one plus two: December Just Posts

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. ~ Annie

As I sit down to write my last introduction to the Just Posts I can't help but reflect back on how it all began. Two years ago many of us held a wedding, a marriage that promised to promote justice and truth as evidenced through all of you and your work to memorialize the just and the unjust around the world.

For two years we cobbled together these lists, some months short and some months long. We came together and talked about what we were doing and also what we could do together. We raised money for organizations in different parts of the world. We made volunteerism a priority, we gave our time and our money and most of all we wrote. And in between I fell in love with all of you, you turned the lights on in dusty places and showed me that the world is better than I sometimes think and together we can do more.

As Mad and I shared earlier we've enjoyed an offline discourse over the years not only about Just Posts but also how we've been influenced by others and each other's thoughts. We posed a question about pragmatism versus a heart of gold, the latter being Mad's term more than mine, I prefer to think of it as simply saying yes. So instead of changing my spots I'll end this journey the way I started, by continuing to donate because I'm asked.

This month I've become a new supporter of Ekukhanyeni, a charity where our other Just Post sister volunteers and whose Founder has been struggling to raise enough resources to meet the demand. Let me tell you a little bit about them and I hope you'll click over and see the many things they are doing to make their community and the lives of impoverished children healthier and happier.

Ekukhanyeni - Home of Light and Hope - is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization that focuses on community upliftment in two poverty stricken informal settlements close to Johannesburg. In partnership with the local communities, this project supports some 600 vulnerable children by creating self-sustaining communities through its green and holistic design approach to community development.

I promise if you go visit you'll see why Helena gives of her time and why it matters that they are able to continue. We were happy to support them this month and only wish we could have done more.

The decision to pass off the Just Posts was not an easy one, Mad and I have been back and forth mistresses to the 10th of every month for two years now, and Su for a year or more. It's become so ingrained that I can't quite imagine a month without it, so words won't do justice to the joy I feel in knowing that the Just Posts will continue and in very good hands. We are honored to pass of the hosting of the Just Post Community to Alejna at Collecting Tokens and Holly at Cold Spaghetti, two long time and ongoing participants and true souls, these two women graciously offered to pick up where we leave off, ensuring the Just Posts will continue to have a home. Thank you both. Thank you both so much.

So with that I'll end my current role with the Just Posts but you won't get rid of me so easily. I'll keep my seat at the table by writing and reading and sharing what I find. But until then I'll be seeing you, whether here or south of the border, the world will always feel smaller because of all of you. I truly love each of your beautiful open hearts, as evidenced yet again by our Farewell Posts, many of you heard our call and wrote and donated and shared how you support others around the world. We may not always share the same formula but it's clear we come from the same place. Each of your gifts matters so much to me, I read them some in tears and others with a grin, because you proved once more how much it matters, how much it means to give goodness and justice a place to sit.