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Organizing Wisdom from a Life Together Alumna!

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Thursday, February 24, 2011

Organizing Wisdom from a Life Together Alumna!

Submitted February 7, 2011

Two years into this deal as a “community organizer” I think I’m just realizing the real work of organizing. The realization comes down to something pretty simple, to the definition of the title.

Being an organizer takes a keen awareness of where energy exists and moving on that energy. It means seeing how a community works, what resources it has, what its needs are and helping match already present resources to existing needs. It’s about helping folks see that they already have the answers to the problems they want some one else to solve. It’s looking at the community with a different sense of eyes and organizing it so it fits right.

The job isn’t about me or the btcke team doing everything. It’s about the community doing everything or at least as much as we can do together. This isn’t always the easiest thing to ensure. People often want you to do everything (I often want to do everything) but if we (me or you) do everything it leaves a lot of time and a little responsibility on everyone else’s plate. The truth is, we ALL have something to give to this world. This is our home and the other people living here are our community members, our neighbors and it’s time we act like it.

We may be thousands of miles apart or living in drastically different place but deep down, we’re all in this together, that’s the truth. And, to see change, we’re going to need to start living by that truth.

Helping you realize that truth, helping me realize that truth, helping the global community realize that truth – that’s my job as a community organizer.

Natalie Finstad :: Be The Change Kenya Executive Director

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