'Paradigm Project' Leader Walks to Help Women in Developing Countries

As this article is published on Culver City Patch, Greg Spencer Jr. and seven individuals are ending their walk from San Diego to Hollywood, carrying 50-pound bundles of wood on their backs to raise awareness for the 3 billion people in the developing world who have to haul wood for miles in order to cook scant meals over an open fire. Touched personally by a visit to Uganda in 2008, Spencer and his father Greg Sr. decided to embark upon a task, now termed “The Paradigm Project” to get 5 million “rocket” stoves out to families in Kenya, Haiti and Guatemala—combating death by smoke inhalation, negative environmental impacts and the deforestation that is ravaging the planet.

The Paradigm Project walkers will complete their journey at noon at a retail area called Space 15 Twenty in Hollywood, where they will set up an authentic Kenyan hut and traditional stove to show attendees the severity of Kenyan domestic life. According to a Paradigm Project press release, inhaling the smoke from a day of cooking is the equivalent of smoking 40 cigarettes a day.

Culver City Patch editor Winter Johnson caught up with Greg Jr. via cell phone as he was trekking his way to Marina del Rey on Wednesday:

Culver City Patch: What specifically touched you about these women in need that made you decide to help start this non-profit?

Spencer: When I first went to Uganda in 2008, I sponsored a child named Clinton Fraide Kapsadi through Food for the Hungry, and I got to meet him. While there, I went a home as poor as you can believe. They had two chickens, which they would eat only once a year, like on Christmas. When I went to visit them, they gave me one of their chickens.

It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life, that they gave out of their poverty. I wanted to use my training that I got through school to impact the developing world. The amount of blood, sweat and tears that women go through to collect wood only to come back to cook over an open fire, which is dirty and inefficient. It broke my heart, in a good way.

Patch: So what happened next, that you went from that moment of realization to building The Paradigm Project?

Spencer: My father was in Uganda with me when I that happened. He started a company called Blue Source in 2000 that leverages the carbon market. We had a conversation about how we can use those offsets to build more sustainability into the funding model for companies like Food for the Hungry, because they are so reliant on donor funding. When he started talking about that, 'I said whatever it ends up being, I really want to be a part of it. My dad really was the one who came up with the brilliant business model.'

Patch: What was your goal in doing this walk?

Spencer: I think the main thing is, ‘How do we step alongside these women in East Africa, in Central America who have to go through unbelievable things for their families?’  How do we share this experience of these women who go through so much just to cook? We thought the best way to do that was to show people by walking.

Patch: You decided to take on a grueling task over the past 10 days, to walk from San Diego to Los Angeles. How has it been, and where have you been staying at night?

Spencer: I knew that I couldn’t manage 200 people walking up the 101 Freeway, so I wanted to keep it to a smaller group of people,like up to 10 people at one time. We’ve had a lot of friends coming to walk with us. I think that my expectations have been exceeded in that regard.

We have been camping out and staying with friends. The first night, we walked to UCSD. We got a hotel that is nearby, the next night we stayed with a friend, then at a hotel in Oceanside. We also stayed with my aunt and uncle for a night, as well as in a hostel. Originally, we planned on camping out, but it’s such a feat to walk every day that it’s nice to have Internet and to have a bed at night.

We’re walking up to 15 miles a day and keeping people safe and hydrated, and writing a blog at the end of the night. That is all that I have energy for.

I wanted to bring people along the experience that women go through.

Did you catch this group of walkers in Media Park this morning in Culver City? Be sure to upload your pictures on our Facebook or Twitter page.

In honor of the event in Hollywood, local band  Little Hurricane will put on a free concert. Interested in donating to the Paradigm Project cause? Click to purchase a stove for a family in need.