Project 18

Project 18 Website Launch

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 08:32:00 +1300

The Project 18 website is officially launched

On 24^th November we held the Bubbles, Bags and Beauty event at Vivo Café, Sydney to celebrate Project 18's official presence on the World Wide Web.

One of things that has been clear from the beginning is that Project 18 couldn't just have 'ordinary' events. Cate Bolt is creative by nature so, although the theme of the evening seems distant from the cause, the idea was formed over an impromptu brainstorming session with two of the key businesswomen who jumped on board for this event, and was a fantastic way to get Project 18 sponsor, Exclusive Bags involved.

Sometimes my brain travels off at a tangent but, through the various people I know in business all the different elements came together nicely and formed into a great night of entertainment, information and beauty.

I have to confess that there were a few times in the two weeks leading up to the event that I thought it may just be me and my nearest and dearest enjoying a couple of glasses of champagne and combing each others' hair! But, thanks to the magic of Twitter and the networks of the various businesses involved, we did manage to attract a small but very supportive crowd who were thoroughly entertained by MC (and absolute star) for the evening, Angela Vithoulkas.

At least I was allowed to ease into the public speaking role that is definitely well out of my comfort zone! Angela managed to guide me through beautifully, asking excellent questions that allowed me to explain a little about the goals and aims of the Project. Hopefully the nerves didn't stop me conveying the passion that has gone into the formation of the organisation.

The attendees enjoyed Gwen Korobrits' personal styling tips, modelled ably by the guys from Vision Personal Training and Gwen's daughter, and made full use of the free mini manicures on offer by Sarah Mawson of Nailed on Beauty and the free GHD sessions from the girls at Perry Ellis Hair, though I didn't see too many of the guys queuing for those!

And, I can't go without mentioning the incredible job that Angela did of auctioning a gym membership and personal training sessions provided by Vision Personal Training. I think she may have found herself a new career and, just in that one event, managed to raise $600. I will be expecting to see my assistant Bronwen, Amazonian that she already is, incredibly fit in about 3 months!

Putting together any event is never a completely straightforward task but, when you have as many different people involved as we did, I am very proud of what we managed to achieve in the short time, and most of that is down to my fabulous assistant, Bronwen O'Brien. The poor girl gets nervous when I say I'm thinking these days but she has an incredible ability to pull together my ideas, no matter what they are. And, when Charmaine was sadly taken ill at the last minute, it was Bronwen who managed to find a wonderful replacement singer, Grace Schiavello with one day to go.

The feedback I have received from the people who came on the night was that they enjoyed a great evening and were thrilled to come and support such a great cause. You can see from the photos taken by Lisa Thompson photographer I was blown away by the support of the businesses that jumped on board, either with their time or by providing giveaways and prizes, or by spreading the word and coming to support us on the night.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to making it the success it was. And, with the finally tally for the evening standing at just a little over $1,500.00 I would also like to thank everyone on the night who really got behind us and supported by purchasing prizes and joining in the bidding for the gym membership. As I said on the night, just your presence would make a difference to a child but I could really feel the support and excitement of people going the extra mile to make even more of a difference and get us underway on the journey to creating the wonderful Project 18 Orphanage and Wildlife Refuge.

I do have several ideas for future events (sorry Bronwen!) and I hope that we can generate more and more interest and awareness as time goes by. I know that the people who were there on the night are certainly supportive and will continue to help us get the messages out there.

Thanks once again, especially to all of the wonderful organisations below who made the night possible.

Karen

I would personally like to thank Colin Burns for his tireless work and committment to Project 18.Without Colin we wouldn't have a website to launch and I think everyone would agree he's done an absolutely sensational job. Thank you, Colin! -- Cate Bolt

Ain’t Too Proud To Beg

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:52:00 +1200

I’ve discussed previously on the blog that over half of Indonesia’s population live on less than $2US per day. It’s kinda hard to put into perspective with exchange rates and differing scales of economy, you could be forgiven for thinking “well if 52% of the population can survive on it, it can’t be that bad!”

So let’s think about it. How bad would things have to be for you to send your five-year-old out into the crowded streets of Jakarta to beg for money? If you have a child in this age bracket, I challenge you to spend a few minutes looking at them and imagining them in that situation. I have a nearly-six-year-old daughter and I can tell you, I wouldn’t let her walk the 300m to our property gate on her own. The thought of being so hungry that I send her, also close to starvation, out onto the streets to beg for a few cents makes me want to cry.

It has been illegal to give money to beggars, buskers and hawkers in Jakarta since new legislation was passed in September 2007. Allegedly, this was supposed to “clean up the city” of unsightly poor people. Those giving money to beggars can face up to 6 months in jail, and those caught begging can spend 3 months in jail for repeated offences. It would be incredibly stupid of me to say anything in this blog to piss off the Indonesian government, given my intentions but … maybe I’m just not intelligent enough to understand the thought process.

I’m a very big fan of visualisation and applying situations to myself to see how I might cope with them and while I can’t ever comprehend the depths that one has to reach to send my children out to beg or, even worse to abandon them completely in order for them to have a better life – I do now find myself in the position where I myself need to beg in order to help them. This is certainly bringing visualisation to a whole new and very real dimension!

I wonder, perhaps arrogantly, if it comes harder to us in the Western world to commit ourselves to begging? Maybe if you’re born into a country of such great poverty you accept the need to beg as part of life. But at the same time, these are people, just like you and I, with the same emotional needs and fears. And I will admit, however painful the admission might be, that my pride is taking a huge beating coming to terms with the concept that I will need to start begging, not just for the charity but for my family’s survival also.

Maybe there is some honour that comes with begging when you’re doing so because you’ve committed yourself to a life less glamorous in order to help others. I’m not sure. To me begging is begging, and it takes a strength of conviction I’m still trying to achieve. I have no problem in begging for the charity! But when it comes to begging for me, so I can continue to do what I’m doing – that’s where I hit the wall. This is rapidly becoming one of the most interesting social experiments that I’ve ever been witness to.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:36:00 +1200

Hi Again,

I was going to make this a static page up the top but I thought I’d run it here first, so that you can add any other questions that might have been keeping you awake at night and I’ll answer them to the best of my abilities and then move the whole lot to the top for all the “late people” to be able to find.

Most frequently asked question… WHY?

Why not? The main reason is that I woke up one day and decided I didn’t want to die without doing everything I could possibly do to make the world a better place. Without getting too hippy-dippy on ya’ll, I believe this is my destiny and what I am supposed to do (for a whole range of reasons which would take too long to list). Why Indonesia? Three main reasons – the proximity to Australia and the fact that I can fly back and forth between Aus and Indo in only a few hours, rather than a full day. Secondly, I’m really moved by the irony that a place so close to Australia, arguable THE most fortunate country in the world, is victim to such grave need and abject poverty, and has been marred by such gross social injustice for so long. Ten years ago I would have never decided to pursue foreign aid because I am SO madly passionate and patriotic to Australia, but things change – and while my patriotism hasn’t wavered at all, my passion for humanity extends far beyond the country borders. Third reason for Indonesia – Orang-utans and Sumatran Tigers – say no more.

How can you afford to give up work?

The wording of this question makes me giggle. I have given up MANY things to do this but work isn’t’ one of them. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever worked as hard as I am right now. I think what people mean is “how can you afford to not be getting paid to work?”

Firstly, Rick and I are still running The Elements – which is still a relatively new business so it’s still finding its feet. We certainly aren’t making enough here to live off and 50% of the profits go directly to the charity. If you are thinking of buying anything organic for your home, please consider buying from us. We don’t have huge margins on any of our products, but every cent of profit is either going to feeding our kids or to feeding the kids of Indonesia.

We’re also making money from Rick’s tireless affiliate marketing work. If you are looking for a good work from home project which will make you a fairly constant income (no get rich quick, it takes some time) then I’d recommend checking out This Program on Rick’s Blog – if you decide to purchase it we make a small commission.

I also have a couple of website clients that I’m doing sporadic work for, which comes in waves. We are getting by week to week – some weeks we aren’t. We aren’t people who have great needs, we pay the rent first and then food comes from what is left. That’s it. I have a belief that the universe provides for those who provide for others. I guess we have somewhat put ourselves in the hands of the universe and hope we can do enough to help others to warrant receiving ourselves.

Are you really planning to move your whole family to Indonesia?

Again, this is very complicated. The short answer is – not in the short term. We have a couple of kids who have very special needs. We made the very expensive decision when we moved to Queensland to put the kids into a non-state school that was better equipped to meet the needs of our kids. Unfortunately this decision is one we made before we decided to be poor LOL. On the up side though, it’s the best thing we’ve ever done for all of our children, so we will just have to keep finding the money to pay the fees. At least one of these children will definitely need to stay in Australia to get the best opportunity of an education and a normal life. He still has 5 years of school left.

So for the next five years, it will require us to living in two countries, and single parent for several weeks at a time. My eldest son finishes school in a matter of weeks and he is committed to working in the charity, so initially it will be many trips back and forth.

Also, Indonesia is a volatile place, I’m really not committing to taking my kids anywhere that might not be safe before truly making an assessment of the risks myself. If & when the kids come to Indonesia is yet to be seen.

Do you feel you are compromising your own children for the sake of others?

Ick. Horrible question. Anyone who knows me and my children knows that a) they never go without anything they need, b) there is NO shortage of love in our home and c) my children will always be my first priority. If not being at home for them every afternoon and evening is compromising them, then I guess I am. But I’d like to think that in doing so I’ll be raising global citizens who have the capacity to show compassion to their fellow human beings, who understand that food and shelter is more important than the latest iPhone and who, even if they don’t work in the charity themselves, go on to truly appreciate how precious life is. I don’t know the answer to this question. Obviously as a mother I’d like to be here for my kids at every moment they need me, but if I’m not here personally they will always be able to contact me and know that they are my first priority. I’d also like to teach them that they (everyone) is capable of great things, if they just decide.

Where will the village be?

The best I can tell you at the moment is the island of Sumatra. The rest is up to the Indonesian government. We need to work with them to secure land for reforestation. This will be somewhere in the order of 30,000 hectares (300 sq kms), only about 5% will be used for the village, the rest is strictly for reforestation and wildlife refuge purposes.

Aren’t you scared?

Friggin terrified. My only real fear however is of failing. I realise the religious unrest in Indonesia makes it a volatile place, I realise that there are many, many, many challenges that face us between here and where we plan to be but the biggest fear I have is of letting down the dozens of people who have given their support, and had the faith to donate their products and services to me. I don’t believe that I will fail, because I know how pigheaded and stubborn I am, and because my mother once said to me “you could do and be anything you wanted to.” But there are times when the thought comes into my head “what if I let all these people down?”.

Do you speak Indonesian?

Saya bisa bicara sedikit bahasa Indonesia. (I can speak a little Indonesian), but I’m learning. I started taking lessons about a month ago, I can now do all the normal greetings, get and give directions, order food and drinks, catch a taxi, find a hotel – but it’s early stages LOL I have a LONG way still to go. My eldest son did 8 years of Indonesian at school so he’s more fluent than me.

How much will the project cost and how do you plan to make the money?

The very first stage, the milestone we have to have in the bank before we can get land… $1,000,000. Yes, you counted the zeros correctly, that’s one MILLION dollars. No, I don’t expect that I can make a million dollars sewing handbags in the next year. Although, I reckon if I put my head to it – I’d probably find a way LOL. Obviously as soon as we are finished with the registration process we will start begging for money – so please have your credit cards at the ready! What I hope to raise from random donations, initially is $100,000. I’d like to think the sewing project can also raise $100,000 – that just leaves a measly $800,000 left to raise! We are hoping that the balance can be achieved through corporate sponsorship and fundraising events.

How is the 20kg in 20 weeks challenge going?

Thanks for asking LOL. For those who don’t know about this, I decided three weeks ago to take on a challenge to lose 20kg in 20 weeks. Firstly, because I keep putting it off, and I shouldn’t and secondly because I don’t think there is anything that would be more offensive to starving children than to have an overweight woman helping them. I made the challenge public so that I would be accountable and the upside of that is that I’ve had some great folks join me in the challenge also. Currently almost at the end of week 3 the total weight lost is 5.4kg – so it’s going well, so far, but I expect it will get harder!

OK, Those are the main questions I’m being asked. If you have one please feel free to post it in a comment below and I will answer it on the blog.

Family Meeting!! (Project Update)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:32:00 +1200

I made the mistake last week of saying I didn’t understand the concept of “putting up ones feet”. Here I am now, ordered off the tools by my dictator of a husband and forced to put my feet up. Allegedly it’s for my own good. Personally I just think its boring and a waste of time. I mentioned to those of you who follow me on Twitter that I had a sharp pain in my heel – probably not so coincidently the part of the heel that rests on the concrete floor for many hours each day as the rest of the foot is on the sewing machine pedal. Combine that with the discovery of a superficial, yet very painful blood clot in the upper half of the same leg from sitting long hours on the hard wooden kitchen chair and … hey presto, here I am… putting my friggin feet up.

So I figured, since we’re all here, that I’d blog and give a bit of an update on what’s been going on, and also include some FAQ’s which seem to be on people’s minds. Firstly, an update on the registration. With a lack of consistent and helpful legal advice, Mr Bolt has spent much time reading all the available information and after speaking with a few other charities we’ve decided to go with the structure of Incorporated Association – at least for the short term.

The official charity name will be Project 18 (Inc). Eighteen has significance to our family as we have one girl and eight boys, and the village when we are finished will have 18 homes, each housing 8 children.

The logo for the charity is finally on the drawing board, with the very talented Bronwyn from Beni Creative very generously donating her time for this, plus the design of the business cards, letterhead and flyers! Woot Bronwyn! You rock!

I’m thrilled to also announce the addition of some very important team members. Firstly, Karen Morris from Inscriptions who will be taking on the role of Public & Media Relations Manager. Karen has already been ever so kind as to set me up with a magazine feature, which is REALLY stretching me way beyond my comfort zone. But in the spirit of the charity I’m going to “cop it on the chin” and frock up in Brisbane in September for the QCG Magazine feature. Make sure you get a copy because the likelihood of seeing me a) in a dress and b) glammed up again in the future is probably 0.

Also, Susan Wallis joins the committee. Most people who know me through Twitter or Facebook probably already know who Susan Wallis is. For those of you who don’t… what an amazing woman you’re missing out on. Susan has an absolute wealth of knowledge and experience in NFP organisations and we are absolutely thrilled to have her as part of the Project 18 team.

Carol Barry, who is a very dear friend, savvy business owner, ideas woman and compassionate soul who still hasn’t worked out after 10 years how to say “no” to me LOL, joins the team. Carol has already been instrumental in securing nearly 50KGS(!) of donated fabric for the sewing project AND then managed to negotiate free freight for the whole lot from Victoria to Queensland. Carol is a woman who doesn’t take “no” for an answer… in fact, I’m pretty sure she could sell ice to Eskimos AND get a thank you email and repeat order a month later. She really is the nicest person in the world!

Website – I believe we have a new web developer, but I feel I may have given him cold feet by being unreasonably over demanding, giving him a ridiculously short time line AND a list as long as your arm of requirements. I have faith though that he will come to love my overly demanding ways and get back to me with a “Sure Cate, I can do that” any second *wink* No pressure.

Graphic Design – I also have a very long list of graphic designers who have offered their services. Hang in their guys, as soon as I have this logo, I’ll be asking you all to do some web banners for me. We need a stack! Printing – I have two very lovely ladies and their husbands negotiating for free printing services. I have absolute faith that it’s only a matter of days before we get a green light on this.

Exciting NEWS! The very kind and generous Bev Rolt (have you sent her your old mobile phone yet?! HURRY!!) Has offered to take some of my bag patterns over to Bali and have her very beautiful Balinese staff work on sewing some for me. This comes as a HUGE relief to me, as one woman with two hands cannot make bags and bits in the quantities that we require – and still do everything else that is currently required. Especially with my “feet up”!

So from my wish list, I’m really only lacking a solicitor and tax accountant. How ironic that two of the most highly paid professionals can’t find time or compassion enough to donate, yet dozens of mum & dad businesses across the country can. Shame, shame. OK, on to some of the FAQ’s that people keep throwing at me. I’ll post these separately so this doesn’t drag on forever.

Until then, be good to yourself, be good to your earth and live with PASSION!!!

Help! – The Psychology of Altruism

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:23:00 +1200

"When I was younger, so much younger than today, I never needed anybody’s help in any way. But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured, Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.”

We’re all familiar with the lyrics from that famous Beatles song and can probably think of a time in our lives where this has related to ourselves. I’ve long been fascinated by human nature, and in fact I think my need to work in the prison system for a spell was motivated almost totally by a fascination with criminal psychology. The fact of the matter is that everyone is motivated by different things at different times in their lives, but there’s some interesting psychology associated with altruism and what makes people want to give.

It’s been glaringly apparent to me since starting this voyage that a lot of things in life are never quite what they seem, and sometimes the things that you might consider to be the “constants” in life, aren’t as rock solid as they might have initially appeared. I knew from day one that my greatest challenge in this exercise was going to be my own emotional vulnerability, I probably didn’t really realise however from what angle that might become a challenge. I’m talking in riddles again, aren’t I?

When you put your ass on the line there are certain people who you expect will have your back. You don’t really have delusional thoughts that thousands of people from all over the world will champion your campaign and want to donate their time, money and compassion. Even though, in rational thinking, this is what has to happen – you don’t actually THINK that will happen (at least I didn’t). You do think though that people who have known you for many years, people that you have stood by in hard times, people that you might have given a bit of a leg up professionally, or in a shared area of interest might be there to rally around you. It’s an interesting experiment – go through your phone index or your email contacts and consider each person – would they help you if you were doing it tough? Would they back you if you gave up everything and decided to be poor to help others? Even if that means you can’t do happy hour every Friday?

You may think you know the answers to these questions, but until you actually put each person to the test it’s impossible to know the answer. One of my biggest emotional challenges in this to date has been finding out the answers. The answer surprisingly isn’t motivated by how much you might have helped that person, or how close to you they might be but stems back to a complex psychology of what makes people give. I read an interesting example of this recently. The reader is asked to imagine the following scenario:

You’re walking through an isolated area and notice a small child swimming in shallow water. As you walk you notice the child becoming increasingly agitated and realise the child is in trouble and at risk of drowning. You look around for the child’s parent or carer and realise no one else is around. You have seconds to do something to save this child, but you’re also wearing some rather expensive designer shoes. What do you do?

You don’t have to be Mother Teresa to jump into the water without a second thought and save the child. But if you change just one small factor in this equation, suddenly the outcome starts to change. You look around and notice 6 other people standing at the edge of the water who have also noticed the child. Suddenly now we have 7 people looking at each other inquisitively, all realising that something needs to be done, but wondering which one will do it. Obviously it won’t be you… I mean you’ve just had your hair done!

I relate this also to my wedding dress dilemma of a few weeks ago. Very few people I know will willingly hand over their wedding dress to save a child who they cannot see. Yet if a child was bleeding to death in front of them, and the only thing they had to stop the bleeding was their beloved gown I think it’s fair to say most people would give it a go.

Obviously there are many more deciding factors in whether someone has the ability, desire or even need to be altruistic. A person’s ability to empathise with the person in need of help is probably the greatest of deciding factors. Those who have been, or are poor or homeless have a greater ability to empathise with others in this situation, in the same way that someone who has suffered cancer or lost someone dear to cancer is more likely to donate to cancer related charities.

Probably the biggest kick in the guts to me though is the fact that those who have the least, seem almost always to be the ones who have the greatest desire to give. I spoke to a person recently, who worked in an upper management position of a large corporation – nationally recognisable (I won’t name them) who found it in their heart to donate their time to explaining to me how I should change my charity, to make it more appealing to their organisation (that’s my sarcastic voice, in case you’re wondering!).

Apparently this organisation is more than happy to sponsor charities who meet their criteria. Firstly, the charity must be Australian owned & operated, and their primary objectives must be to meet the needs of Australians (ie, no foreign aid). Secondly, their objectives must marry well with their brand (be good and wholesome – not funding anything lewd like… god forbid… homosexuality or HIV research), and then of course the real clincher – the charity needs to be high profile enough that their sponsorship dollar brings them a good return on investment. Is anyone else starting to feel sick??

What saddens me the most is that, by their own admission, “Corporation X” above could walk past the drowning child if there was no one there to watch them jump in and save the child, but they would be more than happy to jump in – in front of an audience? One might argue that it doesn’t matter what the motivation for their assistance is, as long as the assistance is given. I mean after all, is it better to let the child drown while we stare at each other wondering who will help, or for everyone to jump in with their brand name on their shirts – as long as we make the news. I’m sorry but for me the jury is still out on that one.

What happened to helping just because it’s the right thing to do?

It’s Time To Put Your Underpants on the Outside!

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:48:00 +1200

WOOT! I’m so freakin’ pumped up right now I can’t even begin to explain. At the end of last week I was really starting to get quite antsy, almost depressed at the way things were progressing… or more to the point NOT progressing. Those who know me really well usually understand that this “antsy” phase is followed by the “downright pissed off and now it’s time for some bloody action” phase, which I tend to self administer when I’m over feeling sorry for myself. This is generally when stuff starts to happen.

I’ve been a big fan of motivation icon Anthony Robbins for a long time. He often speaks of aligning yourself with people who are several steps ahead of you, and generally at least one step ahead of where you want to get yourself. Unfortunately as humans we have this tendency to align ourselves with people who are around our level or lower. Why? Because they make us feel good about ourselves. “yeah, I may be over weight … but woah, have you seen Jackie lately?? She’s really fat!”

I know that looks really cruel on paper, but you know you’ve done it. We all do it. You measure yourself with a wonky yard stick to make yourself feel better. And what does that achieve? Well, short answer is it achieves jack-shit. It achieves a delusional comfort zone in which you can marinade yourself in hypocrisy.

I’ve been a little bit offended lately that people don’t necessarily want to hear about what I’m doing. Or they have some snide remarks thrown at me like the sarcastic “well lardy-da – don’t we all wish we could be like you?!” It got to me for a bit, and then I thought “ya know what – stuff you all” If you want to come along on the journey then that’s great, if you don’t then good luck to you also. Nothing I write in these pages in meant to make anyone feel small or, on the flip side, make me feel any bigger (and I’ll prove that by the story I’m about to tell) It’s just a real and accurate account of what I’m doing, how I’m feeling and the progress we’re making.

SO why am I so pumped? Firstly, I’ve had the opportunity to be exposed to some awesome people, who I’m going to mention quickly. Susan Wallis – who competed in the City to Surf in Sydney yesterday to raise money for the Cerebral Palsy Support Network, please read her story I think she is just amazing.

And Bev Rolt got me pumped up again by the work she does to support the Indonesian people. I’m going to make a separate post to talk about how you can help Bev, in a sec.

But if you’re passionate about orangutans (as I am) then there are a few names in orangutan circles that you’ll probably know. One of them is Michelle Desilets. I first came across Michelle through Twitter (surprise!) and have since read a great deal about that amazing things she’s been achieving in Indonesia along with Lone Droscher Nielsen and, no doubt, a cast of thousands, involved in reforestation and preservation of natural habitat, rehabilitation of injured animals and refuge for orphaned infants.

The list of what they do just goes on and on! And as if she’s not busy enough, she still gets on Twitter every day and does her damnedest to raise awareness of the issues they are facing. So I was somewhat hesitant in contacting Michelle because I figured she’s got a lot to deal with and she is surely incredibly busy. But I also recognised the need to surround myself with people who really know what they’re doing.

As is also human nature I really didn’t want to come across as a complete idiot who had no idea what they were talking about and be perceived as a total fool. When I all reality, we aren’t seasoned Orangutan experts – we’re a mum & dad team from Australia. I figured this can go one of two ways; she can email me back and say “what on God’s green earth are you doing? Are you mental? Stick to what you know” (which is alarmingly similar to another email I received a few weeks back). Or she will be a compassionate and sharing human who recognises that these sorts of dreams require some level of insanity and embrace that! Luckily for me I got the latter.

What a top chick! Michelle was kind enough to go into explaining the land requirements and an overview of what costs would be involved for the bare essentials. And you know, from the outset I had some rough estimate in my head of what sort of money might be involved in this sort of project. And I was brave enough to admit to the public that I didn’t know what I was doing and that there would obviously be days where a big fat penny drops from the sky and I’m left rubbing my head in bewilderment LOL.

Little did I know how huge that penny would be. After reading Michelle’s email last night and then quickly forwarding it to Rick so that I could watch his head explode as well, I was absolutely dumbfounded. I sat there for ages with a calculator going over the numbers trying to get my head around the magnitude of what we would need to achieve. After about the 15th read of all the information I stared at the roof and said “there’s no way we can do that” and I gave up… for about 90 seconds.

Why not? Why can’t we? If you can raise $100,000 surely there’s no reason why you can’t raise $1,000,000. It’s the same thing, it’s just bigger. It’s like people with 3 kids saying they couldn’t raise 9. Of course you could! You’ve already got the experience; you don’t have to learn it 9 times over. It’s just bigger.

But if you’re going to achieve great things in life you really do need to surround yourself with great people. So I’m totally pumped to have made contact with Michelle, and even though I feel like a complete idiot in my meager initial assumption of what costs might be involved with the wildlife refuge side of our project – I’m filled with a brand new excitement for what lies ahead.

Please check out the work that Michelle is doing through BOS and OLT and follow Michelle on Twitter

Come on people it’s time to make like superheros, we’ve got a friggin world to save!

Throw Away Society – The Brief & Inaccurate History of Conservation!

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:42:00 +1200

I was dropping my youngest son, Charlie off at day care the other day. They have this system whereby parents are asked to sort their food for each day into morning, lunch & afternoon. They also provide brown paper lunch bags for the parents to use so they don’t need to bring 3 different lunch boxes for each day. At the end of the day, the paper bags with the children’s names are returned home with the child to be re-used the next day. Not 100% the most environmental solution, but it’s “ok”.

I noticed on this particular day that one of the parents had bought in a large packet of brown bags and left them on the bench where the sorting of said lunches goes on. She had written a note to the room teacher which read “I thought these might come in handy for you… no need to recycle “Johnny’s” bags each day as we provide fresh ones every evening”. Wait…let me check the calendar … it is 2009, isn’t it? Surely by now everyone “gets” that the recycling of the bag is not just to save a few cents. I stood there for a few minutes and read the note several times trying to work out where I had read wrong, but nope. I looked up, surveyed the surroundings…no one is wearing flairs, no beehive hairdos I haven’t been sucked into some bizarre time warp and landed in 1967. No, it’s just a glaring case of environmental stupidity. For a long time there, we got “shamed” into being environmentally responsible. We didn’t really 100% believe the hype that the world would end if we didn’t stop throwing polystyrene Macca’s boxes out the car window, but there were some pretty loud and downright annoying activists throughout the 90s that would make you feel damned uncomfortable if you weren’t recycling or “doing the right thing”. It just started becoming easier to conform, you got yelled at less, and there was a chance green might become “cool”. Waddaya know, by the turn of the millennium green was the new black and if you weren’t wearing it because you really believed in it, the peer pressure from your children became so overwhelming that you had no choice but to recycle as they preached what they started learning in school… and really it’s just grown from there. So how did people like “Johnny’s Mum” fall through the cracks, and what future for their children? Surely this can’t be common? Or am I so insulated in my little green cocoon that I’m ignorant to the facts? The funny part about recycling is that it’s really nothing new! I remember my Mum once relaying a story to me of how my Grandma (who was my absolute idol, love & inspiration) used to cut up Mum’s older brothers pants when they had outgrown them, to make slacks for her. The boys were bigger than my Mum so Gran could cut out a new pair in a completely different style, by simply unpicking the original and starting again. My Grandma raised 4 children in war times, a lot of the time on her own as my Granddad worked on the railways during the war and was away. She didn’t have the luxury of a washer & dryer, or even a fridge. Times were tough but she managed. I guess in the 40’s recycling to save the world probably never crossed their minds, but they recycled out of necessity and the things my Grandmother made in her life would make you weep. Stunning work! When her couch & Jason recliners became threadbare she must have been in her 70s, but the mechanics were fine and although she could probably have afforded a new one at that stage of life, for her that wasn’t an option. Instead she went out and bought a beautiful upholstery fabric and proceeded to work out how to disassemble those chairs, reupholster them by hand and put them back together. My Grandma passed away some years ago, but she’s still my go-to woman when things get tough. Whenever I’m whiney, my back hurts, my hands cramp… I think of this amazing woman and although she never would have told me to “suck it up” this is what I tell myself. I came to a difficult point this week whilst cutting fabric – pillowcases made by my Grandma for my “glory box”. Most of them I’ve had since I was 8 years old – most of them have rarely been used, and probably wouldn’t have been used again. Each perfectly made with intricate decorative stitching. I stopped and put down my scissors, held the soft fabric to my face and breathed in the energy of my grandmother, allowed myself a moment to remember while my tears dampened the fabric and then returned to cutting. She wouldn’t have had any hesitation in doing the same. I miss you Grandma… and I can’t get your bloody fancy stitches undone. I know you’re laughing at me, I can hear you LOL!

Having a Bad Day?

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 10:03:00 +1200

It’s quite natural for us, as humans, to consume ourselves with self-pity at the first sign of trouble or injustice in our lives. I thought I’d share a story with you which might help give some sense of perspective:

Siti was born 16 years ago on 26 June. Her spine was broken when she was a child and this has interfered with her growth. As a result, Siti is now only about 1 meter in height and she has a protruding spine and a deformed body. Siti was born to an unfortunate family. Her father was a heavy drinker and gambler and would frequently beat Siti’s mother when drunk.

When Siti was not yet a month old, her father lifted her up after fighting with her mother and threw her against a rambutan tree. It is likely to be this that broke Siti’s spine. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that she never received any medical treatment. One month after Siti was thrown against the tree, her mother died following a beating at the hands of her father, who then fled and whose whereabouts are still unknown.

Siti was left all alone, disabled and disfigured. After her father ran away, Siti was taken in by a neighbouring faming family who had no children of their own. They then adopted Siti as their own child. After that Siti lived with her adoptive parents, and was raised and educated as their own child. However, Siti’s suffering was not at an end. When she as in grade 5 of elementary school, Sitis adoptive mother died following an illness.

Siti’s adoptive father then remarried with a widow who already had four children of her own. So, Siti now had four siblings. After this, Siti found herself gradually being edged out of the family. Her adoptive father’s new wife focused all her attention on her own children and showed little concern for Siti. After graduating from elementary school, Siti received no more schooling for two years and in the end was forced to go out into the fields to work, despite her physical impairment and her sadness at being rejected by her adoptive parents.

This is just a small part of Siti’s life story, taken from “Someone that Matters” (an investigation into the quality of care in Indonesia’s Childcare Institutions) reproduced with the kind permission of the Save the Children Alliance.

On this day, let us all be grateful for what we have, and let someone know they are appreciated! I would like to personally thank the following people:

Karen Morris – for her generous support, making me cry and just being Karen. Allan Cockerill – for his generous support & continued publicity

George Karahalios – for being totally crazy and offering his unlimited support & networking talents

Jo Harvey – for her generous support, eternal good mood, beautiful heart & for sharing the story

Carol Barry – for ALWAYS being there when I need to have a bitch or moan, and for being the optimist when I forget my head.

Bev Rolt – for spending forever on the phone with me teaching me stuff I don’t know, and for already helping so many Indonesian families

Sue Murdock – for kind donations and comic relief in the evenings!

Kristin Kyle – for continued support and publicity through Kids In Australia

Neil Richards – for sharing my love of Orangutans, gloating about the cricket and just generally backing me up when I think I’m crazy.

Erica Smith – for 20 years of “sisterhood”, sharing the ups, downs and turn-arounds.

Michelle Hayward – for “getting it” and being as crazy as I am.

Kay Lam-Beattie – for impromptu legal advice and restoring my faith in solicitors (somewhat).

And most of all my beautiful husband Rick for daring to dream (when it’s not his gig) and my inspiring and awesome children – Loki, AJ, Matthew, Ashley, Bailey, Julian, Kelsey, Ailish & Charlie for being my light, love and reason to live. I hope one day, you can shine your brilliant lights into darkness with me.

Into the Darkness…

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:44:00 +1200

I’ve somewhat of a muddled head this afternoon so I’ll try and stay on track, and keep it a little shorter than the last couple.

So, I’ve been reading about the days happenings in Indonesia this afternoon. I’m frustrated with my own inability to be able to understand what goes through the mind of someone that decides to bomb a hotel and kill innocent people. There are many crimes in the world that, whilst not being “right”, one can understand.

The would-be-Buddhist in me wants to sit down with these attackers and hear their story, understand their anger/grief/obsession or whatever it is that drives them to do what they do. I wonder if one actually took the time to listen to their side whether it would make any more sense. To my mind killing is killing, there is no reason that could make it excusable, but I really would like to understand. Maybe if we all had the capacity to understand and the empathy to compromise these things could be avoided. I’d like to believe as a society we haven’t yet crossed the bridge into complete racial and religious intolerance. Maybe I’m wrong.

From our warm(ish) living rooms in Australia, or any other civilized western nation, it’s easy to detach ones self from the horror that goes on in foreign countries. It’s almost as if the suffering isn’t real. We see the faces of the victims and their devastated families but the newscast is so short, we have no time to truly connect… and what’s more, we were only watching to check the weather forecast, the cricket is on tonight, the kids have homework, “did you pay the phone bill?”…there are many things more present than the suffering of someone in a foreign land.

My concern this evening is my own ability to be able to focus on two worlds simultaneously without becoming so involved in either that the other is now foreign. When you immerse yourself as I have in reading about the abuse and neglect of children in Indonesia, in order to understand the environment into which we are moving… when you take the time to actually ponder the concept of living on $2 per day… life as we know it starts to appear particularly frivolous.

My five-year-old daughter lost her second baby tooth a couple of days ago. She proudly placed her tooth in a glass of water as her offering to the tooth fairy, who in turn replaced it with a shiny gold $2 coin. I found myself looking at the coin quantifying it in Indonesian terms – a whole day of food, clothing, shelter and living. Suddenly something as exciting and filled with wonderment as a visit from the tooth fairy is tarnished by my focus on those less fortunate.

I went through a photo essay that documents the homeless children in Jakarta yesterday. The pictures are incredibly moving when you take the time to connect and project those children, especially as if they were one of your own. I left the computer in tears at the realisation that there’s no way I can save all of these children and there will be days where I have to turn children away. I wonder how I will manage these days?

These children are easy to ignore from Australia. If you don’t focus on them, to your mind they simply don’t exist.

If we choose to look away from the darkness, there will never be any light. If we decide to shine a light into darkness, we must expect the impression to be burnt into our brains. I wonder how long it takes one’s eyes to adjust, and to be able to see evenly in both light and dark, without being consumed by either?

Something Bigger Than Me

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:29:00 +1200

The time has come. I’ve taunted you for long enough without revealing the plans, and more to the point, I’m terrible at keeping things secret. Especially things that I’m excited about.

First, to dispel any rumours! I’ve been thrown a few suggestions on what I might be planning to do and fortunately, none of them are correct LOL. I am not taking up politics, I am not becoming a monk or a nun (sorry Carol, I know how you love nuns. Although it does involve a vow of poverty!), and I’m not joining the circus. But all commendable guesses… no really… they were great.

I’ve mentioned before that I am a very private person, and for me to be putting my life on public display is a long, long, long way out of my own comfort zone. I have lived my (not quite) 40 years presenting a brave face of control and calm-waters. My modus operandi is to work everything out in fine detail, achieve my set goals and then present my triumphs leaving bewildered onlookers wondering how I managed to succeed with such ease. My initial instincts were to do the same here but unfortunately, this would defeat the purpose of what I am trying to achieve.

I’m also known to be a painfully independent and capable woman who would in most instances wear my fingers to the bone and die failing before asking anyone for any form of assistance. My husband will lay testament to how frustrating that is for people who are close to me, and these people will know how far out of character it is for me to bear my soul and expose myself as being anything but 110% in full control. The truth is however, that what I’m planning to achieve is something far bigger than myself, and far bigger than what any single person could probably achieve without the support and assistance of the wider community. And, to be totally frank – I have NO idea what I’m doing!

Some time ago I received an email from a former employee, updating me on his progress in life and informing me of his plans to travel to Cambodia and Vietnam in November to visit orphanages and under-privileged communities. Damo is that kinda guy, so his plans didn’t surprise me but they did plant a seed. Initially I was jealous of the fact that at 20 I was married and had a child. I didn’t get the chance to do such things and, to be honest, at the time it probably wouldn’t have interested me.

This photo was taken for a newspaper article which was published a few years ago with the headline “And baby makes nine” – a feel good article about the joys of having a large family – or so we thought. After introducing our family the journalist went on to indirectly accuse us of being environmental vandals, irresponsible citizens whose contribution to the earth should be measured only by our carbon footprint. The ill-informed journalist did nothing to investigate the lifestyle we lived or how we raised our children to create a better world. I’ll be frank – it pissed me off! Even though my husband Rick has worked as an expert in alternate energy for over 10 years, I admit we haven’t always lived a green lifestyle. In fact our conversion to green is something that has only taken place in the last 5 years, but our family of 11 has a carbon footprint smaller than the average family of 4 and we are now extremely passionate about wildlife conservation, alternate energy and sustainable living. Large family bashers need to get their facts straight, and I will quite happily poke a stick in the eye of the next journalist who incorrectly reflects the impact my family has on the earth. We love children, and we raise our children to love and respect the earth. I’m passionate about children and it pains me to see children suffering in any way. For those of you with children under 5, or even older, try this simple visualisation exercise for a moment: [b][i]Imagine taking your child into a crowded street at dusk, walking away from them and never going back. Imagine the fear in that child when they realise you’re gone. Imagine them wandering scared and hungry through the streets…imagine their life now, day after day.[/b][/i] If you can do this exercise without tears, then you are stronger than me, but for 1.8 million children in Indonesia, this is reality. Every night 1.8 million children in Indonesia sleep homeless. For most of us that number is unfathomable. Over 50% of Indonesians survive on less than $2US per day. Of the 500,000 children in Indonesian orphanages today, almost 90% still have a living parent. They just simply cannot afford to feed them and out of desperation, many of these children are dumped in hope that someone more fortunate may be able to give them a better life. Well, I am someone more fortunate and while my family is not wealthy, by any means, we plan to make a difference. My husband and I are both self employed, we have 9 children and we live, like many people, week-to-week. In a country like Indonesia where so many people are so very poor, a lot can be achieved with less money than one might expect. Our plan is to raise enough money to buy a parcel of land in Indonesia; we then plan to employ local people to build us an orphanage. Our plans for this orphanage are not to build huge dormitories with 40 children to a room, but to build cabins based on the successful schemes in Africa, where local women are employed to raise “family” groups of up to 8 children, in a loving and nurturing environment. With my husband and eldest son both qualified in Alternate Energies we intend to teach the local people how to build using sustainable methods, applying the principals of solar-passive design and incorporating solar energy to the village. Further, we plan to extend the orphanage to include a wildlife sanctuary, and eventually buy up parcels of land in Sumatra to either preserve the natural habitat for the native & critically endangered Sumatran Tigers & Orangutans or undertake reforestation programs on lands that have been destroyed by the insanity of palm oil plantations. We envisage that the children we raise in the orphanage will be actively involved in wildlife rehabilitation from an early age and hopefully this will instill in them desire to continue to preserve their native wildlife. Right about now, you’re all probably thinking that I’ve taken complete leave of my senses. It’s a massive undertaking, and I’m under NO illusions that it will be easy. I am aware that there will be huge obstacles throughout this journey, not the least of which the thousands of dollars that will be required to fund the program. As I said, my initial instinct for this was to plan everything in detail before revealing what I was planning to do, but the purpose of this blog is to document the full procedure – the trials, the triumphs and the tears of both joy and failure. Those of you who know me well, know that I will achieve this goal because that’s just what I do. Those of you who don’t know me might take some convincing, and I’m ok with that too. My family is incredibly excited about this new journey that we are setting off on. My children have all agreed that they understand the commitment and the sacrifices that are going to be involved. I am so proud and honoured to have their 100% support and love. First stop on this journey is to register the charity, which we have researched and receiving legal advice on. If there are any lawyers who want to donate their time, please feel free to contact me. My goal is to benefit humanity, not line the pockets of professionals, so I’ll be more than happy to accept the goodwill of anyone qualified to lend a hand. Then of course, we have some money to raise. Unfortunately I’m not in a position to accept cash donations, until the charity is registered, which takes some time. So we came up with a few ideas: •Firstly, 100% of the profits from my art sales will go directly to the new charity, • 50% of the profits from any sales from our Sustainable living website The Elements will also go to the charity. (this leaves us 50% of not very much to raise our family – lucky we all understand Christmas will be small). •And to help get the ball rolling, in the name of sustainability I’ve decided to dedicate my time to sewing “stuff” (see my previous blog about how I grew a huge business from some fabric scraps). I’m after clothes, curtains, bedding anything I can get my hands on to recycle and make into something new which can be sold. I’m happy to take input on what you think would sell best, but my aim is for the products to be at least 95% recycled, reclaimed or at least sustainable/organic in some way. 100% of the sale price of each item will go directly to the charity. Obviously, there will need to be a LOT more fund raising initiated to raise the money required but these are just a few things we can do before the charity is formally registered. [img]http://catherinebolt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/DSCF65871.JPG[/img] [b]Half business pants (no need for those anymore) half doona cover.[/b] Here’s a picture of the first bag I made – part pants, part doona cover. I have no idea what people would be willing to pay for these sorts of items, so I’d be happy to hear your thoughts. So folks, that’s the basic plan! I feel I’ve taken up too much of your time already, so I will save further details for another post. Please feel free to leave comments below, or email me at cbolt@catherinebolt.com with any offers, suggestions, criticisms, or offerings of psychiatric assessment LOL. Until next time, be good to yourself, be good to your earth and live with passion

Ok, Let Me Start Somewhere Around the Middle…

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:23:00 +1200

So, what I’ve told you all so far is that I’m about to embark on a life changing expedition. Not so much a journey of “self discovery”, I’m pretty sure I’ve already travelled that path. In fact, I’m pretty sure that was the path that led me to where I am today. I don’t feel I need to go back to the beginning to tell you about my childhood, my awkward and ugly teenage years or to tell you my entire life history. Mostly because I don’t think it’s relevant. Sure our childhood has an impact on who we become as adults, but we also make choices as adults every single day on who we choose to be and how we allow our pasts to shape us. I also believe there’s a lot of danger in allowing ourselves to excuse certain behaviours and crutches we develop as adults, because X or Y happened at a tender age and scarred us irreparably (nonsense!).

I’m allowing myself the luxury of sharing only this millennium which is convenient – because that’s where the real story starts. Around the dawn of the new millennium I had recently moved to Victoria. I was working as a prison officer at Melbourne’s notorious Custody Centre. Situated under the Melbourne Magistrates Court, underground, with no natural light and painted throughout a nauseous shade of yellow – hence acquiring the moniker of “the yellow submarine”. I could easily write an entire book of what goes on in that place, and if you think criminals are corrupt you ain’t seen nothing until you’re a female working in a private correctional facility in Australia.

Whether you believe that basic human rights should be extended to prisoners or not is irrelevant to me. I have been a victim of violent crime on more than one occasion, and I’ve spent 12 hour shifts underground with dozens of rapidly detoxing drug addicts in close confines. I’ve seen young men draw their last breathes in front of me without being able to save them and I’ve witnessed out of session court hearings with pedophiles – I’ve also seen what happens to them during strip search. I’ve seen cells being used to accommodate the overflow from the mental health system and disabled teenagers ridiculed and humiliated. I have seen the very worst in human nature – and I can tell you it resides on both sides of the cell door.

As a parent, it makes you very wary of where your children are, who they are with and what they are doing. I am a painfully protective parent, as any of my children would tell you. But I have very good reason. While taking maternity leave from the centre, my son with Aspergers Syndrome started school. We never expected him to last in a mainstream school, and burdened with encopresis (fecal incontinence) he struggled for many years, whilst I was often called to assist with him at the school. It was around this time that I realised that working 12 hour shifts 1.5hours away from home wasn’t going to allow me to be available to my special needs children. I needed a home based business so I could make money and still be a mother to, at that stage, 7 children.

From the scraps of fabric left over from my wedding dress, I started sewing bits and pieces and started a little business called The Australian Wedding Company – over the coming years I built this business into the largest retailer of wedding merchandise in Australia, expanding from online to bricks and mortar and planning some of the largest, most expensive and extravagant weddings the country has ever seen. Before I knew it this award winning business had employed dozens of staff, engaged 80+ suppliers and had a product range into the 10’s of thousands. This whirlwind experience was intoxicatingly exciting and addictive – to the point that I travelled through 2 pregnancies, births and infancies without taking more than 48 hours off work.

Hello, me! I’d totally missed the point and was now dealing on a daily basis with more and more spoilt princesses who appreciated none of my efforts and could easily waste thousands of dollars to get exactly what they wanted, without any concern for the environment. I’m on public record as saying this in the past in newspaper and radio interviews, but I have no problem in saying it again. I would rather deal with 100 prisoners than a single bride. I’m generalising here of course, and there are women in the world that can exchange nuptials without turning into moronic beasts but there’s something that switches in women’s minds when they get an engagement ring. At least criminals generally follow some basic rules of “engagement” that allow them to afford some level of respect and decency to their fellow man.

Around 2006 a friend of mine, a mother of 7, lost a child to Coronary Heart Disease. I spent some time helping her with a charity that she started in his honour and held my own children in an even higher light of love and protection than ever before. My business was in the height of it’s success and my customer service staff were coming to me several times a day with frivolous requests from customers to which I found myself answering “tell her there are children dying in the world”. To their credit, they never did relay that message, but dealt with the customers needs the best they could. This is probably the time that I realised I was in the wrong industry. If you’ve ever wondered why things are so expensive in the bridal industry – it’s called “danger money”.

At the end of 2008 I moved from Victoria to Queensland to put some distance between myself and the business and get new perspective in my life. In June 2009, I handed TAWC over to my best buddy and long-suffering employee and walked away. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. Carol is now reshaping TAWC and I’m sure she will do a better job at keeping it in perspective than I did. If you need anything for a wedding, new baby or an special event, you won’t get better service anywhere than from Carol. She’s a remarkable human being.

So, there’s the background… what will happen next? *gasp* The excitement builds LOL. Never lose sight of the big picture… and more importantly, make sure you understand what the picture actually is.