Maya. The word in Arabic means water. Somewhere in the Caribbean during this mid-day as I work at my desk here in Alexandria, Egypt, looking out upon the Mediterranean Sea, there on the other side of the world is a little girl named Maya. She is sketching her thoughts for a mural design that she wants to do with orphans in a village in Haiti. Maya is on board the yacht Tranquility headed to Haiti.
In another location, not too far from the Florida coast where the Tranquility lifted anchor and headed across the seas, is another young lady whose name is Ally who is also busy sketching her ideas and thoughts onto Art Miles Shoes of Hope and how to get more, do more, send more, bring more. She traveled around the world this past summer creating and delivering shoes to orphans in yet another part of the world in the Philippines. (It was there she met another water bound family in Hong Kong, the Begbie family who collect and distribute barely used and new goods to people in need all over the world).
Still yet, in the glamorous city of Los Angeles, another girl actress/activist by the name of Tanna Frederick, will be running this weekend in support of a mental hospital in mid America’s state of Iowa. She prepares for the Boston Marathon and later this summer, for the Save Our Surf Marathon, where she and other surfing celebrities are doing something that is also involving the treasured commodity we all need to survive … WATER.
The girls don’t know each other, but they have much in common. All of them are part of the Art Miles Mural Project and AMMP Shoes of Hope. All are making or have made journeys to deliver Art Miles Shoes of Hope or creating and sharing murals that tell a story that everyone in the world needs to pay attention to.
Both Ally and Maya are very young and both have incredible parents who are teaching them about how life can be when love and kindness are in your heart. Both sets of parents are devoted to the idea of family. Maybe that’s why Maya’s family ship is named “Tranquility.” Could it be that Gandhi’s words, Peace Begins With Me, also has application to a vessel that travels on the high seas delivering much needed medical, food items, and energy equipment to survivors and orphans of Haiti’s disastrous earthquakes?
