Today is June 11 here, 2001… yes that is right 2001. The Ethiopia calendar has 13 months and all the months have 30 days except a short month that has 5 or 6… Yes confusing. Tonight I went to dinner with my very good friend here that helped me start on this quest to save the world. So I blame him for all these pie eyed ideas, I have. Anyway he “tried” to explain the Ethiopian calendar and time to me. It still is completely over my head. All I know is that I am 8 years younger here, which I [View Full Entry]

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Welcome to Addis Ababa... When you first come to Ethiopia and get your first breath of Addis, your nose and your eyes remember right away that you are back. The smell of injera (a spice used in all Ethiopian cooking) mixed with car exhaust and pollution assault your nose as soon as you walk out doors. It is a smell you get quickly use to and after a short while and you don't smell it anymore. My eyes take longer to adjust, the smog is thick here and my eyes burn from the pollution but they too will adjust. Addis [View Full Entry]

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GOODS and more Goods… Toyota parts, pipes for plumbing, TV’s (flat screens and not) food, toys, blenders, clothes, rugs, towels, medicine, bed spreads, etc, etc…. Imagine living in a place where in order to get a lot of those things you have to leave your country and bring them back home. Africans that can afford to travel bring back HUGE boxes of everything. They fill their trolleys at the airport with huge bags and boxes duck taped together carry it back home either to give to their friends or sell. ( There would be a good living selling duck tape at [View Full Entry]

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Traveling over here it struck me how much easier it would be for me to help here, if it was just a hour plane ride that you could do on a long weekend or a monthly trip. You could work a while and just go home and come back another day.... I say that realizing, that is probably not true. We have things right outside our neighborhoods that we drive pass everyday and do nothing about. And we can't blame it on the distance. So maybe that is the allure to Africa it is so far away and it take an [View Full Entry]

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Going to Ethiopia this time around feels so much heavier then before. Now I have to actually put my words into action. I have to follow through on the things I have been working towards, which is not an easy feat. I am excited to see old friends again and meet the new ones that I have been in constant contact with over the last year. I have been uplifted by the love and support of my family and friends who have taken on my mission as their own. But I still feel weight of the work that needs to be [View Full Entry]

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I am just getting to the blog, my life has been very hectic, since I have returned from Africa. All of you know I am trying to do something, in an effort to help that regional hospital in Ethiopia. ( I mentioned it in my blog, the hospital in BahirDar). I want to make a small difference there and bring some very basic things, such as a laundry system and privacy curtains. Like with any project, it takes time and effort to move forward. I am very excited about some possible options to really impact a few people's lives. With a [View Full Entry]

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I am in the rain forest of Costa Rica. Humid is something I thought I knew about, but now I know the TRUE meaning!!! :) This is a tropical region and the humidity is like a wet blanket that covers you all the time. I am at a wonderful campus called Earth University, which is an inspired place, that teaches how to reuse the earth in order to supply our needs. I will write much more on the schools take on the earth´s environment later. I must let someone else access the internet now. I go into the rain forest tomorrow [View Full Entry]

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I am off to Costa Rica today and starting another adventure. I have been so changed by my journey to Africa. It’s very hard to put that down for a while and open myself back up to a completely different reality, so soon. I will start at Earth University and then continue on into the rural countryside to see how most people in the rural areas live. (I can't wait to contrast their way of life with the rural cultures in Africa.) I am unsure of internet connections, so have patience. I will try to update as much as possible and [View Full Entry]

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Back in the states… I am back! What an interesting transition that has been. While I was off on my trip, many things happened. There was a death in the family. My father had a pretty serious stroke, which no one told me about. My middle child had a freak accident. We were certainly blessed it was not worse. All this to say, that leaving your reality, for a month, things still happen! I know that my friends and family protected me from a lot of these situations, knowing that it would have made it extremely difficult for me, being away. [View Full Entry]

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I have fallen behind on the blog from the last part of my trip... but sometimes the words just don't come! It is funny how timing seems to be with me, the G-8 Summit and the Live 8 concert for Africa are in the news. It makes me feel good, that so many in the world see a need to bring awareness to African hardships. It is a wonderful feeling to know many others like myself feel that as one race we can try to end the suffering so many in our human family live with daily. Leaving Africa for me [View Full Entry]

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