No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
 [ … ]  
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; 
It tolls for thee.

John Donne

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Hello!

Welcome to BetterTogether, an online platform conceived to unite and inspire people.

When it comes to acknowledging facing the world’s current issues, I realize it can quickly become a bit overwhelming, and that it is difficult to know where to start to make a difference.

I believe that the change starts within every single individual, through small but meaningful actions that don’t even imply great sacrifices.

I also know it can sometimes feel lonely to undertake these actions, if the people surrounding us don’t understand or are not willing to do the same. That’s what we are here for.

I am a part-time solo-traveller, and a part time student. Through my travels, I want to focus and learn about what unites us all, despite all of our differences. This has inspired me in so many ways, and I want to share some of it with you.

BetterTogether will constantly suggest you new ideas of what you can do to make this world a better place, whether it is on an environmental, social or any other level, through our weekly challenges. The idea is that we all take up the same challenges together, so that we can share our experiences and feel supported in our actions towards a better world.

I will regurlarly share a new inspiring story of people who are actively participating in creating a better future for everyone, in the categorie “Their stories”.

Besides that, in the categorie “Sowanders” I will also talk about some of the lessons I get to experience in my traveller’s life and show you some of the wonders I come across. You can use it as a reminder of how amazingly beautiful this planet and its people are.

Feel free to participate in any challenge that inspires you and to then share your story with us. You can do that here or through our facebook group. Every week, I will write an article to present the best stories you send me, and share it here and on our facebook page, hoping to reach as many people as possible to convert to our cause.

And it starts with you! Are you ready to take up the challenge? It starts here.

Also, don’t hesitate to give me any kind of feedback. It will be greatly appreciated.

Have fun with BetterTogether!

Sowanders.

BetterTogether was born after a simple observation : there’s a hell lot of problems out there, and it is easy to feel overwhelmed about it, not knowing where to start to make things better.This is worsened by the very individualistic mindsets that we are encouraged to adopt: it’s so tempting to look the other way! We are encouraged to be more competitive, more selfish, more beautiful, when what we should be doing is encouraging each other to create a better world, to be more compassionate, to care more about our planet, to waste less time on things that don’t matter and spend more doing things that could make a difference.

 People say we have violence in us, that it is human nature, and that it will never change. It all sounds terribly daunting. And it’s true, to a certain extent… But when I look around me, that’s not what I see. I see love everywhere. Despite all the bad, everyday, I keep being inspired by all the love that I see around me. And the more love you have in you the less place you leave for hate. It’s as simple as that.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that, maybe we should stop being so pessimistic and focus on the good instead?

It’s not about being right or wrong anymore. We’re all in this together. Differences are illusions created by fear of the unknown. But whether we want it or not, things are changing. So do we want to keep driving towards the edge of the cliff or do we want to steer the wheel while it is still time ? Are we going to give up so easily ? Look at everything we’ve built, everything we’ve discovered. Would any of these things have been possible if we had just given up when things had gotten difficult ? It’s the same with successful, happy people: they overcome difficulties.

I know, the difficulties facing us are huge ones. Have you ever been depressed, as if you were in a dark hole from which you thought you could never get out of, but you eventually saw the light again? The world is in that dark state right now, in a deep depression that has started a long time ago and has only gotten worse and worse, as a result of a long self-destroying process. And as any depressed person, to continue the metaphor, it needs more than only be constantly reminded of everything it did and still does wrong. It needs to be encouraged. It needs to have someone take its hand and tell it : « Okay, you’ve really fucked up, like, badly. But it’s okay, I still love you and believe in you despite everything. You’re still beautiful to me and I’m ready to help you get better, to get back on your feet. You can count on me to support your healing process. »

That person is you and me, is all the people of the world talking to all the other people of the world and holding their hands and forgiving themselves for fucking up and deciding to do better, to be better, and supporting each other to do that and to create a better world ; a happy one, a loving one.

Yes, the people higher up, the 1 %, the ones who have all the power and money are controlling the planet and taking decisions that are destroying it, but we’re letting them do it. They need us, the 99 %, to do it. So, hating them will not change anything. Let’s concentrate on what we can do, and stop supporting the ways of thinking that they have implanted in us : they’ll slowly lose their power over us without us even needing to fight them. That’s what would happen in a consumerist society without consumers, fear-based political campaigns with fearless citizens or wars without fighters!

So, which side to you want to be one – hate or love?

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If you’re on the world’s side, join us and help us spread the word, through small, but mindful and heartfull actions.Whoever you are, wherever you are in your life, you are welcome to take up the challenge with us. Let’s all become better together!

Thank you.

Sowanders

Un quai de gare, à Offenburg, en Allemagne. Je ne savais même pas que cet endroit existait avant de me retrouver ici, entre deux trains, à attendre ma correspondance.

Je me décharge de mes sacs avec soulagement, et m’assieds sur l’un des rares bancs présents, tout au fond du quai. A côté de moi, il y a un jeune homme dont la couleur de peau trahit l’origine étrangère. Il a l’air perdu dans ses pensées, le regard baissé. Le train ne viendra pas avant une demi-heure, j’engage donc la conversation après quelques minutes, à l’aide d’une plaque de chocolat dans mon sac dont je lui propose un carré. Il me remercie en souriant, j’en profite pour lui demander d’où il vient. Il me répond : « Bangladesh » d’une petite voix. « Le Bangladesh ? Je comptais y aller cette année ! ». Il me sourie encore, avec moins de conviction cette fois, comme s’il se demandait qui pourrait bien avoir envie d’aller là-bas. Ma curiosité est piquée, j’aimerais bien savoir ce qu’il fait là.

Son anglais est maladroit, je ne comprends que péniblement ses réponses murmurées. Toutefois, les bribes que je saisis me permettent petit à petit de reconstituer son parcours : il a vécu en Inde pendant sept ans, il a une sœur au Bangladesh mais ses parents sont morts. Il a 19 ans. Il me parle de la Birmanie, pays que j’ai adoré visité. Il me dit que nous n’avons sûrement pas dû voir la même Birmanie… Lorsqu’il prononce les mots « My people », je commence à comprendre la situation avec stupeur : son peuple, ce sont les Rohingyas. J’en ai beaucoup entendu parler, sans en connaître vraiment beaucoup non plus. Je sais seulement que c’est une minorité musulmane opprimée par le régime birman. Je ne suis pas sûre de moi, et surtout, sur le moment, je n’arrive plus à me souvenir du nom de cette minorité, bien que je l’ai sur le bout de la langue. Alors, à la place, je lui demande s’il est musulman : « Yes. » J’ai ma réponse.

Je comprends donc qu’il fuit les horreurs de son pays. Je sens au son de sa voix que son passé est lourd. Je ne sais trop quoi dire : je ne veux pas remuer le couteau dans la plaie, mais je pense que son histoire mérite d’être entendue, ne serait-ce que pour lui donner un sens. A la place, je lui demande de me parler du voyage qui l’a amené ici, sur ce quai de gare, à Offenburg.

Je découvre ainsi qu’il est parti il y a une semaine, et qu’il a rejoint l’Europe en train. En Grèce, il a embarqué sur un bateau, sur lequel il est resté deux jours ; je n’arriverais pas à avoir plus de détails. Maintenant, il se dirige vers le Danemark. Un homme nous interrompt : il me demande en allemand si nous sommes ensemble. Je lui indique que non, il dit alors à mon nouvel ami de le rejoindre en milieu du train plus tard.

Je suis intriguée, il m’explique qu’il n’a pas de passeport ni de visa, mais une carte d’identité, ce pourquoi il a droit à ce traitement spécial. Il devrait avoir droit à un passeport d’ici un ou deux ans. Je ne connais pas la politique du Danemark en matière d’asile, je lui demande s’il sait où il va loger à son arrivée. Ses réponses sont évasives, je crois qu’il s’inquiète de ce qui l’attend. Un peu désemparée, je lui dis que je n’ai jamais été au Danemark mais que je suis sûre que les gens y sont gentils. J’essaie de lui changer les idées en lui posant des questions sur ce qu’il pense de l’Europe. Il trouve que les gens sont un peu froids. Je me rends compte de l’ampleur de la différence avec son propre pays, je ne peux que lui communiquer doucement mon soutien.

Puis, le silence. Que dit-on à quelqu’un qui vient de laisser toute sa vie derrière lui, qui a sûrement parcouru un trajet horrible pour échapper à un futur sans espoir ? Les mots semblent dérisoires. Alors, je lui parle de ce que je fais. « J’étudie à distance. Je voyage et j’étudie en même temps.» Ce qui me fait réaliser encore plus l’injustice de la situation. Les deux, nous sommes seuls, sur ce quai de gare, à Offenburg, mais les deux, nous avons des raisons bien différentes d’être ici. Une seconde, l’émotion me submerge, mais je me reprends. S’il y a bien un de nous deux qui est en droit d’être triste, ce n’est pas moi.

Nous partagerons encore une heure de trajet, à bord du train, avant de se quitter à Mannheim. Aucun de nous ne sait vraiment ce qui l’attend, mais quelque chose me dit que mon futur à moi est moins inquiétant que le sien. Avant de le quitter, je lui demande son nom : Rubel.

Rubel, je ne manquerai pas de penser à toi, la prochain fois que j’aurai peur de ce que l’avenir me réserve.

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A train platform in Offenburg, Germany. I didn’t even know this place existed before I ended up here, waiting for the next train.
I free myself of my bags with relief, and sit on one of the few benches there, at the far end of the plateform. Beside me, there is a young man whose skin color betrays his foreign origin. He looks lost in thought, staring at his feet. The train will arrive in half an hour, so I start the conversation after a few minutes by offering a piece of chocolate from my bag. He thanks me with a smile, I want to ask him where he comes from. He replies: “Bangladesh” in a small voice. “Bangladesh? Oh, I planned to go there this year! “. He smiles at me again, with less conviction this time, as if wondering who would really want to go there. My curiosity is pricked, I would like to know what he’s doing here.

His English is awkward, I only understand a small portion of his whispered answers. However, I take the scraps that allow me to slowly rebuild his story: he has lived in India for seven years, he has a sister in Bangladesh but his parents died. He is 19 years old. He tells me about Burma, a country I loved visiting. He tells me that we have surely not seen the same Burma… When he says the words “My people”, I begin to understand the situation with astonishment: his people are the Rohingyas. I’ve heard a lot about them, without knowing very much either. I only know that it is a Muslim minority oppressed by the Burmese regime. I am not sure of myself, and most of all, in the moment, I can’t remember the name of that minority, although I have it on the tip of the tongue. So instead, I ask him whether he is a Muslim: “Yes. “I have my answer.

So I understand that he fled the horrors of his country. I can feel by the sound of his voice that his past is heavy. I do not know what to say. I do not want to rub salt into the wound, but I think his story deserves to be heard, if only to give it a meaning. Instead, I ask him to tell me about the journey that brought him here, on the station platform, in Offenburg. I discover that he left a week ago, and he joined Europe by train. In Greece, he boarded a ship on which he stayed two days; I would not be able to have more details. Now he’s heading to Denmark. A man stops us: he asks me in German if we are together. I tell him no, so he tells my new friend to join him in the middle of the train later.

I am intrigued, he explains that he has no passport or visa, but an identity card, which is why he is getting this special treatment. He should be entitled to a passport in one to two years. I do not know Denmark’s policy on asylum, I ask him if he knows where he’ll stay on arrival. His answers are evasive, I think he is worried about what lies ahead. Somewhat bewildered, I say I’ve never been to Denmark but I am sure that the people there are nice. I try to change the subject by asking questions about what he thinks of Europe. He finds that people are a little cold. I realize the magnitude of the difference with his own country, I can only provide my support quietly.

Then, silence. What do we say to someone who has just left his life behind him, that has surely gone through a horrible journey to escape a hopeless future? Words seem paltry. So I tell him about what I do. “I’m a distance student. I travel and study at the time.” Which makes me realize even more the injustice of the situation. Both, we are alone, on that station platform, in Offenburg, but we both have very different reasons for being here. For a second, emotion overwhelms me, but I stop myself. If there’s one of us who has the right to be sad, it’s not me.
We still share an hour’s journey on the train, before parting in Mannheim. None of us really knows what to expect, but something tells me that my future is brighter than his. Before leaving, I ask him his name: Rubel.
Rubel, I will certainly think of you the next time I get afraid when thinking of the future.

Hello people !

You know how there are so many simple things, that seem so simple that we forget to do them but would actually make a huge difference if everybody did?

This is what I want BetterTogether to be about. So today’s challenge won’t require much from you, I just want you to pick one or several people that you love, and just remind them of it. Tell them that you love them and why. I’m sure that old friend you haven’t talked to in ages or your cousin that lives far away would love to hear from you.

I will launch the movement on Facebook but there are many other ways to do it. Be creative !

And if you liked doing it, share it with us ! 🙂

I love you all !!! <3 <3 <3

Sowanders

 

 

Christmas time is almost over, and I’m sure you all got plenty of cool presents – some more useful than others.

Although I’ve always loved how this period is all about getting together and giving, this year, I couldn’t help but thinking about all the people who maybe weren’t as lucky as us, celebrating Christmas and New Year’s Eve in our warm, comfortable homes and being around our loved ones. I also realize how commercial the whole thing is, and it makes me sick to think about all the stuff that has been brought and will probably end up hidden in a cupboard.

And when you think of it, Christmas shouldn’t be the only time to be giving. Why should we always need a particular reason to do so? That’s why my first challenge for you guys is to pick one or several presents – something you’ve been given, you’ve bought, this year or another, but know you’ll never use, or that you do use sometimes but think it could be more useful to someone else – and go and give it to someone who would really appreciate it. I’m thinking about homeless shelters or refugee centers for example, but the choice is yours. You pick what you give and who you give it to – it may be a stranger on the street or that lonely old lady who lives next door. It’s up to you! 🙂

I hope you’ll enjoy doing it, and don’t forget to share your experience with us – tell us your story, take loads of pictures, videos, anything you want! And remember, this may seem like nothing to you, but it could really make someone’s day. The real present won’t be the object, but the time and effort you took to reach out to someone.

churchill

Good luck everyone! And remember: It’s all about sharing! <3