World Day of Social Justice!

Just want to let you know that today is World Day of Social Justice! For10,000 foot view of this subject, I encourage you to check out this UN page. 

Social Justice is integrated into everything Natik does -- at ground level! 

Years ago, a friend told me about a cross-cultural study that identified 2% of the population as being capable of envisioning something that’s never existed before. 

The 2% was consistent in every demographic they studied: young, old, rich, poor, educated, uneducated. According to the study, an additional 3% were able to assimilate the vision of another person enough to motivate their own actions. The study named that 5% “visionaries”.  
 
In my friend’s interpretation of the study, the remaining 95% literally don’t "perceive" things that they've never directly experienced or seen. 

For the most part, they believe that visionaries are crackpots—until the crackpots invent a thing or a system that solves an old problem in a new way. Then the crackpots become an overnight sensation: a celebrated hero or she-ro. And suddenly that way of doing things becomes what everyone wants to copy. 
 
This was shared in front of a crackling fire a long time ago, and it flipped my brain into a new configuration. 

I realized that I needed to stop trying to convince everyone and start looking for visionaries.

Obviously not all visionaries are community leaders, so people who would be motivated by the possibility of creating something new (and therefore risk failure and ridicule) is way less than 5%. 

I like to call them “The Other One Percent”. 

To identify a Visionary Leader in a crowd, start talking about stuff that's never existed before. 

My personal favorite is the idea of creating playgrounds from recycled materials, mostly tires. The visionaries pay attention, ask questions, capture the concept relatively swiftly and start adding their own ideas. The leaders ask: Could we do something like that in our community?

Bingo!  The rest is the fun part -- figuring out how to do it! 

Over the years, I can’t count how many people rejected the idea of a tire playground with the justification that they were protecting their communities from becoming a trash dump. 

Even with photos of brightly painted dragons, and elephants, and slides, and swings, and way-cool stuff to climb on. Even when there were international volunteers willing to subsidize and help build. Even when there were no playgrounds. 

Knowing I was looking for the 1% visionary leader made each rejection feel less onerous. The sparkle in the eye, the questions, the instant feedback, and wondering if they could “do something like that” are instant giveaways. 

The visionaries “get it” and are motivated by an idea that only exists inside their heads. For a leader, the work involved is less important than the satisfaction of accomplishing something that benefits others. 

Those are the people who lead the organizations that Natik supports. They “get it” that if there are going to be changes in their communities, they must do the work to accomplish those changes. 

Keep as many little kids in school as possible? Tutoring programs. Help older students stay in school? Create solid scholar and leadership programs that inspire donations. 

Help families generate dignified incomes? Teach the principles of micro-enterprise and launch entrepreneurial ventures that subsidize programs and support locals. 

Help keep families healthy? Integrate life-lessons on sanitation, nutrition, and life balance at every possible opportunity. 

You're an important part of this story because you "get it" that the world isn't going to change unless we participate in opportunities to do things differently. 

Saludos, 

Anita Smart

Executive Director