What Brian Did Next
Wednesday, April 9 2008
I hope this finds you well and - if you’re in the UK - enjoying the wonderful sunny weather, in between the snow!
In my Purpose Passion & Destiny seminars, I talk about Professor Martin Seligman's blueprint for happiness.
Professor Seligman has spent thirty years researching the subject and he talks of three routes to happiness: the smart route is to use your signature strengths and innate talents to contribute to something worthwhile and important beyond yourself.
Fifty years ago, Abraham Maslow was saying something similar when he talked of the hierarchy of needs: when you have fulfilled your most basic needs, you can move up to contribute to the wider world.
My lovely big brother, Brian, seems to have reached this level - and has never been happier! I have referred to him in most of my books and many of you enquire in workshops as to his latest movements, so here's What Brian Did Next.
Having 'retired' from the need to work quite a few years ago, Brian enjoys the good life in sunny Spain, and beyond. On one of his recent holidays, he and his partner, Pamela, happened upon a village in The Gambia and found the poverty there hard to walk away from.
Transformation
A mile along from their luxurious eco-lodge, people were poisoning themselves, their children dying, from contaminated water. After a few phone calls, a lot of hard work and about £100,000 of their own money, that village now has clean water and a thriving market garden that feeds all of its six hundred people, and has given them a thriving business selling the surplus.
Brian and Pamela have now set up a charity, People In Need Gambia (Registered Charity No: XR98316) to bring clean water and lots more to re-energise villages in this extremely fertile, but poor area
Their aim is to help one village after another to become healthy and sustainable, starting with clean water, growing their own food and then supporting them through schemes like micro loans (loans designed for people without collateral, who the normal banking system won't accept) to improve their lot, their children’s lot and the entire area.
They have achieved this with one village so far, Bafaluto, and are on to their next, Njongon. How great is that!
Brian and Pamela continue to live a great life, but enjoy it all the more now they have this additional dimension and fulfilment. As Brian says, 'There’s only so much golf you can play!'
What Can We Do?
Heaps! If each of one of us receiving this Newsletter gives £1, that will allow Njongon to fence, plant and irrigate a three acre market garden. All of the eight hundred villagers will be able to feed themselves, and have some left over to sell at market. £15,000.
If we give £5 each, that pays for the village to drill a one hundred metre bore hole and build the well and taps to have clean water. £75,000. Hooray!
Brian and Pamela take no running or admin costs. They work for you for nothing. They are both brilliant business people - Pamela is a former Northern Ireland Businesswoman of the Year, and it is incredible to see what two smart people can do for others in a situation like this who have nothing. This is way beyond charity. Let's support them!
Donate a few quid, or if you have more than that to spare, donate that too. If you or your business would like to Adopt-a-Village of your own, get in touch with Brian at pingcharity@yahoo.co.uk, or call him directly on 00353 862556107.
You can either create a team to raise the money to do this and get involved in the implementation - or give them the money, and they’ll do it all for you!
What To Do Now
You can donate online by PayPal, bank transfer or by cheque by clicking here - 100% of your donation will be put to use in villages in The Gambia.
Many thanks for your support. If you've never forwarded my Newsletter to a friend before, this is the one to forward. Please. The more pounds, euros, dollars and luncheon vouchers we can send to Brian and Pamela, the more lives you will help transform – and the happier you'll be!
Thanks again.
