Helen Martin

Giving is all we have

Published on August 26, 2011August 27, 2011 by Helen Martin1 Comment

My grandmother was born in 1901. As a child, I remember her telling me that there weren’t many men around after World War I and so it was quite a long time before she met my grandfather and started a family. Perhaps this is the reason why she was so hard working and made sacrifices to ensure that her family was always very well cared for. Not only did she care for her own family, she was always looking out for other, less fortunate, people in the community. She was not rich by today’s standards however she had enormous wealth, which she shared with everyone she knew. I’m proud to say that I’ve only ever met people that loved and respected my grandmother. People that have told me stories of how she helped them. People who were happy to call her their Aunt, their Mother or their Grandmother, even though they are in no way related to our family. By the way, my grandmother was no Saint. She had an absolutely wicked sense of humour and with a twinkle in her eye she would regularly remind my grandfather that she’d only married him because of the dire shortage of men after the war. She died when she was 94 and was only ever married once. I guess this says it all. An absolutely remarkable woman!

A few months ago I met Jeroen Timmers during a business meeting. A young man, with a great job and a brilliant career ahead of him. When I launched my blog, Jeroen emailed me and said “When I get back from my travels (which is rather soon as I fly out of San Jose to Amsterdam tomorrow!), I too have some audacious plans within the realm of ´giving´ and ´changing the world.'” A few weeks ago, he launched ‘Giving is all we have’, a platform for everyone that intends transforming our money-based economy to a society that thrives on gifting. Jeroen started the chain by gifting his own Lowlands concert ticket to a complete stranger. Not because he couldn’t attend; he loves Lowlands and never misses a concert; but because he thought it necessary to do so.

If you’re as curious as I am about Jeroen’s activities or you would like to do some gifting of your own, Jeroen is looking for some help with his website. He can be contacted at info@givingisallwehave.com. Or, do you have any ground-breaking ideas on how to change the society we live in? Send your ideas to ideas@givingisallwehave.com.

What makes individuals like my grandmother, the many people before her and Jeroen and many generations to come, carry out selfless, unconditional acts of charity? If only I could crack this code, I would bottle the DNA and sprinkle it generously around the globe.

Let’s help Jeroen make waves!

Speeding through life with Social Media

Published on August 19, 2011August 19, 2011 by Helen MartinLeave a comment

The year I was born, the world was a different place. There was no Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook or Linked-in. Let’s face it, computers weren’t even being used and we’re not even talking about the dark ages.

The top selling movie was Mary Poppins. Remember, that was before VHS or DVDs. People were watching movies in the cinema, and not downloading them online. Imagine the packed seats, the laughter and the excitement. And, all of that without 3D computer effects.

Books were still popularly read on paper, not on digital devices. Trees were felled to get the word out. The technology available today would have blown our minds. Do you know what was invented in the year I was born? The Solid-state Electronic Calculator.

I share my birthyear with people like Russell Crowe, Nicolas Cage, Sandra Bullock and Tim Owen. With Sandra on the list, somehow I feel in good company.

It’s 2011 and the world is a different place, but no less exciting. I love the idea that I can keep in contact with my family, friends, acquaintances and total strangers online.

On July 21st I made a pact with myself on Twitter. I love listening to dance music and the louder, the better. But, that’s only part of my problem. The real problem is that when I listen to loud music, I tend to drive too fast. Not fast enough to be reckless. But, just fast enough to get little traffic fines of 10 – 50 euros a pop. Amounts that I can pay with ease, so I don’t seem to learn my lesson. The pact with myself is that from now on, any time I get a traffic fine, I pay the fine and, I also pay the same amount to a charity. In this way, at least if I don’t learn to drive slower, I feel I’m doing something good.

In the past month, two charities that I heard about via Twitter, have been the lucky beneficiaries of my small donations. Jana Sanchez is running a 15km marathon this month to raise funds for the Stroke Association. Check out Jana’s fund-raising initiative on Just Giving. Heather Taylor is raising money for those who have lost everything in the recent riots in the UK, to cleanup, rebuild and look to the future of the communities she lives in and loves. Check out Heather’s #riotremedy activities on Just Giving. Remember, a little donation goes a long way.

I had fun growing up, watching movies in cinema’s, chatting on our family telephone with my girlfriends and pumping up the volume of pop music on the radio. Nothing really changes. I don’t know whether I’ll ever grow up and stop listening to loud music, so, I guess I’ll continue speeding through life. The only difference is, is that social media now helps me find worthy causes to support.

Check out what happened in your birthyear http://whathappenedinmybirthyear.com/

Who cares?

Published on August 11, 2011February 13, 2018 by Helen Martin4 Comments

William Gardiner, homeopath, outside his botanical dispensary with his extended family. Care of Glen Gordon, my recently found extended family in New Zealand. — William Gardiner, herbalist, outside his botanical dispensary with his extended family. Care of Glen Gordon, my recently found extended family in New Zealand.

My great-great grandfather, William Gardiner, was a herbalist in Scotland in the late 1800s. He owned botanical dispensary, not far from where my father was born.

Later my great grandfather, who had perhaps learned a few tricks from his father, ran a similar dispensary in Glasgow, albeit that he was not as practised as his father had been. The ‘shop’ was lit by gaslight and was rather dark. The walls behind the counter were lined with small wooden drawers filled with plants, herbs and spices in order to make the ‘potions and lotions’ of the day. My father and his sister were terrified to visit it as it was like stepping into the unknown. I can only imagine that the shop looked like something out of a Harry Potter film. I have vivid images of my great grandfather in a robe with white hair and a beard and resembling Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore. However, knowing the men in my family he probably looked more like Mel Gibson in Braveheart, but unfortunately ladies, not quite as good looking.

I’m proud to say that my great-great grandfather’s daughter was smart enough to record his work. She had the common sense to realise that her father’s wealth of knowledge should be bound and published, and in 1904 “The working man’s guide to health by herbal remedies” was published; a book to be used long after my great-great grandfather had died. There is only one book that I know of in the family and it’s not in very good condition, given it has been used to treat patients through the ages. The book has been handed down from generation to generation through my family’s male lineage. So I’m not the book’s caretaker. That responsibility has been given to my brother and later will be his son’s.

Even today, medicine in all forms, whether homeopathic, alternative or traditional, is necessary in order to relieve pain or to save lives. While I was visiting Hope Village, an orphanage in Namibia, I met the CEO of the PharmAccess Foundation. It dedicates itself to the strengthening of health systems in sub-Saharan Africa with its ultimate goal to improve access to quality basic health care, including the treatment of HIV/AIDS. PharmAccess supports programs and offers services in the areas of healthcare insurance, workplace programs, health investments, health intelligence, etc.

Whereas common sense has meant that many patients have benefited from the knowledge in my great grandfather’s book, it’s the passion of employees of organisations like PharmAccess that help save lives today. Many more children in Africa would be born HIV positive and would not enjoy quality of life, were it not for the likes of PharmAccess. And, having seen for myself the work that they do, I can assure you, they do care!

Social Media for Dummies

Published on August 5, 2011August 17, 2011 by Helen Martin5 Comments

As soon as you start living your dream, your dreams evolve.
I love technology and I would even go so far as to call myself a ‘techy’ where hardware is concerned. I don’t necessarily buy into all new hardware at first, but I’m certainly not a laggard either. The top drawer of my desk is a technology graveyard of just about every mobile phone known to man, PDAs, first gen mp3 players, ipods through the ages and digital cameras. I just don’t have the heart to throw them away. I mean really, they all still work!

On the software side however, it’s less techy and more of a tetchy subject. I’m not going to beat around the bush, I’m a dummy. I used to be able to glide around Word, Excel and Powerpoint with ease. But, every time Microsoft proudly brings out a new improved version of their pallet of software, I have the feeling that my knowledge goes backwards an era. Does anyone else share this sinking feeling?

The social media that I ‘got’ immediately was Linked-in. I notice that I’ve been a member since 2004. I use it for business. It’s basically taken over the rolodex that I never had. I owned a beautiful burgundy leather business card holder, filled with cards. Which, come to think of it, has joined the mobile phones in my technology graveyard.

When Facebook was launched, all those years ago, I just couldn’t imagine why anybody would use it. Why would I want to store all my private family photographs on a website for everyone to see? A little confusion on my part between Facebook and Picasa. I’m now a major Facebook fan of course, given my family is strewn all over the world. I have family members and friends on just about every continent so Facebook has become my kitchen table; a warm and friendly meeting place that always brings a smile and very often raucous laughter with it.

Then Twitter hit the streets. In February 2010, I opened up a Twitter account and never used it. I thought, “Why would total strangers be interested in what I’m doing? Crazy people. I’m certainly never adopting that one.” This year, Roos van Vugt, our social media guru at Deloitte, gave my colleagues and I Twitter training. Thanks Roos. I now actually feel like I know what I’m doing and, thanks to you, I learn so much from other users on Twitter every day. Someone told me recently that I tweet too much. Is up to 10 tweets a day a lot? Let’s face it, we’re not talking glasses of wine here!

The internal version of Twitter is Yammer. Or at least, that’s the way that I see it. We use this platform for knowledge sharing at Deloitte. It cuts down on email and questions are answered so much faster than in the past.

WordPress took me about an hour to really understand and the rest of the day to create a blog site. In the end, I was just being fussy about aesthetics. Or, does it always take this ‘long’ to develop a site? Fortunately, I had someone at home who had done it all before and he guided me through the toolbars. I’m not really into ‘reading funky manuals’. I learn by doing. I suppose this is why I’m often so challenged by Social Media.

Having a lack of Social Media wisdom is fortunately not age related. I know this for a fact. Recently Fair Chance Foundation (Dutch) asked third parties to offer us educational projects, which we will support on our annual ‘Impact Day’. Impact Day offers every Deloitte employee the opportunity to take a day off from work to do charity work.

Roos retweeted my call for projects and Linda Vonhof and Thijs van de Reep from Social Media Wijs (Social Media Smart) approached me. They’ve developed a social media bootcamp to teach kids all the fun things that they can do and learn from it. In schools they focus too much on the evils of social media, putting the fear of death into many a school child. Very seldom are kids taught what they can actually do with social media. But then go figure, they’re being taught by school teachers who are probably as clueless as I am. And to be fair, technology just moves so fast and the teachers don’t have a Social Media team to come to their rescue. Social Media Wijs is running a bootcamp for Deloitte’s Fair Chance Foundation on Impact Day on 28 September 2011. This date may differ in other countries. For more information about what they are doing, they can be reached through Twitter.

My most recent Social Media faux pas was whilst I was attending a seminar in Brussels. I tweeted that a lady speaker from the BBC was giving a fascinating presentation about SM. A BBC colleague retweeted my message, setting the record straight and changed my abbreviation from SM to Soc.Med. Well, it is the British Broadcasting Corporation with an image to uphold. And yes, realising my mistake, I laughed out loud. I continually live and learn. You may however want to read the advice which Harvard Business Review offers on The Simple Way to Avoid Social Media Failures.

PS. Google+ is still giving me nightmares. Circles. Yes, I am pretty much going around in circles and sparks are definitely flying. But, the sparks are probably coming from that part of my brain where the cogs go round and round. Help…….Roos!!

Camping, or is it luxury vs. poverty?

Published on July 29, 2011August 17, 2011 by Helen MartinLeave a comment

As soon as you start living your dream, your dreams evolve.
When I was a young child and still living in Scotland, camping was all the rage. Or at least, I was led to believe it was. My father would attach a roof rack to our car so that an enormous tent could be placed on the roof and there would still be enough space in the trunk for everything my mother needed to pack. And, let me assure you, we never had to look very far for all the mod cons of home. I’m certain the kitchen sink went along although I have no proof. I do however have the polaroids to prove that a number of evening dresses were packed since my mother would transform into a very elegant princess to go out with my father at night. Come to think of it, my mother probably loved camping as much then, as I love it now. Not very much at all!

The last time I truly enjoyed camping, was when I was in my early twenties and in love with a windsurfer who owned a ‘one and a half man tent’. After all these years, I’m still trying to find the half a man that the tent producer was marketing to. Needless to say, the tent could only be described as cozy.

Remembering my youth, the tent was family sized. It had at least 5 separate rooms, with ‘doors’ which could be zipped up to divide bedrooms from living rooms and kitchens from patios. Holiday snapshots show very happy children in swimming costumes, buckets and spades, sea, beach, caravans and of course jumbo-sized tents. Camping vacations were great fun-filled family times.

Earlier this year I spent 7 days in Cape Town, South Africa with 3 wonderful friends. We had a marvelous time, the weather was perfect and the accommodation was a far cry from the camping sites of my youth. We rented a car and I played tour guide for the week, driving my friends around to see all the beautiful places you expect to see in the Cape, but we also saw the bad and the ugly.

If you’ve ever visited Cape Town, you may have seen the ‘informal settlement’, Khayelitsha. When you drive passed Khayelitsha, you see children of all ages playing football alongside busy roads. There are no sidewalks, just stretches of bone dry soil which turns to mud in the rainy season. It’s dusty or muddy and the children are dirty and happy. And, fortunately there is still a lot of laughter to be heard. Many older children however, turn to drugs to ‘escape’ the hardship that they live in and regularly skip school as they just don’t see the need. It’s very easy to become invisible as a child in Khayelitsha; the shanty town, where homes are made from road signs, advertising boards and other scrap metals, leaning against one another for support. Water is often a tap located 5 kilometers from home. There are electricity cables, but that doesn’t mean to say that the people can afford to use it. There are very few mod cons.

“There is more space between the tents and caravans on a European camping site than between those homes,” one of my friends said. “I’m sure my boyfriend’s one and a half man tent was far more comfortable and we know that the ablutions on any Dutch camping site are luxurious by comparison,” I replied.

My friends then realized why I had packed my clothing in a weekend case and had foregone the use of my suitcase to load it with 4 used laptops. I met Lucinda Timoney, a volunteer at LifeXchange in December 2010. Lucinda and LifeXchange’s other volunteers teach young adults simple things like reading, writing and life skills. Adults whom at some stage in their lives have dropped out of school. It became apparent to me that for these volunteers to do an even better job, that they needed equipment to teach computer skills. Fair Chance Foundation has strong links to the NGO Close-the-Gap. Close-the-Gap collects ‘old’ computers from companies and redistributes these to needy organizations around the world. And don’t be concerned, these laptops don’t end up on third world country landfills. Computer equipment is tracked, traced and disposed of correctly. My friends at Close-the-Gap were more than happy to help me and I made LifeXchange the happy owners of 4 laptops. LifeXchange volunteers now teach e-learning and computer skills to their students. It’s really rewarding to hear about their great work and the difference that it makes.

When I went camping in my twenties, the short walk to ablutions for water, the lack of electricity and general feeling of discomfort, was all part of learning, growing up and getting back to basics. I now realize that the camping sites of my youth can be considered 5 star by many people’s standards; getting a basic education is not guaranteed; and, electricity and water should not be taken for granted.

Every little bit that we do counts, Often it’s linking people to people in our networks, calling in a favour, or just rolling up our sleeves and getting the job done. In the words of Mother Teresa, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

Let’s make waves! Namasté.

A change is as good as a holiday

Published on July 22, 2011August 17, 2011 by Helen MartinLeave a comment

As soon as you start living your dream, your dreams evolve.
Summer in Europe sees droves of people flocking to warmer climes. Absolutely anywhere is better than the country that they live in. They need a change of environment, a change of culture, a change of language and preferably a major change in temperature. People around me choose hotels and resorts off the web, generally taking total stranger’s word for it that their destination will be just what they want to it be….. Heaven on earth. And if they are lucky and everything has panned out the way they planned, they return after two to three weeks, relaxed, tanned and happy.

This need for change in Summer has always amused me. Not because I’m not in favour of change but, because this need for change generally only occurs around vacation time. At any other time of the year try shouting out the words reorganisation, change management or new strategic vision and the announced change is not embraced in quite the same way. There’s change and there’s ‘change’, if you know what I mean.

Am I the only person that loves change?

My most recent change was to ‘celebrate life’ on my birthday. I’d just not been seeing the necessity of celebrating my birthday. I mean, this phenomenon of becoming a year older sounds as bad to me, as any major company reshuffle does to my colleagues.

The next change was to celebrate life, on the actual day of my birthday, with family, friends, acquaintances and a total stranger. Yes, you read it correctly……..a total stranger.

And, the final change, was to ensure that no one would bring me presents. Any ‘presents’ would be donated to charity.

I had a fantastic time and I know my guests did too, as they are still talking about the ‘life celebration’ amongst themselves. The total stranger I invited presented her company to us; Love, Peace and Chocolate. A company driven to satisfy the sweet tooth of its clients’ whilst supporting SOS Children’s Villages. A deliciously charitable initiative, and, one to make any choc-o-holic smile! 50% of my generous ‘present’ was donated to Pink Ribbon. Did you know that one in eight of the women that you know may develop breast cancer? Therefore, a more than worthy initiative? And the other 50% was donated to my personal favourite, Hope Village.

So, if celebrating yet another birthday sounds as good to you as root canal treatment or a company merger, try arranging a ‘celebration of life’. I can assure you, “a change is as good as a holiday”.

The inspirational slippery path

Published on July 15, 2011August 17, 2011 by Helen MartinLeave a comment

As soon as you start living your dream, your dreams evolve.
I get my inspiration from many different sources. Whether it’s talking to people in my department, suppliers or even people on planes. Only this week I received an email, which I subscribe to from www.tut.com, which inspired me.

The time will come, Helen, and it will be sooner rather than later, when your greatest admirers and protégés will look at your life – your achievements, possessions (especially your fantastic charitable foundation), and passions – frown a little and sullenly say, “Yeah, but for you… it was easy.” At which point you should conceal any yearning you may possess to either object or laugh hysterically. Instead, lovingly look them square in the eye and say, “Yes, and it can be easy for you, too.”

It’s always been my belief that the stars were shining very brightly and very favourably upon me when I was born, since, I’ve managed to achieve just about everything that I’ve wanted in my life. In South Africa they’d say that I’d ’landed with my bum in the butter’ . How this could be positive, is still quite strange to me. Well imagine this; me skidding along on a patch of slippery butter and oops……….. ; you get the picture and quite hilarious really. What I believe the idiom is really about, is that some people have the knack of speeding along and getting things done. These people are also willing to take all the risks necessary in order to succeed but are also willing to fail and when they do, they sometimes have a soft landing (in nice soft butter…at room temperature).

‘No’ doesn’t feature in my vocabulary and I don’t let anything get in the way of what I want to achieve. I am prepared to work hard for what I want though. In the words of Michael Jordan, ”I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”

A few years ago I became involved with Hope Village in Namibia by coaching and mentoring the founder. Marietjie told me that she pays school fees for every child because if she doesn’t, these children are treated differently at school; as second-rate citizens. It’s her belief that by giving every child the same fighting chance in life that they can break the vicious circle that they are in, and eventually change their life and succeed. I’m a great believer in education. Not necessarily the classical educational system that we use today but, I believe in educating the next generation. I became inspired. I became a woman on a mission. I talked to a few people, convinced a few others, presented a plan and I was given the opportunity to set up a charitable foundation for Deloitte in the Netherlands.

In September 2010 we launched the Fair Chance Foundation which focuses on improving education for underprivileged children, aged 6 to 18. The Foundation is independent but is financed by Deloitte with money, people and knowledge. I’m very proud of where we are today, of the fantastic partners that we support (JINC, IMC Weekendschool, Jong Ondernemen, Nibud Geldexamen) and my Foundation Manager, because without her very little would actually get done. Thanks Anne-Marie.

But, I’m still dreaming of even greater things, still inspired and still careering down my buttery slip n’ slide. So, “Yes, it can be easy for you too.” As long as you’re inspired, have a dream and are prepared for the slippery path ahead.