Janine Maxwell
Written by Shala Hainer
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This life-changing event sent Maxwell into a period of deep introspection, and her journey took her to Africa where she encountered the AIDS pandemic, hunger and disease. Maxwell closed ONYX in May 2004 and made a commitment to serve the orphans of Africa.
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Originally based out of Canada, Maxwell currently lives in Atlanta, Ga. but is soon moving her family to Swaziland to be closer to the action.
Maxwell has written two books, “It’s Not Okay With Me” and the sequel “Is It Okay With You?” She's been married to Ian for 20 years and has two children: Spencer, 17, and Chloe, 15. When they move to Africa, the family is replacing their two Bengal Tiger house cats with puppies and a baby ostrich – Maxwell says dogs and ostriches help keep poisonous snakes away. Such thoughts might have once been foreign to the Canadian marketing guru, but she's looking forward to the next chapter in her adventure.
Womenetics: You were in New York City on 9/11. How did that terrifying incident lead you to close your profitable marketing firm to start the nonprofit Heart for Africa?
Janine Maxwell: It actually wasn’t the events of 9/11 themselves; it was the awareness that came with the events that day. I realized that I had the “American dream” (well, technically the “Canadian dream”, as I lived in Canada). I realized that even though I had a successful business, big house, nice cars, wonderful family, private school for our kids, fancy vacations - that if I had died on 9/11 none of it would have been valued above the loss of life. I then started the search for why I was born and what I was really born to be. I didn’t want to waste my life making money for me any more, instead I wanted to make a difference in the lives of others.
Womenetics: Your husband helps you in your journey to improve the lives of the people in Swaziland. How did you convince him to follow you in your new venture?
Maxwell: It’s funny. My husband thought I was crazy and said he would never go to Africa until there was a Four Seasons hotel there. As the saying goes, “never say never,” because today he is the president of Heart for Africa and, as an economist by education, loves working on the development of Project Canaan. It truly wasn’t me who changed his heart, but I believe it is proof of the power of a praying wife! Not everyone believes in that, but I sure do.
Womenetics: How do you balance helping the African people with their enormous immediate needs, such as food and medical care, with building infrastructure for future needs, such as education and a sustainable food supply?
Maxwell: This is an excellent question. Sometimes I am referred to as the “heart” in Heart for Africa. My husband is the “brains.” I would rather help feed and clothe children living in the dump or visit children living on the streets than discuss agricultural development any day, but as a business person I recognize that donors are tired of giving a “handout” and want to help with longterm solutions to give a “hand up.”
When I need to talk about sustainability, I can do it because that is the only hope for the future of any third world or developing nation. But my heart bleeds for the children who are hurting today, so I focus on them, while the experts focus on training, educating, employing people and growing crops to generate income so that we can save more abandoned babies and raise future leaders of Swaziland.
Womenetics: What was the motivation to start Grandmas Cow? Why is that program so important?
Maxwell: The Grandmas Cows program was initiated in Kenya when I worked with a group of 30 women who were all living with HIV/AIDS, caring for grandchildren who had been orphaned by AIDS and who were not able to work. They were tired, sick and hopeless. We started a handcraft/jewelry making business to provide them regular work that was not tiresome, but we also wanted to give them a “boost.” As soon as the idea was germinated, 30 of our friends and family donated funds to purchase 30 milking cows, and we gave one to each of these women. It was life changing for them. The very next day they were all able to milk their cow and feed their children a healthy meal. Then when they milked in the afternoon, they were able to sell it and generate income. Suddenly they could pay school fees, and their grandchildren were back in school. It helped make a huge difference in the lives of those 30 women and their families, and it brought hope to a community.
Womenetics: Tell us more about the HOW? Jewelry program. How does the program empower women and help them become self-sufficient?
Maxwell: HOW is an acronym for Helping Orphans and Widows, and it was designed to help women where they are. It is not a microfinance project at this time but rather provides employment for often very rural women who have no access to work. All of the women who received a cow from us also do bead work on a daily basis. We provide the beads, supplies, designs and training. We pay a fair market price for the work, then we sell the goods in the U.S. at HOW? Jewelry home parties. The proceeds are then turned back in to other projects in Africa that will benefit other women and children in need.
Womenetics: How do your volunteer opportunities enrich women in the U.S. while they're helping women and children in Africa?
Maxwell: Knowledge is power. The more we know, the more we can help. By traveling on an 11-day service trip with Heart for Africa (people) are changed forever. It is not about what we can really do in that short time, but it is more about seeing first-hand what is happening in Africa and learning why it is happening. It is easy to sit in judgment of others who live so far away, but when we go and see and serve, we can begin to learn from one another. We may have a few things that could help our African brothers and sisters, but I assure you there is so much we can learn from them if we would take the time to go, sit, listen and learn.
Womenetics: What has been your biggest obstacle while working to improve the lives of Swazi people?
Maxwell: There are so many obstacles working to improve the lives of Swazi people, it is hard to identify the biggest one. Working in Africa is really hard. Nothing is simple or easy, but it is all worth it.
I think the biggest obstacle is really trying to have people here at home understand the size/urgency/desperation and then having them understand that together we really can make a difference. We can’t “fix” things and it is not our place to try, but we can use our hands, our feet, our knowledge, our education and our finances to help children in need.
Womenetics: What is your goal with Project Canaan, and how did the idea come about?
Maxwell: Project Canaan is a 2,500-acre large-scale land development project that was born out of a burning desire to help the Kingdom of Swaziland before it becomes extinct from HIV/AIDS and poverty. The Project Canaan farm is designed to provide training and employment, grow large amounts of food to stimulate the local economy and allow for export. We will have multiple approaches to agriculture utilizing both outdoor and greenhouse crop production; fish farming; dairy farming; the raising of chickens and goats, coffee; and the production of fruit wherever possible on the land.
The Project Canaan Children program will provide a safe haven for orphans and vulnerable children. Children’s homes and schools will be developed and built to provide for the ever-growing number of orphans being left in the wake of the AIDS pandemic. This will provide them a chance to live and grow as well as be educated to help break the cycle of ignorance and poverty in their generation.
Womenetics: What did you think you were going to be when you were a little girl?
Maxwell: When I was a little girl, I thought I would be a veterinarian until my first cat got in a fight and lost a few toes and half a tail. That idea left quickly. Then I had no idea. I recently found a class project from a seventh-grade creative writing assignment in which I describe a young boy living on the streets of New York City until a blonde woman finds him and rescues him and brings him in to her home as her own. Maybe my subconscious always knew about this calling on my life and just didn’t share it with me until I was ready for it.
Womenetics: What is the best advice you ever received?
Maxwell: When I was 24 years old and starting my marketing company in Canada, a friend said, “Don’t do anything that you can get someone else to do. Only do the things that only you can do.” I have never forgotten that, and it inspired me to possibly become the world’s best delegator.
Womenetics: What keeps you up at night?
Maxwell: Nights are filled with thoughts of the young girls (age 10+) who are being forced to have sex for food in Swaziland because their parents have died of HIV/AIDS, and they are left caring for younger siblings. Sex equals food, and so they offer themselves to save others. When they get pregnant, they are confused, scared and ashamed. Often when the babies come, they are discarded in pit latrines (outdoor toilets) or left in the garbage or on the side of the road. The girls keep me up, and the babies keep me up. Now that the El Roi Baby Home for abandoned babies is open, we have a partial solution for those whom we find and can rescue.
Womenetics: What is your favorite thing in your office?
Maxwell: I have an 8-inch bright yellow fairy with wings and a magic wand hanging on a bulletin board in my office. My best friend from Canada gave it to me to remind me to smile when things are really bad and that I really should still believe in fairies. I am not sure about the fairy part; it sure makes me smile every time I see it and adds whimsy to my serious life work.
Womenetics: What makes you laugh out loud?
Maxwell: My husband makes me laugh out loud. He has a very twisted sense of humor and can see the funny side of any situation, which is really helpful when you work in Africa because everything seems crazy there and upside down. If I don’t laugh, I cry - so laughter is very important in our family.
Here are some more stories about the global empowerment of women:
Naomi Tutu, daughter of human rights activist Desmond Tutu, grew up in apartheid South Africa and wants you to know that African women are not waiting to be saved.
Women thrive when we act as a colective. Jane Wurwand - founder of Dermalogica - is urging women to support each other by sharing wealth and opportunity worldwide.
Based near Atlanta, Shala Hainer has been writing and copyediting since 1995. Beginning her career at newspapers such as the Marietta Daily Journal and the Atlanta Business Chronicle, she most recently wrote and edited articles for several nonprofit organizations before purchasing a flower shop in 2006. She earned a bachelor’s in communications from Jacksonville State University.
