A Little about this Blog:
This blog will be chronicling my journey to launch a locally run chocolate-making social enterprise in Zanzibar and Tanzania, East Africa. Though I have initiated this journey – I hope not to walk it alone. If you are in a position to offer advice, extend mentorship, share experiences, and/or cheer encouragingly, I hope you will join me – you will be most warmly welcomed!
If you are new to this blog, click on the tabs above to learn more about this project, myself, and how you may get involved. There are also some recipes, chocolatiering tips, and info on what and who inspires me!
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A Little about Me:
I grew up in small tight-knit community outside of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. Growing up in such a community where building and sustaining relationships is so integral, sparked in me a desire to work in community development. After completing my undergrad studies at St. Francis Xavier University (in Human Kinetics) I was privileged to spend the next 4 years living, volunteering, working and researching in Sub Saharan Africa.
The Coady International Institute, a global leader in community development for over 50 years, was very influential in shaping and mentoring my conceptions, attitudes and practices in community development. The Coady facilitated my first internship in Botswana and introduced me to the field of adult education, participatory development as well as asset based community development. Following this foundation at the Coady, I then went on coordinate project and manage programs for Right to Play and Youth Challenge International in Tanzania.
These experiences inspired many questions and led me to graduate studies in sociology and community development at the University of Toronto. Here I was able to cultivate a critical socio-cultural lens and dedicate my field research to gender issues in Tanzania.
Currently I am a Sauvé Scholar living in Montreal. I am dedicating my time to lay a foundation for this project. I am studying chocolatiering and chocolate-making through Ecole Chocolat. These courses have been great in giving me a “hands on” understanding of the practicalities of working with chocolate. This information has been invaluable in informing this social enterprise.
If you are still craving more info on me, check out this bio for some more details, and a bit about my interest in sport and development. If you still have more questions, just pop me a line, I’d be happy to share more!
life’s journeys can take us to many different and exciting places. This can happen in a foreign country with a social network developing, or an internal developing within ones mind. The key to it all is how much attention we give to our present moment, for that is all we ever have.
Right now.
Not tomorrow, nor even the past, rather just now.
So for now, I am happy to have stumbled upon maggie MacDonnell’s blog, wishing you all of the best, until our paths cross again…
and we can fip the disk
Caio,