Journey of a Community Project

I wanted to share this for a few weeks now, but resisted it, deleting multiple drafts. Now, I've taken a deep breath, ready to tell you about this community project I initiated without an iota of experience, beginner level expertise & a heart full of good intention.

I've been a committee member with the Kanara Catholic Association (KCA) Bangalore for the past 2 years and it has been an absolute joy bringing the community together over the past year by facilitating, managing & being the admin of the KCA's WhatsApp Social Networking groups. The intention was to build the community and create togetherness & bonding of the Mangalorean Catholics in Bangalore - bridging the gap between the old Bangaloreans and the newer residents. I felt a gap - an unspoken emptiness that could also brink on loneliness. It was a void that could easily be filled with connections and rekindling kinship.

From a place of, 'What am I doing in this group?' to 'What can I do with this group?', I shared a demure picture puzzle to find hidden words. The response with the answers was overwhelming! It happened to be a Thursday, so I posted another similar puzzle the following Thursday and the week after naming the event, 'KCA Thursday Teasers'. Alongside such puzzles, we had 'Caption this' images, 'Spot the differences' and other simple brain teasers, all drawing a definite engagement that increased easily by 500%!

Over time, I received feedback about how members were sharing the teasers with their aging parents in Mangalore and in family groups. Some very gratefully expressed how their parents, living with Alzheimer's & dementia, looked forward to the simple games. When I absorbed the gravity of what my simple hashtag had snowballed into, I was humbled - but also cognizant of the fact that I had a gift, and the gift could only be purposeful when I put it to use by sharing it. Who benefited & how was not my orchestration. The people impacted were folks I never met in my life - just people connected by common roots, traditions and heritage.

A month later, I started 'KCA Foodie Fridays' - a weekly quiz that involved 4-5 clues all leading to an answer related to Mangalorean food and the kitchen. Once again, the response was overwhelming! Family WhatsApp groups were abuzz with discussions, old traditions were reminisced over, family recipes were fondly revived and a taste of culture was sparked. In fact, one member received multiple orders for the much-loved Manni - a rice, or millet based gelatinous dessert in response to the weekly clues! Yours truly acknowledges a complimentary portion that was sent in gratitude for the business lead.

In November 2023, KCA Konkani Wednesdays took off setting the day with exchanges in Konkani - anything from captioning monkey images, to building stories off each others' prompts and so much more. The running thread in all was the camaraderie, mirth and hilarious comebacks from the members.

All these events are still running at full steam. Since the work is voluntary, there are days when work take precedence, or if there is a running obituary - the teasers take a respectful pause, until the next week. I am constantly amazed at the enthusiasm, especially since there are no prizes involved! I don't even think they look at the Winners' List I publish the next day - the excitement seems to be in my giving them the ?

With every growing community, there is always the need for building ERGs within - to build the strength of certain community members in a unique space created to nurture them to be their fullest. In July this year, I launched the KCA Ladies' Lounge for exactly that space. Within 36 hours, we had over 100 members. Unlike the Social Networking group, this space required very little administrative effort - the grace, elegance, and quality of interactions was powerful and promised to be a powerhouse of potential.

On the 29th of July, to ring in International Lipstick Day, the women sported their favorite lip colors, shared lippy-themed quotes and many shared their pouting selfies! It was a celebration of each other and the vibrance was palpable. When Vinesh Phogat's 100gms were being debated and mocked in many spaces, in the KCA Ladies' Lounge, we spoke about ourselves, we spoke as women, we heard each other & held space for each other as women. The stage for something stronger, within our community was building right in front of my eyes.

September 12th is supposed to be International Crochet Day and seemed to be a great way to bring together members for a common cause. A few had introduced themselves as avid crocheters and a germ of an idea - a Community Crochet Quilt - took root in my mind. By the weekend, I had 8 crocheters who joined the project - of these, I had only met 3 in person - the rest were in purely in for the cause and a sense of trust. The plan was to crochet the quilt at individual pace, and auction off the final product in September.

I was humbled, but determined.

I was also petrified - I had never done this before - I crocheted small pieces here & there and my craft was just to keep my fingers busy and my heart joyful. I was not an expert - these women were!

And then, magic happened. One member insisted on taking me to the wholesale market to get the yarn, while another who was travelling and hopping time zones, helped me with simple patterns. Others came forward to fine tune the patterns to simpler suggestions and yet others stopped me at the club to say how much they were touched at the project and would like to join in. Before we knew it, our women had quietly taken on leadership roles without titles and helped to create, tweak and suggest patterns. Others, non-crocheters, came forward to sponsor the materials and incidentals towards the project. All I had to do was hold space for this idea that had taken a life of its own - everyone contributed, everyone is enjoying the process and a mission is building. As of this morning, we have about 12 granny squares ready across Bangalore and many smiles of accomplishment and coming together.

If you are reading my account, up until now, thank you! Thank you for witnessing a journey and a process that, at some times, felt overwhelming even for me. I am stubborn and determined, yes. But this time I was doing something purely outside my comfort zone, outside my area of expertise! And in that process, I learned more about myself than I had known - I came up-close and personal to my own skills & abilities to lead, drive and manage and to put an idea into motion. I led teams and projects in the past, yes, but not with folks I didn't know, not with women who were not being paid for their services - this was a project that required management of passion, craft and human contribution. From a germ of an idea, to a physical quilt that is coming together, being co-created every minute that I type words to this article.

And that needed documenting.

Why I was hesitant and reluctant to write about it, I do not know. Why I felt (or maybe still feel) to cut short the narrative, I do not know... but what I do know is that this work continues to bring meaning and joy to my life. I do not need any monetary compensation for this effort - I receive it multifold when I meet folks outside Mass or when visiting common spaces who speak with me with warmth and appreciation. My currency includes the calls and messages of concern I receive from members if they feel their otherwise chirpy & hypervigilant admin-turned-friend is quieter than usual.

I feel.... yes, I feel.

I feel the power of my community having my back. It often takes effort to have your genuine intentions and authentic personality permeate WhatsApp chats and online conversations, but somehow, magic has happened!

And I have felt it...

I'm sure I had some underlying idea to share with you besides the account of this journey, but by now, I have forgotten it. ?? And that is OK. I feel a sense of relief. I don't usually document first-hand instances in this manner, but I felt I needed this account for my own healing, and my own acknowledgement.

This article, then, I dedicate to myself...

#community #journey #entrepreneurship #LuvenaRangel