This is part 2 of my story meeting Joshua as I wrote about in Revolutionary Amongst at Kindness in the Park .

We see our brother Joshua again at Kindness in the Park the following week! What a joy to see him!

As we stand chatting, we stare at my youngest daughter playing freely by the tree. She is looking up at the sky. She is making funny expressions and practicing difference stances and walks. We were both looking at her while we were talking and catching up and laughing. I was telling him a bit about my family and he was telling me about his. As we Indians and Africans both do, it was important for us to talk about our family history.

It is important, he says, to tell me about the meaning of his name and all the names of his children and parents. They all have meaning. He said the colonizers took that away from them, but he is not angry and we are trying to get that back.

He had SO MUCH JOY watching my youngest 1-year old play in the park. She was walking farther and farther away. She was climbing up rocks and benches and kept staring at the trees. At one point she climbed up on a bench, took someone's water bottle, and sat next to someone she didn't know. Again, without a care in the world and having a great old time.

It was so fun to watch her! She was walking farther and farther away continuing to explore. I could sense a little fear coming up in me, but it was just an observation and I didn't feel the need to react. I enjoyed watching her, and Brother's Joshua's excitement was exciting me.

He said "We need to be as free as this child. Look at how independent she is. She is fearless."

My older son then gently came approaching me asking if his sister was ok. I told him that she was and that I watching her and she was ok.

Brother Joshua let out another joyful laugh. He said "See.... this is how the world should be--an older brother now watching over his baby sister...and his baby sister just being as free and fierceless as she is! That is how we must take care of each other."

We have had many many long conversations since then, but he always goes back to that moment of watching my daughter. He loves telling stories and that is one he goes back to often.

One day, we were talking about Nelson Mandela. He was telling what he was like. He said that Nelson Mandela comforted him when he lost his first wife to violence. He said he loved his wife and there was a lot of pain there, but he seemed to be healing.

I asked him: "What gives you hope? You have seen such darkness, yet you are so happy. Why?"

He said thinking of the children helps. He reminds me again of the moment of watching my daughter play freely in the park. I also realized then why it's so important for me to work with youth as part of my Soulforce Leadership work--they give me hope.

He said he is so proud of me for being a mother and for raising this next tribe. He has a way of making me feel SEEN as a mother. He places such a value on my role as mother as core to creating social change in the world. I love that this isn't a marginal or waste of time or inconvenience. For him, my motherhood was central to social change.

Later that evening, we could not get over that he was sleeping in the park. It was VERY cold that evening. We knew he had a phone that occasionally worked. We were trying to figure out what to do.

I then thought of the help, fix, and serve framework.

I am wary of handouts. We know there are so many people to help in the world. We want to be kind to everyone, yet we don't want to enable or maybe we worry the money won't really help and it just doesn't feel satisfying to us, and the worst would be to humiliate someone because of a hand-out. I would never want that on anyone, and I would never want anyone to feel they can't do it and they need someone else to help them. I think dignity matters more than any amount of money, so I've been wary of just helping anyone and everyone because there is also just so much need in the world. We also want to respect our own boundaries, and be ok with that, as well.

But it felt wrong to do nothing.

When we connected with our feelings, I realized that this didn't feel like charity or fixing. This didn't feel like looking down at someone.

In fact it felt like just the opposite.

First of all, we had a relationship now.

But second, it felt like he was giving US something. He felt like an "Angel of Hope," to me. He was sent to remind me to stay on my path!

That's it! We should give him an Angel of Hope award and tell him how much he has taught us. How fun would that be! He had done so much in his life, and his stories inspire us to keep moving forward with our work. And then perhaps a gift to go with the award.

We figured out how to find him, and we met at a McDonaldsd in San Jose on Marie's birthday. (What a blessing to meet on her birthday!) We gathered some resources for him in one of our, including some money, that would keep him stay warm temporarily until he got on his feet, but before we did all that....we gave him an ANGEL OF HOPE award. The certificate said:

"Thank you for being a light of positivity and for your service in changing the world through LOVE. We honor you and we will keep the work going."

We also read the call and response poem "We Journey Together."

One part of the poem reads:

As we search for glimpses of truth
We journey together
As we search for signs of possibility
We journey together
As we search for heralds of a new era
We journey together
As we search for angels of hope
We journey together
As we search for glimpses of truth, we journey together toward new levels of meaning.

IT FELT SO GOOD TO GIVE HIM THIS AWARD and read this poem together. I had such a huge smile on my face and so did he.

We told him don't pay us back....Just pay it forward. And he said he would be so honored to do that one day and that he will write about in his book he is going to write.

He told me to thank my parents. How beautiful to honor my parents in this moment! He told me don't listen to the naysayers who may be skeptical when you said you did something nice for someone. He said when you LEARN TO FALL IN LOVE WITH THE TRUTH, you just start spreading more and more kindness. He said he is forever proud of us, and to always BE ENCOURAGED.

He said what he was most excited to do was to tell his family back at home. He has a racist uncle he said and that racist uncle didn't like Indians because of what has happened in South Africa between the Indian community and African tribal community. The colonizers divide us, he told us. Joshua now tells me that this racist uncle who in his 80's was so touched by our relationship that he is not racist anymore. He is a turned leaf, he tells me! He laughs with joy that even a man in his 80's who was racist his whole life has changed his views.

I realized Brother Joshua reminds me a few other Angel of Hopes I've been lucky to meet along my path, including my own father and mother....including Beloved John Malloy (always reminding me of the ancestors who are with me!) & a few others that I love thinking about and who I have the privilege to learn from. Now I feel like giving all of these beautiful elders these awards! They remain kind and loving and hold just dignity for the world, and keep inspiring all of us to keep going....

May we all find these angels of hope amongst us.....

May we all fierce and free like children....

May we all give freely from the generosity of our hearts.....

And may we all FALL IN LOVE WITH THE TRUTH..... :)