Why this is important to me

I thought I could elaborate a little on why I am doing this project. There are several reasons.

First and foremost my parents and I want to do something for children who didn’t have a great start in life. I was so lucky to have a loving family and nothing can replace this, but you can still find a replacement family if your own wasn’t there for you. Plus you can learn to find your path and make things good, that takes some pointers and also a bit of work. 

The place we are gathering money for this time is great. It offers a place to live, to find a more stable environment, never ideal, but better than the alternative. I love the fact that they organise trips with the kids, like the one when they all went to Africa to help out children there, nothing like this to put your own problems into perspective. The money we’ll give them will be used for such a project.

Then there is the fact that storytelling is very important to me. I had my mother, and my dad’s mother telling me lot of stories when I was little. I think it’s fuelled my curiosity and imagination, it certainly played a big part in my early life, and soon enough I found my own path as a storyteller. I want to share this and pass it on. There is nothing greater for me when a kid comes to me and tells me they liked one of my books, that makes it all so worthwhile.

And there is one last aspect that is important to me. I’ve never really understood this notion of “financial crisis” I am a bit naïve in this aspect. I find we’re being too depended on external structures. You hear people complaining about things, about lack of work, about politics etc. But the solution is very easy, just get up and do it yourself, especially if you live in a rich country like I do, there is nothing in your way. In this project we are taking money from sponsors, banks and the towns where we live, we use it to pay locals, a graphic designer, a proof reader/editor, we print it in a local enterprise, and if all goes well the illustrator will also get paid… It’s a micro-economy, tiny sums compared to the big fish. But it’s small streams that make the bigger rivers. It’s not going to change the world, but that’s not the goal.

What I’m trying to say is that we have to work for our own happiness, it’s not going to fall from a tree, it takes a little effort but the result is so worth it. Try it, you might be surprised.