Day 1 of the Woodwalk. 11.2 miles from Sea World to UCSD. It felt like 50 miles. My back, shoulders, feet and even my little pinkey finger hurt like they never have. We actually weighed the bundles we had today and they ranged from 35 to 70 pounds and I somehow ended up with the 70 pounder–poor choice on my part! And yet, this is what women go through just to collect wood to cook for their families. That is humbling like no other and what an honor to to be doing this for those ladies in Northern Kenya and all over the world that go through so much just to cook.
The most significant part of my day that really sticks out in my mind was walking through downtown La Jolla–a beautiful place hanging off the cliffs with so much wealth and abundance. The stark contrast of who we were representing as we walked by Mazzerati and Ferarri dealerships was like having feet in two different worlds–one in the world of luxury, material wealth and power, the other in the world of poverty, harsh existence and economic instability. It really gives you perspective and makes you think about how fortunate we are and the little things that we don’t blink an eye at (like turning on a stovetop or microwave).
The amazing turnout of friends, family and supporters just blows me away. I’m humbled and so grateful for the encouragement by everyone and wanting to pitch in and help in some way. Jedidiah‘s Woodbury Roland, Nika Water’s Jordan Mellul, Fifty and Fifty‘s Bryan Shanaver, Empower a Child‘s Wilson Kabeera, Elle Communications‘ Danielle Gano and Fox 5 reporter Heather we such troopers for joining us today!
My thought from seeing people’s reaction to our woodwalking on the road: the human capacity for compassion and empathy is vast, but for some reason we have to hit its vein with something sharp to wake it up.
Tomorrow we walk to San Elijo State beach along Torrey Pines. It will no doubt be beautiful even though its supposed to rain. Its midnight and I can barely feel my legs underneath me so I’ll sign off and send updates from twitter along the way. Make sure you check out @ParadigmProject and #woodwalk! Thanks to everyone who made this happen. I’ll make a long list of special thanks after this is all over and I’m sure the list will be in the hundreds.
Honk, stop by, tweet “#woodwalk” or fund a stove if you see us on the road! See pictures from Austin Mann at the event at UCSD today here.
–Greg W. Spencer
Director Marketing and Social Media and for the next 9 days a “woodwalker”.
