I am not ashamed to admit that my mum is one of the best in the world. Growing up struggling with financial resources, my mum has always provided with the best. Every morning, without fail, she would be up at 4am to do the washing and cleaning, and prepare breakfast and pack lunch for us.

When I was volunteering in the first aid team, she was up at 4am at times to drop me off where I was supposed to me. Growing up, my mum’s biggest lesson to me is to be generous to people around me with what we have. She definitely set a great example through supporting charities and support me when I was organising my own charity events. When I left my hometown to move 3,000 miles away from all my family and friends (to Australia), she left me with only a few words – be happy and be nice.

We grew up with barely anything in our house up until 14 years old, so my mum is not a materialistic person at all. This Mother’s Day, instead of sending her a gift, I am giving her something she would be very proud of. I know its never the gifts she’s after, but just the knowing that her precious children grow up to be wise and significant individuals in their own passion.

When @StaceyMonk contacted me to be involved in this project, To Mama With Love, there was no question, but a straight yes from me. It’s a no-brainer whether to support this cause or not.

To Mama With Love is a collaborative online art project that honors moms across the globe and raises funds to invest in one remarkable Mama who dreams of building a home for children in her village. Funds raised will be invested in support of Mama Lucy Kamptoni, a remarkable grassroots changemaker in Tanzania. Her next goal, which To Mama With Love seeks to fund, is to build a boarding facility on campus so that every child who attends her school has a place to call home.

Mama Lucy is an incredibly woman with extraordinary determination to change her community. On many levels, she is an inspiration to change makers worldwide. With a vision in mind, she sets out to change her community with whatever resources she has.

My village in Arusha, Tanzania did not have good schools. So, I started Shepherds Junior School in 2003 with money I raised from a small chicken farm. I began with only 10 students. With the help of Epic Change, now I serve more than 411 kids

Why is it worth investing?
To Mama With Love is more than a charity, its an investment. It’s an investment into the future of these kids and all the kids in generations to come who will have the opportunity to schooling.

The school, built in 2003 now serve more than 411 kids and in 2008, it was ranked #2 out of 118 area schools in the national exams. Giving access to education to these kids is not only changing their live, but changing their community and the nation. They have the determination, the inspiration and have put in the hardwork, its only fair that we give them our support.

We want to build a safe, and loving children’s home & boarding facility on the campus of Sheperds Junior School. A place where these courageous students can call home.

What can you do?
Those who reads this blogs probably are doing a lot of charities already, but I would be really happy if you’d come on board and help us make this movement a success. Make a heartspace for someone who has inspired you, who have played a mother figure at some points in your life, or even to your nephews and nieces as a gift to your mom.

This is not about charity, this is love. This is an investment. This is change and this is hope. This is about you and me, providing the resources to a group of inspired future leaders so they can bring about change. Make a heartspace and let me know how you go.

Earlier this week, while exchanging messages with a friend, he asked me:

Out of curiosity, how did you get started with volunteering? I believe that’s a story I’m yet to hear.

And just yesterday, I came across @StaceyMonk’s story of his little brother, Joshua and her journey to becoming a social change leader, and I wept. So, I thought I would share my story.

In some ways, my story is not too far different from Stacey’s. I was your typical, slightly rebellious kid growing up. We were poor but I was incredibly resilient and stubborn in nature. Due to my families’ financial struggle, we were brought up in a modest and humble environment. Some of those values still stay with me until today – e.g. my best friends, like @SarahMoran, know that I cannot bear seeing food being wasted. When I was young, we have 3 meals and 3 meals only – there were never more or enough to spare.

My “journey” (for lack of better words, as wanky/uncool as that sounds) started about 7 years ago. I received a call after a 3-day vacation, to inform me that my closest mate died in a drowning accident. It tore my life apart and I wrote about it here. Even up until today, I can still remember those days rather vividly.

For 3 months, I was living in transition. Neither here nor there, neither alive nor dead. I was in a space where my perception of the world and life was displaced and I was questioning everything about life, including the essence of life and being alive.

Those much needed 3 months helped me to drill to the core of life.

That at the centre of living is an empty space. It’s the influences of external things around us, coupled with our own judgments and decisions that our beliefs, values and purpose of life were made of – in a way, our sense of identity and purpose. If we strip all these away from anyone, we end up with nothing but a mere breathing, walking living being with unimaginable capabilities. And I did just that and discover for myself, if I get to live again, what would I like to fill my empty vessel with.

My cultural values of community and sharing gave me a strong appreciation for community building and understanding for connectedness and the social reform. My own personal experiences shape the other, and it is through these experiences that I came to my passion.

The death of Ryan pushed me to do many things I otherwise wouldn’t have done. One of them was organising a visit to the School for the Blind back in Borneo, Malaysia. Armed with chocolates, candies and ice-cream, 6 of my best friends and I visited the school. We sang, we chatted and we had lunch with the kids. There are two things I learned during the visit.

The first one was to accept and appreciate what I have, work hard for what I don’t have and make peace with what I could not have. During a conversation with a 10-year old girl, with her head turned facing out the window, probably hoping she could see what was outside, she told me that her wish was to be able to differentiate the colour of the rainbow – to understand what’s red, what’s blue and what are the other colours that they learned in words.

The second lesson I learned came just when we were about to leave. A group of kids cried as we left, and at 17, I couldn’t really understand that. A letter from the Principal a few days later clarified to me. To us, doing this was an experiment – it was my experiment. To these kids, its a change and integration and acceptance by the “normal” society – us. To them, we bring them something fresh and different, but what struck me the most was.. some of these kids came from rural areas and it was their first time eating chocolate and ice-cream. My jaw dropped, eyes wide-opened and could not believe what I read.

That was the beginning of a very special journey for me. From there, I organised various big and small charity events. Visiting and distributing gifts at the Old Folk’s Home taught me to appreciate the people who have shaped me to become who I am today, which includes my parents, families, neighbors and friends around me. Working at the Down Syndrome Centre was a challenge but really pushed me to work on my patience and understanding ways of appreciating individuality. And to appreciate that every child is capable, if only given the opportunity, inspiration, motivation and resources.

In many ways, Ryan’s death has made me do many, many things I otherwise wouldn’t have done. Up until today, I still get a bunch of negative emotions talking about his death, but I count myself lucky to have incredible friends and family who inspire me to always push myself out of my comfort zone. To understand nothingness, and in @JackHeath’s words, “keep my heart warm and head cool”.

“Inability to accept the mystic experience is an intellectual handicap. Lack of awareness of the basic unity of organism and environment is a serious and dangerous hallucination. For in a civilisation equipped with immense technological power, the sense of alienation between man and nature leads to the use of technology in a hostile spirit – to the ‘conquest’ of nature instead of intelligent co-operation with nature.” – Allan Watts

It’s only been nearly a week and the Haiti earthquake is said to be the fifth worst quake since medieval times, with an estimated death of half a million people, double the death toll of the deadly tsunami.



As aids come in from nations around the world, many organisations are doing their bids in helping as well. Donation appeals have been going crazy on Twitter, and it warms my heart to see the generosity of everyone on Twitter! I was torn between which organisations to donate but, but I do realise it doesn’t really matter – they *all* need the money, so I chose 3 of my favourite charities and what they do that I am passionate about.



Most of the organisations appealing for money on Twitter are from USA, and one of my friends said that he didn’t donate because it will also charge him conversion fee – which is a lame reason but fair enough. Thus, I thought I’d put together a list of Australian organisations you can donate too – tax deductible and no conversion rate.

Save the Children Australia – directed immediately to the most vulnerable children and their families in Haiti.

Australian Red Cross – teaming up with other Red Cross and Red Crescent around the world to provide relief.

Oxfam Australia – responding with public health, water, and sanitation services to prevent the spread of disease.

Médecins Sans Frontières Australia – medical projects and are now helping to treat the injured.

Plan International – focus on water, sanitation, health, shelter and child protection.

Half a million people predicted dead. If there is a good time to open up your heart and empty your wallet, this is the time to do so.

* Pictures taken from Brisbane Times and information from SBS Word News

I have always been very fascinated by the potential of technology in improving lives but have never really looked into it, other than through my work with the Inspire Foundation, which uses information communication technology to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people.

I remember first entering the non-profit technology circle and attended my first official event – the Connecting Up Conference and everyone was talking about Beth Kanter, the person you must know if you’re interested in non-profit technology. That started my subscription to Beth’s blog, and reading more and more about her work and keeping up to date with her presentations and her findings.

Beth has inspired me a lot in the things I do when it comes to technology, not only in the non-profit field, but in other of my work area – education and social innovation. It’s interesting that we’ve never met but Beth has been a great mentor and teacher. I’m still slowly finding my way through this whole muddy field, but surely, I’m getting there – esp since in collaboration with Eddie Harran for Digital For Good and partnering with Brisbane City Council for YES Brisbane to launch our first unreasonable ideas incubator program.

So, Beth, as you turn 53, I hope you realise how much of global impact you have made and the amount of social innovation and social good you have fueled around the world. Thank you so much for your generosity and compassion. Happy birthday!

Wish Beth a happy birthday and help her make her wish come true – http://bit.ly/beth53