THE BOOK — HOUSE OF FRIENDS — VISION YOURSELF FOR OTHERS
House of Friends has a long history of being an authentic member of the communities it lives among. We are the community and help the community and its members have a voice.
We first shared details about the Vision Campaign on Saturday 19th January in downtown Cincinnati.
The Actions:
For us we work in the mindset of “actions" – large ones, small ones, personal ones, global ones any size really. The idea is you do what you are capable of doing and have resources to sustain or complete. We all have different talents, privileges, interests. But we all should be good citizens of our community in a local and global way. We also know everyone has something they can contribute- sometimes for the good and often for the bad. When we say for the good or for the bad that can be for the individual, the family or for the broader community. And finally we all know that every action has consequences - again some good and some bad.
How do we do this? in a number of ways some more formal and often in a less formal way but with intentions of a long term relationship of those we mentor and partner with. We fully believe that every mentee is just as much a mentor and we all have much to learn and share.
Below are a few examples of our work, relations, partners, etc. We understand that most things do not easily fit in a box nor is the world black and white so we live and work in a morphing mentoring world. The world is big and complicated and usually your world looks very different than mine. We mentor and build communities with this understanding. It should also be clear that often we do not share the work we do to the public nor do we write press releases or market ourselves. Often this is done simply from respect to the relationships we have and other times it is because much of the work we do is dangerous.
No Body Owns Me — A cooperative of creatives working together to establish and understand all aspects of bringing creatively designed products to a larger sustainable market to sustain and grow them as individuals with a focus on having sincere interests and focus on current social justice issues addressing Wildlife, Human Rights and the Environment.
KUAPO — Kenyans United Against Poaching, a very well respected grassroots organization giving a voice to local communities living among wildlife.
GMFER — Global March for Elephants and Rhinos, the largest global protest marches in the world for wildlife conservation.
House of Friends Youth Hub — a youth type movement that addresses and quickly acts on injustice happenings locally and globally.
Growth/sustainability — this space serves many functions including a collection of income driven efforts such as Babu’s Cafe, Flying Camel kiosk, airbnb/hosting development, dhow sailing tours, managing and raising livestock of cows, goats, chickens. Each micro business is developed with the youth to benefit the surrounding community.
Let Me Read — Rural Libraries for People living among Endangered Species to promote sustainable conservation towards Environment, Wildlife & Human Rights. as well as libraries located in very easy and accessible reach of books such as community centers, cafes and schools in poorer urban communities.
Olkimatare Bush House — youth camps, retreats and volunteer center in the Maasai Mara, Lemek, Narok Rift Valley region.
Lemek Conservancy — partnership with Maasai Mara land owners on wildlife, human rights and environmental conservation.
Vision Yourself for Others Workshop — urging you to question what do you want to create for yourself and the world?
