Hitting Send

At the end of last year, I wrote a post about The Ripple Effect in which I shared how my own reflections upon charity, and giving from the heart was being perfectly mirrored by my Beautiful mother’s latest philanthropic effort. She had been reading Greg Mortenson’s book, Three Cups of Tea, which features a remote, humble Pakistani village. As though the true story of Mortenson’s incredible humanitarian efforts to build schools, especially for girls, in the dangerous far reaches of Asia wasn’t motivation enough for an altruist effort of her own, mom’s heart was captured by the dear, sweet children. “It’s so cold there,” she explained to me, “Do you think people would help me make and send them scarves?” I knew that she desired more than providing protection from brutal Winter; she wanted to wrap them in Love. You know I’m right. The Scarf Initiative was born!

The initial response from ‘The Scarf Initiative’, a request mom made on her Gorgeous blog, plantwhateverbringsyoujoy.com was a Beautiful thing to witness. She called me and delightedly shared with me that fellow bloggers and BeLoved readers alike were all willing to knit scarves for the Dear Pakistani children. YAY! Shortly thereafter scarves from across the states, Canada, and the United Kingdom began arriving in mom’s postal box! It was very exciting, indeed. However, as I’m sure you can well imagine, there is also a bit of an uphill climb in the logistics behind getting things into remote villages half-way around the World. Yeah, who knew, right?

I listened with admiration as mom worked through just a bit of red tape involved in carrying out this impressive undertaking. For one thing, there is only one way into the village of Askole, which had been chosen as the lucky recipient of this thoughtful project. It’s called the Karakoram Highway and traversing this incredibly narrow road is quite treacherous, and completely impossible during the icy, snowy Winter months. So, even when mom managed to collect two very large boxes of Lovingly knitted and crocheted scarves into Pakistan, she still needed an expert trekker to assist with getting them into Askole and distributing them upon arrival. Ever resourceful, mom found a kind-hearted expedition expert up for the challenge in a man named Nazir Sabir.

Mom knew that she was in great hands with Nazir Sabir, and proceeded with confidence that the scarves would arrive safely at their destination. We sent heart-felt prayers as we waited for word that the scarves had safely arrived. We were so happy when a message was received alerting us that the boxes, which had been sitting in storage in Skardu through the rough, cold months, would finally be driven along Karakoram Highway. More prayers and hopes. Did I mention that it’s the last stop before K2, the second largest mountain in the World?

A couple of days ago, mom had tears rolling down her face as she gazed upon the pictures which arrived via email of the scarves she had collected and shipped being distributed to not one, but two villages so far very away, upon a high mountain top. Wow! Almost one hundred scarves and many gloves and hats, made with Loving intention, sent to the village children. Isn’t it remarkable? I thought once again about the ripple effect of such an undertaking. While it’s impossible to know the full effect of how our actions effect others, I have to imagine that this was an effort which shall continue to pay itself forward in Amazing ways. Just look at the excitement from the children.

As I remarked in a prior post, it’s hard to know of the positive effects one has by sending soft, warm articles of clothing Lovingly handmade with the greatest intentions to a remote village on the other side of the planet, but I’m venturing to guess that the ripples shall continue. Beautiful work, mom! Blessings to you and all who contributed. You’re an inspiration which will hopefully inspire others to think about how they, too, can contribute to our fellow soul siblings. For, even in a simple “hello”, a genuine smile, compliment, or compassionate glance, we can all have Beautiful effects of which we’ll never fully know. How can you help, BeLoveds?