Hi guys,
Hope you’re all good.
I don’t know if you heard, but it’s been 20 years since Rafiki Thabo started their incredible journey. Wow!
I won’t pretend I knew it had been 20 years. I was actually quite shocked, that’s a long time! What an incredible milestone. 20 years of showing up, supporting children and communities, and changing so many lives. Just incredible!
Happy 20th anniversary, Rafiki Thabo!
Twenty years got me thinking (you know I love thinking) about how much time it actually takes to make a difference, to make an impact, to build something great.
And this highlighted an important word to me: consistency.
I don’t know about you, but we all love to celebrate the big achievements. And as we all know by now, we don’t always see the steep hill people had to climb to get there. Twenty years isn’t one big achievement, it’s thousands of small decisions and efforts to keep going. 7,305 days of showing up again, and again, and again.
I’m sure, like me, many of you have struggled with being consistent. I’ll get excited about a project, start it, and sometimes give up almost immediately.
I always seem to find a reason to give up, telling myself, “I’ll come back when I’m more confident, when I’ve practised more, when I know what I’m doing, when the time is right.”
Most of the time, I realise that waiting until you’re confident is a very good way to never get anywhere. You have to show up, you have to try, and then show up again. Then slowly the confidence comes, and in time you will be shocked by your own progress. I still can’t believe how much better my art is at the moment from when I decided years ago to practice more.
But…I won’t pretend, consistency is hard, extremely hard. It’s difficult to keep going when you’re tired, when things aren’t working, you can’t find the time or when you start wondering whether any of it is actually worth it.
This part as an individual is hard but it’s taken me a long time to realise that consistency doesn’t just apply to me and my own hard work. It also applies to having someone else consistently show up for you, so when times are hard you keep going.
I think about this a lot in my own life, because I’m very lucky to have people who have done exactly that for me. Through all my little challenges, projects, ideas and moments of “what on earth am I doing?”My husband, my best friends and my beautiful family has been there. They have always encouraged me, helped me, listened to me talk and talk and talk, and somehow continue to believe in me even when I don’t believe in myself.
That’s what I see when I think about Rafiki Thabo. Twenty years of showing up for children and young people. Twenty years of saying, you are worth investing in, your education matters, and your future matters.
A child doesn’t need someone to believe in them just once. They need people who keep showing up. And because people did, thousands of children and young people have had opportunities that might otherwise not have existed.
Sometimes we become confident because we keep showing up for ourselves but most of the time we become confident because someone else showed up for us when we needed it.
For their 20th anniversary, Rafiki Thabo are encouraging people to show up 20 times for something they care about. I love this because it isn’t about being perfect, it’s about just giving it a go and doing something again and again and again.
When you think about it, that’s 20 opportunities to experiment, 20 opportunities to learn, 20 opportunities to be there for someone or something, and almost definitely 20 opportunities to build a little more confidence along the way!
I have decided to create my own little art challenge – 20 Illustrations to celebrate 20 years. I’m not doing it because I need to prove I can draw. I’m doing it because I want to get better, commit to something I love, try it in a different and challenging way, and keep showing up for it.
On that 20th day I promise you, you will be shocked by how far you have come in such a short time.
Remember, it doesn’t have to be drawing – it can be any idea from the list below of the Rafiki Thabo website – check out the website https://rafiki-foundation.org.uk/20-for-20-challenge-join-us/ or socials for more ideas @rafikitahbo, or make up your own.
These are some examples:
So…
What are you going to do 20 times? And who can you show up for this year?
I can’s wait to see what ideas you come up with and how you help Rafiki Thabo support more children and young people.
Love Mary-Ann x
