What does gratitude look like?

This morning when I got up and read my local paper I was overwhelmed by the beauty of one woman's story in our paper. This story was written in our paper by a Stuff Report Libby Wilson and was entitled "Coronavirus: Cancer treatment in Hamilton during Covid-19 lockdown like a 'holiday''. It was certainly a title that caught my attention.

I am sure this would not feel like a holiday to me. But this is the feeling of Metua Tangaro-Daniel-Malietoa who was to begin her radiation treatment during lockdown. She says this: 
"For me, as a grandmother of eight, and four adult children ... It's the first time I have actually just not cooked, or done any kind of housework. It's like, oh, wow, thank you Lord. It's a blessing," the Tokoroa woman said.

 Metua has four adult children and eight grandchildren, so it's a change to have no cooking or housework to do while she stays in the Cancer Society's Lions Lodge in Hamilton. She was full of praise for the place she was staying in, the people around her and the meals.

Each day she writes daily thank you notes on the back of her menu! As Libby Wilson writes the former social worker says she has never eaten or slept so much, but has fitted in some work for community organisations, and daily video calls with mokos. I want to wish Metua all the best for her life ahead. I have no doubt that it is filled with joy...  as Ivan Panin wrote:

For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to recieve it. 

Thank you Metua for bringing joy into my life today. Arohanui Wendy

'Growing' communities (and food) through kindness

The town of Todmorden, West Yorkshire, has an ambitious goal: to become the first town in the UK that by 2018 is self-sufficient in food through their Incredible Edible scheme.

How do they want to achieve this? Through kindness. And lots of free fruit and vegetables growing all over town, in roundabouts, in front of the police station or even as broccoli memorial beds for a much loved ticket man at the railway station.

To quote from the article published in the dailymail (click here for the full article):

‘Wars come about by men having drinks in bars, good things come about when women drink coffee together,’ says Mary [Mary Clear, co-founder of Incredible Edible]. 

‘Our thinking was: there’s so much blame in the world — blame local government, blame politicians, blame bankers, blame technology — we thought, let’s just do something positive instead.’

The scheme helps local businesses, teaches about healthy eating and also seems to bring out the best in the local community - there has been a reduction in vandalism since the project started.

From the article, "Pam reckons a project like Incredible Edible could thrive in all sorts of places. ‘If the population is very transient, it’s difficult. But if you’ve got schools, shops, back gardens and verges, you can do it.’"

Now there's a challenge for our centres! Maybe this could be a project for 2012 for some of you?

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you.