The time has come. I’ve taunted you for long enough without revealing the plans, and more to the point, I’m terrible at keeping things secret. Especially things that I’m excited about.

First, to dispel any rumours! I’ve been thrown a few suggestions on what I might be planning to do and fortunately, none of them are correct LOL. I am not taking up politics, I am not becoming a monk or a nun (sorry Carol, I know how you love nuns. Although it does involve a vow of poverty!), and I’m not joining the circus. But all commendable guesses… no really… they were great.

I’ve mentioned before that I am a very private person, and for me to be putting my life on public display is a long, long, long way out of my own comfort zone. I have lived my (not quite) 40 years presenting a brave face of control and calm-waters. My modus operandi is to work everything out in fine detail, achieve my set goals and then present my triumphs leaving bewildered onlookers wondering how I managed to succeed with such ease.

My initial instincts were to do the same here but unfortunately, this would defeat the purpose of what I am trying to achieve.

I’m also known to be a painfully independent and capable woman who would in most instances wear my fingers to the bone and die failing before asking anyone for any form of assistance. My husband will lay testament to how frustrating that is for people who are close to me, and these people will know how far out of character it is for me to bear my soul and expose myself as being anything but 110% in full control.

The truth is however, that what I’m planning to achieve is something far bigger than myself, and far bigger than what any single person could probably achieve without the support and assistance of the wider community. And, to be totally frank – I have NO idea what I’m doing!

Some time ago I received an email from a former employee, updating me on his progress in life and informing me of his plans to travel to Cambodia and Vietnam in November to visit orphanages and under-privileged communities. Damo is that kinda guy, so his plans didn’t surprise me but they did plant a seed. Initially I was jealous of the fact that at 20 I was married and had a child. I didn’t get the chance to do such things and, to be honest, at the time it probably wouldn’t have interested me.

Our family from Sydney Morning Herald article, 2007.

This photo was taken for a newspaper article which was published a few years ago with the headline “And baby makes nine” – a feel good article about the joys of having a large family – or so we thought. After introducing our family the journalist went on to indirectly accuse us of being environmental vandals, irresponsible citizens whose contribution to the earth should be measured only by our carbon footprint. The ill-informed journalist did nothing to investigate the lifestyle we lived or how we raised our children to create a better world. I’ll be frank – it pissed me off!

Even though my husband Rick has worked as an expert in alternate energy for over 10 years, I admit we haven’t always lived a green lifestyle. In fact our conversion to green is something that has only taken place in the last 5 years, but our family of 11 has a carbon footprint smaller than the average family of 4 and we are now extremely passionate about wildlife conservation, alternate energy and sustainable living. Large family bashers need to get their facts straight, and I will quite happily poke a stick in the eye of the next journalist who incorrectly reflects the impact my family has on the earth.

We love children, and we raise our children to love and respect the earth. I’m passionate about children and it pains me to see children suffering in any way. For those of you with children under 5, or even older, try this simple visualisation exercise for a moment:

Imagine taking your child into a crowded street at dusk, walking away from them and never going back. Imagine the fear in that child when they realise you’re gone. Imagine them wandering scared and hungry through the streets…imagine their life now, day after day.

If you can do this exercise without tears, then you are stronger than me, but for 1.8 million children in Indonesia, this is reality. Every night 1.8 million children in Indonesia sleep homeless. For most of us that number is unfathomable.

Over 50% of Indonesians survive on less than $2US per day. Of the 500,000 children in Indonesian orphanages today, almost 90% still have a living parent. They just simply cannot afford to feed them and out of desperation, many of these children are dumped in hope that someone more fortunate may be able to give them a better life.

Well, I am someone more fortunate and while my family is not wealthy, by any means, we plan to make a difference. My husband and I are both self employed, we have 9 children and we live, like many people, week-to-week.  In a country like Indonesia where so many people are so very poor, a lot can be achieved with less money than one might expect.

Our plan is to raise enough money to buy a parcel of land in Indonesia; we then plan to employ local people to build us an orphanage. Our plans for this orphanage are not to build huge dormitories with 40 children to a room, but to build cabins based on the successful schemes in Africa, where local women are employed to raise “family” groups of up to 8 children, in a loving and nurturing environment.

With my husband and eldest son both qualified in Alternate Energies we intend to teach the local people how to build using sustainable methods, applying the principals of solar-passive design and incorporating solar energy to the village.

Further, we plan to extend the orphanage to include a wildlife sanctuary, and eventually buy up parcels of land in Sumatra to either preserve the natural habitat for the native & critically endangered Sumatran Tigers & Orangutans or undertake reforestation programs on lands that have been destroyed by the insanity of palm oil plantations. We envisage that the children we raise in the orphanage will be actively involved in wildlife rehabilitation from an early age and hopefully this will instill in them desire to continue to preserve their native wildlife.

Right about now, you’re all probably thinking that I’ve taken complete leave of my senses. It’s a massive undertaking, and I’m under NO illusions that it will be easy. I am aware that there will be huge obstacles throughout this journey, not the least of which the thousands of dollars that will be required to fund the program.

As I said, my initial instinct for this was to plan everything in detail before revealing what I was planning to do, but the purpose of this blog is to document the full procedure – the trials, the triumphs and the tears of both joy and failure.

Those of you who know me well, know that I will achieve this goal because that’s just what I do. Those of you who don’t know me might take some convincing, and I’m ok with that too.

My family is incredibly excited about this new journey that we are setting off on. My children have all agreed that they understand the commitment and the sacrifices that are going to be involved. I am so proud and honoured to have their 100% support and love.

First stop on this journey is to register the charity, which we have researched and receiving legal advice on. If there are any lawyers who want to donate their time, please feel free to contact me. My goal is to benefit humanity, not line the pockets of professionals, so I’ll be more than happy to accept the goodwill of anyone qualified to lend a hand.

Then of course, we have some money to raise. Unfortunately I’m not in a position to accept cash donations, until the charity is registered, which takes some time. So we came up with a few ideas:

• Firstly, 100% of the profits from my art sales will go directly to the new charity,
•  50% of the profits from any sales from our Sustainable living website The Elements will also go to the charity. (this leaves us 50% of not very much to raise our family – lucky we all understand Christmas will be small).
• And to help get the ball rolling, in the name of sustainability I’ve decided to dedicate my time to sewing “stuff” (see my previous blog about how I grew a huge business from some fabric scraps). I’m after clothes, curtains, bedding anything I can get my hands on to recycle and make into something new which can be sold. I’m happy to take input on what you think would sell best, but my aim is for the products to be at least 95% recycled, reclaimed or at least sustainable/organic in some way. 100% of the sale price of each item will go directly to the charity.

Obviously, there will need to be a LOT more fund raising initiated to raise the money required but these are just a few things we can do before the charity is formally registered.

Half business pants (no need for those anymore) half doona cover.

Here’s a picture of the first bag I made – part pants, part doona cover. I have no idea what people would be willing to pay for these sorts of items, so I’d be happy to hear your thoughts.

 So folks, that’s the basic plan! I feel I’ve taken up too much of your time already, so I will save further details for another post. Please feel free to leave comments below, or email me at cbolt@catherinebolt.com with any offers, suggestions, criticisms, or offerings of psychiatric assessment LOL.

 Until next time, be good to yourself, be good to your earth and live with passion!