We Are All Connected

Practicing together on Lake Bunyoni

At the Paper Fig Foundation, we use the phrase “We Are All Connected” a lot. Founded by a New York-native who has traveled all over the world, PFF is rooted in the truth that there is something universal about the human experience, no matter how disparate our situations.

This is not an attempt to downplay the struggles that our fellow humans face throughout the world, especially in developing countries. Quite the contrary - by working side by side with people from Uganda, Rwanda, and Afghanistan, the Paper Fig team has learned that certain luxuries that most Americans take for granted, like glass windows or paved roads, are far from guaranteed in the developing world. Same goes for educational opportunities and access to the most basic healthcare.

This is also not to say that there aren’t many people in the United States suffering from a lack of healthcare or lack of access to education. Access to clean water, for example, is a struggle exists in Flint, Michigan as well as Kasese, Uganda.

Knowing that there are struggles everywhere, we also know there is joy everywhere. Spend one day with the women of the Paper Fig Foundation: dance with them, eat cake with them, watch them flaunt their diplomas.

Or walk across the Brooklyn Bridge with a Ugandan man who just got off his first airplane.

Or stand at Central Command of New York Fashion Week with a woman who started off volunteering at a fashion show in Kampala.

Or practice yoga with a group of Ugandans and Americans on a dock overlooking the deepest lake in Uganda. And remember, as you stretch and breathe and experience a moment together, that we are all connected.