I began a new year of work Monday with a computer that I could not log into and a phone line that went straight to voicemail and would not receive incoming calls. A frustrating way to kick off 2011, no doubt, but in a large organization, I suppose you are bound to have the occasional hardware malfunction. And so I tried to make lemonade out of lemons, spending a good portion of the day getting around to those crucial tasks I never seem to find time for: cleaning up my workspace, sorting through old files, reading bygone reports, etc. It turned out to be a very productive day; I was pleased with my own patience and adaptability. And it sure was nice to arrive to a sparkling office Tuesday morning.

When I logged onto my computer (already off to a blazing start compared with the previous day), I encountered this story on the Insider, National Geographic’s intranet portal:

NG [Nat Geo] Maps Travel to Haiti

The brief article read:

Haitian schoolchildren throughout Port-Au-Prince now have
access to nearly 20 National Geographic maps, donated by the NG Maps
division. The maps were delivered by Hope Is Life, a nonprofit that
works to eradicate illiteracy and provide hope for children around the
world, especially in impoverished regions. The goal of the project is
to provide educational materials for earthquake-damaged schools that
are now rebuilding and beginning classes. The foundation’s director
expressed his gratitude in a letter of the week.

The letter followed the article:

Dear National Geographic Maps Department:

I want to let you know that we have delivered the National
Geographic maps that you donated to schools in Port-Au-Prince in Haiti.
The maps were received with great excitement and enthusiasm by the
staff and students of the school. They never had any maps in the
schools before and they were very pleased and proud to display them
inside their classrooms.

Thank you very much for donating the maps. On behalf of every one at our Foundation, we want to thank you for your kindness. 



Thanks again,
Best Regards,



Nat

Hope Is Life

I love this schtuff, I eat it up like all that candy I overindulged in
over the holidays! There is nothing better than the occasional reminder
that your work is making a difference, somewhere in the world, even if
you are just one tiny cog in the wheel of a large non-profit
organization. Warm fuzzies.

In other news, also on the Insider was a link to a new video about the global
human population, produced by National Geographic. Stay tuned to my
next post to read more about it!

Sarah Jane for My Wonderful World
Image courtesy Hope is Life Foundation