Michele’s Story:
She was born to Jerry and Sheila Hart in a small town in Southern Minnesota 23 years ago. Michele grew up on Minnesota lakes until she moved to Denver after graduating from Iowa State University with degrees in Marketing and International Business. Once in Colorado she became a job drifter never committing to a company but keep very busy with random event planning gigs that, at times, have taken over her life. She started by helping to plan the Colorado Microcredit Conference last September and then co-coordinated United Student’s for Fair Trade’s 3 day International Convergence this past February where 20 countries were represented. Just days after the event ended she found her first gray hair; which is a testament to the work that went into the preparation of this event.
Jason’s Story:
Jason James Page born to Dick and Penny Page grew up in a mountain town outside of Denver, CO. He is now a 24 year old Finance and International Business graduate from CU-Boulder working for Micro Business Development, a non-profit micro-lender, who enjoys his job… especially when he gets to hang out with his diverse clients and co-workers. This job skipped the gray hairs and went straight to hair loss… (kidding, kidding)
This trip has been in the works over a year and a half now… and we still aren’t ready for it to be here! Soon the shots will be done and insurance bought and we will be on our way to what we are sure will be a life changing journey where our views, actions, and ideas will be challenged and changed in ways we can’t comprehend now. We are still in the process of deciding what direction our trip will take and what will occupy most of our time. We hope to find a fair trade or micro-credit research opportunity that will allow us to interact with and learn from local communities and let the people we meet along the way guide our travels.
As a friend of ours said about his trip “We recognize our extreme privilege for this opportunity and know that everyday we will receive blatant reminders.” We are grateful we have the privilege to be able to take an opportunity such as this to learn from the common connections we share with humans from around the world. We will learn from their knowledge and our experiences that we are sure will guide our thoughts and actions for the rest of our lives.
We look forward to staying in touch through email, this blog (which we will continuously post to), and occasional phone calls! Thanks for all of your support leading up to these travels and the continued support we are sure you will show us over the next year. We look forward to hearing from you and what is going on in your lives throughout our travels so please don’t forget to keep us updated!
Enjoy everyday to its fullest!
Much love, health, and happiness,
Michele (eLe) and Jason (J)
Mic's Parents at the Airport before our departure:
Jason's Family during their trip to Chicago for Jennie and Adam's Wedding Reception:
Mic's Brother TJ during his trip to China:
Mic's dog - Oreo:
Jason's Nephew's, Jameson (the big one) and Jackson (the new one):
Us packing our bags at Michele's parent's home in Arizona:
