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Archive for January, 2010

Week 4: A Fine Line Between “Them” and “Us”

Posted in Clothing, Homeless, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 31, 2010 | 2 Comments »


The way was packed. I ran interference while Nils carried. We wove our way through hundreds of others like us on this Saturday morning toting large shopping bags of goods.

Our goal, the homeless shelter called “Die Gruft” (website in German only), in the former catacombs of Mariahilfer Church, is smack dab in the middle of the BUSIEST shopping street in Vienna, Mariahilfer Strasse. Neighbors of the church include boutiques and department stores that carry top ready-to-wear lines like Hugo Boss, Joop!, Burberry, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein. The irony of it all didn’t escape Nils. (more…)

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“A Poem for My Father”

Posted in Aging, Alzheimer's, tagged , on January 27, 2010 | 3 Comments »


A friend, artist and fellow writer just got the news that her father has Alzheimer’s. Though it’s been suspect for some time, the fact that it’s now “official” still comes as a shock.

Tamlyn’s given me permission to share her feelings here.  ”There are many more people going through something similar right now,” she said.

As you can see, she does beautiful things with words and pictures.  I’m sending healing thoughts her way.

“I wrote this poem a couple of years ago… The process went so slow for a couple of years and now… It goes so frakking fast, his memory is fading at such a rapid speed, that things he knew yesterday, he doesn’t know today… This poem was written on one of his bad moments back then. Now the good moments are few and far between.

Anyway, here goes…” (more…)

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Week 4: It’s Awfully Cold Outside

Posted in Homeless, tagged , , , on January 25, 2010 |


I’m often grateful that I work at home, but on days like today, particularly so. This morning I felt very bad for Nils as he buttoned his heavy overcoat, wrapped has navy cashmere scarf around his neck and donned his hand-knitted wool cap to brave the weather to head to his office.

It’s beyond freezing outside — both literally and figuratively!  According to the Google weather gadget on my computer, it is -4° Celsius outside (25° Fahrenheit).  And it looks like we’ll get no relief through the rest of the week: The forecast shows daytime temperatures could go as low as -9° C/16° F, night time temperatures as low as -16°/3° F.

Just before lunchtime, I took a break from sitting at my computer in my toasty warm office. We live in a corner fourth-floor apartment and have a lovely bay window with a nearly 180 degree panoramic view over the streets and across the neighboring rooftops. I occasionally take quiet moments there to seek inspiration and people watch. Today, down below, huddled close to the buildings across the street, a “creature” shuffled. The form was a moving bundle of what seemed to be several layers of old, tattered blankets. He (or she, it was impossible to tell) appeared to have enormous feet — I can only guess that they were wrapped in several layers of cloth, or, if lucky, several layers of socks. For some unknown reason (I’d never done so before), I placed the palm of my hand against the window. By pure instinct, it jerked away. The glass was so cold it burned. (more…)

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A Friend’s Impact: St. Bernard Project, LA, USA

Posted in Disaster Relief, tagged , , on January 23, 2010 | 2 Comments »


Many thanks to friend and follower, Donna Saady, for sharing her personal Impact story from last year. She participated in the St. Bernard Project, an organization dedicated to rebuilding a reclaiming homes that were severely flooded when Hurricane Katrina hit 4-1/2 years ago.

Note: St. Bernard Project is one of the charities on the Chase Community Giving list.  If you’d like to vote for them, please do so on Facebook at: http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/486661.  It is one of  many worthy projects vying for funding. (more…)

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Week 3: Quick! Help Give $1 Million US

Posted in Animal Conservation & Welfare, Children, Disaster Relief, Education, Environment, Hunger, tagged , , , , , on January 21, 2010 | 1 Comment »


Ok, we’re posting a little early for Week 3, but that’s ’cause we want to make sure everyone gets their votes in on time.

Each and every one of us who has internet access can have Impact this week.  But, do it now, please!  Deadline for voting in the second and final round is tomorrow (January 22nd).

For friends and followers already on Facebook, this week’s Impact is truly a no-brainer; for those not yet on Facebook, there couldn’t be a better time to join up. (more…)

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Week 2: Zamukwazi Primary School

Posted in Children, Education, tagged , , on January 20, 2010 | 2 Comments »


It was hard not to despair for the children in this part of rural South Africa when I saw the conditions under which they must try to learn and teachers must try to teach. Last Tuesday’s visit to Zamukwazi Primary School had me think back to my own privileged elementary schools days. Imagine the backless chairs, broken desks, moldy books and torn and tattered posters and handouts that we deemed appropriate only for the trash bin; now imagine that they were in better condition than many of the best resources some children have at their disposal.

My time at this primary school was organized by neighbor and friend, Ruth Credo, who is the Secretary and Treasurer of Kamberg Valley Rural Community Upliftment (Kamvarcu), the social responsibility arm of the Kamberg Valley Association (the community in which our farm is located in South Africa). (more…)

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Haiti: Earthquake Relief

Posted in Disaster Relief, tagged , , , , , on January 15, 2010 | 2 Comments »


According to a Red Cross spokesman, up to 3 million people may have been affected by Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti. Our thoughts are with the people of Haiti.

To help, information can be found through official websites of the Red Cross, Oxfam, and World Vision, to name a few. CNN’s Impact Your World provides a good listing of legitimate emergency relief and aid organizations providing search and rescue missions, medical assistance, clean water and food amongst other services (many thanks to Ricki for providing the link to CNN’s site)

Want to do something immediately?  If you’re in the United States, text “HAITI” to “90999″  and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts.  Your donation will be charged to your cell phone bill.

Beware of scams:  When giving, please make sure you’re giving through a bona fide aid organization. Unfortunately there are those who try to profit personally from disaster situations like this.

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Week 1 Complete: Tree Planting

Posted in Environment, tagged , , , , on January 11, 2010 | 7 Comments »


In 2007, now ex-President Thabo Mbeki and the Water Affairs and Forestry Ministry of South Africa, initiated a campaign called “Plant a Million Trees” with the purpose to help mitigate the effects of climate change. As a part of a UN program to encourage all countries to plant trees, the goal of the South African campaign is to plant a million trees per year in South Africa.

In the spirit of this campaign, last year, Nils and I planted 15 trees — 13 which we’re happy to report survived abject neglect and local cattle or the lawn mower that mistook them for snacks. (more…)

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Week 1: Environment or Animal Conservation?

Posted in Uncategorized on January 2, 2010 |


Happy New Year to all our friends and followers!  I hope everyone had as enjoyable a time ringing in the new year as we did. (we were asleep by 10:00 pm)

Hurrah, the little internet cafe (with good coffee and muffins) still has internet access.  However, speed is a bit dicey and I’ve already been here a 1/2 hour waiting for downloads.  So, I’m afraid this will be extremely brief.  

Nils and I are still in discussion over whether to do a week of environmental activities or animal conservation.

Not too hard to see what Nils prefers.  He’s surveying for planting of trees in our names and the names of many friends and family members:

 

 

 

I, on the other hand,

am

still on the fence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ll be reporting in later in the week and certainly see you next Monday with our progress.

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January MIC: Yes we can

Posted in Children, Hunger, tagged , , , , , , , on January 1, 2010 | 2 Comments »


January’s Monthly Impact Challenge idea comes from reader Aresby:

We’ve all been generous through the season, but hunger doesn’t stop with the holidays. Let’s continue to remember the needy children, families and seniors! How about putting aside an extra can of veggies every day. Or next time there’s a two-fer, save that “free” can for others. At your next dinner party or when friends come to watch the game, ask guests to bring cans of food or boxes of cereal instead of a six-pack or box of chocolates. You don’t need those extra calories anyway, right? (Ok, so maybe I should only speak for myself.)

This month’s challenge will be judged by weight, so collect these canned and unopened non-perishable goods*, and weigh your bag(s) before delivering them to your local food bank. (more…)

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