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An Epiphany in Chapada Diamantina :: the makings of Project WWAID™ (worldwide accessible internet development) |
| Posted by Administrator (admin) on Apr 13 2008 at 5:48 AM |
An Epiphany in Chapada
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." - unknown
I spent 3 days with a French couple (Antoine & Matilda, who kindly invited me on their trip) & our guide (Sonny) trekking inside the park in the Valle de Pati. During this trip, my life turned upside down and things began to materialize for me.
Throughout the trip we stayed with Dona Raquel and her family at their cottage in the park. Dona Raquel and her family were very kind to us all and made a point to make us a part of the family while we were there. We ate breakfast and dinner at the cottage, and during the day we made our trips in the park. We visited the Castello (a huge rock formation/cave, the fumaca (a waterfall), the plateaus, and a few other rivers and rock formations.
All of these places were beautiful, but the experience and my interactions with the people on the trip (Antoine, Matilda, Sonny, Dona Raquel, etc.) were more important for me than the actual sites, as they helped to bring me back to my center (which was pulled away from me last June)! And perhaps the most important thing of all was something that Antoine casually said to me while hiking. He said to me, Joshua, “You have to know how to get in and also how to get out.” What this means for me is that, when working on a project, I have to be able to work myself out of a project, so that once my part is complete, I can effectively move forward.
This has always been difficult for me (especially in an industry like web development where advanced coding traditionally caused clients to rely on their website developers for everything). But then I realized that I could correct this problem, because with the advent of PHP coding and MySql databases, a professional web site developer can code a site on small template files that control the ‘front-end’ appearance of the site and integrate with a dynamic database / content management (CMS) system. Once customized and installed, this dynamic database and CMS system act as the ‘backend’ of the site by controlling everything from one centralized location so that the client can log-in and update every element of the web site through a simple, user-friendly administrative panel.
Mumbo-jumbo aside, this means that if a professional developer spends enough time creating a solid set of practical & fully functional templates for a site, he should never need to administrate a site. For me, this means that if I spend more time upfront, I can work every project through, effectively shifting my energy to another project.[1] And the great part is, these complicated systems that used to require a vast amount of resources can now be implemented by a professional internet development firm in a fraction of the time.
After our journey, when we returned to the pousada in the Valle de Capao, I felt transformed with a tremendous amount of energy, and suddenly I became alive with desire – the desire to accomplish great things – and mainly – the desire to accomplish my life-long mission (to affect a positive impact on the world-at-large through assisting as many communities, organizations, and individuals as humanly possible.
I also realized that in order to do this effectively I can only focus my personal attention on one task at a time. But then, I asked the same question I’ve been asking my entire life – with such a large mission, how can I possibly focus on only one task at a time without becoming overwhelmed with everything else on my plate?[2] Although it took a lifetime for me to finally solve this riddle, to most the answer will seem apparent. In order to help the world-at-large on a grand scale, one must have faith in that very same world – and for me, this means I need to put my faith in the communities, organizations, and individuals that I interact with. Once I do this, I can effectively work each project through so that I can focus my energies in other places.
At the same time, I realized that while I can attempt to do this alone as I’ve been doing for the past year (more or less), I can have a much grander effect if I enlist the help of others. For this reason, I have returned my energy to idea I conceived last fall (Project WWAID™ , a non-profit organization for worldwide accessible internet development) in order to find other like minded individuals to assist me in my efforts.
Related Links:
Project WWAID™ :: NON-PROFIT Worldwide Accessible Internet DevelopmentSWD InternationalProject Diamantina™ (now in beta testing)
a sub project of Project WWAID™
[1] Note: for this reason SWD International is no longer taking on new administration accounts and is currently converting all clients to dynamic, database-driven content management (CMS) sites.
[2] Note: please see George Lawrence-Ell, The Invisible Clock: A Practical Revolution in Finding Time for Everyone and Everything (Hardcover, 2002). To purchase, please visit ebay’s site at http://product.half.ebay.com/_W0QQprZ2204139QQtgZinfo