My heart breaks for the environment, for the loss of my favorite things to do like write in the woods, for the fact that little children may not be able to build fairy houses like I did. My heart also breaks for those who are at the intersections of violence and climate change. Toxic environments clog our world. Did you know that climate change is connected to human trafficking? Did you know it is connected to terrorism? The Child Labor Coalition wrote about how extreme weather impacts some of the poorest people in our world in multiple ways. “Children are left orphaned or get separated from their families, as happened in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. In Ethiopia and other places of dire poverty, human traffickers and adoption agencies fraudulently pass off some children as orphans. Or desperate parents give up their offspring in exchange for false promises of better care.” Also, a story in The National Geographic connected climate change to terrorism. In places like Iraq, the disappearance of water is unstoppable, and farmers are trading backhoes for assault rifles (2017). The National Geographic article “Climate Change and Water Woes Drove ISIS Recruiting in Iraq” talks about the dangerous impacts that happen because of the severity of poverty, lack of water, and lack of security in farming communities. This is devastating. Those who experience the worst of environmental crises are victims to so many other issues. Every time I read stories like these I am amazed at the intersections to other global issues. I can sit in the woods peacefully, and hear the squirrels rustling in the leaves around me. I can feel the warmth of the sun on my back. But my peace is not fully peace because I think of those who don’t have a place to do this and whose nature is full of pollution. That pollution being litter and violence. My fairy houses full of the beauty of nature are a home everyone deserves. Look for the beauty around you. Be a kid again and let your imagination wander, and build a fairy house that takes care of our world and all God’s people in our world. Feel nature between your fingers, remember that good feeling as you play a vital role in creating a sustainable world. What would your fairy house look like? Peace Kacie 
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 “In Grand Bahama, I continued my teaching career for the next nine years. The classroom for me was now a creative garden growing wild with untapped possibilities. I eventually decided to trade the field of academics for the brand new world of potentiality. I wanted to provide each child with the opportunity to find and nurture his/her creative passion. Uniqueness lies within each of us and when one can express oneself accordingly; one experiences much joy which impacts others. “ Emily Strachan, Wildflower Bahamian Artist This is the story of how Bahamian artist Emily Strachan joined our Wildflower Enterprises endeavors. Emily's designs are called Enthusia designs. I (Kacie) was worshipping at Freeport Methodist Church in Freeport, Grand Bahama. This was my first worship service with this congregation. I still did not know many people. I sat by Sharon Mcgregor, a member of the church. (Sharon is now a board member of Wildflower Enterprises!) Sharon and I started talking about our passions, life in our countries, and many other random topics. She taught me a great deal about Grand Bahama in our first conversation. Somehow the conversation was directed to crafting. I told her about how I was developing a vision for Wildflower and wanted to add a global relationship to the business. She said, “You have to meet Emily!” My first introduction to Emily was during the passing of the peace. If you are familiar with traditional Christian worship services you know the passing of the peace usually happens at the beginning of worship in order to welcome others to church. At Freeport Methodist Church the passing of the peace is very friendly! In Grand Bahama you give hugs to everyone young and old during this time. What a way to meet a ton of people you never met before! After the worship service I saw Emily pin a handcrafted headband with the aquamarine blue and yellow Bahamian colors on a little girl. Emily told me then she was passionate about making items with the Bahamian colors for people in her community. Later in the week Emily and I gathered at another worship service at the church. During this service the group gathered in a circle, held hands and sang the gospel song, “I Need You to Survive.” The lyrics go: I pray for you, You pray for me. I love you, I need you to survive. I won't harm you with words from my mouth. I love you, I need you to survive. I held hands with Sharon as we sang. This night was a moment I will never forget. God had truly reminded me that there was an open door for Wildflower Enterprises to go through. I was going through this door with my new friends Sharon and Emily. Emily and I talked more after the service, and she said, “I am going to pick you up Thursday and drive you to my apartment. Is 3:00 good?” Before I could think if it was a good time or not, "Yes!" just came out of my mouth. So it was planned I was going to Emily’s apartment the next day! My thoughts raced: "Oops! I didn’t ask permission from my leader Pastor Lenore to go. Hopefully she will say this was okay." Well, it all worked out! On Thursday Emily and I drove over to her crafting apartment. We talked about women’s empowerment and teaching marginalized women. Wow, we had a lot of the same passions! At her apartment she introduced me to her abundance of crafts! Emily makes a huge variety of products: necklaces with the Bahamian colors, hand-painted stone necklaces, hair clips made from palm trees and sea shells, beautiful beads made from sand, decorative flowers made from coconut, and pins made from fish scales. There is so much more that Emily makes, but I can't even remember all of them now! We had a great time! After I was introduced to her crafts we sat down, we fanned ourselves with the handmade fans made from palm trees and talked about the future of Wildflower in the Bahamas. We both felt God was working with us. We made a plan and thus it began! Emily drove me back to Freeport Methodist Church. We jammed to some great Junkanoo Bahamian music. I felt free. I felt I gained a new friend. I felt at home! The song we were jamming to talked about a house on a hill by the beach. Little did Emily know at the time that one of my favorite things to do is jam to music as I drive back roads in my hometown! This time I was doing it in the Grand Bahama! This brings me to one of the best lessons I learned from Jean Johnson’s book, We Are Not the Hero. Quoted on page 63, “We can waste these beginning moments or we can see these beginning moments as work.” I felt at that time I was truly doing work I loved. We were both enthusiastic! For me I was doing one of my favorite things--driving backroads, windows down with catchy music. However, it was rewarding because in these beginning moments of friendship with Emily, we already were working together! We are entrepreneurs from two different cultures, and we both have a passion to empower women through entrepreneurship and crafting! Learn more about Emily’s work in the Bahamas, shop her collection we have by booking one of our Wildflower in the Bahamas presentations!  “You can use anything to make a living, and you can be as creative as much as you want.” -Bridget Davis, 2018. What a beautiful message of inspiration Bridget Davis tells us! I’m really excited to share the work of Bridget. She is an entrepreneur and artist in Freeport, Bahamas. I had the opportunity to meet and interview Bridget in June. Thanks to my role model Lenore Hosier who also introduced to me to Bridget, invited me to come see the beautiful Bahamas, and let me be part of these relationships in Freeport. During my interview with Bridget she stated she had the opportunity to start a small business when hurricanes happened in 2004. She said many were out of work. Her sister Gina did a course in coconut jewelry making. Gina started the business at home. She then got the opportunity to bring the business to Port Lucaya. Now Bridget and Gina have locations in Garden of the Groves and Port Lucaya in Freeport. They sell to visitors and locals. Bridget and her sister Gina make beautiful jewelry from coconuts. Bridget said she wished more people knew they can use nature to make beautiful things and make a living. In her shop in Garden of the Groves she sells work from other artists in the Bahamas as well. She has traveled to one of the family islands and bought hand woven baskets from women on a family island. She sells these in her shop as well as a piece of educational material about the family islands. She is creating sustainability on the islands with honoring the artwork from other women. She is passionate about lifting the voices of other artists and supporting communities on other islands. I asked Bridget, "If you could help Bahamian women in any way, what would that be?" She said, "We want to encourage Bahamian women to understand they are hard workers and deserve to say that their piece of work is valuable." She is part of a sustainable tourism committee in Freeport and passionate about helping Bahamian women market their product and skill sets! Thank you Bridget for being an inspiration! Pictures above: Bridget with good friend Lenore and Bridget with Kacie after the interview.
 I am now telling the story of artists in Freeport, Bahamas. Here it begins! The Bahamas is a beautiful place. Most of us who do not live there dream of going on a relaxing vacation to the white sandy beaches with crystal clear water. I hope anyone who is reading this gets this opportunity at some point in your life. And if you do, you must stop in Freeport and meet our friend Leo Brown! Leo Brown is a local artist in Freeport who has quite the inspirational story! He is a man of faith and just a lovely person to meet. He serves his community through his artwork, helps other artists in Freeport, and shares his culture through art with many tourists everyday! I want to tell you more though. How did I meet Leo? And how does his work inspire Wildflower Enterprises? I was asked to go on a mission trip to Freeport by my good friend Lenore Hosier. She is now a pastor in central PA and served as a pastor in Freeport as well. Lenore is passionate about healthy cross-cultural relationships and having conversations about race, faith and culture. Therefore, she designs mission trips to fit these purposes! I was blessed to go with her to the Bahamas. I learned the importance of sustainable healthy relationships while on a mission trip. One out of many ways I saw this was learning how Lenore and Leo became great friends!   This picture of the children holding hands is titled "Unity" Leo describes this picture with the words from the song Jesus Loves the Little Children. "Jesus loves the little children, all the children in the world; red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight; Jesus love the little children of the world." (Leo, 2018). Also, Lenore’s passion for equality shines through this picture. This picture is how I was introduced to Leo.
Leo makes custom work for people as well. I have seen how he has blessed families with custom pictures such as the painting on top. This was painted for Sandi. It is her son Nathan. Both Sandy and Nathan were part of the church group I was with. Leo's art speaks about his culture. He helps people from all backgrounds understand themselves with his art as well. With all of this he shares the message of faith through his art, and he is not afraid to tell this story. However, one special painting of Leo’s now hangs in the Wildflower Enterprises PA office. The title of this piece is Field of Joy Leo says, "Field of Joy is about the celebration of women, women can accomplish enormous things individually and particular as long as they come together. I use seven women because seven is a spiritual number depicting completion. This represents the complete woman out of many. They are one." What a perfect message for Wildflower Enterprises! Leo is truly inspiring our work! What’s going happen with our new relationships in the Bahamas? Stay updated for more stories! -Kacie   You can help Wildflower Enterprises tell inspirational stories by purchasing one of our picnic blankets! These upcycled designs promote sustainability in multiple ways. Created for conversations these blankets are made to empower you to do justly, walk humbly and love mercy. They are all different sizes, textures and use different colored threads. Some are made from clothing, vintage fabrics and other fabrics that were meant to go in the trash. The imperfections tell a story. We hope you tell many stories on your picnic blanket, make lifelong memories and make the world a better place! -These are handcrafted in Pennsylvania. (Notice the fan in the picture above. This is handmade by Emily Strachan, Bahamian artist) (Closure is made from vintage lace) I've been reflecting on the randomness of trips I took the past 10 weeks. I flew on 12 airplanes in less than 10 weeks and lived in 4 time zones. For flight attendants and business women and men this seems like nothing, but for me someone who is terrified of flying and has panic attacks and gets sick the night before a flight this is a big deal. I've been working on an independent study through my graduate school program with the University of Denver. I created the study to research the structure I wanted for Wildflower Enterprises. So in the Paulo Freire praxis education way I traveled to gain some hands on learning experience. I also went in with a plan to learn about sustainable social enterprises, but was very open to learn from the unexpected. The books I read were From Dependence to Dignity by Brian Fikkert and Russell Masks, We Are Not the Hero by Jean Johnson, Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken and Toxic Charity by Robert Lupton. I had plenty of air time to read these books. :) And I faced some fears during this study. I now have a framework for Wildflower Enterprises and excited about the future of this! My schedule throughout this summer looked like this: I taught a social justice summer camp for teens in the Williamsport, PA area. On the last day of camp I met a mission team and headed toward Baltimore for our flight to the Bahamas. I gained new relationships and saw beautiful relationships of life long friendships between Americans and Bahamians at Freeport Methodist Church. (More stories to come about this!) I spent a week working with the church and children at the primary school. I also spent time meeting talented Bahamian artists. I flew back to the U.S. A day later my husband and I drove to JFK to hop on our Wow Airplane (wonderfully affordable flights) to Dublin, Ireland. We spent two weeks backpacking the country and two days in Scotland. I read my books, learned a ton of history dating back to St. Patrick, and found surprising ways to fit Ireland into my study. We unexpectedly found ourselves in Northern Ireland during their July 12th holiday, and learned about the time of The Troubles and years of conflict between the Protestants and Catholics. (More stories to come about this as well). We caught our flight back to the U.S. and had an 8 hour layover in Iceland! So I went from the Bahamas to Iceland..crazy! We made it back to the U.S. Then a week later I traveled down to Tennessee and Kentucky to see my family. Kaitlyn and I came up with some ideas for bringing Wildflower to an antique shop in Kentucky where she lives. We also caught up with the world's longest yardsales on route 127! We held a baby shower to welcome Kaitlyn's son Anders!!!! However, I also spent time in Nashville with my mom to learn about the successful enterprises for women survivors that are there. I toured Thistle Farms, was introduced to ABLE and met up with the women who run Strings for Hope. (More stories to come about all of this). Check out the links to these organizations for now! Why do I tell you all of this? Because most importantly I have realized I was open to meet extremely random people I never planned on meeting during all of this time. The people that come to mind that made an influence on me and were willing to tell me their story were: Emily in the Bahamas, the artist I am working with; Mike the taxi driver in Northern Ireland who opened up his life by touring us around his neighborhood Shankill on his holiday; Cayanne and Emily of Strings of Hope in Nashville who were willing to tour me around the coolest art studio and describe the history and current business structure of the organization; And also Larry the Broadway composer I sat beside on my final airplane back to State College, PA. The lesson I have learned from this is that being open to step outside of your initial plans and goals is important for research. You never truly work alone either, and community is important part of connecting academia and the world. Part of cross-cultural learning is to be open to learn from the unexpected. This is also a lesson I learned from Jean Johnson's book. So in other words you never know what you will learn, and who it will come from. One lesson from Larry that I am taking with me is one I will use to inspire artists I meet through Wildflower Enterprises. These are the three points every artist needs: 1. Money to survive 2. To work on their craft, whatever it may be, and 3. Relationships. These are the keys to a happy life. And I truly believe that cross-cultural workers are artists! This was my summary of events, and I am incredibly privileged to have these opportunities. I now know it's time to take Wildflower Enterprises to the next level and build women leaders through this sustainable social enterprise in both rural America and around the world--now that starts in the Bahamas and the small town I live in today. I am truly trying to create a bridge for rural America and the rest of the world. Stay connected as Kaitlyn and I tell stories about the experiences I mentioned in this post. Love all of ya'll! We are excited to continue this journey. Kacie  A large part of Wildflower’s purpose is to tell stories through art. This can be through writing, sewing, painting, songwriting, etc. This is the framework for future enterprises that will be established. This will let women around the world tell their story and passion for art and culture at the same time as creating social change for women’s rights. Maybe in time I will develop a teaching framework for the best ways for someone to tell their story or telling someone else’s story for effective advocacy for social change. I learned from my director while interning for Bread for the World in Chicago that some of the best advocacy is storytelling. The focus of Bread for the World is food justice for healthy and sustainable world. They do excellent research on food justice issues. During and after this internship I began to take this storytelling advocacy idea with me to D.C. where I led a group of undergraduate students to advocate on Capitol Hill for food justice. I have traveled to D.C. a few other times to meet with senators and staff in D.C. to advocate for issues for marginalized individuals. I also do all of this with a faith background. I am true fan of the teaching of being a voice for the voiceless.
For instance, Proverbs 31:8-10 says, “Speak out on behalf of the voiceless, and for the rights of all who are vulnerable.[a] 9 Speak out in order to judge with righteousness and to defend the needy and the poor.” After doing this and learning many stories of a variety of individuals I have realized one question, why can’t those who fall into the category of marginalization based on global systems tell their own stories? So, this is where I am now with Wildflower and the enterprises that will be established. I want to empower women to tell their stories the good and the bad. If someone is ready to tell their story I want to provide a space where they can. Is this in D.C.? Or is this only with them and me? Either way is okay. Because social change is happening both ways. It is happening when a woman is brave and tells her story to our president. This is because there is chance for privileged individuals to hear another point of view to change systems. Social change is also happening when a woman is brave and tells her story to me through an empowerment counseling session. This is because she can be empower herself while doing this. A newly empowered woman’s personality will shine to all she encounters. There are also special moments of random acts of kindness that happen from one on one encounters. Can all of this create systemic change to lift the voices of those who are marginalized? I think so, with effective story-telling from many different voices. So talking about all of this I think it is time to fully tell the my story and Wildflower’s rich history. This will come in a several weeks of blog writing. My story is my inspiration to build Wildflower with my twin sister Kaitlyn to really serve women and offer brave spaces. Well, we couldn't do Wildflower alone. This weekend Kacie had the opportunity to attend The United Methodist Women Assembly 2018. The daily themes were Power of Bold, The Cost of Bold, and Bold Action. After networking with amazing mothers and sisters in Christ we have truly seen God's vision for Wildflower. Thank you to all United Methodist Women! We learned from many inspirational bold women this weekend including Michelle Alexander who discussed how mass criminalization is a women's issue, Leymah Gbowee who has worked passionately for the women's peace movement in Nigeria, and many more. This was truly a life changing experience for us, and life changing for the future of Wildflower. We are committed to continue letting Wildflower help raise up the voice of the voiceless, be bold, and let women lead! This summer is an exciting time for Wildflower. We are taking Wildflower to places we never imagined we would years ago. Kacie will be traveling to the Bahamas to meet with women to explore possibilities of sustainable community partnerships. As you know we are passionate about giving survivors of violence a place to heal. Therefore, we are traveling to research many intersections to violence against women. This summer our blog will be full of updates and stories about these bold moves.
We are excited to share with you guys some new fair trade fashions we have bought for you all to try out. As we make it through the month of March, spring will be here before we know it. I don't know if you guys are like us, but winter is not a favorite! We are excited to share some other exciting news on Easter as well with our Wildflower family :) Keep following us, and as we march our way through March. Remember to always look for something positive in everyday, even if some days you have to look a little harder!
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