Some of you may remember me sharing this a million years ago, when we first shared the vision for The Giving Gifts, I shared a story about the impact Thia made.

I met Thia while I was in Zimbabwe in 2015. I spent about three weeks with her, and in that time it became very clear how brilliant she was. She was sharp, observant, and so caring. One day I asked her what she hoped to do with her gifts…what she imagined for herself next.

The question landed differently than I expected.

I tried again, I asked about university, about jobs, about what might come after. The more I spoke, the more I could feel my words hurting her. I stopped talking and just sat with her. Tears rolled down her face and she finally said, “You can’t be proud of me.”

When I asked her what she meant, she told me she had been prostituting herself in hopes of saving money for university (something pretty common for most girls in this community) but the men didn’t pay her.

There was literally no response to that moment. No solution I could offer. No way to fix something so deeply rooted in generational, cultural, and systemic harm. What stayed with me wasn’t just the weight of her story it was the realization that so often our desire to help skips past the deeper work of truly seeing one another.

That moment shaped how I understand vision. It is what I return to when things feel unclear. This work has never been about fixing or rescuing or rushing toward answers. It has always been about creating space where people are seen. Where stories are honored. Where gifts can be discovered. Not fixed…just seen.

As this year began I found myself returning there again. For months I’ve struggled to visualize what was next. In those moments I’ve leaned on the why. Trusting that small honest steps still matter. Trusting that movement can exist without full clarity. Trusting that it’s not always about instant impact or doing more…and PLEASE trust me when I say, I know this is much easier said than done…it’s instinctual to see something hurting and want to heal it, something broken and want to fix it.

With the state of the world seemingly getting more complicated I often find myself in this thick fog of “am I doing enough” “does any of this matter” “what in the actual world is happening”

There are also moments where the fog slowly begin to lift and here is what I know for now…

Our first cleanup of the year is coming up Saturday, centered around the theme Enseñamos Ensenada/We Love Ensenada. It feels like the right place to begin. A return to being together, learning to care for one another, for the world we occupy, and for ourselves. Remembering why doing this together actually matters and is so important.

I have been carrying this line with me lately: “Resisting empire begins in imagination.” A refusal to accept the violence of the world as inevitable. An audacity to believe there is another way to live, to relate, to belong.

I continue to hold the tension of wanting to create impact and do work that matters, while learning that meaning is formed through presence. Through inner unraveling. Through choosing to stay with one another even when there are no answers to offer.

I know many of you are carrying a lot right now. I hope this email lands as a reminder that what you care about, how you show up, and the way you are part of this work matter.

Thank you for being here,

Cas