Report from Day 1 in Guatemala
My Favorite Twitter-Stalkers
Life is so amazing and my first night in Guatemala (12/26) humbled and reminded me yet again.
I spent my first day touring the city from 2-5, after an 8 a.m. landing. Honestly, I was frustrated: I wanted to get doing what I was going there to do, service to others.
Meanwhile, unknown to me, a young lady in Guatemala City who has been following me on Twitter was trying to find me. Her boss had introduced her to Never Eat Alone a few years ago and changed her thinking about professional relationships. Then when Who's Got Your Back came out, she read it and gave it to her office mates and created one of the region’s first Lifeline Groups.
She and her friend were driving around Antigua trying to use my Twitter updates as clues to find me to get me to sign their books. ("Do you recognize this picture...?") Finally they got the courage to message me: "We're in the same city, can we buy you a drink?"
Well, skip ahead to dinner with us all: Susette and Sara, my Twitter stalkers, now emerging friends, and of course Emlyn who is my travel coordinator from Cultural Embrace... and if you are still not convinced social media works, also present was a guy Emlyn met at a party a few months before and friended on Facebook. He was traveling and noticed that she was in the same remote town of Antigua (she lived in Austin, he in LA) and had pinged her that day on Facebook... So I said, "invite them all."
To the eight of us at dinner, I asked a simple question that I have asked so many corporate teams moving toward connecting and commitment: "What of your past most influences who you are today?" From a self-described “LA punk” came the story of a trip to Vietnam that made him see his blessings. A chance meeting at a hotel lobby transformed one young lady's life; someone saw something in her worthy of believing in, and it helped her belief in herself. Another woman whose passion has always been to help those who others rejected now leads a travel service hoping to change how we all interact with the world. Finally, a young man whose childhood was defined by a sister’s chronic illness. I marveled at the stories; how close we become when we are given permission to share who we are. Two hours later we had grown to really care.
We live such sheltered lives. I showed up in Guatemala to care for those who the world has forgotten, and started the trip by being introduced to an energetic community of like-minded followers of my work who I never imagined existed. As I prepare myself for the poverty in the villages, I am so thankful for this reminder that we live in a world of rich contradiction and nuance. Chances to connect deeply and “give service” lie everywhere, even in an impromptu dinner for eight.
Warm thoughts for 2010,
Keith
To donate to the kids I'm helping in Guatemala, click here.
Click here to see pictures of Keith's trip to Guatemala on Facebook.
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Keith Ferrazzi is an expert on relationship development, a world-renowned speaker and the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Never Eat Alone and Who's Got Your Back.-
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