & Mama Lucy to the US, I wrote:

I want to give them this gift so they grow up with hearts that dare to hope for ridiculous, unimaginable possibilities. For themselves, their community, their country and the world we share. I want them to know, beyond any doubt, that even their wildest dreams just might come true.

The truth is I want Epic Change to be this very same gift for the world. We share stories like Mama Lucy's as a heartful, fervent reminder that we can all dare to hope for ridiculous, unimaginable possibilities for the world we share. So often in our world, hope gets hurt. And so we hush our hearts. Like Mr. Gidori, we think our hopes are a joke. But the truth is: Little boys in tiny African villages can grow up to become astronauts. Our gratitude can build libraries, our songs can build schools, and our love can build homes. Our dreams can be realized by raising chickens in our own back yards. We are enough to create any possibility we can envision for our world. It's all true. And as soon as we believe it's possible, we can begin to make it so. It's no joke, Mr. Gidori, to believe your son could one day visit another planet. Anything is possible when you dare to believe it just might be...

Posted: October 21st, 2011 under The Foundry.
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THEY'RE COMING!!!!! THEY'RE COMING!!!!! Yep, you read that right. On October 27th, Mama Lucy & two of her students will soon make the long journey from Moivaro village to the USA for a month-long visit. For the children, this will be their first trip out of their own country. My hope is you'll want to hug them in person. To witness their hopeful hearts first-hand. Trust me, if my own experience is any indication, just being in their presence could change you forever. When you realize that seemingly impossible dreams are realized from nothing more than hope & chickens, you're forced to reckon with the unspoken truth that you already have enough to create every possibility you've dared to imagine. That's life changing. At least, it has been for me. You can help welcome Mama Lucy, Leah & Gideon to a city near you by RSVPing at: http://epicevents.eventbrite.com/. We'll be choosing where their journey will lead based on your interest. Below are some of the cities we're hoping to visit:

Atlanta, GA | 11/14	Orlando, FL | 11/17	Richmond, VA | 11/13
Boston, MA | 11/6	New York, NY | 11/8	San Diego, CA | 11/5
Los Angeles, CA | 11/4	Miami, FL | 11/21	Satellite Beach, FL | 11/18
Hartford, CT | 11/7	Pittsburgh, PA | 11/10	Tampa, FL | 11/15
Washington, DC | 11/12	San Francisco, CA | 11/02

If you're anywhere nearby, we hope you'll RSVP to join us, even though we're honestly not yet sure what these get-togethers might look like. We're aiming for small, intimate, kid-friendly gatherings where we can engage in meaningful conversation. Perhaps we'll meet over a potluck in some local living room, in a college dormitory, or on a city tour. Maybe we'll gather to share the kids first American hamburger at a local diner, walk through a park together or go bowling. Whatever it is, we hope you're there. A few weeks ago, this trip was nothing more than a flicker of a possibility. When I was in Tanzania, I wrote this note to a few friends which said:

In my heart, for so long, I’ve carried a perhaps far-fetched wish that for graduation, I’d be able to give a truly epic gift to one boy & one girl from the school’s first graduating class. (You can read the entire note here.)

Within 48 magical hours, over $5,000 had been contributed to make that dream come true. By the end of last week, their US visas had been approved. To those of you who pulled off this miracle, my gratitude is endless. Here's a few photos of smiles, joyful tears and hugs from Gideon & Leah that were clearly meant for you. This weekend, just after they'd picked up their US visas from Dar Es Salaam, Mama Lucy wrote me this note and sent a few photos from her cell phone:

Two days ago, after our visas were approved, I went back to my daughter's home in Dar and found Leah and Gideon. They were just waiting to hear a word from me about their visa and eagerly to see how it looks like. I took my mobile phone and set a camera on before I handled over their passports, just to get a memory of how they felt. They were thrilled! They couldn't hold their joy. You can tell from their faces.:) (Check out Mama Lucy's photos here.)

We hope you'll join us to make their trip even more special than their imaginations dare to dream it could be. RSVP NOW. Can't wait to see you! Stacey PS: If you're in one of the cities above and would like to volunteer to host or help coordinate their visit to your corner of the globe, please email me at stacey@epicchange.org - we'd love your help making them feel at home!!!

Posted: October 18th, 2011 under The Foundry, Updates from Mama.
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This is what a miracle looks like: Last Saturday, on the 24th day of September, 2011, 20 Tanzanian seventh graders - 9 boys & 11 girls - were honored by a community of 1,000 proud & excited onlookers as they celebrated the graduation of our first class from primary school. Dressed in black bowties, pageant-like sashes, and bright blue cardboard graduation caps I bought from the local dollar store, they marched almost-regal to accept their certificates of completion in front of parents, friends, teachers and village leaders. Their excitement and pride was palpable. I wish I could share every last moment with you so that you would feel in your bones the powerful magic your love, generosity, gratitude & hope are making there in the tiny village of Moivaro. I wish you could see how whatever you've done & will do, is altering the course of the universe we share. Making it more beautiful, more loving, more kind, and full of infinitely more possibilities. This my heart knows: these children will change everything. Because of the love you've invested, they will feel more loved, and dare to love more. Because you've invested your hopes in them, they will dare to hope too. On graduation day, that hope shone from each one of their beautiful faces - from the first moments when Leah delivered the valedictory speech, saying:

"For sure, we shall climb the mountains ahead of us..."

to the final moments of the ceremony when they danced to celebrate and thank their parents and teachers, and fed one another pieces from their graduation cake. The younger students, from age 2 through 12, had washed their own clothes by hand with water from the stream the night before in anticipation of such a big day. At the ceremony, they looked up in awe at their departing brothers and sisters, and each class performed or shared a word of advice. While the preschoolers did cartwheels & danced their little hearts out, my favorite performance was this poem from the third graders who in unison recited:

"Graduates, As you make a new beginning in your life, be aware of the important things you learned in school. As you pursue your dreams remember to take time to help and serve others even if doing so slows you down a little. As you explore & develop your pure talents, remain humble, realizing that your abilities are a gift from God. As life hands you challenges, recognize them as a chance to become smarter and stronger. As you acquire material things, know that your most important possessions are honesty, integrity and the desire to make a difference. Congratulations graduates! May your path take you where you want to go and also bring pleasant surprises.

Another favorite? Graduates Leah, Phineas & Gideon singing (and rapping!) their little hearts out performing their own unique adaptation of ONE8's Hands Across the World. As the ceremony came to an end, a local dignitary spoke as the guest of honor. At the conclusion of his speech, he offered 100 bags of cement (worth more than $1,000 USD!) as a graduation gift to be invested in a secondary school where the children can continue their education in Mama Lucy's loving care. In turn, parents, teachers and students began to stream toward the microphone pledging whatever they could - a bag of cement, a metal roofing sheet, a few cents, a few shillings, a few dollars or more. All in all, more than $2,000 was given or pledged that day. As the leader of the parents council said in Swahili when people were too shy to give because they feared they had too little: "many of us have so little - but together, it is so, so much." Amen. The day ended with much less pomp & circumstance than that with which it had begun. After so many local songs and dances, the DJ blared Kenny Rogers at the end of the day. The Coward of the County. I thought Teacher Herman had requested it; he'd told me just the day before that Kenny Rogers was his favorite of all. Turns out, it was just serendipity. A little whisper from heaven for Herman saying, "Teacher, this one's for you." After all the love he's poured into those kids over the past few years, it somehow seemed a fitting end to a truly miraculous day.

Posted: October 4th, 2011 under The Foundry.
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