On a beautiful drive up and back to Vermont over the Thanksgiving holiday, I listened to an interview on the radio (happened to catch the same interview both ways) with a gentleman named Barton Brooks. Barton, once a Manhattan Real Estate Broker, tossed that life aside four years ago and started Global Colors.  Global Colors’ mission is “to aid in the development of grassroots campaigns using local ingenuity and resources to accomplish very specific goals”.

I decided to do a little investigation of Global Colors when I arrived home.  An hour and half later – after digging into his site and the global projects that he has undertaken – I must say I’m impressed.  Part of the appeal is his simple call to action – just go and do. Visit a part of the world you’re interested in, and ask how you can help.  Involve the locals in the solution – so they too learn how to empower themselves.  It can even be as simple as inquiring at the concierge’s desk at the hotel you’re staying at during vacation to learn if there is an orphanage near by that you can visit for a few hours during your vacation.

His website is filled with stories – and about the projects he’s currently working on and trying to raise awareness to direct aid efforts.  One that struck a chord with me was the Batwa Pygmies in Uganda – a group of people that have been displaced from their ancestral lands – a group of people who aren’t even recognized as humans because of their small stature.  They live on a small bit of land, but can’t afford the seeds to even farm the land.  They subsist on a small portion of porridge daily.

When Barton asked the villagers how he could help, their response was help to raise money to provide a chicken for each of the children – as a chicken will lay an egg a day to give each child the protein they need, as well as give them an animal to care for and love.  Barton’s efforts have turned into a much larger effort – helping the villagers build huts, chicken coops, plant gardens.  I must admit that this project had particular appeal to me – the ability to raise $9 per chicken to provide a child with food is a tangible goal that my son and his friends that are interested in agriculture could embrace.

Another inspiring story is the women of  Nairobi, Kenya – who have been making beads for years – at the Kazuri Bead factory.  (The creation of this factory is one for another blog). Their beads are beautiful – (and are for sale – check out Kazuriwest.com) but the inspiring piece of this story is that these women sometimes provide for up to 20 extended family members, and the company itself is a model of commerce – providing healthcare, childcare, paying three times the customary annual wage for these women that work at the factory.

Barton’s latest project is called 52 weeks to Change the World, and he has mapped out a course to take him to several destinations across the world to implement his notion of “guerrilla aid” – helping with whatever the local need is.  He has a blog where he is reporting on his travels and identifying how people can help.  I have signed up to receive his reports – so will keep you apprised of any interesting stories.  Barton Brooks has created a very inspiring life mission indeed.