HELLO OUT THERE!!

My apologies for having been a delinquent blogger as of late. I've been passing my website address out like leftover Halloween candy, implying to folks that they'll be reading my "updated" thoughts (on something). The reality is that the Internet in my house is broken and I've got to trek down to my dad's office when he's away or over to an Internet cafe to get service. I was hoping that for my last month in the United States of America for a while I'd get to enjoy some the country's luxuries and conveniences from the privacy of my home. In not too long at all, I'll be hopping on a motorbike or into the back of a Rover and trekking 15-20 minutes on dusty roads in order to reach a high-speed satellite uplink. Surely then I'll take advantage of every moment online -- writing, researching, posting -- but for now I'd love to browse iTunes, surf the net, online window shop before I go out and commit to purchases... Alas!

Geek squad to the rescue! Something's got to be done about all this...

...and now for little comic? relief

ME: I haven't blogged in a week. And I feel neglectful. But I can't come up with anything interesting to say.

Cousin: oh, I got something.

ME: ok.

Cousin: comment on this...

ME: ok.

Cousin: one of the greatest articles I've ever read.

ME: ok... WHAT IS IT?

Cousin: singlehandedly changed my favorite news to BBC.

ME: hahaha

Cousin: and made my life goal to be king...

Cousin: note it was the day before my birthday.

article in question:

Monday, 2 May, 2005
Lion Mutilates 42 Midgets in Cambodian Ring-Fight
Spectators cheered as entire Cambodian Midget Fighting League squared off against African Lion

An African Lion...is responsible for the death of 28 Cambodian Midgets

...the fight was slated when an angry fan contested Yang Sihamoni, President of the CMFL, claiming that one lion could defeat his entire league of 42 fighters.

Sihamoni takes great pride in the league he helped create, as was conveyed in his recent advertising campaign for the CMFL that stated his midgets will "... take on anything; man, beast, or machine...

Embrace the differences.
My family is so weird.

new multi-media website

It took a while to get it all together but finally I made a website to host photos and such. The first webpage is a little movie -- pictures of a kid in Haiti named Widmy and a recording of a song he wrote. Check it out!

I just wonder what's going to happen when I have to go it alone with this technology... no 800-mac-help!!! and no Apple store in Haiti.

by the grace of God I go...

My parents and two friends from work will be helping me sell my photographs whilst I reside in Haiti. Check out my small and growing collection at Sculptr.

Charlotte and Rob - two friends studying medicine at Georgetown - will be joining me in Haiti for just under two weeks to help out with the clinic at Pwoje Espwa.

Ginger - a friend from work - will be joining me in Haiti in June (can't WAIT!).

A dude I met at the Ritz store is selling me his D-SLR camera on discount so I can continue my documentary efforts.

Matt - a friend from Cornell - will be working with me on plot lines for a documentary of Pwoje Espwa (maybe he'll come visit too...).

Emily - a friend from work - will continue to brainstorm with me about continuity for the clinic at Pwoje Espwa and other projects.

Friends, colleagues and family continue to contribute in all kinds of ways.

When you're doing what you're meant to do... things seem to fall into place!!

*On another note -- check out my friend Joe's blog. He's living in Africa - working and travelling to all sorts of places (Sudan?!). Not only does his blog make for interesting reading... he's hilarious!

Cheers! Happy weekend!

the shores of Penobscot

- pink rain - glowing sunset - evergreens growing down onto the beach - steal gray tide - rocky islands - billowing clouds -

My childhood memories are built on Maine's stone-scattered shores. In many ways, my friends and I can say we become who we are today because of the cool summer nights and constant contact with raw nature. The place is a touchstone for us -- a place where we can return to see familiar faces and landscapes. When we take off to far corners, we create a vast network anchored in the deep Penobscot Bay.

I am grateful to all my friends - new and old, relatives too - and especially those with whom I passed endless summers, musing on sun-soaked rocks and gazing upon star-flecked skies. The last months have shown me the significance of these brainstorming and R&R sessions. As we enter the period in our lives when we can aid each other in crucial ways as we struggle to make something of ourselves, I am struck by the loyalty and vitality of our solid foundations.

Violet Skies

On a clear evening in Mexico, the moon shows like a speck of silver in a glowing violet sky before the sun sinks into the waves of the Pacific. Two beacons of light coexist in one frame - the lesser taking its brilliance from the greater as it mounts the sky. The ephemeral qualities of wisping clouds and dusty rose colored skies recall the transient nature of life.

We wake up each day with a trust that things will go much as they normally do. All we can do is hope and pray they do. We make plans for the future - we invest time and money on these dreams. Often, living for the moment seems a luxury most of us cannot afford. What we cannot, in fact, afford is to not live for the moment. With each passing second, the sun creeps lower and none can tell what moment the last rays will shine.

on going prep

In just seven weeks I will be enjoying the balmy winter weather of the Caribbean. Pre-departure preparations march steadily along. Each day brings a new understanding of what it means to rely on the grace and kindness of others. The medical, financial, and practical preparations consume more and more of my time. Slowly, the weight of my decision to live in Haiti sinks in.

I have seen more doctors and dentists in the last month than I have in the last year -- just to make sure everything is OK and I won't have to "pull a Tom Hanks in Cast Away," as one doctor gently put it. I have had every conceivable vaccination (save the Yellow Fever, which is of no apparent concern in Haiti) -- I feel like a pin cushion. Insurance covers nothing for travel vaccinations and between the rabies shots and malaria pills, I am already running up a fairly significant tab. But the strange side effect of all this has been sudden fascination in infectious diseases -- diseases that, in a world of increasing prosperity, continue to ravage destitute populations.

Aside from amassing immunities, I have begun to collect items necessary to living in the 3rd world. One of my friends helped me use e-Bay to find a cheap mosquito net. A colleague who deployed to Haiti in the 1990's recommended a pocket medical guide, which I found and purchased online. My parents offered to spilt the cost of a 10 mega pixel D-SLR. An awesome employee at the Apple store in Bethesda spent hours with me updating software and explaining how to take advantage of my PowerBook's media capabilities. I got a charger and cable for my digital video camera. I also splurged on a set of travel speakers for my iPod -- which will be loaded not only with favorite albums and books on tape, but also kids tunes and educational tracks (I'll be working with hundreds of children, after all). Last weekend, I started practicing my French again with a former teacher (who, incidentally, has visited Haiti under Baby Doc's regime). This weekend I'll begin compiling a travel medicine kit and any outdoor clothing my wardrobe still lacks (slickers, cargo shorts, sturdy sandals...).

The rector of my parish - the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament - posted my upcoming trip in the weekly bulletin and pledged some moderate financial support. My parents have been wonderful in their support. Friends have offered to do what they can -- some already have. As the Christmas season draws near, fundraising will become more difficult. Most likely my efforts will continue electronically from Haiti and into next summer when I can play a more experienced spokesperson for Theo's Work.

Sometimes I am overwhelmed by people's generosity. Sometimes I am disheartened by my inability to spark interest. As I read more about Haiti and those who have already made a small difference there, I grow more determined that this corner of poverty in an otherwise relatively wealthy hemisphere should be eradicated.

troops with a sense of humor

at least they're laughing.John Kerry - and his fellow nay-sayers - have done their best to slander the war efforts and the efforts of our troops. Now he's calling them dumb. What's next?

Poverty’s Lessons: From Madonna to Microloans

It was a surreal juxtaposition of news this Fall; to paraphrase: poverty makes strange bedfellows. Muhammad Yunus won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for the brilliant concept of microloans for the poor. Madonna sparked much criticism by using her personal wealth and fame to address poverty in Africa’s far-away Malawi. And for my part, with a more or less contemporaneous visit to near-by Haiti, I witnessed firsthand the kind of tragic poverty that motivates Madonna, and the kind of sensible micro-economics that Nobelist Yunus promotes.

In rural Haiti, a child-centered non-profit called Theo’s Work is helping alleviate the devastating effects of poverty for over 1,000 children, mostly orphans. Founded in 1998, and lead by Father Marc Boivert, this important ‘mission’ is following both the tradition of “teach them to fish,” and the Nobel-class principals of personal economic responsibility, converting despair to hope. In fact, the children there suggested “Pwoje Espwa” as a name for the project -- Haitian Creole for Project Hope.

The small ten-seat aircraft that carried me this fall to the southern Haitian village of Les Cayes only recently began serving small outlying populations. I arrived in time for supper and to see the physical beauty of rural Haiti in last light. Local residents with deep, knowing stares watch visitors from the roadside. The reek of trash affronts my senses at every intersection. Children wander half to completely nude, hair patchy and tinted red from malnutrition, stomachs puffed out. Women walk in slow procession toward the mountains, accompanied by their boney donkeys that carry enormous amounts of unsold charcoal. They will reach their destinations late into the night and turn around hours later to return to try and sell their wares once again.

The state of destitution is shocking. Rather than half a world away, it is barely two hours travel from the Sweet Land of Liberty, the wealthiest superpower on Earth. Haiti - the western third of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola – is barely 600 miles from the U.S. but leagues away in prosperity from even its island-sharing neighbor, the Dominican Republic.

Haitians rank among the world’s poorest. It is hard to imagine, without seeing. A volunteer at Pwoje Espwa described Haiti as the only country with a “sub-title” -- rarely does one read “Haiti” without the collateral phrase, “the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.” The phrase seems a way to write the country off rather than to draw attention the desperate need.

Much like the economic principal of 2006 Nobel winner Mohammed Yanus, Pwoje Espwa puts the responsibility, and the money, in the hands of those it serves. The organization employs Haitians as house mothers, teachers, school principals, drivers, artists, cooks, nurses, farmers and a myriad of other occupations that opened because of the purchase of a 140 acre farm that produces food and houses hundreds. One of the drivers, who came to Fr. Marc as a child only nine years ago, has now saved enough money to buy land. Eventually, he will build a house.

The artisans – Pwoje Espwa’s kids who make art from oil drums, beads, and twine – were originally handed materials by the project. But the program’s directors found that things – tools and such – would mysteriously go missing. Similarly, the project ‘lost’ three car batteries in one day with not a single driver owning up to their disappearance. The solution: Fr. Marc provided (small) amounts of money, instead of the materials, and required the artists and the drivers to replace anything missing with money from their own profits and salaries. Magically, tools and car batteries stopped walking away.

The Peace Corps has deemed Haiti in a state of civil unrest and keeps volunteers away. Jesuit Volunteers International has followed suit, pulling their volunteers several years ago. The UN certainly has a presence there, but often fails in efficacy because actions frequently get mired in local bureaucracy. The sustainable success stories come from the small grassroots organizations – non-profits that work directly with the people and for the people, and practice sensible, Nobel-class, economic motivation.