As LifeTrekk continues to evolve, I realize that this work I do isn’t just about whole food plant based nutrition – although it is.  It’s not just about healing our relationship with food and our bodies through activating JOY (although it is that too).

But it’s also about empowering people – women especially – to step into their lives and truly LIVE.  To shine their unique light out into the world.

To that end, I’ve decided that I wanted to share stories that might inspire you – to lift you up and see what’s possible.

To share with you stories that INSPIRE ME and just might inspire you too.

So today’s post is about just that.  A woman who truly has captivated me by the work she is doing in the world.

She has INSPIRED ME to stop living small and begin to LIVE OUT LOUD.  To shine MY light in the world in any small way I can.

Today I am going to introduce you to Sarah Collins.  A True WonderWoman.

A couple of years ago, I met a woman who is changing the world with something so simple.  It is literally changing the lives of women (and their families) all over the world.

Sarah Collins is a South African woman who has spent her life working tirelessly in an effort to empower people, especially women in rural Africa, to change the economics of their situation which would stop them from needing to poach endangered animals and cut down trees, and change the lives and health of themselves, their children and their communities for the better.

She has done everything from teaching gardening to working in clinics for orphans with AIDS.  From conservation to starting a political party and running for government. And a whole lot of other things in between.

One day she woke in the middle of the night with an epiphany.  She remembered her grandmother taking pots of porridge and putting them in the cushions.

Heat-retention cooking has been around for millennia.  Sarah describes how the bushman would bury pots in the sand to continue the cooking process; in WWII there were hayboxes…..

So when she remembered her grandmother’s actions of putting the pots of porridge into the cushions, she realized she had an answer to one of the biggest challenges and problems women and families face in rural Africa (and a lot of other rural areas of the world) – cooking food.

Why is this a problem?  In rural Africa, women still cook food over an open fire – INSIDE the home.  This leads to long-term inhalation of smoke by everyone – babies, children, mothers, fathers – leading to high numbers of respiratory deaths.

The amount of wood it takes to cook a meal all day over an open fire is enormous and this wood is gathered by the women and children, who walk for miles everyday just to get enough wood to cook the one meal they will eat that day.  This keeps children out of school and women from doing other things with their time.  The amount of wood needed also denudes the landscape of the little wood available.

Why am I telling you all of this?  Because Sarah came up with a brilliant idea – and it truly is changing the world and the lives of the people she has worked so hard to support.

Sarah has created what she calls the WonderBag.  It’s a bag, like a big pillow, that you put your pot of food in (once you’ve brought it to a boil), and it insulates it and cooks it up to 8 hours.  Just like a crockpot but with no electricity or heat source.

It’s brilliant.

It’s portable.

And it’s changing the lives of the people in rural Africa (and now India!).

Women who had to gather wood for hours EACH DAY, now only do so ONCE A WEEK.

Instead of needing to cook their food over an open flame all day long, they need about 30 minutes day of heat.

This allows them to spend time doing other things – growing vegetables, learning new skills.  Children are able to go to stay in school….. it’s completely changing the economics of their communities.

They are empowered.

And all because Sarah Collins had an idea.  She found her purpose and it has drawn her to continue to live it every day – even when it wasn’t easy.

Today they have sold or donated over 760,000 WonderBags.  For every bag that is purchased, one is donated to these communities around the world.

I use a WonderBag instead of a crockpot all of the time.  I cook my beans in it.  I cook my whole grains in it.  I cook soups and stews in it.  I am inspired to try to bake a cake but haven’t tried that yet – so stay tuned for that.

You can read more about Sarah and the WonderBag.

And even purchase one if you feel inspired.

Sarah inspires me every day.

I’m inspired to never stop believing in my dreams.

I’m inspired to never stop trying to empower you to stop the madness around food, body image, and to help you SHINE YOUR LIGHT to the world – in whatever form that is.  Because you are inspiring too.

Just because you are you.