I can not describe the emotion I felt when on the 5th March I received the invitation from Local Guides to apply to assist to California Connect Live 2019.
It’s a real pleasure just to be nominated and I need to explain why…
My partner, my loyal companion on my trekking and travelling adventures used to comment about the time I spend sharing my pictures, experiences, reviewing places and responding to questions from complete strangers. On repeated times, I heard: “what are getting in return for this?” My answer was always that kindness is like a boomerang, you never know when it will come back to you, but it often will do. (I will refer to my own experience of this later.)
I have never before been invited to apply to go to a Live Connect event, but just the idea of visiting the Google HQ excites me very much. I am a huge Google fan, and am a wide user of many of the google tools. I enjoy using these tools to help others.
Also, I believe that we are all connected, and what we do to others, always comes back. And I know this from first hand experience. Let me explain this, but before that I need to talk a bit about myself.
I was born in Venezuela in South America. From my early years, I have had the impulse to help others. As a teenager I spent time raising funds for children with HIV, even though there was much fear of infection in those days, (not like today).
Then, inspired by my father, I began to sell e-books online and the money was used to build schools for children in the jungle in South America. Also, I collected money, used toys and clothes for the children and families. It was amazing to see people’s happiness every time we arrived in Jeeps with all this help to the Jungle. A delight how the kids were so happy with the second hand toys.
I had a gift for maths, so when I started University, my teachers gave me the responsibility to teach their kids. I taught maths to around 12 kids. The parents said that I connected well with children. I enjoyed helping them for years to achieve their improvements at school. I was their crazy mentor, but also their friend. Around ten years later, I was taken to hospital by ambulance after being shot by a man who was trying to steal my car. The bullet perforated my lung and bowels and destroyed my right kidney and I was losing a lot of blood.
On arrival at the hospital, there was a queue of 5 ambulances, so 5 casualties with more priority than me… My mother arrived and the look of anguish on her face was more painful to me than my wounds. I told her, everything is going to be ok. Trust me.
Do you remember, at this point, the title of my blog? Helping others, it’s a boomerang.
Despite the casualties queue, I was sent first to the surgery theatre. Days later I found the reason. Do you remember the children I used to teach maths? Well, it happened that three of them studied medicine and they were that night at the hospital, at the right time and place to do the boomerang kindness. They told me later, that my mentoring and teachings helped them to decide to become doctors, and that was their chance to pay back.
But the boomerang history doesn’t end there. Because of the severity of my wounds, I lost too much blood and I needed several surgeries. Surgeries means blood donors in need. Do you remember the jungle children? Adults now, they travelled miles to donate blood for me… It transpires that my name, Johnny, is very popular to name children in the area. LOL
It took me year to recover, but I am glad of the experience.
I have done lots of charity.In England, Driving elderly to hospitals and shopping with Door2door charity.
First Aider with NCFA, Newark Community First Aiders, for a while.
Or dressing pink to create awareness for Breast Cancer, from which my mother was affected many times.
Now partnered and living in England I have reduced my time helping others to share more with my love. But google maps has provided me a way to continue helping others. My cause using google maps as a local guide is to show my surroundings to others to make their own experiences better. Recently we moved to Cornwall, and we have been exploring the County. I am amazed at every beach, landmark, countryside, walking paths and national trust properties and land that I haven’t stopped sharing it.
Helping others with my contributions in google maps makes me feel confident about the future, where I feel supported by other local guides who share all their information. Being local guides gives us a new way to describe Community (common-unity through our phones and laptops) where we blend together all of our knowledge.
Every time someone likes one of my contributions, or says thank you for answering a question, or expresses their enthusiasm for one of my reviews, that makes me feel the boomerang is still swinging back.
I will always post pictures and reviews and answer questions on Google Maps. I am looking forward to reaching my next level, knowing I’m helping others.
At the moment I will be focused on Cornwall as my main cause to share with the world. I have dropped hundreds of pictures of Cornwall in Google Maps, but as an enthusiastic traveller, I will be dropping other pictures of places on my journey. Also as I have only one kidney, I have tried to document on my pictures all the available toilets around the places I visit.
Big virtual hugs from me, Johnny, Google Citizen of the World.