Zoe in Victoria:

Greetings from Mosqoy in Victoria! It’s hard to believe we’ve reached mid-summer already..it always goes fast, but this past month has been particularly speedy.

About me:

I worked as a summer intern at Mosqoy last year, and was immediately humbled and inspired by the amount of dedication and positivity that it’s volunteers possessed. At the end of the internship, I had this feeling that Mosqoy had become an important and awesome part of my life, so  it made no sense to stop after that.

After spending 5 months traveling through India during the winter this year, I spent my first day back in Victoria at the Mosqoy office -- a major change of scenery from Delhi! -- and formally began my position as Global Stewardship Department Manager.

Why does the Global Stewardship Program inspire me?

Returning from India, I feel better equipped to clarify some of the reasons I think Global Stewardship is a necessary component of a shift towards a more peaceful world.

Reflecting on the differences between a typical day spent in Canada versus India alluded to the future counter-culture shock I was about to experience upon returning home.The intensity of India will always stay with me. Bright red saris, humid air drenched with earth and incense, heaps of garbage, beautiful gardens, incredible wealth and what felt like inconceivable poverty. Everyday all these things kept moving around me with a beat that I stopped trying to understand, but became more comfortable just listening to.

Canada is a beautiful place, and many of us enjoy creature comforts on such a daily basis that they meld seamlessly into the fabric of our lives. With our daily routines aided in such a way, many things we’ve grown to anticipate and expect. We (myself certainly included) find it hard to keep the big picture in mind on a regular basis. This bigger picture includes not only my own life in Canada, but of lives being lived every day, all over the world.

It’s an intuitive truth that action is most effective and agile when supported by a basis of real understanding. For many of us living in countries such as Canada, we have the means to action, but we also need a foundation of understanding in order to enable real and positive change.

Global stewardship works to provide education that widens our perspectives, broadens our minds, and deepens our understanding of the bigger picture. As I settle into working with the Global Stewardship Program, I’m so excited to see the program develop as it continues to take shape.

"Global Grade 3" students of Battalion Park school.
A wonderful example of Global Stewardship in action.

 This summer, I’ve been focusing on doing the groundwork for the upcoming year of Global Stewardship projects and community initiatives. This includes planning our educational lectures in high schools and universities which cover issues such as:

Quechua culture and heritage

Social and economic issues facing indigenous Quechua communities in Peru

How to set projects in motion that provide a “hand-up” rather than a “hand-out”

I’ll also be working to organize and research community outreach events that we’ll be participating in, and planning our new and extremely exciting school tour program - launching in March next year! More details coming soon.

For me, it feels great to have the opportunity to work with an organization that’s fully committed to the act of listening throughout all of its projects, whether this includes visiting our weaving communities in-person, with Quechua-Spanish translators to ensure that each community member is fully represented, or developing opportunities for schools to get involved with Mosqoy in the ways that work for them and their students. Underlying Mosqoy’s work is a unique development model that seeks to fully understand and appreciate the abundance already present in the communities it works with. I can’t think of a better foundation for global education to take place.