Spring Funds Initiative
Everybody has their story. This is mine.
My name is Rachel B. Wickert. I was born in Belgium, one of the four children-carers of Nadine Beauvois, a loving mother and compassionate neurological head nurse, who died of a brain tumor in 1993. Her tumor was diagnosed four years before that after a car crash triggered by a bout of epilepsy due to her illness. I was in my early teens so my memory is a bit patchy and family communication was not at its best to say the least. Her battle against the disease was a difficult time for the family. Her death left a huge hole. Each of us developed our own strategy to cope with the loss. The strength she showed despite gradually losing most of her physical abilities including her speech inspired me to explore other people's struggles and learn from their wisdom and resilience through adversity. That was her legacy to me, although it took me some time to totally embrace it. Her inability to voice her informed consent due in part to the loss of speech and to the context we lived in became an important source of questioning hence a key driver in my life.
That's why, ever since my early work as a human rights advocate, I’ve been looking for ways to use my expertise to enable people to make choices based on informed consent. And in 2011, my work eventually sent me back to Belgium. There I learned from young people with complex needs living at the margins of society and from the people who helped them to rebuild their lives like you knit a sweater. That experience made me realize how lucky my siblings and I were to turn out as we did. It also reminded me that a space that is holistic, safe and open is crucial to the process of resilience. That is partly why I founded Minds et Motion.
Many other important stories have since then inspired this initiative and therefore broadened its scope.
Stories dealing with apartheid, abuse, injustice, inequalities and homelessness pushed us at MetM to go beyond offering a range of tailored services. The idea to support financially and in-kind a Safe House for children and families appeared naturally. A place where children, their families and communities would have the opportunity to rebuild healthy relationships after suffering from traumatic events.
This became a first step towards something new.
Our vision is ultimately to support projects, anywhere in the world, using the participation of individuals and communities as a way towards resilience.To achieve this we have launched the Spring Funds Initiative.
