Transformation

Transformation. The Collins Dictionary defines transformation as a complete change in appearance or character of something or someone, especially so that the thing or person is improved. I believe that we have a choice in how we move through this world, how we impact others and the environment, how we transform our world and the world of others around us.

It's also our choice in business to create change or to just create things.

I'm Lee, and I started gather and harvest and chose to do it differently. I was living in Bali with my family, and saw first hand how some women without choice were living and begging on the streets with their children. I'm also a mum, and I couldn't imagine having to live like that.

I was lucky enough to have been raised in a country that allowed me to have choice and freedom, my life could have been very different or even non existent if my father wasn't given the opportunity to transform his life out of poverty to being a valued member of our community.

My dad his mother and siblings were given the opportunity to empower themselves when they moved to Australia as refugees after the second world war without the support and care of just one family that saw my dad and his family as more than just refugees who couldn't speak English. Instead, they saw the potential to provide my dad with choice and opportunities through safe housing and work so they could change their own lives one simple act of kindness and compassion, change their lives and mine forever.

I now create candles, and I could have made them in a jar, just like every other candle on the market, but I chose to make candles that create hope, change and transformation through the way they are made and by the people who make them.

From a simple water bottle to a beautiful candle, the bottle is transformed by being cut, ground and sanded by a woman's hand, a woman who herself is also moving through a transformation.

She was once living, sleeping and begging on the streets of Bali, but now with one simple candle, she is being transformed as she cuts, grinds and sands the glass bottle, her life is slowly but positively being changed. She is learning valuable work skills, living in safe housing, educating her children and becoming independent. Her life and her children's lives are being transformed.

We all have the power to transform someone else's life. It's our choice. We can consume just things, or we can consume beautiful things that make a difference to others, the environment, and transform the world into a better place.