It's Kind of Like Science

but more like an easy way to separate me from $12 (total)

Solar powered fans attached to your sun visor...
We will see how long they last.

Here's a Vote We Can All Agree On

A couple of wonderful friends of mine are on the board of Ethiopian Orphan Relief, a group dedicated to improving the conditions for the children who remain in Ethiopia. We privileged to be a donor for EOR and the work they do is amazing.

They are competing for a Classy Award in the category of Most Innovative Use of Social Media By A Charity. Please take a minute and pop over to the
Classy Awards website
and scroll down to
"Most Innovate Use of Social Media By a Charity"
and vote for them.

Here's more about the project:

Ethiopian Orphan Relief’s Project Gena Makes Holidays Merry

Ethiopian Orphan Relief, Inc. launched the Project Gena 2010 campaign in September of 2010 through various social media platforms. Supporters were asked to make Christmas merry for a child in Ethiopia by filling a backpack. In a 3 month window, 156 backpacks were stuffed and shipped to the orphans of Children’s Heaven and Friends of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (two of the 5 orphan care centers EOR serves).

While the primary goal of Ethiopian Orphan Relief is to to ensure that every child in Ethiopia has a warm bed, a loving influence, and sufficient education to better their lives. EOR’s focus on infrastructure (facilities, meal programs, health clinics, etc) sometimes makes it difficult for donors to feel connected to the orphans we serve. Sending backpacks filled with toys, clothes, school supplies, and letters gave donors an opportunity to connect with the children in a very immediate way. While the logistics of transporting the backpacks to Ethiopia (no direct shipping means that we rely on travelers to bring our donations to Ethiopia) made it impossible to send backpacks to every orphan care center we serve, there was no end to the support and enthusiasm for this project. Ethiopian Orphan Relief, like Edmund Burke, believes, “Nobody made a greater mistake than one who did nothing because he could do little.”

Project Gena 2010 made it possible for even small-scale donors to make an impact, and as a result, these donors felt more invested in the work of Ethiopian Orphan Relief, increasing the likelihood that they would give again during the year. We kick off Project Gena 2011 in August of this year. It will be annual event, bringing joy to people on 2 continents. Ethiopian Orphan Relief, Inc. appreciates all of its donors, both big and small. Every gift is a generous one, no matter the size.

That is Very Scary Indeed

One of the things that perpetuates ongoing racism is the belief that African Americans in general and Black men in specific, are violent and dangerous. And white America believes this-despite crime statistics that don't support it. Want to know why....
Because the media wants us to believe it.

WBBM reported recently about a shooting in a Chicago neighborhood that was witnessed by several young children. As part of the story, they interviewed one of those young witnesses and then aired the interview on their nightly broadcast.

The video contains both the edited interview that ran on the broadcast, followed by the whole interview uncut. Note the comments by the anchor leading into the child's interview
"and kids.....had a disturbing reaction" (at 0:37)
and after the interview portion ended (at 0:56)
"That is very scary indeed"




There is NO reason that the media should have EVER interviewed this young child. Particularly after he witnessed a shooting. The only reason to interview him was to get the "how horrible that little child is already planning on being a gang banger" response from their viewers.

(Never mind that fact that what he is really planning on being is a police officer)

A response that allows white America to write off Black children living in poverty because clearly their path of violence is self selected before they even start school. If we believe that they are prone to violence from an early age so they are going to end up in jail (or dead) anyway- then we don't need to worry about our underfunded schools, or poor nutrition or any of the other things that plague low income neighborhoods.

And just to make sure the message comes across as intended- a little creative editing and editorializing never hurts either.

That is very scary indeed- just not for the reasons they might think

Maybe You Misunderstood the Seriousness of This

So, as my followers know, we flew home from Texas a couple of weeks ago. On our first leg out from San Antonio about 45 minutes from landing we appeared to be skirting the edge of a thunderstorm.
All of a sudden we hit major bad air- like altitude dropping, air brakes screaming, drinks spilling everywhere turbulence.
As we start to level back out, the plane is silent as everyone understands that this is not a normal situation.
Everyone understands that this might be serious

Everyone but my girls.

With their arms in the air and grins on their faces they are both yelling

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!"

(and making the story thankfully somewhat anti-climatic- we landed with no other issues.)

50,000

'Xcuse me while I just happen to mention that

Sometime today my little blog hit 50,000 page views. I realize that isn't really many at all in the blogging scheme of things but since it was really only to keep the family informed while we traveled I'm kind of in awe of that number.

We love our followers too and not only can you follow with Google but now we have recently added Facebook as an option and I think I have a way to consistently get posts to appear there too (since the way FB says to do it doesn't seem to work consistently) So if you are a FB user- jump on over the right side column and like us.

Thanks for indulging me.

Remember 1985, Things Are Worse

Remember this...



or this.....


I VIVIDLY remember watching both the concert from London and then Philadelphia, wishing I was older so I could not only be there (cause let's me honest I was a teen and some of the hottest bands at the time were there) but also so I could donate money and be a part of something that seemed so big. Something that seemed like it was going to change the world. An end to famine and starvation- what an amazing thing to be a part of.

Well now it's 26 years later and not only have we not solved the problems of famine and scarcity in a world of plenty- but once again a significant portion of our world is poised on the brink of starvation. This time there is no worldwide concert, no benefit- just NGO's on the ground begging for the West to help.

It is with no small sense of irony that this post follows several posts about our vacation but the reality is, it does. And because it does, I am more acutely aware than usual at the degree of luxury and privilege my life (and that of my children) has. Children who are well fed, and tucked into a bed knowing that tomorrow their biggest problem with food might be that they don't like the variety of pop-tart that is left in the box (organic reasonably healthy pop-tarts at that)

It is hard to imagine that but for a series of events in the first 9 months of her life, K might be one of those children in the therapeutic feeding program, or in the refugee camps, or worse. She could have been one of those faces in the photos- her birth family might be.
Instead she is in bed with swimmer's ear because she has gone swimming every day for the last 20 days on this side of the world where we don't worry about the water running out.

So I ask- Why are we still here 26 years later looking at photos of dusty places where there isn't enough to survive. We donated and gave and cared at least enough to assuage our guilt but nothing has changed. Scarcity is still an issue, poverty is still an issue and children are starving. In fact in the time it has taken you to read this post 3 children have died of starvation (and that number is 10 if you watched both videos too)
We have screwed up because money isn't the answer, and food aid isn't the answer-
those are things that provide enough "help" to keep us from actually having to help.

Of course, in the short term, meeting the immediate need is crucial. And as soon as you finish reading this post, click here and select a charity that appeals to you and donate what you can. Then see if you can live without your 20 oz soda or cafe grande for a couple of days and donate a little more.
But don't relax after that because you ARE. NOT. DONE.

'Cause see- we have both been there and done that and it isn't enough. So here's what you need to do...
Go to the library and check this book out
It provides a fairly easy to read and comprehensive look at why starvation and poverty continue and exactly what the first world needs to do differently if we are ever going to eliminate poverty, famine and starvation.
And yes, it takes us giving up a little piece of the pie but lets be honest- look at us.
We really don't need that piece of pie.

I would also recommend this book but it is a much heavier read and you will get what you need to know just reading Enough.

And then lobby our government to do what's right, and other governments to do what is right. And get involved to make the real changes that would prevent this

image from http://patriciashannon.blogspot.com/2011/07/famine-in-horn-of-africa-how-to-help.html

images from http://senweb.lr.k12.nj.us/Library/class%20projects/Stapleford/famine45/weather%20katie.htm

No mother should have to watch their child die from a situation that we have the power to solve RIGHT NOW-

if we choose to.

Please donate now but don't stop there.

Donate. Learn. Lobby. Inform. Advocate.

But above all Speak Out because when millions understand, they will not remain silent.

Permission is granted to repost this- just provide credit and a link back

13.5 Hours

So K's hair has been a bit of a mess. She has had a ton of breakage both just due to the fact she wouldn't wear a sleep cap for the first 18 months home (and she won't stay on her satin pillow) and little kids rub their heads on everything (the car seat, the cot at nap, rolling around on the floor). Also, the poor kid has a mom who had a pretty steep learning curve with regards to her hair. (and we followed a lot of advice and bought a lot of product that really wasn't right for her hair- even though friends, and in some cases strangers, assured me that it was "exactly what I need.") So now we are trying to minimize further damage while the little short fuzzy hair grows out. A couple of people told be about a great protective style called a genie loc (or yarn braid) Basically, you take yarn, wrap it around the base of the hair and use one strand of hair and two strands of yarn to create the braid. (you can continue it past the end of the hair to make extensions if you want)

So it took five days and 13.5 hours (5.5 to take down the previous style and about 8 to put the genie locs in) but K had a new style. It has now been 24 days since the whole style was finished (and 28 since the first genie loc was braided) and we have just recently gotten the "fuzzies" back at the base of her hair near the top of her head. I will have to re-braid the ones on the top but I think that we can get another week or two out of this style. Pretty impressive considering we are in the pool EVERY day, and that that also includes our time in Texas.