No excuses - keep on blogging

Why is it that the things you like doing most get sometimes squeezed out of your everyday flow...
For instance - I truely enjoy sharing. In sharing I find that whatever it is that I share - if it helps an other person - I feel better! Really better!
Yet - in everyday life, the times I truely share are ... less and less. Oh yeah, I give out to others a lot (like work, being dad, husband etc.) but the REAL sharing seems to get lost sometimes.

I have decided to go back to blogging. Blogging for me is sharing. Sharing of my life. My experiences. My experience. The good (those things help), the bad (those things help even MORE!) the ugly (those things are just fun to read).

So when I think about 'getting back into blogging', I see myself sharing again!
On this blog I won't share about just any kind of good, bad or ugly. On this blog I will share about my journey as a social entrepreneur. I will share about:

1. My Own experiences.  What I discover about building business and brand around our social-profit-fun-park Tjeko.
I would love to get your feedback on how you see this develop

2. My own learning material. Unlike my wife, I like to share any kind of resource I discover (part of the sharing desire I guess!). Great books, a good website, maybe seminars or podcasts?
I would love to hear from you - if you find anything worth sharing!

3. Inspiring other social-profit businesses or entrepreneurs. There are soo many amazing people out there - doing such amazing work. As I find them - I want to share them!
Are you? Do you know somebody? Do you buy or support anything like this? Share it too!


4. Family. Yeah - if you know me - you know I love working. You know I love God. And you must have noticed I LOVE my family. And that brings a natural friction sometimes. Because having two todlers and a 3rd one coming just brings its own set of oportunities.
If you have tips, good laughs or horrible examples - join the fun :)


5. Faith. The one ingredient that drives me constantly! Faith in God, in people, in anything. I think faith for me describes something on the inside of people that keeps them going. Somehing inside of them makes them believe that what they do matters. And it does.
Got faith?


My commitment to get sharing again! I am going to print it, and put it anywhere I can.
Every morning I will grab this post and tell myself I made a commitment. I share.


 Do you reconize the feeling of not doing something anymore that you know you really should? How do you get back into the routine? (i know there's even some of you that should get back into blogging yourself!)

Idealist they call me!

In the newspaper of last Saturday the journalist calls me a 'true-idealist'!
Maybe he's right. I'm fully aware that we are doing things different w Tjeko. Who in the world would build an ENTERTAINMENT PARK in a country so poor, they can't even give every child proper shelter, food and education?!
We are. Because we know that our approach is going to create jobs for several people in the community. We know that by advocating the rights of children trough out our communication we are going to positively influence a culture. We know that by facilitating those that already focus on the primary needs of people, we'll be able to see a new kind of 'aid'! One full of FUN!

Exposure

Tonight Tatiana and are are going to receive a 1000 EUR donation from the Pleisure World Foundation in the Efteling (Hollands most popular Amusement park). It's part of a much larger commitment from the foundation to donate 17500 EUR over the next two years. Hans van Leeuwen, the initiator and motivator behind the foundation and the Network of Pleisure World. I know that this money donation  is a generous gift for the children and volunteers in Uganda! I also know that the money is only a SMALL part of what Hans has been able to do for Tjeko. Through him we've been exposed and introduced to some of the most inspiring people in the leisure branch. The platform he's given us to network and make new friends around the country is going to be much more worth than the 1000 EUR we'll spent on the Fun Fairs of this summer!

Hans - thank you for your mentality and aproach of the Foundation: 'Only those that can share, can multiply!'

playscapes: The Red Swing Project

Red Swing Project Documentary from erin harris on Vimeo.

An other COOL project! I love seeing this stuff - it makes me realize we are on the right track with Tjeko!

playscapes: The Red Swing Project

The New York Times Writes About "Doing Good in a Bad Economy" | Echoing Green

The New York Times Writes About "Doing Good in a Bad Economy" | Echoing Green

Great article. Making me believe we'll be able to see some great career-minded people work in Tjeko. Tjeko is all excited about that!

Noah's Ark coming to Kentucky

And I always thought you couldn't build a Christian theme park! But my friend Miranda just showed me this park the other day! On 800 acres a group of Christian investors will build a Christian theme park, revolving around the Ark of Noah - called: Ark Encounter

And here is the good news: You can sponsor a beam, a peg or a plank!

 I decided to 'like' this project on Facebook!

Step Back

Surrounding yourself with people that have qualities beyond your capabilities is an amazing process. Where once you got stuck in 'the right way of doing things', new people in the team with passions and gifting beyond what you've given up to that point, makes your efforts soar on new heights.

Even thought this sounds easy to do, it's in the ability to 'let go' and 'step back' that makes this process successful. And this is where I have to confess - i too often still stand in the way.

Standing in the way - but learning to step back! The results are amazing!

I want to thank all the guys that made 'Tjeko Container Project' look so very HOT! Now lets put it to work!