One week down!

It's already Sunday... where did the week go?! We just finished having 'family dinner' and a house meeting, and now it's about time to get myself together for the upcoming week... But first... my first week at FTC!

Welcome to Free the Children! My name is Bria and I will be your new Outreach Speaker for the Youth Team :) Conveniently, my desk is set up in the "Team America" office because there was no space for me in the Outreach Office. My first week was super hectic, intense, and incredible! Everyone at FTC and M2W has been over the top in making sure I feel comfortable and understand everything that's fluttering around me. I spent the week reading up about the organization (still not done!) and meeting with what felt like a million people (okay it was more like two dozen) to go over different programs within FTC. I still have a few people to meet with, but most of those training meetings are done and over with. The most interesting meeting I sat in on was learning about the We Schools in Action Program (WESAP). What is WESAP you ask? Well I'll be glad to tell you...

Can you pick out my desk?!

WESAP is a group of schools who, after attending We Day, commit to making one local and one global action of social change throughout the school year. They are responsible for reporting back to FTC and keeping us posted on what they are doing, their results, etc. They are the first schools to get chosen to attend We Day and they definitely work their butts off to accomplish their goals they set once they get back to school. Now, what is We Day? Well, I'm glad you asked...

We Day is... well, We Day is a social activists pep rally as Diane Bell once put it. It's a day where thousands of youth come together to show their love and commitment of changing the world. We Day typically happens between Oct and Nov and usually in three cities - last year it was Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. Most of you know, I have volunteered with BSU at the last two We Days in Toronto. Put it this way... last year there were 18,000+ youth at the We Day Toronto... 18,000 youth that want to make a difference in the world! Pretty powerful, eh? :)

So this year, we are also having a We Day in Waterloo - where many MOBilizers (a group of super awesome youth that are called the MOB in FTC and M2W) attend school. This We Day will be taking place on February 17th... yes, my birthday, and will have roughly 5,000 youth in attendance! Biggest birthday party ever! Anyways, I was put on the 'crowd-pumping' team - a team which is responsible of dressing ridiculously, teaching all the youth the We Day dance, and just pumping up the crowd all day long with Lev3l energy! That being said... at We Day Waterloo, Shawn Desman is the opening act. He is a popstar from Toronto and is pretty well known and well liked up here. Today, us crowd pumpers and about 15 chosen from the MOB went to his wife's dance studio where he and his back up dancer, Jungle, taught us the choreography from his music video "Night Like This". In turn, we taught him the We Day dance. When We Day happens, he will open up the show, and when "Night Like This" comes on, we get to go on stage and do his dance with him. Later on in the show, we're hoping he'll help us teach the We Day dance! So yeah, we got dance lessons from a popstar :) it was pretty sweet!

This week, I have a meeting with Louise to begin discussing the difference between telling a story and story telling. After meeting with her and shadowing Amber on her first speech, I will begin writing my speech! I have been thinking all weekend about it, which personal story to use, how to frame it, etc. I think I came up with a story - one from Belize - that I really want to use... I'm going to get some general feedback about it first though. I'm a little nervous about writing the speech because then I have to practice it for Louise and Dawson and I get really nervous speaking in front of my peers. I'm excited for this opportunity though, I think this will really help me in my public speaking skills and hopefully take away that fear :) We shall see what this week holds...

In Peace,
Bria


Odd Canadian fact of the week: No one has any idea what Fluff is! Apparently it's a Massachusetts thing... thankfully my former boss loves me and will be mailing me a package with Fluff in it :) crisis averted!

Welcome to 'O-North'!

Welcome to Toronto, Ontario, Canada!

Greetings from 'O-North' a.k.a. 499 Ontario Street in Toronto, ON! I arrived on Thursday (thank you mother nature for an extra day with my family) and was greeted by my roommate, Brittnei. The house is a big, beautiful, Victorian home with five bedrooms, four washrooms (bathrooms), two kitchens, and a living room. Unfortunately, Brittnei had to leave quickly for a weekend trip to Ohio, so I ventured upstairs to our room in the attic (or the 'loft' as D calls it) to start unpacking. Not too long after I start do I hear voices downstairs, "want to go meet the new roomie?" so I venture down...
"Hello?" "ROOMIE!!"... It was Hamza and Amy. I was greeted with huge hugs and quick chatter. We spoke about the house, what I did at BSU, Free The Children, FAM for Change, etc. Incredible housemates, check!

Friday we had a going away party for Amy. She will be leaving this week to continue her own journey through Kenya, India, and Israel. She is a very strong, motivated, independent woman and I am already sad to see her go... Anyways, party! Many Free the Children and Me to We staff came over, including Michel who I haven't seen since last March! I met a few folks that I'll be on the same team with, both coordinators and another Motivational Speaker, Larissa. She started last week and is in the same boat as me where she will be working the same position, on the same team, and just up and left her family, friends, and boyfriend as well. We bonded for a while and really started chatting about plans to explore the city together! Every person at the party was nothing short of warm and welcoming!

My weekend consisted of errands, unpacking, and girly time with Amy. Today we went to Kensington Market which is a few streets in Chinatown of little coffee shops, independent stores, and a really sweet Rasta store. We got coffee at Moonbean coffee and chatted for a couple hours about mentoring programs (she will be implementing a mentorship program in Kenya for street kids). She picked my brain for a while about how it felt being at the roots of FAM for Change, what works, what doesn't, etc. It was a great conversation with great company and great coffee! We visited a couple shops after, then decided our numb toes deserved the warmth of our house and hopped on the street car!

I finally finished unpacking and putting my room together, which is a huge relief! Tomorrow is my first day of work at Free the Children and I'm really excited, as well as nervous and anxious! A few people have given me tips and pointers on what to expect and it sounds like a super busy day. For now, I'm off to get my things prepared and get a good night's sleep for my first day of my new adventure! Until later...

In Peace,
Bria

"To find the balance you want, this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it's like you have four legs, instead of two. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart, instead." 

-Eat Pray Love

New beginnings..

For four years I have dreamt of this day - the day I could leave behind the town and people that have chained me down, the day I could walk away from bad memories and create many great memories, the day that I could be on my own experiencing my own new journey. However, I never expected it would be this hard and that it would weigh on my heart as much as it does.

But it is a new journey, one I have wished for and dreamt of since my first day of Social Inequalities in January 2007 when Dr. Jonathan White introduced Free the Children to our class. I remember thinking, "Wow, a 12 year old boy started that? An organization that really works for children and by children. How incredible!" That sparked the Social Justice League and my ongoing conversations with Jonathan about my future work with Free the Children. But never in a million years did I think it would become a reality - it was always just a big dream. But here I am... sitting in Logan International Airport waiting to board my flight to my new home - Toronto, Ontario. In just four days I will be starting my new career as a Motivational Speaker for Free the Children, and my new journey. No matter how anxious, nervous, and sad I am to be leaving my favorite state, I am beyond excited to begin my career with my dream organization.

So cheers to new beginnings, new journeys, and new experiences. I hope you enjoy my updates on life as much as I enjoy living them.

In Peace,
Bria