Maggie Doyne with her children at Kopila Valley Childrens Home, Nepal

The other night, Maggie Doyne of Blink Now,  became the CNN 2015 Hero of the Year.Maggie is a 29 year-old American woman, who has 50 kids and lives in Nepal!

Maggie’s story and the path she decided to take early on in life, has touched the hearts of people around the globe and changed the lives of hundreds of Nepalese women and children.

Maggie was a high school classmate of my daughter, Erin. After graduation, Maggie decided to take a gap year and travel before heading off to college. Eventually, she ended up in Nepal and saw a country devastated by 10 years of civil war and thousands of orphaned children left in its wake. She used her babysitting savings to buy property and build a home for herself and orphaned children – she was 19 years old. Maggie has 50 children now, has built a primary school for 250 kids and is currently building a high school.

When Maggie accepted the Hero of the Year award the other night, she said; “ And to all of you in this room and who are watching, please, please remember that we have the power to create the world that we want to live in”. She’s done just that and has inspired countless others, to do the same.   She inspired my daughter and I to seek out other individuals all over the world who were creating positive change and to make a filmabout them, with the hopes it would inspire others to make a difference.

Imagine if we all thought like Maggie and believed we all have the power to create the world that we want to live in. The fact is we do have that power. It starts with the little things we can do – in our own lives, in our family’s lives and in our communities. Small things have a way of growing into big things. When you educate one child, you change a life that has the potential to change other lives.

Maggie, you continue to inspire me. You are a bright light in a troubled world and a beacon of hope. Congratulations for this well deserved honor.

If you’d like to watch Opening Our Eyes, a film about Maggie and other change makers, you can view it here.

My daughter, Erin and I started this blog, when we first embarked on our journey around the world, creating a film about individuals making positive change.  It was then, and continues to be a journey that the two of us share intimately – together as mother and daughter.  Our trip was filled with memorable experiences as we circled the globe.  Our film has been a journey for our audiences, who were motivated to “do something”, inspired by individuals like Maggie Doyne who has changed the lives of thousands of children.  We formed a very strong bond through this experience, and that has become be part of our legacy.

The great news is that Erin is getting married next month, to a wonderful young man named Bryan.  My husband and I feel blessed and happy that Erin and Bryan have found one another to experience life together  – the joys and sorrows and everything in between.  And so another chapter begins in her life and ours.

As I look back, my most cherished memories are about Erin. It’s usually the little moments that resonate the most – like the time she greeted me at the airport after I had been away for a long period of time. She was probably about 5 or 6 years old, and she ran up to me, arms outstretched with exuberance and joy, laughing as she called out “Mommy!” after spotting me in the crowd. I’ll never forget that moment. It was pure love.

Love and relationships are what makes a life worth living.  These days, it is easy to lose sight of the simplicity of that thought, because we are all distracted by other things in the consumer culture we live in. I am grateful that Erin and I took time in our lives when we did, to make time for one another. I know that both of us were incredibly humbled by our journey and witnessing what the power of “love” could do, on a global scale.  We formed a bond and we will have that bond forever.

So I say to Erin, “Be happy on your wedding day and all the other days that you and Bryan get to spend together.  Cherish each moment.  It’s what life is made up of – every precious one.”

The day had an ominous look to it, with a dark foreboding sky and choppy water on the great Amazon River.  Erin and I were staying at the APECA base camp upriver from the town of Belen, one of the poorest towns along the river. We were planning to go there that day, by boat – everything is done by boat – there are no roads.

Pablo, Gina Low’s partner at APECA, assessed the situation and decided to go as planned, but he told us it was going to rain and to prepare for it.  The trip to Belen took about an hour if my memory serves me well.  It was open water with just a few villages along the way and aside from the sound of our motor and those of other boats off in the distance; there was an eerie silence.

When we got to Belen, the skies let loose.  Pablo quickly navigated our boat to one of the shacks along the river. We took refuge in this machine shop and watched the storm play out.  We were thankful for the cover over our heads and grateful to Pablo for knowing exactly what to do.  I think that is what continually impressed me the most about the people in our film, like Pablo.  They were all incredibly independent and resilient in difficult situations. They were people you could trust and that says a lot.

This photograph was taken when my daughter Erin and I were filming in a

small hill tribe village in the northern mountains of Thailand.  We were following Dr. David Mar Naw, as he trekked through the villages, a “one man band”, dispensing medical care and building latrines for Burmese refugees.  Some of them had never seen a doctor before. This lady was waiting to have her tooth pulled.

It was painful to watch as the doctor pulled this woman’s tooth, without anything to ease her pain. She was stoic and barely winced. Perhaps she was thinking about the relief she would have, after the tooth was removed.

These people humbled me, in fact I was humbled by all the people we met, along our journey around the world.  I will be forever grateful for that journey.  It opened my eyes to so many things and I am a better person because of it.

This is just one story that makes up the film, Opening Our Eyes, a documentary about the “power of one” and “making a difference” in the the world.

Most folks don’t realize that when Erin and I went around the world in pursuit of people creating positive change – we weren’t just shooting a movie – we also shot over 5000 still images.

When we planned our itinerary, traveling and shooting on six continents in the summer of 2010, we built in some  “free time” to see the sights.  It also acted as a buffer in case things didn’t go according to plan.  As it happened, everything did go according to plan and we had some wonderful down time in Moscow, Istanbul, Bangkok, Melbourne and Sydney, Australia and India.  We shot still images in all of these destinations in addition to the stills that we shot on the movie set, and ended up with a nice archive.

I’ve been editing this archive over the last year and am going to make them available for prints.  You can see the first gallery of images, and there will be more to follow over the next few months.  A print would make a beautiful Christmas gift for someone special.  If you order before Dec. 17^th – the prints will arrive before Christmas.

Happy Holiday.

Tom and I will be headed out tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn.  We’re bound for Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with our daughter Erin, her boyfriend Bryan and his family.  For me, it’s also a welcome road trip and a journey home to my birthplace. It’s funny how things have a way of coming full circle.  I was born in Chicago and left to head “East” with my parents and family when I was a young child.  But for someone like me, who has moved more than a dozen times in my lifetime – Chicago feels like home.  It’s where my roots are.

I’ve been a bit of a “rolling stone” over the years, but I’m also extremely grateful that I have been able to share many of life’s incredible experiences and travels with Erin and my husband Tom.  It’s been a gift,  to be able to combine my passions with my career and family.  This Thanksgiving I am mindful of my blessings and am most grateful for what I have.

One of the things I am most proud of is the creation of the film, Opening Our Eyes, that I made in collaboration with my daughter.  The journey in and of itself was rewarding, but I have found that sharing it  has not only inspired and motivated others to create positive change, it has also enriched my own life.

If you would like to see the film or share it with others over the holidays, we are now offering it online.  We are also offering a Thanksgiving special.

Click here and use the coupon code “THANKSGIVING2013”.

The journey is over and the memories have begun to fade.  But the legacy lives on in the film my daughter and I created, when we set out some 3 years ago seeking individuals who were making our world a better place. And indeed, we found many people – ordinary people who were doing extraordinary things. And every one of these people had one thing in common – they had found their purpose in helping others.  The more they gave – the more they got back in return.  But none of them “gave” with the idea of getting something in return. It wasn’t about getting money, favors, recognition, or other ego related pursuits, it was about caring for their “fellow man”.

I think that the biggest reward for me in making this film, was sharing that experience with my daughter.  She was fortunate to have been born and raised in a beautiful and privileged part of the world and I wanted her to have a greater global perspective.  It’s almost impossible to “care” for your “fellow man” when if you don’t have an understanding of who they really are.  We all hear about conflict and our “differences” that seem to keep our world divided, but for many of us it’s too distant and outside our consciousness and the confines of our own daily reality.

The truth is the world seems like it’s gotten a whole lot smaller since I was my daughter’s age.  It’s amazing how technology has connected us all.  What’s even more amazing is the “reach” each one of us has. It’s not very difficult for “one person” to get their message out these days – globally – and instantaneously.  Think of the power in that.  I realized that first hand with this film and how it has connected people all over the world. I am grateful that I live in an age, when I am able to use my craft, to spread the message about the power each one of us has in making a positive difference in our world – the  “power of one”.

But it starts with each one of us, in our own communities and with the people we have relationships with.  We can all be a little more thoughtful of how we treat the people we know – that is if we can get outside our own egos. It may be as simple as stopping ourselves before we say something, or do something that could affect someone negatively and ask, “how would I feel if I was on the receiving end?” It’s the little things that we all do and say, that can affect someone, either positively or negatively and that in turn goes on to affect more people and it starts to ripple through “community” and beyond.

I think we all need a reminder from time to time that it serves no purpose to dismiss or treat anyone with disregard, anger or contempt. It only serves to make us bitter inside.  I have learned that lesson more than once in my life. The older I get, the more I realize that I’d rather harbor thoughts of love, kindness and forgiveness than hold onto negative ones.  Ultimately, life’s too short to focus on the negative.

We each have our own perspective and we each get to choose the lens we see “life” through. I choose a lens of love, respect and caring.  I haven’t always chosen that lens and no doubt there will be times in my life, going forward, when I will falter and start seeing life through the wrong lens.  Please, let me know when I do.

For those of you who have been asking when Opening Our Eyes will be available – it has been released on DVD and VOD.

The best part about creating the documentary, Opening Our Eyes, was getting to be around some of the most amazing, inspirational people I’ve ever met in my life.  So many things that these folks said during their interviews, still run through my mind on a daily basis.

Showing Maggie the first “cut”.

One thing in particular was something that Maggie Doyne said when she was talking about what she built in Nepal “It’s not perfect.  If I had waited for things to be perfect, none of this would have happened.”

I work and live with a perfectionist, my husband and my business partner.  We are opposites in every way.  I am one to take my “big idea” and jump right into it.  I’m also one who wants to complete something and follow through right away, regardless if it’s “perfect” or not.  For example:  I could have/should have gotten this film professionally color graded before I sent it out to festivals and distributors. But, I didn’t have the funds to do that, so rather than let the film “get old” until I could get more funding (which may not have happened), I pushed it out to the universe, and good things have happened.

It’s good to be detail oriented and to strive for perfection, but not if you use it to give yourself reasons to stop yourself from moving forward.  Many times, when I tell my husband my latest “big idea”, his first instincts are to tell me dozens of reasons I shouldn’t act on it until……………everything is perfect.  His intentions are good – he wants to protect me from failure, but if I let it, his words might also end up protecting me from success.

We both recognize our differences now as our individual strengths and that when we listen, learn and balance those opinions and differences so that they can work together instead of opposed to each other, great things can happen.  But that takes practice and also not having to be right all the time.  There is no one “right” and that’s the beauty of collaboration and working in harmony.

This blog is two-fold. First, a brief announcement about some exciting news we received recently – we have been accepted into the Naperville Independent Film Festival! Naperville is a suburb outside of Chicago, so it is especially exciting for me to be able to go to a film festival that’s local enough to drive to and bring friends. Even more exciting is that we have been nominated for the Best Documentary award AND we were notified that there will representatives from a distribution company at the festival! We’re looking forward to attending in September.

I also wanted to share a message from CCI and Greenheart’s President, Emanuel Kuntzelman. CCI and Greenheart is an official sponsor of Opening Our Eyes; it is also the organization where I work. It is a cultural exchange organization that facilitates many different exchange programs, one of which brings high school students to the U.S. and places them with volunteer host families and high schools for the academic year.

We are currently in the home stretch of looking for host families willing to provide homes for the students arriving to start school this fall. Emanuel sent the message below to our field staff, which works to place these students with families and schools. However, I felt that his ultimate message about the power of the individual in changing lives really resonated with Opening Our Eyes’s message:

Steve Jobs once said that “People with passion can change the world for the better.” At CCI we have lots of passionate people ready to do just that.  In these final weeks of searching for host families, I would like to remind all of us why we are putting in the extra effort.

You are not just a sole person in your community, but an extraordinary member of an amazing team. You are a change maker, one of hundreds at CCI and Greenheart,  that are creating a world that will be more peaceful and understanding through your hard work. The phone calls and networking and extra hours of searching for host families add up to more than just meeting a goal; you are making a real difference in not only the life of an exchange student, but the lives of the host family, their friends, the family of the exchange student and the ripple effect goes on.  This is the expanding power of one.  One more placement by one more person adds up to many changed lives for years to come.

Thank you in advance for tapping into the power of one–your own, individual effort–to make this happen and help get all of our students placed.  When all of our students arrive later this summer, the most important number of all will still be “one”:  the one sense of accomplishment that each of us will have in knowing that we did our part to use our passion to change the world, one placement at a time.   

Here’s to all of you–the fantastic powers of one adding up to far more than the sum of individuals.  

With energy, gratitude, and best wishes for the weeks ahead,

Emanuel Kuntzelman, President

Center for Cultural Interchange and Greenheart

If you are interested in hosting an exchange student for this coming academic year, or you know someone who would be interested, please visit CCI’s website to learn more. You can also call the CCI office at 1-800-634-4771 if you have any questions.

Chris Guillebeau wrote in his blog today “When I became an optimist after years of seeing the glass half-full, it was largely a practical choice. I just realized I was tired (literally) of putting my energy toward negative thoughts. It was draining and decapacitating. I vowed to put my energy toward positive thoughts, and ignore anything else as much as possible.” I can’t wait to meet Chris next week at his World Domination Summit in Portland, OR. In fact I can’t wait to meet all the people who attend this conference and think the same way Chris does.

Chris went on to say “Embrace the WOW. When someone does something interesting, appreciate it for what it is. Stop judging or discounting their achievements.” That sentence really resonated with me because there are days when I feel that no matter how much I have accomplished in my career and in my life, there are people who try to marginalize my achievements.

When I start to feel frustrated by people like that, I remind myself of what Ronni Kahn of Oz Harvest told me on a July day in Sydney, Australia “Don’t do something for the recognition – do it for the sake of doing.” Ronni was one of the many inspirational people my daughter Erin and I interviewed, on our trip around the world in the summer of 2010, during the making of our documentary, Opening Our Eyes.

I think back on all the travel logistics I needed to coordinate – our itinerary would have made one of the best travel agents panic – let alone figuring out how to do it using airline miles and hotel rewards. I also needed to think about the gear we would need to shoot both stills and video, that would fit into 2 backpacks. And I needed to make sure we had the necessary visas and vaccinations.

When we got back, I had over 5000 images and 150 hours of film to edit. Within two very long, bleak winter months in early 2011, I managed to lay down an initial rough cut of 3 hours of interviews. While I was doing the rough edit, I was also running a crowd funding campaign on Kickstarter to get funds to pay for a professional editor. I knew that would ultimately make all the difference in the world as far as how the film was cut – and it did.

It will be a year, next month since we screened our first “sneak preview” at the State Theatre in Traverse City, MI. Since that time, we’ve been honored at film festivals receiving awards for Best Documentary, Best Humanitarian Documentary and Best Trailer. But that stuff is for the ego and while it was sweet to receive those awards, the biggest reward for me, was the “journey” itself. I don’t mean just the trip itself, but all that I learned along the way. That’s the part that’s hard to explain, especially to the people who seem to “judge and discount” the achievements of others.

Like Chris Guillebeau, I made a decision some years ago to put my energy toward positive thoughts, and ignore everything else as much as possible. I need to remind myself of that every day and walk away from the things and the people who don’t bring value to my life. Life’s too short for that. When I keep that in mind, I stay on purpose and that’s when the good stuff happens.

“The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.” 

- John Ruskin