I'm Going to INDIA!!

I am very excited for the opportunity that has been presented before me. I am the first volunteer being sent to India by the NGO, Promethean Spark, in southeastern India. I will be teaching in the Rising Star School for Leprosy affected children and am very excited for this amazing opportunity!

I am excited to share my talents and love for dance with those who are less privileged. I will be furthering the work that Shaun, the founder and CEO of Promethean Spark, started by motivating the kids to keep their light shining bright.

Over the past couple of days I have met and worked with Shaun, who is AMAZING! working with him has caused me to be even more excited to travel over to the land of Sari's, sacred cows and Bollywood movie stars. Right before Shaun left today he looked me in the eye and said, "I just have one thing to say, Luke 1:37, For with God nothing shall be impossible."

He could not have been more right! WITH GOD NOTHING SHALL BE IMPOSSIBLE! With those words packed safely in my memory I am embarking upon a journey of a lifetime and can not wait!

I'm Going to INDIA, and am looking for sponsors

May 14, 2009

To Whom It May Concern:

I am currently studying dance performance at the Boston Conservatory. I was recently extended an invitation to be a volunteer dance teacher for the Non-Governmental Organization Promethean Spark in Southern India during the month of June 2009.

Promethean Spark is a NGO dedicated to helping underprivileged children in southern India who suffer from leprosy. While in India I will be teaching the students at the Rising Star School in Thottanaval for five hours a day, four days a week. During my days away from the school I will be visiting with the leprosy patients of the Bharatapuram Leprosy Colony helping them with a movement therapy program. Along with helping those in the leprosy colonies, I will partner with other volunteers to establish mobile units, water treatment facilities and another children’s home. However, as a volunteer, my expenses are not paid and I am looking for sponsors like you to help me.

By sponsoring me you would be investing in the education of hundreds of leprosy affected children. Your generous contribution will help them. Through the healing power of dance, these children will gain confidence, discipline, focus, concentration, perseverance, self-esteem, and leadership skills.

The cost for me to teach in India is $2,500, which includes my transportation, accommodations, and meals. I am seeking sponsors like you to help me reach my goal. Your donation of $25, $50, or $100 dollars will have a far-reaching impact on the children of India and their families.

Because Promethean Spark is registered under the National Heritage Foundation as a Congressional District Program, your donation is tax-deductible. To make a contribution please visit the web-site: http://www.prometheanspark.7p.com/ and click on the donate link, all donations made through this site for the month of May go towards my expenses.

When I return from India, I look forward to sharing my experience with you. I plan to present a slide show and showcase the dances I will have taught the children. As a way to thank you for sponsoring me, I will be pleased to include your name, or the name of your business or corporation, in the program.

Your generous contribution will help eradicate the mental, physical, and social effects of hundreds of leprosy-affected children and youth in India. Thank you for your consideration and support. It is my belief that one individual can, indeed, make meaningful change in the world.

Sincerely,

Katie Winder

P.S. Please be sure to make your donation no later than May 31st.

The Moments that you get to LIVE

This morning I woke up and felt the sun on my face I brushed my teeth and I pulled my hair up. I pulled on my grey sweater and tied on an old pair of worn out imitation converse sneakers from Target. I filled my Trader Joes bag with books, ballet slippers and a granola bar and walked out the door, I made it down five flights of stairs and felt ready to start a new day. Unlocking my bike I began pedaling towards new hopes and dreams. It seems to me that much of life is filled with a lot of very ordinary experiences that seem rather unimportant and uninteresting. I have also noticed that life is full of many difficult experiences but in the midst of doing ordinary things everyday and dealing with the hard things in life there are moments that the clouds lift and a person is able to simply live and taste something of the divine. This week has been an interesting week, I have had a lot to do and had several times when I just had to stop and take a break. On Tuesday I was feeling stressed, I hadn’t packed myself a lunch so I ended up running to Au Bon Pain for a cup of soup. Rather than staying inside I decided to walk outside across the street and enjoy the beauty of the Christian Science Center. I sat down cross legged in front of a patch of Lavender in front of the reflecting pool and simply LIVED.

I'M BACK....and this is a very long blog.

It has been much to long since my last post and I have learned a lot since that last post. Since my last entry I visited New York City and had a life changing experience at the UN. I had a rejuvenating visit to Utah for my Grandparents 50th Wedding Anniversary and joined with the millions of other Bostonians who had to move on the 1st of September. I fell into a relationship and fell out of a relationship, I started school and hosted Apartment FEST I and II where Val and friends painted our room, made IKEA furniture, target and hardware store stops, bought a loft bed off of Craigslist and got lost in Quincy for two hours trying to find the couple who we were supposed to pick the bed up from. I have been choreographing and working on getting an outreach group up and running. Life is busy, Life is beautiful and I KNOW THAT GOD LOVES ME!!



What I have learned about the UN:
The UN is overrated it is full of a lot of people trying to do the right thing but get caught in bureaucratic tape and seem to talk themselves in circles. The most powerful experience I had while in New York was coming to realize how real things such as rape, aids and global warming really are and how important it is to stand up and do something about those who have been abused.
Something that I was really struck with was how much I need to be reaching out to others and using my talents to help those in need. In many ways I was out of place at this conference as a dance major it seemed funny to be rubbing shoulders with the owners and entrepreneurs of NGO’S and NPO’S from all over the world, but then I realized I can use my art to help raise funds for specific groups that I feel really driven and passionate about. My voice can be heard, it’s simply a matter of going out and “making my day work.” it made me realize that what I chose to do with my life is important and I began to finally feel at peace for choosing to live this creative and unconventional life style. For a long time I would always down play that fact that I wanted to pursue the arts but after talking to a lot of different people at this conference the spirit bore witness to me that this is what I am supposed to be doing right now and I can do a great deal of good with the talents that God has blessed me with.
Something else that really struck me while in New York was the power of our law and our freedom of speech and ability to voice what we believe to be true and right and how important it is to have righteous lawyers and judges. There are so many people in today’s world without integrity that would be willing to sell someone out for three pieces of silver and frankly it scares me, and it causes me to wonder what has happened to the honest and valiant?

mmmm...wow I feel like this is starting to sound like I have lost faith in humanity… I haven’t, but I was awakened into truly realizing that we get on our knees and pray to God with all our might and then get up off our knees and go to work following the commandments with integrity and steadfastness because this is how we are able to accomplish great things and truly help our brothers and sisters. When we have lawyers and judges who understand this concept it becomes easier to rely on

So relationships are funny things, actually they are beautiful and I truly have gained a testimony of relationships because I believe that that is what this life is about: Relationships and change. As I have grown closer to my Savior my hope in humanity has grown helping my faith increase and become brighter and my ability to really feel of the pure love of Christ, which is Charity, charity towards all those with whom I associate with.
On a side note a friend of mine sent me this quote and I liked it, if you change the ending to say that the “ greatest relationship of all is between you and God.”

"I got to thinking about relationships. There are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started and those that bring you back. But the most exciting, challenging, and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself."

Along with learning about relationships with others and with GOD I have felt extremely empowered as a women in the 21st century with painting our apartment paying rent, electricity, an gas bills. I love life, it is hard, stressful, and beautiful!!

I'M 21 !

I'm really terrible at taking pictures so I have to give credit to every single one of the pictures on my blog to someone else, most of them come from my very talented and amazing friend Katasha Cox, if you have not checked out her blog or know who she is please click on her name on the right hand column because she is fantastic, her birthday is in July and she loves the color red...what more do you need in order to be kindred spirits? No, but really she is fantastic and we got to share our Birthday party together, we had a whole bunch of our friends over for cake and ice cream and it was a lot of fun! I felt so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people, although I was not with my family I was so grateful for my loving roommates and friends who have literally become my Boston family!

Right now I am 21, still single, living in Boston, dancing, and spiritualy progressing.

The stars and stripes = Rascal Flats and Walden Pond

I experienced a traditional Bostonian 4th of July with the Boston Pops, fireworks, and swimming in Walden Pond. Here are just a few of the pictures from my fantastic
4th of July weekend.


Carly, Tiffany, and I getting ready for some Rascal Flats!


This was just after our dip in Walden pond!


The Beautiful Sunset before the big firework show.


The fire works were amazing! This picture was taken by my wonderful friend Katasha.

ODD-A-WALL-A

There is a beautiful pond several miles from my home, it is perfect and seems to be from another time and place altogether. In a way it is a lost treasure found by only a few who are willing to venture outside of the city and explore the greater metropolis of Boston. Jamaica pond truly is a magical and beautiful place and it was my dear friend Tiffany that introduced me to this sacred space at the beginning of the summer, since our first adventure to the pond I have since returned several times and have found an immense amount of love for this truly magical place. When Tiffany introduced me to this beautiful place we rode and parked our bikes near the boat house and began wandering around the pond until we found the perfect place to sit, talk, read and eat good food. We climbed a tree with a large branch that hung out over the pond and straddled the large branch facing each other. We hung our bags on nearby branches and just sat and soaked up the sun. We let it wash over our bodies making us feel rich and full. As we sat and talked about boys, religion, and life we peeled oranges and let the juice run down our arms. Time seemed to have slipped through the cracks of eternity giving us the opportunity to taste a bit of the divine. Before we left we decided that calling this supremely divine pond by its proper name would simply not suffice, so we decided to re-name the pond and came up with the name Oda walla. I’m not exactly sure what it means, but I do know that Oda Walla is a place where magic may occur. So no matter where you are in your life go on an adventure find a place of solitude and let time just wash by you.