The Power of Kiva, the Magic of Books, and the Quest for Personal Resonance
Sep 23, 2023Season 2Episode 6
Shireen Botha
Have you ever wondered how you could make a global impact from your living room?
Join us as Patricia opens up about the inspiring world of Kiva, a non-profit that allows you to help underprivileged communities worldwide. Pleasure your ears with Patricia's engaging experiences of supporting budding entrepreneurs and farmers from various corners of the globe and learn how you too can make a difference. We also dive into a thought-provoking discussion on the Sedona Method and how it assists in releasing trapped emotions.
Are you a book lover or a story enthusiast? Get ready to embark on a literary journey as we share our favorite books. Patricia reveals her love for Charlotte's Web, while Shireen shares her deep connection with the Lord of the Rings series. However, fantasy is not everyone's cup of tea, as Tanya confesses. Patricia also unveils how the Harry Potter series was their car trip companion. We end the episode by pondering on the importance of collaboration, curiosity, and finding what resounds with each of us, all inspired by Tanya's early childhood visit to a cemetery with her grandfather. Tune in, it's an episode you don't want to miss!
Have you ever wondered how you could make a global impact from your living room?
Join us as Patricia opens up about the inspiring world of Kiva, a non-profit that allows you to help underprivileged communities worldwide. Pleasure your ears with Patricia's engaging experiences of supporting budding entrepreneurs and farmers from various corners of the globe and learn how you too can make a difference. We also dive into a thought-provoking discussion on the Sedona Method and how it assists in releasing trapped emotions.
Are you a book lover or a story enthusiast? Get ready to embark on a literary journey as we share our favorite books. Patricia reveals her love for Charlotte's Web, while Shireen shares her deep connection with the Lord of the Rings series. However, fantasy is not everyone's cup of tea, as Tanya confesses. Patricia also unveils how the Harry Potter series was their car trip companion. We end the episode by pondering on the importance of collaboration, curiosity, and finding what resounds with each of us, all inspired by Tanya's early childhood visit to a cemetery with her grandfather. Tune in, it's an episode you don't want to miss!
Tales from the Wild, stories from the Heart A journey into the mind and soul of fired-up business professionals, where they share their vision for the future and hear from a different non-profit organization every month as they create awareness of their goals and their needs. Dive into a world of untamed passion. As we join our host, shereen Guerta, for this month's episode of Friends from Wild Places.
Speaker 2:
So, again, you may or may not know about Friends from Wild Places. We support a non-profit every month, and this month it's going to be a foundation called kivaorg. Patricia knows a lot more about it. So, patricia, please go ahead and tell us a little bit about this organization and how we can support it and what it means to you.
Speaker 3:
Oh yes, thank you. I really, really love Kiva. It's kivaorg. They are a US non-profit. Their mission is to advance underserved communities around the world through micro-loans crowdfunding. So the loans begin with $25 that you can decide to lend an entrepreneur or a farmer or a student. I mean so many people around the world that need $25 first of all is a lot of money in some countries and it goes a long way. So that's what we've been doing through our I put it over to my husband and myself through our company, We've been funding some of these really impoverished lenders, especially in Latin America, and especially Ecuador, where I'm from, and Nicaragua, where he is from, but not just those two countries.
Speaker 3:
We've actually gone through different ones. So if you would like to join, you're welcome to, and we have a group from our business that I can give you the link sharing. But if you don't want to join that group, you can create your own if you want to, or just do it individually if you feel like you want to support farmers. That anybody who wants. What I like about this charity which is not really a charity but a nonprofit is that I'm supporting people that are doing something to get ahead. They're going out and selling, you know, corn in the street, or they're trying to feed pigs so that they can later sell the pigs, or you know they're actually doing something to advance in the world. And I like that. I like that idea, that spirit, that energy, that you know the go getter attitude of some people, and so I want to support that and we as a company want to support that.
Speaker 2:
Nice I love that.
Speaker 4:
What's the meaning of the name? What's the meaning of the name Patricia?
Speaker 3:
Yeah. Yeah, that's a good question. I'm not sure how they came up with that name. I've never read about having a special meaning. Perhaps that somebody just thought it was a cute name. The founder they're everywhere now. They support people from the entire world Africa, Southeast Asia, I mean Asia, and even the United States. We sometimes don't think that we need them here, but yeah, we do everywhere.
Speaker 2:
So yeah, yeah, that's awesome and I just want the listeners just to say, if that is something that interests you and that's touched your heart and you moved to contribute and to donate, we will have the links in the show notes so that you can go and find your way to give itorg and take some time out just to go and donate towards a very good cause. So I know friends from our places we will be doing and supporting, give it that for this month and so we really appreciate, patricia, that you brought that to our door and to our steps so we can embrace that and work on supporting that non-profits. So, ladies, ladies, yeah, no no problem.
Speaker 3:
I just want to say a little thing. It's actually not a donation, unless you want to donate to Kiva for their operations, but what you do is the micro lawn, so you do get it back and you can actually recycle, and that again, which is what we're doing as soon as we get it back, we can reland it. So I think it's a win-win for everybody, right, and that's yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so thank you for clarifying that. Yeah, that's that is so interesting, and I like the fact that you can just reinvest it Exactly. Yeah, that's awesome. Thank you, patricia. So we've gotten to the more large-hearted part of the podcast, where we're just going to chat about what our favorite book is and why. So, tanya, what is your favorite book and why?
Speaker 4:
So my favorite book is the Body Keeps the Score and it has to do with emotions that are locked in to us and it's almost like if you, for example, have pain in your body such as headaches, stomach aches, back aches, some people say it can correlate with the chakras, so you can kind of to understand it, go under that premise, but as people have sensitive areas on their body and the book kind of talks about how that starts, how the emotions get trapped and how to actually release them, so I encourage all of our listeners, the Body Keeps the Score and we can definitely, you know, collaborate more in the future.
Speaker 4:
But I think with Patricia's mentioning of the Sedona method and just letting go and not holding on, it's almost about like, again, we hold on to words, right, we hold on to thoughts and we attach meaning to them. So whether you out there in the listening world are of a religious background, spiritual, metaphysical, it doesn't matter. Anyone can learn and read and help improve our own lives by these type of collaboration sessions. So that is my favorite book the Body Keeps the Score.
Speaker 2:
Love that. What about yourself, Patricia?
Speaker 3:
That is a very hard question for me to answer because I have so many beautiful books that I have loved and gotten so much out of it. They're my friends. But I want to stay right now just for the sake of answering your question. I think I'm going to go with Charlotte's Web. It's a book for kids which we absolutely adored when my child was little and we were homeschooling with that book and it's a tale of friendship and resilience and triumph in spite of odds. So I really love that book. It's so endearing and it's such beautiful writing by EB White. So definitely I want to say that one that's awesome.
Speaker 2:
How about your book, charlotte? That's difficult for me as well, because I've got quite a few. I love fantasy books and so, as you all know, I am.
Speaker 4:
We know Harry Potter. We know Harry Potter is at the top over there.
Speaker 2:
I know, but I'm not going to say Harry Potter. I mean, obviously I've got my little Hufflepuff robot we love Harry Potter, we really do.
Speaker 2:
It was a time where you escape when you go into these fantasy worlds and you get to really know the characters and the creatures. I'm not going to say Harry Potter, I'm going to say the Lord of the Rings, oh wow. Simply because JR Tolkien is from South Africa and his story. There's actually a movie about him. So if you haven't watched the movie about JR Tolkien, I really really, really recommend you watch it. Or if he has a memoir, I don't know, I'm not sure if he. I'm sure he does have a memoir.
Speaker 2:
But the Lord of the Rings books for me was such and escape. But the books itself, even though it was a fantasy storyline, the characters were fantasy, the storyline itself of good and evil and fighting the evil and coming together from all parts of the world, that's, with the dwarves and the elves and man, and no matter where you're from, no matter what culture, no matter what colour you are, no matter what religion you follow. This is how I took it you come together to fight one enemy and you put everything aside. You put everything aside and you come together and you work together to get that one enemy and to kill that one enemy. And I think that passion and that united front of them all coming together to defeat Saron is very awesome. It's very amazing. It touches me in every part of me, it touches everything, and so I really, really, really appreciate those books, and they're movies too, so bonus.
Speaker 4:
I have to say I come away from our podcast every time feeling like I am an anomaly. I have never seen Lord of the Rings, I've never watched Lord of the Rings, I've never read Harry Potter and the funny thing in the list is probably like shaking their head like who is this woman? It's so funny and I admire Shireen because you're so passionate, but the fantasy books do nothing for me. If I had to say one book in my childhood that I couldn't even get through, it was the hardest book was the Hobbit. I just did not resonate. And for me, I like biographies, very true stories, and isn't this funny? Like I go like if it's a fantasy, I don't like the Star Wars, star Trek, it just doesn't like none of it. I don't know, I kind of lump all the science fiction and fantasy. Maybe there's different genres, but it's so funny to me to see how passionate Shireen like, so passionate about what you engage in with the fantasy, and for me it's like the complete opposite. Isn't that funny, patricia? How about you? I mean what should?
Speaker 3:
you do, I think, to me. I agree with you, tanya. I am usually not drawn to the fantasy world or the books. However, here's how I'm schooling again Because I'm schooling.
Speaker 3:
We did all of the Harry Potter books, but we did them in an audio form. While we were going, and in a period of time we had to go from where I live to Miami Beach, which is about an hour or so, for some classes that my son took, and we took advantage of going one and a half traveling one way and then back, so about three hours each day while we listen to the Harry Potter books in the car. And it was such a wonderful experience because the narrator was Jim Dale I don't know if you heard of him. He's a top class actor in the UK, right A narrator. He made such an incredible difference that you felt you were immersed in the experience and we couldn't wait to get in the car to listen, and then we will get to the house or whatever and just wait there until he finishes the chapter or something, because we couldn't leave the entertainment. So it was beautiful.
Speaker 3:
I really hated the books so much like the Harry Potter books were wonderful, but otherwise I haven't read the Lord of the Rings books either, although I think it's a my to do list of some day, because I hear he was such a gifted author and he invented even some of the languages. Languages yeah, he spoke about 11 languages, yeah. Yeah, I mean, he was a genius, clearly. I think I really want to make time sometime. Maybe I'll just listen to them and audio again. That's awesome, it's just it's amazing.
Speaker 4:
And but I do have to say there's one childhood book that I do remember. Maybe I don't know if it was a book or a movie it was somebody that lived in a peach. It was like a childhood story. What was that?
Speaker 2:
The giant peach. What's his name? Oh yeah, oh wow, something in the giant peach. It's going to bug me. Oh, listeners, please say what it is.
Speaker 4:
James and the giant peach. Was it Johnny? Was it Johnny? James and the giant James? James and the giant peach? So that one in my entire existence I would have to say that was one book. That was a fantasy, I guess you know you didn't mean I loved that book as a child, but for me it's just funny because I don't know why. But like if somebody said what's your passion, I would say funeral homes and cemeteries, hands down, and I would say I'm like when you travel, you said, patricia, like you know you're listening, I will go out of my way to find a cemetery, I will go out of my way to find a few of them. If I go on vacation, I have to stop the cemetery.
Speaker 4:
And or if you know, and I'm fascinated, like that's my like spark, you know, like somebody says what's your spark? I can do conversations, podcasts, panels, discussion, collaboration, love it. That touches me. But it's funny how I, even when I'm relaxing or in my downtime, I gravitate to learning more about those things, learning more about, like, the true, factual things. And it's isn't that funny how you're listening to some people just gravitate Like, for example, you mentioned the word several times that you to escape and I love to escape.
Speaker 4:
I actually play words with friends. It's an online game like Scrabble. Love that and that's my escape. But when I'm reading, like I want to be immersed in the truth, like I want to see and hear what's going on and follow a very you know kind of who did it? Story and very factual or a biography. So it's very interesting to collaborate, you know, with both of you about what makes you tick right, because we're all so different, right, and it's not about even culture, it's just personally, like what people find passionate about. So it's funny, shireena, the more I get to know you, I find like we're like almost opposite. So it's fascinating collaborating with you because we're so different but yet we come together in such a collaborative way. But I appreciate both of you for sharing your perspectives and point of views.
Speaker 3:
Oh thank you and I wanted to ask you, tanya, what do you think there is the particular element in what attracts you to say a cemetery? I mean, what, in that environment or in that arena is what you feel drawn to?
Speaker 4:
So I have a very distinct moment as a child in a playground, like the neighborhood playground, right, and this is back in Hartford, connecticut, and it was just the traditional swings and slides and, I think, monkey bars and just different things like that, and there was a fence and the fence led to a cemetery. Now, maybe this is on the fantasy side, shireen, right, maybe this is kind of like how a novel would take off, like the Hobbit or one of these. But for me, I remember I was with my grandfather, my grandpa done, and I wanted to go visit the cemetery. I had no interest in the playground, right, I'm not that athletic to begin with. So I found an amazing, just overwhelming piece, walking over the tombstones, the gravestones, the graveyard and looking at the name and not pretending I knew who. They were trying to figure out who.
Speaker 4:
I wonder who this person was, I wonder how they got there and I would go to the playground with the intention of going to the cemetery. So that's how it started, patricia. That's how it actually it was just the curiosity. Like that's my I'm very inquisitive, curious person. So for me, I love cemeteries, I love funeral homes, I can talk about it, eat, breathe, sleep. Funerals all day, all night. I just am passionate about it to a degree that I'm realizing that I'm more of an anomaly than the rest of the world.
Speaker 2:
Oh, I mean, you might be the normal one and we could be the anomalies.
Speaker 4:
I don't think so. I don't think so, but it's okay. And I just love the sharing of information, because sometimes, if we just sit in our own space, we think everyone does the same thing that we do, right, like everyone relaxes the same way everyone. And what actually can make someone feel calm, can make somebody actually feel anxious, right, and I mean that's why there's something for everything, whether it's culture, whether it's museums, whether it's movies, books, we all have choices. But it's so funny cause some people say, well, you have to watch this or you have to read this. Yes, based on their perspective, right, of what's going to resonate. Because I remember growing up when I did watch TV and I did go to movies. I remember hearing, like, what made the, what do they call it the best? What is the top with the books and the movies?
Speaker 3:
Like the higher up the award the best seller.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, the best seller and the yeah, like the ones that would get like the awards, like for I don't know, like Oscars and things of that nature, and I would go watch it. And it was like no, like that's not my vibe, you know, and that's always happened to me, like historically, to the point that I stopped watching TV. So, having watched TV, it's got to be about 25 years, and I'm very careful about what I read, cause I like to read what I'm interested in, you know. So it's, it's funny just funny.
Speaker 2:
I love it. I think this is amazing. I love to collaborate like this because I find that I see it in a different way. I see it as we actually are more similar than we actually think, though we use different methods and we like different things, but the reason behind what we do it and what we like, there's a similarity there and that's I think that's how we come together and we connect. Is we actually, on the deeper things? We connect and we're similar.
Speaker 4:
so I love it and it's funny though, because I think maybe even as like children and children growing up, sometimes people want to find like-minded people, right, but now that we're like talking, like we have a lot of fun with our discussions, but you again, what you stated, sherin, it's like the vision and passion behind what we're doing, right, to get to that point that actually takes us there. So, yeah, it's fascinating though, because, again, it's not like you have to hang out with people that like the same things as you, but it's good to collaborate, to learn, you know, like. So I have. I come away from today's podcast with I'm gonna learn a little bit more about the books that you've shared and I'm gonna learn a little bit more about the different Password manager that Patricia shared. So I always come away learning, and I think that, for me, is the most important thing, is to Always be curious, always be inquisitive and to persevere.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:
The idea to continue to learn is something that I've always been drawn to so. I can relate to that.
Speaker 2:
Are. You. Ladies are so special. Thank you so much for Just joining me today I mean you could have done anything else but be here With me on on this podcast and Tanya for being my co-host and Patricia for being an amazing visitor. So we've come to the end of the podcast, but I know that there's listeners out there that have made a connection with either of us and I always just take the time just to Share where they can reach you. So, patricia, what are some of the places the listeners can reach out to you if they would like to know more or ask you a question?
Speaker 3:
Yes, sure, I am in LinkedIn right now. That's my, my social media for my IT business. I know we talked about you too, that's I feel like that's such a separate part of me, so but, yeah, you're welcome to come to my YouTube channel and say hi, and in LinkedIn, I Think I can. I gave you the the link, right. Yes, otherwise, you can go to my website, which is CP, triple C, I dot com and my phone number and my email as well, all in there in the show notes. So anything that you would like about Cyber security, and I gave you a few things that you could do as a most core or fundamental things.
Speaker 2:
I.
Speaker 3:
Have a more extensive Checklist that you could do as a solo for in order to stay safe online, not to get so all of that. You can Get it from me or download it at the the links in the show notes, right?
Speaker 2:
So yes, all of it's. No, no, it's. Thank you again for Trisha and yourself. Tanya, where can we find you?
Speaker 4:
So you can find me also on LinkedIn under Tanya scotisi, and I am a full-time professor and oversee the mortuary program at Miami-Dade College. So, and congratulations to your son, patricia, on his graduation and the Collaboration with Miami-Dade College so very much appreciated. So LinkedIn is probably the best hub to find me in. I also do my blessed work, which is senior placement, which means I am the matchmaker. It's not a dating service. I actually match people who can no longer live alone for assisted living and memory care with the community, and I cover the east and west coasts of Florida, as Well as doing expert witness testimony for people who either have been wronged by funeral home or cemetery or, if a funeral home needs an expert witness, to defend themselves. So both sides are just passionate. I do Eat, breathe and sleep funerals, as you can see, so LinkedIn is probably the best hub to find me out.
Speaker 2:
Same goes. Same goes for me. Listeners, you can get me Sherene Boiter, linkedin, but, most importantly, friends from wild places. You can go to our website, which is friendsfromwildplacesbuzzsproutcom. That's friends from wild places Buzzsproutcom. That's where you can go find all of our podcast episodes. This is also where you can subscribe to support us, which we would really appreciate. Otherwise, you can download on Absolutely every music platform that streams music and podcasts. You can get it there and download it there, as well as YouTube. If you want to see us and hear us, you can go to friends from wild places at YouTube. So that brings us to the end of that. Listeners, thank you so much for taking the time to Listen in and we'll see you next time. And remember you got this and stay wild. Bye, guys.
Speaker 1:
You've been listening to friends from wild places with Sherene Boiter. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast from the links to catch every episode and unleash your passion.