So, if you are looking for the latest from Eric or Elizabeth or Greg or Kristen – check out their blogs below:

Eric -http://eric.shiftingparadigms.org

Elizabeth -http://elizabeth.shiftingparadigms.org

Greg -http://greg.shiftingparadigms.org

Kristen – http://kristen.shiftingparadigms.org

The stage is set to launch into Paradigm Shift’s second community: Cosmo City.

The South African government initiated the development of a new community outside Johannesburg – Cosmo City. The aim is to provide a combination of free, subsidized and private housing leading to an economically integrated and diverse community. If successful, Cosmo City will be used as model in the government’s ambitious plans to eliminate all informal settlements across South Africa.

Cosmo City is a place like no where else in South Africa. On the surface you’ll see a rapidly growing new neighbourhoods with better housing than informal areas, but look closer and you’ll find a diverse community struggling to make sense of a new and strange environment and come to terms with it’s past.

Some of the same problems from the informal settlements are still present – unemployment, chronic health problems and poverty. On top of this, essential services are in short supply in with no public health care services currently available at all. With so many people coming together from different backgrounds, the area presents a complex set of social and economic challenges that need urgent attention if mistakes of the past are not to be repeated.

Despite the challenges South Africa faces, the hope of a truly free society with equal opportunities for all is still alive in the hearts of most South Africans. Cosmo City, a new economically integrated community, is a fitting metaphor for the both the challenges we face and the hope we have.

Last week, our first 7 entrepreneurs received their microloans, and tonight they all had to come with their receipt of payment and guess what? ALL OF THEM paid back!  They were all glowing…truly glowing, smiling and laughing. The training room was electric! It was like everyone was bubbling over with joy and thanksgiving that couldn’t be contained!

Here’s a taste of some of what happened:

 Read the full post…

"It wasn’t even her voting station, but she cancelled all other public-holiday morning plans (like sleep) to get to the Country Club in Johannesburg by 11am. She arrived to see a considerably long and very representative line of South Africans, snaking its way from the corner, past the church and the club’s tennis courts, down the driveway and into the complex, which had been converted into a voting station.

Apart from the fairly jovial and chatty crowd of voters, the venue was also playing host to a plethora of edgy photojournalists. Brandishing every known make of digital camera, they fought with voting officials and jostled for space before settling down on any surface that would afford them the perfect shot.

So between journalists perched on chairs, benches, tables tops and walls and among voters standing in a less than orderly queue, they all waited – for Mandela to arrive and cast his vote in the country’s fourth democratic election.

Not everyone saw the black BMW coming down the driveway, but the sudden burst of ululating and applause followed by the hasty shifting of photographers signaled that Madiba had arrived. He emerged from the car and shouts of ‘Viva Nelson Mandela! Viva!’ filled the air.

The excitement was tangible as uninhibited smiles and laughter overflowed at the Country Club. The old man, with his gentle allure, charmed the crowd better than any of the politicians South Africans have had to endure during the 2009 election campaign. He inspired genuine happiness, admiration and perhaps even nostalgia.

Assisted by his daughter Zindzi and his trusty PA Zelda, Mandella cast his vote, posed for photos and was swiftly led away back to the BMW. After a few more waves and smiles he climbed back in his car and was gone as one woman shouted ‘Long Live Madiba! Long Live!’" www.sagoodnews.co.za

Just 15 years after democracy has come to South Africa, there is a peace and ease with which the country now experiences the democratic process. Praise God for peaceful presidential elections in this leading democratic African nation!

What happens when you say to a 10th grader – “You CAN change your world!”

Instead of being desensitized to needs around her, Erin stepped out of her world to serve different people with a different language and in a different class. She now sees how she was a small part of an incredible solution.

Read what Erin, a 15-year-old South African high school student had to say about how the experience of participating in Paradigm Shift’s business training as an assistant trainer impacted her life:

“I was lucky enough to be a table trainer for the first  Paradigm Shift training program in South Africa. When I was first picked, I was rather nervous. I felt uncertain that I could make any kind of difference and certain I would be inadequate. I was so afraid that there was no way I could possibly fill my role, but the training I received really put all my insecurities and worries at ease. I realized that I wasn’t alone and trying to do the impossible, instead I was part of a team that was planning to make a difference and improve peoples lives by not Read the full post…