Wednesday, May 13, 2009

How the Pay It Forward Experiment and a Promise Started

My brother is an amazing man. He is sending me money for my trip. A hell of a lot for his level of income. No catches and no questions. My mum relentlessly says ‘come home’ in a fear full state of worry whenever I talk to her and my brother sends me money to keep me here. I love him for that.

Dale, a wonderful friend of mine, then also offers me money. He heard about this trip and got in touch saying ‘what do you need? How can I help?’ I was stunned. The money is nearly gone and that (and the cold and the absence of feeling productive) is forcing me to assess what country and soil I stand on.

So having had this wonderful offer and then wanting to make the best of a bad situation and still have a bit of an adventure I suggested a Pay It Forward Experiment inspired by my brother. I can’t officially work as I am on a tourist visa so I said to Dale I can’t pay you back so lets pay it forward. Think of something I can do for the money. Charity wise or a fun stunt. And I will blog it. So far the kindness of strangers is amazing me. I have had hundreds of messages on Facebook and I meet people everyday who offer so much help so if we do this the message goes to the next level. Maybe we can get everyone involved and it can become everyone’s adventure.’

He is thinking about what I can do now. I will be flying to Sydney soon and then off to Canberra to stay with him for a bit. Hopefully his perverse sense of humour won’t come up with anything too mental and I won't be running around important statues in a chicken suit. I am looking forward to this adventure though. My brother, Peter is also thinking of something for me to do. He isn’t well right now and doing this means I get to do something special for him.

Peter you are wonderful. You may not think so and being ill may scare you sometimes but you travel with me out here and I am doing this journey for both of us and can dream and believe enough for all of us. I promise you that.

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