I've had one of those days. The days where nothing seems to go "right" or as you want it to go. This is partially evidenced by the fact that it's 10:48 and I've just finished working. I've grown increasingly frustrated with the day but I bring myself back to a verse which I actually shared with my team this morning. (didn't know it would be so timely)
"When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul." - Psalms 96:19
I know the Peace God provides surpasses all other so I continue to think over this verse. I'm praying for that joy.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Bigfoot in Georgia?
I always get excited when I'm reading either national or international news and something pops up relating to Georgia. Sure, we've hosted the Olympics, are home to Jimmy Carter, site of Coke headquarters, and home to about half the R&B industry, but we are still a practically unknown state to the rest of the world. It's only exciting when we get some news mention! Of course, often the stories that make the headlines are far from respectable - but what happens when I check CNN today - an article with the spotlight on Georgia.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/08/14/bigfoot.body/index.html
Quoted in the article:
"The only person we would allow to come down and verify the body was 'the Real Bigfoot Hunter,' Tom Biscardi," Dyer said, referring to Searching for Bigfoot's CEO, who has been looking for the elusive, legendary creature in the United States and Canada since 1971."
After 37 years, Tom Biscardi's hobby could come to an end. I'll await the release of DNA evidence.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/08/14/bigfoot.body/index.html
Quoted in the article:
"The only person we would allow to come down and verify the body was 'the Real Bigfoot Hunter,' Tom Biscardi," Dyer said, referring to Searching for Bigfoot's CEO, who has been looking for the elusive, legendary creature in the United States and Canada since 1971."
After 37 years, Tom Biscardi's hobby could come to an end. I'll await the release of DNA evidence.
Technology at the expense of patience
During the primary season, I signed up on each presidential candidate’s listserv – just as a way of being informed of the speaking engagements (not that any are in Sudan) and each candidate’s campaign in general. For the most part, the candidates have been using this forum to raise money for their campaigns. As one would imagine, my inbox is becoming cluttered with e-mails from various campaign organisers of both Senator McCain and Senator Obama.
I was fascinated by a recent notice I received. You could pay $5 to the Obama campaign and be the “first to know” of Obama’s VP nominee. Before the person is outed to the press and public, you would recieve a text message notifying you of Obama’s choice. Very clever. (I wonder if you have to donate more for an international text?) I like the fact that the campaign has kept up with the times both through the use of technology and by capitalising on our increasing impatience and sense of urgency.
In the meantime, I’m working on increasing my patience. For me, I’ll wait out the VP nominees and continue to rely on my CNN / BBC news feed.
I was fascinated by a recent notice I received. You could pay $5 to the Obama campaign and be the “first to know” of Obama’s VP nominee. Before the person is outed to the press and public, you would recieve a text message notifying you of Obama’s choice. Very clever. (I wonder if you have to donate more for an international text?) I like the fact that the campaign has kept up with the times both through the use of technology and by capitalising on our increasing impatience and sense of urgency.
In the meantime, I’m working on increasing my patience. For me, I’ll wait out the VP nominees and continue to rely on my CNN / BBC news feed.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Rats, Rats - Why must you torment me so?
A lot of people have been very kind and frequently ask me for prayer requests. I feel horrible when one of the first things that comes to mind is my tolerance of the rats. How selfish is this?Some of you know that our old compound was infested with rats - they kept me up at night running around in the ceiling to the point which forced me to move out to the tent. I was hopeful when we moved into our new house that the rats would not move in with us. I was wrong. After 9 months here, we have roommates!
This is just not an issue that you deal with in the suburban US. The worst thing we encounter at home in the rodent department is the opossum which might come onto your porch or deck occasionally. I am not comfortable with this. My colleague, Kelsey, has a list on her blog of things she's learned in the past few years living in many developing countries. One item is Rats. "Get used to them. They are everywhere," she says. I simply refuse. We are bigger, I would hope stronger, but we are losing!
Thankfully, due to the fact that I keep my room sealed like Fort Knox, I have only a few rat stories and only one involving my bedroom. However, the common area, particularly kitchen and dining area are another story. These rats are relentless. They are persistent. They are winning. They have become domesticated. We had some friends over watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and two of the rats were running around. They are no longer scared of us - they have the upper hand. The team has even given them names.
I was having dinner last night with one of our donors who explained her war with the rats. Thanks to very dedicated guards, she is winning the battle. Her guards set traps every night (it is in their job descriptions) and they catch at least 4-5 rats by morning. This is at a compound where they don't even keep trash overnight. She has the cleaners dettol the floors daily. We are far from that. We have sometimes 10-15 people in and out and Sudanese staff who cannot fathom a life free from rats, so we struggle. Last night, we ensured the door from our kitchen and dining area was closed, hoping they would stay in the kitchen. We woke to find they had gnawed away at the bottom of the door to make a way out. I attach some evidence of their existence:
Exhibit 1 - the lid to our powdered milk - a foil seal covered with plastic- fully closed. Result: Eaten
Exhibit 2 - A banana from a bunch left in a fruit basket. Notice the end to the right. The ends of the entire bunch were like this.
So, the investigation begins. What do we do? Clearly, we will need to improve our practices, up our hygiene but as for the rats that are already here - what do we do? poison, rat glue? - there are lots of methods. I'm lucky I have a little break from Juba for a few weeks so my prayer is that the team figures it out without me.
This is just not an issue that you deal with in the suburban US. The worst thing we encounter at home in the rodent department is the opossum which might come onto your porch or deck occasionally. I am not comfortable with this. My colleague, Kelsey, has a list on her blog of things she's learned in the past few years living in many developing countries. One item is Rats. "Get used to them. They are everywhere," she says. I simply refuse. We are bigger, I would hope stronger, but we are losing!
Thankfully, due to the fact that I keep my room sealed like Fort Knox, I have only a few rat stories and only one involving my bedroom. However, the common area, particularly kitchen and dining area are another story. These rats are relentless. They are persistent. They are winning. They have become domesticated. We had some friends over watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and two of the rats were running around. They are no longer scared of us - they have the upper hand. The team has even given them names.
I was having dinner last night with one of our donors who explained her war with the rats. Thanks to very dedicated guards, she is winning the battle. Her guards set traps every night (it is in their job descriptions) and they catch at least 4-5 rats by morning. This is at a compound where they don't even keep trash overnight. She has the cleaners dettol the floors daily. We are far from that. We have sometimes 10-15 people in and out and Sudanese staff who cannot fathom a life free from rats, so we struggle. Last night, we ensured the door from our kitchen and dining area was closed, hoping they would stay in the kitchen. We woke to find they had gnawed away at the bottom of the door to make a way out. I attach some evidence of their existence:
Exhibit 1 - the lid to our powdered milk - a foil seal covered with plastic- fully closed. Result: Eaten
Exhibit 2 - A banana from a bunch left in a fruit basket. Notice the end to the right. The ends of the entire bunch were like this.
So, the investigation begins. What do we do? Clearly, we will need to improve our practices, up our hygiene but as for the rats that are already here - what do we do? poison, rat glue? - there are lots of methods. I'm lucky I have a little break from Juba for a few weeks so my prayer is that the team figures it out without me.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Dreaming of cheese and exercise
So cheese and exercise don't really go hand in hand. Well, maybe the consumption of cheese would require a certain amount of exercise but other than that, no relation, except that I'm desperately craving both!
Juba is a great place. In the world of relief and development work, it's really nice. For the most part, it's safe. We don't have some of the risks like other teams have like our colleagues in Darfur or Afghanistan. We can go out fairly freely. We can pop to a restaurant and have a drink, even. New products and services are coming to Juba everyday. One restaurant even has ice cream! What I miss dearly and what is definitely not consistently in Juba is cheese! Any kind really. At this point, I would be happy with a Kraft single even. I find myself craving cheese. I had this problem nearing my trip home at Christmas and my Dad took me to Whole Foods on the way home from the airport, where I stood in awe at the cheese counter for 20 minutes and left with $50 worth of cheese. In London in May, I ordered the cheese tray for my dessert! Can you believe I even passed up chocolate? For my 2 week holiday in Kenya, I had cheese and salad for every meal, literally (even breakfast). My trip home (in less than 3 weeks!!) gives me an end in sight to this cheese crisis so I'm looking forward to another Whole Foods trip. I'm sure after my 3 weeks in the States, I'll be posting a follow-up about the law of diminishing returns.
Exercise. When you can exercise, you dread it, and when you can't, you crave it. Why is this always the way? As most people know, I enjoy exercising. I prefer the gym but I don't mind a good bike ride or the occasional run. It's a bit challenging in Juba. It's pretty safe so my hesitation to running in Juba isn't so much the safety factor but just the glares and comments you receive when running. Think about it. The Sudanese aren't too concerned about exercise. They walk long distances (we are talking miles) to carry back gallons and gallons of water a day. Cooking a meal is physically tiring and in most of the country food is limited - so clearly no one is calorie counting. So when they see a white girl running, I'm sure they think - "what is she running from?" The children smile, waive and greet with "morning" even in the evening. Some people even join in. For any of you who have seen me run, my form is less than stellar - so I don't really like to bring this attention on myself. So, I've had to resort to my Tae-bo DVD or my stairstepper which I carried as my hand luggage from Nairobi (this was a sight) back in March. All of which I do from the comfort of my very hot room. For everyone who is dreading the gym, I hope this gives you an appreciation for your elliptical trainer.
I can't wait to be in the ATL in a few weeks and have the freedom to run and burn some calories - I guess I better after all that cheese!
Juba is a great place. In the world of relief and development work, it's really nice. For the most part, it's safe. We don't have some of the risks like other teams have like our colleagues in Darfur or Afghanistan. We can go out fairly freely. We can pop to a restaurant and have a drink, even. New products and services are coming to Juba everyday. One restaurant even has ice cream! What I miss dearly and what is definitely not consistently in Juba is cheese! Any kind really. At this point, I would be happy with a Kraft single even. I find myself craving cheese. I had this problem nearing my trip home at Christmas and my Dad took me to Whole Foods on the way home from the airport, where I stood in awe at the cheese counter for 20 minutes and left with $50 worth of cheese. In London in May, I ordered the cheese tray for my dessert! Can you believe I even passed up chocolate? For my 2 week holiday in Kenya, I had cheese and salad for every meal, literally (even breakfast). My trip home (in less than 3 weeks!!) gives me an end in sight to this cheese crisis so I'm looking forward to another Whole Foods trip. I'm sure after my 3 weeks in the States, I'll be posting a follow-up about the law of diminishing returns.
Exercise. When you can exercise, you dread it, and when you can't, you crave it. Why is this always the way? As most people know, I enjoy exercising. I prefer the gym but I don't mind a good bike ride or the occasional run. It's a bit challenging in Juba. It's pretty safe so my hesitation to running in Juba isn't so much the safety factor but just the glares and comments you receive when running. Think about it. The Sudanese aren't too concerned about exercise. They walk long distances (we are talking miles) to carry back gallons and gallons of water a day. Cooking a meal is physically tiring and in most of the country food is limited - so clearly no one is calorie counting. So when they see a white girl running, I'm sure they think - "what is she running from?" The children smile, waive and greet with "morning" even in the evening. Some people even join in. For any of you who have seen me run, my form is less than stellar - so I don't really like to bring this attention on myself. So, I've had to resort to my Tae-bo DVD or my stairstepper which I carried as my hand luggage from Nairobi (this was a sight) back in March. All of which I do from the comfort of my very hot room. For everyone who is dreading the gym, I hope this gives you an appreciation for your elliptical trainer.
I can't wait to be in the ATL in a few weeks and have the freedom to run and burn some calories - I guess I better after all that cheese!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
