LINNY FOR AFRICA

Shoes Shoes Shoes :: Revisited

2008-11-11T11:37:00.001-06:00

As of yesterday, you all got some shoes onto the feet of those who needed it...
You got their number to grow from...

...to...

Way to go!!

Keep it up!!

Get involved!!

Go here...

Shoes Shoes Shoes

2008-11-11T11:36:00.001-06:00

How many pairs of shoes do you own?

I was curious, so I counted my family's shoe collections...

(and he can't even walk yet...)

What if your shoe collection looked like this...

...can you imagine?

300 million people can.

300 million people walk everywhere they need to go in bare feet, tough bare feet. They are forced to walk on dirt, rocks, glass, mud, disease, and anything else that falls on the ground. I mean, we are so spoiled, we even have shoes to wear in the house and shoes to wear when we swim in the lake.

How can you help make this ratio a little more even? How can you provide shoes to everyone of those 300 million barefoot people?

Well, YOU can't...but WE can.

Go here and donate a measly $5 for 2 pairs of shoes to do your part in making that 300 million number disappear into a zero.

This organization is great. They have done so much good in so many people's lives and they want to do more. And they can't unless they have your help.

Talk about this to your kids, your parents, your friends, your co-workers, your church family. Get everyone involved. Get involved yourself.

The goal of this campaign is to get 50,000 pairs of shoes in 50 days for those 300 million people who need shoes.

That's a lot of shoes but a very obtainable goal. But it is unattainable without you. So get involved.

Blessed to Bless Others

2008-10-21T20:53:00.007-05:00

God told us to one - love God, two - love others. It all boils down to that. And what is the greatest example of that? He gave it too us in the form of another commandment...to take care of the widowed and orphaned. The greatest thing we can do for the Kingdom, for the world, for Christ, for ourselves, is to love. And here is the greatest example of just that seen through someone who has the means and uses it for good things.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have been very blessed, both financially and through their growing family. Angelina first adopted a 7 month old baby boy named Maddox Chivan Joli-Pitt from Cambodia on March 10, 2002. She then adopted a six-month-old girl from Ethiopia named Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt on July 6, 2005. After beginning their relationship after doing a movie together, Brad Pitt adopted Angelina's two adopted children, Maddox and Zahara. On May 27, 2006, Angelina and Brad welcomed their first biological child, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt in Swakopmund, Namibia. People Magazine paid $4.1 million for American rights of the first pictures of baby Shiloh, while Hello! Magazine paid $3.5 million for the same photo rights internationally. Jolie and Pitt donated all the profits from the photos to an undisclosed charity; they realized they didn't need the money, instead gave it away - beautiful. Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt was added to the family from Vietnam on March 15, 2007 when he was just 3 years old. On July 12, 2008, the newest members of the Joile-Pitt family were born, biological twins, a boy named Knox Leon Jolie-Pitt and a girl, Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt.

And with the twins only 3 months old, Brad and Angelina are talking about bringing another child into their family to love and care for. Because it is law that the youngest members of the fmaily must be at least 6 months old, the Jolie-Pitts have to wait until the New Year, 2009, to adopt again. But they are planning on adopting another African baby to bond with Zahara. They want to adopt from the same birthplace as Zahara, Ethiopia. The couple plan to travel there as soon as the twins are 6 months old.

I am so excited that they are growing such a beautiful family in the spotlight that they find themselves in. I love that they get it. They understand that they are so blessed, so that they have the means to bless others; and they do. They do it well. Angelina is involved in so much humanitarian work as well. With all the resources, time, money and influence that she finds in her hands, she uses it for others. Beautiful.

Angelina's eyes were first opened to the poverty of our world while working on a movie in Cambodia, a poverty stricken third world country that is covered with mines. Beginning in early 2001, she visited many refugee camps around the world to gain a better understanding of the happenings of the third world, including Afgahanistan, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia. She began to work with the UNHCR, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to raise money for refugees worldwide, meanwhile, she insisted on covering all costs related to her missions and shared the same rudimentary working and living conditions as UNHCR field staff on all of her visits. She became a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR on August 27, 2001 and said this of her motives, "We cannot close ourselves off to information and ignore the fact that millions of people are out there suffering. I honestly want to help. I don't believe I feel differently from other people. I think we all want justice and equality, a chance for a life with meaning. All of us would like to believe that if we were in a bad situation someone would help us." She visited internally displaced persons and refugees worldwide and when asked what she hoped to accomplish through her travels and visits, she stated, "Awareness of the plight of these people. I think they should be commended for what they have survived, not looked down upon." In 2002, Jolie visited the Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand and Colombian refugees in Ecuador.[46] Jolie later went to various UNHCR facilities in Kosovo and paid a visit to Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya with refugees mainly from Sudan. She also met with Angolan refugees while filming Beyond Borders in Namibia.

In 2003, Jolie embarked on a six-day mission to Tanzania where she traveled to western border camps, hosting Congolese refugees and she paid a week-long visit to Sri Lanka. She later concluded a four-day mission to Russia as she traveled to North Caucasus. Concurrently with the release of her movie Beyond Borders she published Notes from My Travels, a collection of journal entries that chronicle her early field missions (2001–2002). During a private stay in Jordan in December 2003 she asked to visit Iraqi refugees in Jordan's eastern desert and later that month she went to Egypt to meet Sudanese refugees.

On her first U.N. trip within the United States, Jolie went to Arizona in 2004, visiting detained asylum seekers at three facilities and the Southwest Key Program, a facility for unaccompanied children in Phoenix. With the humanitarian situation in Sudan worsening, she flew to Chad in June 2004, paying a visit to border sites and camps for refugees who had fled fighting in western Sudan's Darfur region. Four months later she returned to the region, this time going directly into West Darfur. Also in 2004, Jolie met with Afghan refugees in Thailand and on a private stay to Lebanon during the Christmas holidays, she visited UNHCR's regional office in Beirut, as well as some young refugees and cancer patients in the Lebanese capital.

In 2005, Jolie visited Pakistani camps containing Afghani refugees, and she also met with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz; she returned to Pakistan with Brad Pitt during the Thanksgiving weekend in November to see the impact of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. In 2006, Jolie and Pitt flew to Haiti and visited a school supported by Yéle Haïti, a charity founded by Haitian-born hip hop musician Wyclef Jean, and while filming A Mighty Heart in India, Jolie met with Afghan and Burmese refugees in New Delhi. She spent Christmas Day 2006 with Colombian refugees in San José, Costa Rica where she handed out presents. In 2007, Jolie returned to Chad for a two-day mission to assess the deteriorating security situation for refugees from Darfur; Jolie and Pitt subsequently donated $1 million to three relief organizations in Chad and Darfur.[47] Jolie also made her first visit to Syria and twice went to Iraq, where she met with Iraqi refugees as well as multi-national forces and U.S. troops. With increasing experience, Jolie became more involved in promoting humanitarian causes on a political level. She regularly attends World Refugee Day in Washington, D.C., and she was an invited speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2005 and 2006. Jolie also began lobbying humanitarian interests in the U.S. capital, where she met with members of Congress at least 20 times from 2003.[44] She explained in Forbes: As much as I would love to never have to visit Washington, that's the way to move the ball. In 2005, Jolie took part at a National Press Club luncheon, where she announced the founding of the National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children, an organization that provides free legal-aid to asylum-seeking children with no legal representation which Jolie personally funded with a donation of $500,000 for its first two years.[49] Jolie also pushed for several bills to aid refugees and vulnerable children in the Third World.[44] In addition to her political involvement, Jolie began using her public profile to promote humanitarian causes through the mass media. She filmed an MTV special, The Diary Of Angelina Jolie & Dr. Jeffrey Sachs in Africa, portraying her and noted economist Dr. Jeffrey Sachs on a trip to a remote group of villages in Western Kenya. In 2006, Jolie announced the founding of the Jolie/Pitt Foundation which made initial donations to Global Action for Children and Doctors Without Borders of $1 million each.[50] Jolie also co-chairs the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, founded at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2006, which helps fund education programs for children affected by conflict. Jolie has received wide recognition for her humanitarian work. In 2003, she was the first recipient of the newly created Citizen of the World Award by the United Nations Correspondents Association, and in 2005, she was awarded the Global Humanitarian Award by the UNA-USA.[51] Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni awarded Jolie Cambodian citizenship for her conservation work in the country on August 12, 2005; she has pledged $5 million to set up a wildlife sanctuary in the north-western province of Battambang and owns property there. In 2007, Jolie became a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and she received the Freedom Award by the International Rescue Committee.

Source Wikipedia

I am thankful that these people and many others such as Bono, use their positions and time and money to better our world and to simply bring awareness to the right things to normal people like us who are living our everyday lives in our own little world. It is a great thing to open people's eyes to the bigger world out there.

I say all this to remind you that we are blessed only so that we can bless others and thank God for it all.

Ethiopian Orthodox Church

2008-09-18T15:30:00.010-05:00

I often read a blog that updates the current happenings in Ethiopia pretty accurately. And every once in a while they will post a blog pertaining to Ethiopian culture or history and I learn something. So I decided to share this one with you.

Did you know that the Ark of the Covenant was located in the church in Ethiopia at one time? Me neither. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church can trace it's lineage back to the Queen of Sheba. She married King Solomon, of Israel, whom we all know from the Bible, and together, they had Menelik, a son. Menelik, as an adult carried the Ark of the Covenant to and from Jerusalem and the ethiopian church.

Did you know that Ethiopia was mentioned in the Bible, more than once? In Psalms Chapter 68 Verse 31, it states, "Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God." Other versions say, " Cush will submit herself to God." In the Bible and at different times in the ancient world, a large region covering northern Sudan, modern day southern Egypt, and parts of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia were known as "Cush". The Hebrew Bible refers to "Cush" on a number of occasions, though various English translations translate this as "Nubian", "Ethiopia", "Sudan", and "Cushite" (Unseth 1999). (source: wikipdia)You remember Zaporiah, Moses' wife, the daughter of Jethro, the Priest of Midian; She and her family were described as being Kushites in Numbers 12:1.

Did you also know these facts? I just learned them.
Ethiopia was among the first nations to have Christian converts.
The church in Ethiopia was officially established in 340 AD.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church followed the leadership of the Egyptian, Coptic Church, until the 20th century when the Emperor Halie Selassie pushed her to greater independence. But then in 1974, Marxist revolutionaries overthrew the bishop and began greatly persecuting Christians in Ethiopia. When that communist government fell in 1991, there was a great division in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Many Ethiopians around the world, still argue over which form of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is better.

Coptic Orthodox Ethiopian Church in Gondar, Ethiopia.

Ethiopian Church in Jerusalem

This Ethiopian icon shows St. George, the Crucifixion, and the Virgin Mary.

Ethiopian Priest, circa 2005

The Church of St. George is a monolithic church in Lalibela. Lalibela is a town in northern Ethiopia. Lalibela is one of Ethiopia's holiest cities, second only to Aksum, and is a center of pilgrimage for much of the country.

The Chapel of the Tablet at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion allegedly houses the original Ark of the Covenant.

(pictures source: wikipedia)

Saddening Statistics on Ethiopia

2008-09-08T16:00:00.004-05:00

1 IN 4 - Only one in every four people in Ethiopia have access to clean water while just 13 percent have access to basic sanitation.

WATER AND WALKING - Collecting water is a back-breaking chore. Many women walk up to 3 hours, carrying 40-pound jerry cans filled with polluted water that is likely to make them sick.

WATER AND EDUCATION - Many girls never get an opportunity to go to school because the responsibility of collecting water takes precedence.

FACT - There are more people in Ethiopia without clean water than any other country in Africa. 75% of the country lacks access to clean, safe drinking water.

WAY DON'T THEY BOIL THE WATER? - Ethiopia has lost much of it's native landscape, and cutting down trees is illegal in many parts of the north. Firewood is a precious and expensive commodity that's mostly used for cooking.

LOW RAINFALL AND FAMINE - The country's persistently low rainfall is a major factor in the extreme poverty that exists in rural areas as well as periodic famines that affect millions of people.

I got this information from charity : water. It is a great organization that is seeking to get clean water to as many Ethiopians as they possibly can. This month they are working on 333 wells for the founder, Scott Harrison's 33rd birthday. It is a great cause and you can donate just $33 to be a part of it.

water

2008-09-08T14:53:00.000-05:00

I just got an email from scott@charityis.org who is in Ethiopia digging a well today, on his 33rd birthday. He has an amazing charity called charity : water. He raises funds to build wells in African villages so that they people can have clean drinking water and water to bathe, clean and cook with. It's amazing how much that can change lives. The people struggle and die everyday simply because they do not have clean water and water is such a necessity to sustain human life. So Scott is providing access to that rare comondity for as many people as he can. Here's what the email said...

"A few hours ago, water came shooting out of the ground from 184 feet deep at the Abenea school in northern Ethiopia. More than 2,000 people looked on and cheered, knowing their kids would soon have clean water to drink.
Please take 2 minutes and watch the drilling video."

It seems like it costs us so little to make a HUGE impact on someone else's life.

Get involved. Make a difference.

Plumpy Nut

2008-09-03T15:47:00.002-05:00

I read a blog of a young mother in Iowa. She has 6 children. Her youngest 2, boy and a girl twins, "The Wonder Twins" were born in Sierra Leone and recently joined the Landers Clan here in America. Their story is inspiring.

Recently, she wrote a blog that was truely inspiring to me.

And today I share it with you and today I challenge you the same way she challenged me.

After reading her recent blogpost, I read this and this, two links that she noted in her blogpost.

If you would like more information and would like to help donate, go to her blog, leave a comment and she will surely send you her address so that you can send her a check! Every single penny counts.

And I am inspired. Will you be?

Decide for yourself.

Plumpynut is a remarkably simple concoction: it is basically made of peanut butter, powdered milk, powdered sugar, and enriched with vitamins and minerals. It tastes like a peanut butter paste. It is very sweet, and because of that kids cannot get enough of it.

Sahia Ibrahim has already lost four children to malnutrition. Now her six-month-old twins, Hassana and Husseina, are malnourished and she’s worried they might die too. So she’s been coming to the hospital for Plumpynut. Hassana, at six months old, weighs only seven pounds. While that's what a newborn should weigh, the little girl has put on a pound in just a week thanks to Plumpynut.

That's what happened to Mansour Miko and Maroufee Mazoo. Less than a year old, they had stopped eating and became listless and weak -- so weak that when their mothers brought them to get Plumpynut, the nurse put them in a van and sent them straight to the hospital. Three days later however, they were smacking their lips on Plumpynut, almost ready to go home.

Have you seen kids who were on the brink of death brought back by Plumpynut?" Anderson Cooper asks. "Oh, yeah, for sure. Again and again and again and again," says Dr. Susan Shepherd, a pediatrician from Butte, Mont., runs Doctors Without Borders in Niger.

Current Events :: Ethiopia Marketplace Explosion

2008-09-03T15:31:00.003-05:00

Video Parlor Blast in Ethiopia - BBC

There has been a large explosion in the Ethiopian capital's crowded Merkato business district where people gather socially after work.

The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt in Addis Ababa says the blast happened in a video parlour where customers were watching a film.

A local radio station says four people died and 24 people were wounded. The police have not released any figures.

Sporadic attacks in Addis Ababa are usually blamed on Eritrean-back rebels.

Our correspondent says the explosion happened at around 1700 local time (1400 GMT).

Lots of ambulances have rushed to the scene - between the main Friday Mosque and bus station - and the whole area has been cordoned off by police, she says.

Merkato is full of teashops and places where young men and boys play table football.

(HT: BBC)

UPDATE:

4 People Killed in Explosion in Ethiopian Capitol

AP) ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — An explosion in the Ethiopian capital on Wednesday killed four people and injured 24 others, a federal police spokesman said. .

The explosion is believed to have occurred in a house inside Addis Ababa's bustling Merkato market at around 4 p.m. (1300GMT), said spokesman Demsash Hailu.

He said police sealed off the area and were investigating, but the cause of the explosion was not yet known.

There have been several unexplained explosions in Addis Ababa over the past year that have killed several people.

(HT: AP)

This Saddens Me :: Sudanese Troops Attack Darfur Refugee Camp

2008-08-25T14:54:00.004-05:00

I go to this site every morning when I get to work, usually to find no new news stories from Africa, but today was different. There were several new articles to read up on. Now, I do get frustrated in the fact that I don't know what is the truth or not and who to trust in a particular conflict. Africa can be very complicated with so many tribes, governments, groups, rebel groups, and countries within it, but I try to make sense of what I read and figure it out for myself and do a little continued research on a subject.

Today, I read this.

And I don't know what to make of it. It seems to me that there are 2 scenarios that may have occur ed in this refugee camp...#1) the government backed military attacked a refugee camp in hopes to rid the camp of illegal weapons or #2) the refugees within the camp fired on some Sudanese military men who retaliated. I don't know where I see truth in these stories, they conflict one another and I don't know what to think. I just know that God knows what REALLY happened and I pray that H"is hand is involved in good and truth and beauty in the lives of those affected that day.

Either way, innocent lives were lost and innocent people were wounded. Why do the Sudanese government need bazookas, rocket-propelled grenades, and machine guns in a refugee camp? The military is supposed to protect its citizens, not be a threat to them.

I don't know what else to do besides pray for the innocence to continue to stay innocent and for safety and God's protection on those He desires to give it to.

And awareness. I am not in a position yet where I can go and make a difference, and maybe I will never be there the way I think, but I can open people's eyes to the happenings on that beautiful continent. So here I go, I tell you what I read,. learn and understand about Africa and I pray that you feel for them as much as I do, because if enough of us know what is going on and desire deeply to do something, amazing things can happen.

So join me.

This Should Not Be :: World Food Programe Aid Worker Killed in Somalia

2008-08-18T14:11:00.002-05:00

This should not be.

Abdulkadir Diad Mohamed was only 33 years old and was living his life to help others. He worked in Wajid, Somalia, Africa as an administration and finance assistant for the World Food Program and took a vacation to visit his family back home in Dinsor. But he wouldn't make it back.

He and his driver were abducted and killed as they tried to escape their captors. This is the first violent death of a WFP staff member in Somalia since 1993, according to the organization.

The Red Cross warned earlier this year that Somalia faces the worst famine since the early 1990s. The country's continual armed conflicts in central and southern Somalia have aggravated the situation, hindering people from accessing shelter and medical attention

My friends, this should not be.

Proud to Be a Sudanese-American

2008-08-07T13:17:00.002-05:00

This is a man who has seen way too much, and in the end (as of now, but his story still isn't over) his story brings him to Beijing, China to the Olympics; not only that, but he is the single American (only been a citizen for 13 months, by the way) representing our country in the Olympics opening ceremony by carrying our flag. I am proud to be an American, but I am first a citizen of God's Kingdom, before anything else; but I still understand the blessings I have simply being born in this country. And Lopez Lomong understands that all the more.

You see, he grew up in The Sudan, through conflict, war and genocide, and landed in Tully, New York, USA and on to graduate from the University of Arizona after a journey that I can't even imagine. Lopez Lomong was one of 3,800 of The Sudan's Lost Boys. These boys were seperated from their families and everything they had ever known because of the conflict and war they found themselves in the midst of. These boys wandered together throughout the region avoiding everything they could, scraping for food, and simply trying to survive. The older boys took care of the younger and they watched out for one another. For months they wandered and thousands died of hunger, disease or attacks by bandits or wild animals. It is not the childhood that they deserve at all to have.

Lomong is also a member of Team Darfur who are seeking to raise awareness of the violence and genocide in the Darfur region of western Sudan. He wants the world to know what he witnessed first hand.

Regarding the honor of being chosen from among his fellow American Olympians, he said through a USOC statement, "this is the most exciting day ever in my life, I'm here as an ambassador of my country and I will do everything I can to represent my country well."

The Olympics, China, Darfur and Genocide

2008-08-07T10:47:00.000-05:00

I heard this Olympian's story on the news this morning while I was straightening my hair. This is the genre of newstory that I perk up, stop and watch...Africa, humanitarianism, philanthropy, genocide, international African relations. I am very interested.

So, there are a group of Olympians, former and present, who have come together to form "Team Darfur". Their goal is to bring awareness to the current Chinese-Sudanese relations, oil interests mainly, because basically, the Chinese are fueling 2 sides of a war, including genocide, and the international community isn't doing enough to stop it. (Here's what I've studied, learned, read, and think about this subject.)

Former Olympic speedskater Joey Cheek, planned a trip to Beijing this week to promote the effort of Team Darfur during the Chinese-hosted World Olympics. He was denied a visa by the Chinese government, the night before leaving on a jet plane. He isn't allowed to go into China and speak encouranging China to help make peace in the war-torn Darfur section on the Sudan. Now, I say that they didn't allow him into the country becauase of his plans to speak against the government's relations with the Sudan, but that's not the reason the Chinese government gave Joey. They claim to have denied his visa and they are not required to give an explanation. But what better explanation for a formally closed country to deny someone acess into their capital city at such a time as hosting the World Olympics than to shield themselves from potential protest in the streets. It just wouldn't look good. And governments don't want to not look good when the whole world is watching. And that's what they're worried about, themselves looking good...not the millions of people dying in Darfur. Their proiorities are screwed up.

But not being able to plant his feet on Chinese soil this week isn't stopping Cheek. He is speaking in the US to as many venues as he can to keep his cause out in the open and in the public eye as they public watches intently the happenings in China this week.

A Mother's Love

2008-07-21T13:01:00.004-05:00

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso - After she woke in the dark to sweep city streets, after she walked an hour to buy less than $2 worth of food, after she cooked for two hours in the searing noon heat, Fanta Lingani served her family's only meal of the day. First she set out a bowl of corn mush, seasoned with tree leaves, dried fish and wood ashes, for the 11 smallest children, who tore into it with bare hands. Then she set out a bowl for her husband. Then two bowls for a dozen older children. Then finally, after everyone else had finished, a bowl for herself. She always eats last.

That is what I just read at the beginning of this article, and it got me thinking...

A mother's love is the same, no matter the culture, the language, the time, the circumstances.

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan

And these mothers have no choice but to feed their families first. The youngest children are fed, then the older, then her husband, and if there is any left over, she makes a bowl for herself.

Now that's sacrifice.

This is a picture of a little girl who works on her family's vegitable stand, After working hard all day, she is allowed to have an ear of corn.

Inflation :: Off the Charts

2008-07-17T14:11:00.004-05:00

Zimbabwe's problems aren't over. In the aftermath of a horrific Presidential race and elections, now the people of Zimbabwe are facing inflation, at a world-record high, even exceeding 20 million percent. For example, for 1 US dollar, you can buy a 4 pound bag of sugar; that is 20 billion Zimbabwe dollars. 20 BILLION. On the black market in the country, the same bag of sugar will sell for 90 billion Zimbabwean dollars, which equals $4.50 in America. Unskilled workers (which most with jobs are considered) make up to 200 billion Zimbabwean dollars annually. That is only 10 US dollars. TEN. per month. And those are the lucky few, who actually have jobs. 80 percent of the country is unemployed. Gas prices are also effecting the people of Zimbabwe. Because the bus fare usually exceed monthly earnings for a single person, that is more than 200 billion Zimbabwe dollars for ONE person to ride the bus; most people walk to where they need to be.

You'd think the world could step in and help.

This Should Not Be

2008-07-14T10:36:00.002-05:00

After reading this and writing this blog. I began to think...this should not be.

These children should not be experiencing the things that they have to experience. They should not be losing limbs and losing parents and losing friends and losing their home and everything they know. They should be playing and going to school and worrying about their ABC's and arithmetic. They should be eating ice cream and candy, not going to bed hungry multiple nights in a row. They should be pouring over a book and getting into a good story instead of worrying about the solders coming into their home and raping them.

When I was 12, what was my biggest concern? From what I can remember, it mainly consisted of homework, boys, church and music. I had troubles, at least I thought they were troubles, they were dramas that I blew out of proportion, but they come no where close the the troubles that these children face on a daily basis.

We've read what the Nazi's did to the Jews, Gypsies, and other "non-perfect" peoples using Gleichschaltung before and during WWII, and the world stepped in. No matter the cost, many American men signed up to fight this terrorist, Adolf Hitler, alongside Englishmen, Russians, French, Italians, and many other countries who sought to eradicate the evil happening to so many innocent.

No matter the cost.

The world saw the injustices and stepped in.

I pray that is what is beginning to happen now, with the arrest warrent over the head of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir or Sudan.

Sudanese President's Latest Problem

2008-07-14T09:49:00.004-05:00

Dale called me the other morning when he was working in the studio to make sure I heard a news story that would have definitely interested me. I saw it.

And it was on the news again today.

So on Friday the International Criminal Court decided to charge Sudan's President, , with genocide. And today, Monday, July 14, 2008, he is formally charged and has an arrest warrant out for his life. He has been accused of "masterminding attempts to wipe out African tribes in Darfur with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation."

And he's the leader of their country.

I don't see how anyone there has a chance. There has been war off and on there for many, many years, and since 2003 a genocide has been ravaging the population of this beautiful African country. Millions of people have died. The UN officially pulled out of the region multiple times due to lack of safety and security for their peacekeepers. Internationally, countries have ordered their people to leave the region for their own safety. Many non-Sudanese have been killed also. The war has seeped into nearby Chad, where many Sudanese are seeking refuge. A food crisis and famine have ravaged the country. The children living there now, do not even know what peace is. Most do not have the oppertunity to recieve an education and many, too many, live in fear for their lives every day. This is not something that children should worry about, things like "where is our next meal coming from?", instead of "which toy do I want with my Happy Meal today?" or will my mother live through my little brother's birth, instead of "I hope I get a toy at my little sister's baby shower too." They are scared for their lives, instead of outside playing soccer in the front yard. This shouldn't be.

But now, maybe a little glimpse of hope for these future generations. The President is going to be arrested, the man in charge of all the terrible things that are happening to them everyday.

Maybe, just maybe, this will lead to peace. Sooner, rather than later, please.

This Day in History :: The African Union

2008-07-09T09:49:00.003-05:00

Here's that blog I promised...

2002 – The African Union was formed as a successor to the amalgamated African Economic Community and the Organization of African Unity, with President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki as its first chairman.

The African Union is an intergovernmental organization consisting of every African state, except Morocco. It is based out of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. There are many goals of the AU. Some include, to accelerate the political and socio-economic integration of the continent as a whole; to encourage and shield the positions on issues that Africans as a whole share; to seek peace and security in Africa; to encourage and establish democratic governments, good leadership and to eliminate human rights violations on the continent.

The governments of the AU are working together to combat epidemics on their continent, such as AIDS/HIV and malaria. They are also confronting such political issues, undemocratic regimes, and mediating the multiple civil wars currently underway in their midst. The AU is seeking to change the standard of living in Africa for the millions of uneducated and impoverished Africans. They are tackling such major problems as a global food crisis, which effects their people much greater than it does our $4 a gallon milk. They are tackling famine, desertification, political and economic crisis, war, poverty, and the number of orphans and widows that has grown to be unimaginable. So as you can see, they have a lot on their plate. They are trying to tackle A LOT.

And what are we/you...me doing to help?

This Day in History :: Independence Day

2008-06-30T11:12:00.002-05:00

June 30: Independence Day in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo (1960)

I Am Thinking About Them Today

2008-06-26T15:10:00.003-05:00

This Should Not Be

2008-06-19T13:36:00.007-05:00

Rape a way of life for Darfur's women Story Highlights
*Women and girls as young as four face rape on daily basis in Darfur
*U.N. mission says rape now biggest issue facing troubled Sudanese region
*Aid workers says 100 percent of women in camps face gender-based abuse
*Sudanese government says there is no rape in Darfur

This should not be. These women should not have to live their lives through this travesty. What did they do to deserve this? NOTHING. How do they feel because of these terrible acts? TERRIBLE. I bet it is hard for them to be normal, loving, wives, mothers, and friends because they have the cloud of shame from these things happening to them that they cannot even begin to control. They deserve so much better. And what else do these beautiful women have to deal with on a daily basis? VIOLENCE...HUNGAR...DISPLACEMENT...LOOTING...SHAME......FEAR

...ABANDONMENT...LONINESS...GUILT. These are things they should NEVER feel.

And what is the government doing? the institution set in place by God above (the only source of earthly power of any kind); whose purpose is to guide, protect, correct, and lead the people under it; what is the government of The Sudan doing to protect these beautiful women? NOTHING. They are completely denying any act of rape whatsoever. That is a travesty. Aid workers in the region, who are putting their own lives in absolute danger simply by being there are saying that rape is being used as a weapon of ethnic cleansing.

What is ethnic cleansing? Wikipedia states that it is carried out by way of deportation and genocide. At the most general level, however, ethnic cleansing can be understood as the expulsion of a population from a given territory...Ethnic cleansing is a well-defined policy of a particular group of persons to systematically eliminate another group from a given territory, often based on economic principles, or nationalist claims to the land. Such a policy often involves violence and is very often connected with military operations...Ethnic Cleansing is to be achieved by all possible means, from discrimination to extermination, and entails violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. The official United Nations definition of ethnic cleansing is "rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove from a given area persons of another ethnic or religious group"[4]

This war in the Sudan's Durfar region has proven devistating. It has also grown as conflict into Chad where many Durfar residents have emigrated to find peace, calmness, food, shelter, water and safty; 6 necessary ideas for these people that is more than very rarely found in Sudan. It has also proven to be long and unending for these beautiful African people for too long. The rebel forces and government-backed militias have been fighting for as long as many can even remember.

The conflict began in February of 2003 and is still ongoing today. Mainly a tribal and ethnic conflict, not religious like many in the past, there are 2 main visible sides to the conflict, although it is still more complicated than definable. On one side is the Sudanese Army and a militia group called the Janjaweed. The Janjaweed have recruted mosrly Arab Baggara tribes from the region of Rizeigat (a mostly Muslim group from northern Darfur of camel-hearding nomads); the people of Darfur, The Sudan, and Chad greatly fear the Janjaweed and what they will do to the innocence of the greater population. On the other side of the conflict is the rebel groups against the Janjaweed. These are comprised of the Sudan Liberation Moevement and the Justice Equality Movement. These are mostly comprised of the farming peoples of non-Arab ethnic groups, including the Fur, Zaghawa, and Massaleit peoples.

The Sudanese government, while claiming to be neutral in the conflict and not supporting the Janjaweed, provides money and assistance to the militia groups and participates in joint attacks on strategic tribes, who support the rebels. The onset of the conflict can be linked to dedesertification, drought, and overpopulation. The nomadic peoples, in search for water for their herds and people have moved onto lands previously left for the farming peoples.

The UN has released statistics on the conflict so far. It has estimated that at least 400,000 people have perished as a result of the conflict, through violence and disease. Other groups have estimated that 100,000 have died each month. Obviously, because of the extent of the conflict, the massive amounts of displaced peoples, and the lack of up to date technology, the numbers are hard to come up with very accurately. The Sudanese government has only claimed that 9,000 lives have been lost since the war began; this is a tragic underestimate. The shared statistic by most groups is that an estimated 2.5 million people have been displaced since 2006; this doesn't count those displaced by the conflict before that year.

The Sudanese government has tampered with evidence, by killing witnesses, cleaning up grave sites, and ridding the area of genocidal evidence; they also stop many journalists from entering the area, many are arrested for trying to enter the region. They also strongly object to the presence of UN peacekeepers, because they see them as foreign invaders.

And the US government has labeled the conflict as a genocide. What is a genocide? ...the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group. In 1948, the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide presented this legal definition for genocide: any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national , ethical, racial, or religious group, as such: killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about ist physical destruction in whole of in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births withing the group and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

The Landers Family

2008-06-17T16:43:00.001-05:00

I have been reading blogs for almost a year now and non have been more inspiring than this one. This mom of 6 just brought home her youngest 2 babies from Sierra Leone, Africa almost 2 weeks ago. Her authenticity shows how challenging it is to adopt and how exhausting it is to be a mother and yet how rewarding and wonderful it is too. She has been authentic and inspiring with her quick blogs with many many pictures (I love pictures! They really make you feel like you are there and know these people face to face.) I just want to encourance you to venture to her blog and read their inspiring story.

Especially now after reading this blog, I cannot wait until the day we get to bring home more members of our family from that wonderful, vast, beautiful continent across the seas. Adoption is the perfect illistration of God's Kindgom. We have all been adopted into His family.

True religion is this that we take care of the orphaned.

Awareness Is Key :: Ethiopian War Crimes? American Non-Involvement? I Disagree.

2008-06-13T12:09:00.003-05:00

U.S. accused of ignoring Ethiopia war crimes
Satellite images purportedly show destroyed villages near Somalia
Above is a satellite image taken Sept. 26, 2005, of the village of Labigah, Ethiopia. Below is an image taken Feb. 28, 2008, that an analysis by the American Association for the Advancement of Science says shows 40 structures removed or damaged. The analysis says the gray-white areas are possible evidence of burning.

NAIROBI, Kenya - The United States and other Western governments are ignoring clear evidence of war crimes by Ethiopia, a key U.S. ally that launched a military crackdown on rebels last year, a human rights group said Thursday. Separately, a U.S.-based science group said satellite images confirm reports that villages have been destroyed in the country's Ogaden region.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said America's relationship with Ethiopia means an alliance with a country repeatedly accused of violating human and political rights. In recent years, Ethiopia has become a U.S. partner in the fight against al-Qaida, which has been trying to sink roots in the Horn of Africa.

This makes me so sad. Based on this last statement, it looks like to me that the US government cares more about its own war on terrorism than it cares for people (how is that possible, you say? I have no clue.). The Ethiopian people have enough to deal with on their own, more than they can handle alone really. We need to make sure that they are cared for and I don't think that America is doing enough with the abundance of resources that we have avaliable to us. I don't know what I can do to change this. I want to make a difference, besides awareness, I don't know what to do. I am just me.

Their Ruby Red Slippers

2008-06-02T11:07:00.001-05:00

The Final Word: For former orphans, there’s no place like home

By Craig Wilson, USA TODAY

Her name is Alemteshay, Amharic for “light of the world.” She’s 3, although her exact birth date isn’t known, because both her parents are dead. Casualties of AIDS.
I met her this month poolside at the Hilton hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Alemteshay is HIV-positive and deaf, and she has survived tuberculosis. But nothing seems to slow her down. She was fearless, jumping into the pool as if she knew how to swim. She does not. If nothing else, she’s a testament to the human spirit.
She was waiting to head home with her American mom. Back in Colorado were her new father and five siblings, two of them Ethiopians who had made a similar journey.
Like them, Alemteshay had been in an orphanage. She made the transition from her spartan surroundings to the Hilton pool, however, with little problem. Her new pink sneakers — the kind that flicker and blink when she danced — also helped to make the trip easier. To her, they were as magical as Dorothy’s ruby slippers.
When I arrived in Addis Ababa to volunteer with an organization that helps orphans, Alemteshay had been at the hotel more than two weeks, delayed by bureaucratic problems with her visa. Not that she didn’t make the best of a bad situation. She became the Ethiopian version of Eloise at The Plaza.
By the time she finally left, she knew everyone from the bellmen to the front-desk clerk to the waitresses at breakfast. A charmer with a killer smile. And she was not alone.
Every night, another wave of Ethiopian children would come through the hotel’s lobby, carried by their new parents. I couldn’t help but wonder what they were thinking. The kids, not the parents. I knew what the parents were thinking. You could see the joy on their faces.
Angelina Jolie had a similar look when she picked up her Ethiopian daughter, Zahara. Madonna has the same glow whenever photographed with her Malawian son, David, whose adoption was finalized Wednesday.
But news that some countries are making adoption by foreigners more difficult — Guatemala and Vietnam are two — made me wonder whether Ethiopia, which has about 5 million orphans, eventually will clamp down, too. Corruption and baby-selling are concerns in all adoption circles.
At first, even I asked myself whether these children should be taken from their native land, but almost every Ethiopian I spoke with was philosophical about the situation, especially considering the alternative. I had to agree.
An 8-year-old Ethiopian girl sat across the aisle from me on the flight home. Her parents also had died from AIDS complications, but like Alemteshay, she carries on with boundless enthusiasm and the help of yet another wide smile. She was heading to a new home in San Francisco with a lesbian couple. Over the 15-hour flight to the USA, she took turns falling asleep against each.
I couldn’t help but wonder what she, too, was thinking, but somehow I suspect she and Alemteshay will be just fine.
They seem to travel with their own ruby slippers.

Uncontacted Amazon Tribe Photographed

2008-05-30T08:56:00.008-05:00

I find this absolutely fascinating. This tribe has never been contacted by the civilized world. They are obviously still doing things the way their ancestors have for thousands of years. And now we have pictures of them. They have never before seen a airplane fly over them, (can you imagine?) as shown by their survival instincts kicking in to protect themselves and their families from this UFO, if you will. Their livelihood is threatened by illegal logging in the Amazon. That makes me sad. They have lived there without us bothering them, and they haven't bothered us for how many years? And we are going in there and trampling on everything that they know, the forest that sustains life for them. What right do we have to do that? Now it's not all our faults, because there are rules in place that protect their precious environment, but bad people out there are breaking the rules and doing just that, threatening these beautiful people. They deserve the privacy they've always had. They were doing just fine before we saw them for the first time ever in May of 2008 (and people have been in that region of the world for thousands of years prior to this airplane and camera!).

This site is what the news websites were referencing for the pictures and story of these uncontacted peoples. It says that there are over 500 indians near the Peru-Brazilian border who could see themselves in conflict with loggers, all because of illegal logging.

There are more than one hundred uncontacted tribes worldwide, with more than half living in either Brazil or Peru. All are in grave danger of being forced off their land, killed and decimated by new diseases. Survival has launched an urgent campaign to get their land protected, and a unique film narrated by actress Julie Christie.
Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘These pictures are further evidence that uncontacted tribes really do exist. The world needs to wake up to this, and ensure that their territory is protected in accordance with international law. Otherwise, they will soon be made extinct.’

With over a hundred uncontacted peoples in the world today, we should make it our mission to protect them.

After looking at a wikepedia article on uncontacted peoples, I am even more enthralled. There are many and we only know a little bit about them. It's a mystery and completely captivating.

This really makes me think of that I was always taught as a child at church (I still want to validate this belief with my own studies as an adult)...that Christ's second-coming will happen when everyone on this planet has had the oppertunity to hear the name of Jesus. I think that, if that is in fact truth, that we are getting closer to that moment. What do you think?

This Makes My Heart Hurt

2008-05-27T14:57:00.005-05:00

This is just plain wrong. I don't really know what I can say about this. These people are sent to these places to HELP people, to bring RELIEF, and GOOD to people who are needlessly suffering and neglected. And what are they doing? They are bringing PAIN, SUFFERING, HURT, and so much BAD into these people's lives. They don't deserve to be treated like that, no one does. The people sent to HELP are simply called PEACEkeepers...and that isn't what they are doing. This is terrible, my heart hurts for those so innocently and rudely VICTIMIZED by these "PEACEkeepers."

Now this isn't saying that every UN peacekeeper engages in these terrible acts, but it also doesn't specify that those not involved in the acts are doing anything to stop their co-workers. To me, it seems, that they are standing by and watching it happen (or they are simply nieve, which I don't think is very likely).

This makes my heart hurt.