Kind thoughts for Meghan Markle

Covid-19 restrictions permitting it is likely that Harry and maybe Meghan as well will make a trip to the UK some time in 2021. What will Harry stock up on when he gets a chance to visit? Can you guess what is always top of my list?

For those of you listening who are also living away from your country of birth, please let me know what you like to buy when you visit home?  https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, and Archie.

And listen to my new podcast Kind Thoughts for Kate Middleton https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1604284.rss

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

In the week that we breathed a sigh of relief and when Meghan’s father certainly missed the memo about the importance of Unity - Prince Harry addressed the connection between social media and the recent riots on Capitol Hill in Washington DC as well as addressing recent rumours in the news that he and Meghan were 'quitting' social media.

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie and also listen to my new podcast Kind thoughts for Kate Middleton. 

As always, you can visit my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

LA volunteer veterans with the US non-profit The Mission Continues were treated to lunch by Meghan and Harry, with the lunch catered by women from another of Harry and Meghan's favourite non-profits, Homeboy Industries.

Per their website, The Mission Continues  https://www.missioncontinues.org/aim is for all veterans with a desire to continue their service to be part of a nationwide movement to transform communities. The non-profit works by connecting veterans with under-resourced communities, with veterans 'deployed' to volunteer alongside non-profit partners and community leaders.

The Mission Continues organize what they call service platoons. These platoons not only allow veterans to connect with and to socialize with other veterans living close by, but collectively allow the veterans to connect with their communities and work to have an impact in what they describe as real and tangible ways. 

Taking place each third Monday in January, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is the only US federal holiday observed as a national day of service. The day celebrates the life and legacy of the Civil Rights leader and exists to move the nation closer to Dr. King’s vision of a “Beloved Community” by encouraging all Americans to take the time to volunteer and invest in their communities.

The Mission Continues are acknowledging the importance of The Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service for the whole of the month of January.  They state that The Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service is a day 'we salute those who fought, and continue to fight, for equality and justice both in and out of uniform.'

In was in light of these volunteering efforts that Meghan and Harry sent lunch to the LA service platoon just ahead of the federal holiday. The volunteers at The Mission Continues in LA posted a copy of the Thank You note that accompanied the lunch that Meghan and Harry donated on their social media sites. The volunteers responded to the note by saying that they felt truly honoured to have the support of Meghan and Harry.

Please keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie.

And check out my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

Last year Meghan and Harry hosted an edition of the TIME100 Talks Series. During their talk Meghan, Harry and several of their guests discussed how harms on social media don’t just live on the platforms, but often extend to shaping behaviours that people then act upon. 

This theory has been proven to be correct. We all witnessed on TV this week in Washington the harm that is caused by propaganda messaging posted on social media.

One of Meghan and Harry’s guests on their TIME 100 show was Tristan Harris co-founder of the Centre for Humane Technology. This is one of the groups Meghan and Harry have since chosen to work with under their Archewell Foundation.

 Following the social unrest that took place at Capitol Hill, Tristan released a press statement saying that the events this week that the whole world witnessed, were the consequences of a broken, yet highly profitable business model, that rewards self-reinforcing cycles of outrage, rumours, and political and racial division. 

His organization the Centre for Humane Technology,  https://www.humanetech.com/ is trying to make social media platforms more accountable for the negative effects that they cause in society, be it social unrest, or teenagers feeling increasingly suicidal or depressed due to their social media use. 

I took some time this week to watch Tristan's documentary The Social Dilemma. It raises many interesting and somewhat scary points about how much we are manipulated and basically used by social media platforms. In the documentary many techies who used to work for the big tech companies describe exactly how what we view on social media has been manipulated. Many of the people in the film were the techies behind the software used to do so. Interestingly many of them don’t want their kids anywhere near social media.

At the time of their TIME 100 talk Meghan and Harry were derided in the media for calling out social media's "global crisis of hate". Maybe Meghan and Harry can be excused for a little “we told you so” given the tragic events this past week.

Check out my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com 

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

In one of my previous podcasts (Podcast 17) I spoke about Piers Morgan, the man who loves to hate Meghan and Harry. He derides the work of Meghan and Harry all the time.  At times it seems this is all he talks about. He certainly gets lots of press coverage from it.  

Meghan and Harry’s decision to step back as Senior Royals in 2020 has really inflamed Piers’ indignation at the couple.  He has now started a campaign to call for Meghan and Harry to be stripped of their titles. Whenever Meghan and Harry do or say anything he does not like, which in his opinion is basically all the time, he reacts by saying they should be stripped of their titles. 

So, has anyone ever had their Royal Titles taken away from them and if so what for? 
We'll take a look.

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie.

Check out my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

I am my mother’s son.

And I am our son’s mother.

Together we bring you Archewell.

These were the words that started Meghan and Harry’s Letter for 2021 that we saw on the opening page of their Archewell website that went live on New Year’s Eve.

 https://www.archewell.com/

The word “compassion” appears five times on the opening pages. Meghan and Harry’s aims are to work to build a better world, one act of compassion at a time. They ask us to share our own stories with them via email: either as a story, a link or with a video, on How We Activate Compassion in the World?

This poses the question how do we define compassion?

When we look at the organizations that Meghan and Harry have chosen as their initial partners under their Archewell Foundation, it seems that Meghan and Harry will be addressing issues from two angels: (1) by working with chosen organizations to address specific issues ( i.e. The World Central Kitchen and The Loveland Foundation) and, (2) by working with academics and think tanks to drive systemic cultural change.

https://wck.org/
https://thelovelandfoundation.org/

In terms of addressing systemic issues, Meghan and Harry are working with: 

• The Centre for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford Medicine
• Tristan Harris’s Centre for Humane Technology and
• UCLA Centre for Critical Internet Inquiry

I'll chat about the press reaction to the launch of the website.

Meghan and Harry have started 2021 with increased momentum. They have set themselves a huge goal of working to build a better world albeit with their caveat of working to do so ‘one step at a time’.  In my mind, it is better to try and do some good and not succeed, then to not try at all.

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie.

Check out my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

So, what did we all think of Meghan and Harry’s Holiday Podcast? Well we have all learned the importance of listening all the way to the end of a Meghan and Harry podcast, to the surprise gem at the very end, when we got to hear the adorable Archie make his podcasting debut.

Meghan and Harry invited about 13 guests to separately record their own audio diaries, speaking about their thoughts of 2020 and their hopes for 2021. Just like any interesting party the guests were an eclectic mix. There were athletes, writers, poets, politicians, actors, activists, singers and a comedian

The responses of the guests were cut and spliced to make up the show which was very professionally edited. 

Meghan and Harry did very little talking. They gave a short talk at the start of the show to dedicate this podcast in honour of all those who have helped everyone get through 2020 and in honour of all those people who have lost loved ones this past year. Other than this, Meghan and Harry mainly introduced their guests and gave a little bit of commentary here and there.

So, what did we hear?

We heard the guests answer the following questions:

1.     What they had learned about themselves from 2020?

2.     What would they reflect on about 2020?

3.     How would they explain what happened in 2020 to a future generation?

4.     What were their hopes for 2021?

What was very clear is that as famous as these guests are, Covid-19 has impacted their lives just as it has us regular folks.

The questions that Meghan and Harry asked are ones that we could all ask ourselves? What did we learn about ourselves in 2020 and what do we hope for in 2021? 

My thoughts on the podcast. I enjoyed it  - and yes, adorable Archie stole the show

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie.

And reach out to me with your feedback via my twitter account @kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

Meghan and Harry have written several cheques over the holiday period, sending donations to various non-profits. Per an article published in this week’s New Zealand Herald, Meghan and Harry also made a donation in Archie’s name to the New Zealand knitwear social enterprise Make Give Live.

Meghan and Harry have purchased 100 hand knitted woollen hats. Given that the enterprise works on a make one give one model, this purchase will amount to 200 hats that will be donated by the enterprise to people in need in New Zealand.

https://makegivelive.co.nz/

Archie’s connection with this organization is not new. On January 1st of 2020 Meghan and Harry released a photograph of Archie that was taken whilst the family were living in Canada. The photo that you probably recall seeing, shows Prince Harry holding Archie who is wearing a pale blue double pompom beanie hat. We were to find out that the hat came from the Make Give Live company.

The hat that Archie wore that day has since been renamed the Archie Beanie given the demand that was generated after he was pictured wearing it.

The company was co-founded by Claire Conza and Becky Smith in 2016. It is set up today such that the enterprise runs community-based knitting groups throughout New Zealand. Make Give Live describe belonging to a knitting group as like having a second family. They knit but also nurture their mental health and wellbeing. They call this connecting through crafting. 

The article in the New Zealand Herald describes Make Give Live as having donated over 3500 hats over the past year to people in need. 

Coincidentally to the donation from Meghan and Harry, the co-founders had been wanted to know where they could send a Christmas Card for Harry, Meghan and Archie. On December 14th, 2020 they posted the photo of Archie wearing his Beanie hat on their Instagram account with a message to Archie which said “We're thinking about you Archie. We'd love to send you a Christmas card and thank your mum and dad for choosing to shine a light on the work that we do. Can't believe it's almost 1 year on, and what a year we have all had! Hope you're all thriving and getting into the magic of Christmas 🎄🌟Who can help us get a card to them?"

It seems with a little help from New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Arden, their message of thanks got through OK. 

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie.

Check out my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com 

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

With much speculation before as to would they or wouldn’t they?, Meghan and Harry carried on the Royal Family tradition of releasing a family Christmas Card, with a twist. The card has been reprinted by hundred of news outlets all over the internet. You cannot of missed seeing it.

Recipients of the card are told that with them in mind, donations have been made by the Sussex’s to three charities. 

So who are this organizations that Meghan and Harry have made donations too?

1. The first, is the animal and community welfare organization the Mayhew Animal Home in the UK. Meghan has been Patron since 2019. 
2. The second UK patronage benefitting from Meghan and Harry’s donation is the Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund. A charity set up in the memory of one of Harry's childhood school friends. 
3. The third non-profit to receive funds from from Meghan and Harry is Transition House, an organization tackling homelessness in  the Santa Barbara area and which is located close to Meghan and Harry’s Montecito home.

In a year where many organizations, both for profit and non-profit, have faced financial pressures to their bottom lines, I am sure that these 3 organizations are very pleased to receive a bit of a boost through Meghan and Harry’s donations.

Merry Christmas

Please keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie.

And check out my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

The announcement that Meghan and Harry have started to work with WCK came in an article published on the Bloomberg News website. 

According to the World Central Kitchen’s website, Chef Andres and his wife Patricia set up the organization in 2010, with the image of using food to empower communities around the world and to strengthen local economies.

WCK have initiated several locally led programs to achieve this goal. 

1. The Clean Cookstove program
2. The Sink to Stove program
3. The  Food Producer Network 
4. Providing emergency food relief around the World and through
5. Education 

Like other non-profits, WCK have stepped-up and provided emergency relief caused by Covid-19 . They have been working across America to safely distribute individually packaged, fresh meals, in communities that need support. 

WCK also partnered with restaurants to help meet this demand thereby providing jobs for restaurant staff and meals for those in need. As part of its #ChefsForAmerica nationwide emergency food relief program, World Central Kitchen has purchased over 12 million meals from local restaurants totaling more than $135 million, keeping jobs secure. 

The man (and his wife) behind WCK Chef Jose Andre has his own impressive story. 

According to the Bloomberg announcement, Harry and Meghan will be backing a series of Community Relief Centres for WCK. The structures are to be permanent, built to act as emergency service kitchens, but with the ability to transition into community centres, schools and clinics. The first of 4 centres will be built on the Caribbean Island of Domenica which had been hit by hurricanes in 2017 and which is slated to open in 2021. The announcement also says that the second centre will be located in Puerto Rico. 

Harry and Meghan have a knack of finding really good non-profits to work with. 

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie.

Check out my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/