LEAP - Land Empowerment Animals People

In late 2004, while taking a break after three intense years of work within the juvenile justice system in the U.S., I was asked the question “Can you help us?” from Sabah, Malaysian Borneo where I was born and raised. The answer to my consequent “Help with what?” question was “Help build partnerships between ecological conservation groups here and like-minded groups in the U.S.”.

In December of that year, I traveled home for a family reunion of 250 people from 5 generations from all over the world. We all shared two common ancestors – my maternal great grandparents. For a whole week, we traced our ancestral journey and shared old stories, made new stories, connected and reconnected, sang our shared history, healed and celebrated. I was asked by my elders to welcome everyone home in an opening speech on the first evening. I dived deep into our history and ancestry to prepare for what I saw as a most honorable and daunting task. In the process, I connected deeply with our legacy – a history of colonization, courage, loss, resilience, freedom – which I carry in my bones. I grew roots deep into the earth and its history – connecting me to all that had come before me and all that was – and felt a part of and empowered by the web of all life. The question “Can you help us?” traveled with me.

Deeply transformed by this experience, I returned to the U.S. with the question burning within me. I was privileged to have the wonderful, enriching circle of what I fondly called my “men’s group” (because they were all men except for me) to hold and nourish me as I planted and tended to those first seeds of intention to respond fully to the question. I would like to name each one of them – (the late) Dr. Will McWhinney – LEAP forefather extraordinaire, Dr. Tuck Taylor, Dr. Jim “The Knight” Knight, Owen and Dr. Jim Katzenstein.

I was always captivated by the spiral and we began to explore its symbolism and meaning together. As we discovered more, we became drawn into the arc of its power – of ever-evolving movement both inwards and outwards, of inclusion of all directions and polarities, of marrying both the line and the circle – and it began to inspire our conversations, and the values and operating principles of LEAP. (The “Inspiration” page will describe more about the spiral and what it means to us.) My dear friend Angela Sevin introduced me to Joanna Macy’s work of deep ecology which inspired a deepening of our process and also became integral to our work. Another core founding influence was Community Building – a group process facilitation methodology which had brought us together in the first place – which values communicating with authenticity, dealing with difficult issues, welcoming and affirming diversity, bridging differences with integrity and relating with respect.

In February – March 2005, I gathered with Angela (in the San Francisco Bay Area) and Tuck (in Venice Beach) and we invoked the spirit of the spiral in our dance up and down the I-5 and together co-founded the vision of LEAP (the dance was both graceful and fiery!): To provoke deep ecological consciousness for a healthier, sustainable Earth through global citizenship and stewardship by collaboratively inventing transformative processes which make known what can be known of our individual and collective history and legacy; so that healing, self-determination and a re-balancing can emerge from our shared despair, sorrow, hope and action, and generations of the future may be empowered.

In May 2005, Angela and I traveled to Sabah, Malaysian Borneo and met with and listened to some 30 groups working within and around ecological conservation and sustainability to hear what the issues and needs were on the ground. Many echoed the “Can you help us?” question. We worked to summarize what we had heard and met with a senior representative of the state government, the then Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Chong Kah Kiat who affirmed our conclusions of the issues and needs and gave us his full support.

Upon returning to the U.S., we sought the support of Sunshine Buttercup Farms Inc. through co-Directors Irma Sevin and John Qualtrough, who gave us a safe roof to grow under their well-established 501(c)3. We formed the LEAP Founding Board – with Angela Sevin, Dr. Tuck Taylor, William Brown, Dr. Jay MacPherson and I. We then set out to incorporate Land Empowerment Animals People Inc. and soon applied for our 501(c)3 public charity status (with my last $500 of savings!).

In July 2005, LEAP made its debut in Los Angeles at a special gathering of people who held space for us to unfold and come into being and bore witness as we declared our vision to the world. We were supported by Dr. Campbell Webb, a forest ecologist who had worked for many years in Borneo and the region. Present at that first circle were also Robert Radin, Jeff Goldberg and Mauricio Duk who have become long-term LEAP supporters and cheer leaders.

In July 2005, I also traveled to New York and through that trip met with two visionary women who have since come onto our Board – Nancy Abraham and Caroline Gabel of the Alexander Abraham Foundation and the Shared Earth Foundation respectively. They believed in our work from the beginning and have been core partners in our growth and everything that we have achieved. Also acknowledging Messiane Caze, the then Executive Director of the Alexander Abraham Foundation who was a close ally from the start.

I would like to name other special ones in the LEAP circle: board members that have served/are serving the work – Carol Bates, Chris Elkins, Lea Endres (all in picture below); current advisory council members – Dr. Jay MacPherson, Dr. Tuck Taylor (also in picture below), Carol Bates, Chris Elkins and Dr. Michael Scmidt; Borneo council members – Dr. Robert Ong (who first asked the question), Yoggie Lasimbang, Dr. Isabelle Lackman, Ignatia Olim-Marsh, Dr. John Payne, Anne Lasimbang and Dr. Marc Ancrenaz.

Since those beginnings, I have spiraled continuously across land and oceans, bridging and connecting both worlds. Many have joined me in extending the web we are weaving -- growing from one woman, to three persons, and then five …. to a board of four, an advisory council of five, a Borneo council of seven, a Borneo team of five, a U.S. team of five, local-global partnerships with some 35 or so groups, collaborations in some 15 or so projects, in an ever-unfolding spiral of connection, engagement and exchange. Each person and group bringing their unique gifts and diverse voices to the circle.

In March 2009 – almost exactly four years after we co-created the LEAP vision – Angela, Tuck and I (with Michael Schmidt as witness) sat at that same table in Novel Café, Santa Monica, USA, and quietly celebrated the work LEAP has achieved since it came into being. As we say in LEAP – in remembrance of our fiery origins – “No one died”. On the contrary … we have helped give life to much together.