Mar 02 2020 18 mins 5
After a decade of outdoor education, counselling, and long-term youth mentoring, Marcus found himself on the Thai-Burma border when his wife landed a volunteer job there. On arrival, Marcus had absolutely no idea what he would do so he made a commitment to simply be open and say yes to whatever opportunities arose. Saying "yes" led to helping local communities build over 40 custom playgrounds in 2 years using local tools and materials. This was an incredible experience but building a new playground every 2 weeks took its toll. In his final year in Thailand he contracted influenza type B, Dengue Fever and had his appendix out - so to avoid total burn-out and early death, he started wondering if there was a better way..... Using this experience and the driving motivation that others around the world were now asking for playgrounds, it was time to rethink. In 2010, PlaygroundIdeas.org was born. Playground Ideas is a place where anyone, anywhere can get the tools and resources they need to build a place for play. This initiative has now spawned a global community in over 72 countries impacting around 300,000 children at less than a $1 per child and growing quickly. Marcus has been listed as one of the top 100 public interest designers and is keen to grow this kind of online empowerment model further. — Recorded live at the global event in Victoria, Australia in 2015. Watch Marcus' full talk here: www.thedolectures.com/talks/marcus-veerman-listen-to-your-mojo-meter --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/do-lectures/message
