Love a child today...even more

Have you ever wondered about the endless children begging on the streets in Africa? Is it because they are wanting, in need, desperate for food.  The answer is no, think again..

Think twice about what your money is funding when you give handouts.  That is what CTI does not do, is give things away, but rather teach developing communities how to produce and sustain their own lives and people.

It was brought to my attention at  dinner the other night that the street beggers are not in want or need, but rather the Taliban has recruited them and requires a daily sum of  50CFA per boy.  Where is your child today?  The masses of  faces that should be afforded every opportunity to succeed in an already corrupt society haven't a chance to flourish because if they don't bring back their allotment, they are beaten.  If a boy is run over or hurt in the streets, there is always another, if you ask his mother why? Her reply might very well be-what is worse, he will go hungry?  So in a society where there is so much hope, pride, generosity and looming greed, think twice about how you choose to see-or NOT see the world.

A Benevolent mind

Some things are left unspoken...

This Thanksgiving was spent visiting a village on the boarder of Senegal and The Gambia.  This village was different in many ways but as Bamba pointed out-notice the square huts and the 4 homes that make up a larger square in the schematics of the village.  The space, the culture and the patterns of organization are the underlying theme of this post.  Who would have thought I would be using fractional geometry on this visit...all those years of tutoring DID pay off!

This morning Alfonse, Director of  NCBA Farmer to Farmer project told us that our good work was not going unnoticed.  The villages and the people were a buzz, and someone had been promoting us on the local radio station! We are famous.  What is more validating however, is the immediate looks of astonishment when we are able to produce in 5 minutes what a woman with the traditional pestle and mortar could in 40.  The smiles resonate loudly.  One such woman was Dougal Guey a 60 something year old woman, whom exclaimed to me "C'est bon!...you have a friend here in Kayemon"  We then took a photo and she was gleaming with happiness.

Saturday evening we are picked up by Renee and Therese for a demonstration to Therese's association of 100+ women.  She points to the back of the truck with pride, and there sits a freshly, almost deceased, TURKEY!  She, Bamba and Renee went and found our Thanksgiving feast.  From what I understand he was running around like a turkey with his head cut off, and hard to catch-sorry for he bad joke, but appetizers and dinner were manifique! We are escorted to the rooftop where wine, beer and spring rolls are shared among TARANGA--Wolof for friendships, and the bond that is unspoken.  Before too long, the turkey has cooked, the smells resonate through the air and it smells just like home.  We move downstairs to their dining area, and just as the prior visit, the power shuts off, so again, we eat by a 3 candle light.  Before too long, it is time for us to go, Therese says to me (translated by Bamba of course) "I have left my heart with you".  No translation needed.  While there are language barriers, there is a common knowledge when a special friendship is made.  This is no different, only more special.

A benevolent mind


  

I am Thankful...

For many things in life, but this once in a lifetime opportunity that has been placed in front of my eyes has proved to be many things, on many levels, at many different times.

Tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, marks our 1 week point and during this week I have learned much about myself, about the culture, about the people, and been pleasantly surprised at how well I still understand French-after decades of a dry spell.

During our first week we had much to do, understand, and implement.

Day 1

Oxfam: It turned out that our meeting with the Deputy Director in Dakar would have to be postponed as he was caught up in The Gambia for a family feast and festival.  It is our hope that we will have the opportunity to reschedule for this Monday.

Action Aid: Moussa Faye introduced us to Action Aid which is a NGO based on implementing community projects and education many of which, revolve around sustainable agriculture.  They instill a sense of power, ownership and entrepreneurship among villages.  We intend on a very successful partnership with Action Aid.  "We are keen to using appropriate technology for improving agriculture and climate change" Moussa.

Sanoussi Diakite: Inventor/winner of the Rolex Award for his decorticator machine.  Much of our conversation with Sanoussi revolved around a small seeded grain popular in 16 countries from Senegal to Chad-Fonio.  Fonio is as small as a pin point, and it is/was our hope to gather as much imformation about this crop, process, and post-harvest to model best practices for improving their yields.  Currently the seed is simply thrown or broadcast over the ground, this lends to a large amount of grain wasted.  Traditional ways of processing grain in a mortar/pestle takes 4 cycles and produces 2.5 kilos of flour in 2 hours.  CTI's equipment can process 2.5kilos of similar grain in 10 minutes.

CARITAS: Is an NGO we met with the latter part of the first day that works with local farmers in agriculture.  The meeting proceeded very positively in that we have a follow up meeting with them on Thanksgiving Day while they wanted to invite their farmers for a second demonstration.  The engineer and I had discussions about "Can a women, or small group of co-ops of women easily work this machine.  I spoke with him about myself building, disassembling, working, cleaning and lifting the machine-facile une petit femme.

Day 2

Tuesday marked our day at NCBA/USAID and introductions around the office.  It was a pleasure to meet our host institution and Yaguemar the director of our project has been such a refreshing and essential and helpful part to the success of this project.  Bamba, our 3rd, in-country partner on the Farmer to Farmer project gathered preliminary results prior to our arrival.  Bamba is a true leader, and on top of everything.

Next we drive an hour and a half to the village on roads that have not been repaired due to the contractors and government fighting over being cheated.  The contractor was jailed for some time, and the roads therefore have not seen repair in ages.  And we thought Minnesota pot holes were bad...

We drive into the village to thoughtful greetings and praise for our arrival.  Many of the elders come to shake our hands and welcome us warmly.  There are children peering around every corner to catch a glimpse at what is happening.   We are seated under a Boboa tree in the shade and begin to have introductions and discussion on what their needs are, what they currently are using, how they process the harvest, crops they use among many laughs and praise.  We are ushered to the truck and an eagerness to begin work is felt by all-despite the language barriers.

Day 3

We arrive early to F-t-F office to debrief and meet the Director of the program, Alfonse Faye.  He reminds me of that uncle you had growing up that you always looked up to.  Alfonse proves later in the week to be so much more than a kind set of eyes, and a deja vu memory of your family member.  More later...

We arrive (after another roller coaster ride) at the village to children rushing to the same Beobub tree and the elders (men and women) gathered and ready to help.  We setup the trio of machines in order: Thresher, Winnower, Omega Grinder and begin our work.  I have taken post atop a plastic chair so I am able to record everything that is taking place.  The children are beautiful, the women are stunning, and the men are grateful.  Many of the women-and even some of the men-take turns at each piece of equipment, some shy away, but then warm up to it with Bamba's encouragement and openness.  His demeanor with the people is unparelleled to anything I have seen. We spend nearly 7 hours, including lunch prepared for us at one of the elders homes, at the village, and the women are still bringing baskets to process, unfortunately it is our time to go, but will return the following day we tell them.

We get back to the hotel and I am so exhausted that I finish some follow up work and pass on dinner.  I cannot even keep my eyes open and it is 7pm.  That is really the only thing I have had a bit of strife with is the jet lag/time difference.  Right about the time we are to get going, my body knows it is 2-4am and it is a hard thing to snap out of.  Especially when we have a hypnotising 1.5 hour drive ahead of us.  I reflect a bit before I turn in, and think to myself, I have gone without for one day, and many of the faces I have met today have gone without much of their lives.  The time warp we have witnessed today is so dramatic that I am humbled and honored to be a guest in their home.

Day 4

It was determined the prior day to make the grinder work more efficiently, we would have a table fabricated, Bamba took this and found a fabricator around the corner at the market and he began work on our addition.  We sat with Alfonse again this morning and with a single phone call arranged for us to meet the head of another large USAID project with which we were able to secure a meeting with him in Dakar the following Monday.  Additionaly, he recommended, no...he insisted we meet also with the partner organization of that project, and we made that meeting for Monday as well.  It is our hope to meet with the Director of WARC and also reschedule our Oxfam meeting and are awaiting conformation.

We returned to the village today and many of the young women were present.  It is generally around the age of 10-16 that many of the homestead responsibilities are passed on.  However, the little wee ones are given tasks such as collecting water and peanuts.  One by one, we were brought baskets of millet, sorghum, peanuts and each round I timed, logged the number of individuals it took, and the kilos produced.  Once again, 2.5 kilos of similar grain can be processed in 10 minutes, which would normally take 2 hours of traditional means.  After 6 rounds of various crops, I stepped in and  Rokhaya, a 12 year old girl who was very smart and per Bamba's interpretation, was quickly instructing others to "Tighten the burrs...we want fine grain"...asked her to help me take apart the grinder and clean it, so that she would be able to assemble and disassemble it...and teach others the proper way  She did a fine job.

Day 5 and 6

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, we will meet in the morning with CARITAS and their farmers and we have been asked to tend to 2 more villages.  One working with sorghum and one with fonio.  We are eager to see what similarities, differences and needs they have in terms of post harvest.

Week one is coming to a close and there have been many lessons learned.  I think the one that stands out the most in my mind is that Thankfulness is a universal language that needs no interpretation.


Thank you for your support and encouraging words.

A benevolent mind

Je dois partir

After a week jam packed with drama, I would say it is time to bid farewell to the snowy cold of that which we call home. 

Last Friday while on my way to celebrate a best girlfriend's birthday at the St. Croix Vineyards, I received an email notifying me that my passport was never recieved at the Mali Embassy in Washington DC, and was considered lost.  This was Friday at 4:58.  C'est la Vie!  Onwards to the vineyard!

Much of any spare moment of Monday and Tuesday was sucked away with taking care of getting a new passport rushed and running all over town.  Monday was also filled with back to back to back meetings at CTI and Tuesday night marked our Africa Committee meeting which I Co-Chair.  A very progressive and great meeting I must add.  By Wednesday we had tracking information that my passport was being processed and I was able to begin work on the interior design plans for CTI that another Pro-Bono designer backed out of last minute. (Which I find rather disheartening).  Nonetheless, I sit here rushing the plans over to the distributor who is considering donating work stations to our non-profit, so I have to get the plans to him today before I leave for Africa.  Sweet.

I wanted to thank each of you for support leading up to today, and continued support over the next 25 days. I wanted to send a special thank you to Jamie, Mark, Josh, Dustin, Damian, Sam, Nirm, Chelsie, Christina, everyone back at CTI and Oxfam and the Director of my Graduate program Larry Gorrell for the special send off you gave me.  It does not go unnoticed.  And of course to my family for their unwaivering love, encouragement, pie and champagne!  You rock!

Thanks, and look forward to sharing this special opportunity with you all!

A benevolent mind

Fighting Famine while Fueling Passion...

Sam Usem at Midwest Mountaineering along with rough and tumble Granite Gear have afforded me the opportunity to outfit my trip and try out some amazing pieces of travel gear.  I must say that the fine juxtapostion of the roller bag (net weight of 6lbs) that will carry my 35lb CTI Omega grinder for post harvest crop processing, and the back pack that I have been provided with for personal belongings with its thoughtful design and pockets for everything one oculd imagine--including, but not limited to space for my donated ballet slippers, is a classy way of traveling to Africa for a month.

Please visit Midwest Mountaineering and or Granite Gear for all your needs!

A Benevolent, and ready to "roll" mind

 

C'est la Vie!

As some of you know, last week, my passport was lost "in the mail" and had never made it to the Mali Embassy.  Not the ideal news to recieve T-10 days until departure, so with the help of our administrative assistant, Meghan, at Compatible Technology, and my Executive Director, Roger, whom I will be traveling with, after a stress-filled couple of days, we can anticipate my new passport and visa in hand by Monday, with a Thursday departure date.  C'est la Vie!

We are finailizing details, and arranging meetings for our non-field time in Kuer Ali Gueye village.  I am proud to say that upon arrival in Dakar, Senegal, our first meeting will be with Oxfam Deputy Director Ebrima Sonko who was delighted to entertain our arrival at the WARO offices, which happen to be 5km from our place of stay.  To have this opening opportunity to sit and discuss the due diligence of organizations and NGOs that seek to secure livelihoods of populations wrought with strife from war, climate change, lack of resources and education is a paramount ingredient in understanding how to best approach development work.  We don't develop nations, they develop themselves.

Compatible Technology International Millet processing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYfGbQgRjlY

Our next meeting, which is still pending, is with Mr Sanoussi Diakite, a Senegalese technologist working in small seeded grains who has been a participant with http://www.ashoka.org/, a global association of the world's leading social entreprenuers.  Mr. Diakite has developed some agricultural technology that we wish to see and discuss.

Following these meetings, we will be moving from the center of Dakar, to the Kaolack region where our village of farmers resides to begin our field work.  I anticipate the next 13 days to be filled with much to see and say.  (I have begun my 8 day crash course in French)...wow do I wish I had kept going with it after highschool!  Zut alors!

I am very much looking forward to phase II of our journey with a transfer into Bamako, Mali, where we will be meeting with head scientists from ICRISAT-one of the world's leading R&D scientific agricultural organizations.  We have preliminary information that has been sent, and I will be collecting that data, inquiring about other areas, demonstrating our prototypes, and ultimately headed back out into the field on one of their HOPE sites which is backed by the BMGates foundation. 

HOPE is a 10-year project and builds on over 30 years of research for development by ICRISAT and a number of partners at national, regional and international levels.

Though the project has six objectives, emphasis during the first four years is on ensuring that technologies developed during the last 30 years and that have either not been disseminated widely or are still “on the shelf” are delivered and increase farmer yields by 30% or more, benefiting 110,000 households in Sub-Saharan Africa and 90,000 households in South Asia through increased food security and incomes.

A benevolent mind

The symbiosis of beautiful simplicity and clarity

"I believe that my greatest labors should be devoted to seeking beautiful simplicity. I have avoided making displays of difficulty at the expense of clarity. Simplicty, naturalness, and truth are great principals of artistic manifestations."

 

This weekend marked a milestone that few will attempt, but those that do, respond with tremendous results.Through Crossfit Minnesota, close to 50 participants began a month long program sponsored by Whole 9.http://whole9life.com/2010/05/whole-30-v2/.  This "Paleo" diet is restrictive at first, but quickly you learn, or rather re-learn about all the habits-both good and bad-that you have spent decades piling on.  Paleo/ Whole 30, quiet simply requires total dedication to no wheat, no dairy, no sugar, no processed fooods, and not  liquor.  One month. It is clear beyond a measure of a doubt that my results are both natural and exciting.

Beginning life at Children's Hospital in an incubator-like state because my lungs were underdeveloped, came down with pnemonia, which transcended into acute Asthma, and a life in hospitals while on a multitude of medications, this "Paleo 30 day challenge" was more then just going without...if I had not illiminated these particular food groups (NO WHEAT, DAIRY-INFLAMATORY), I may have never known that one or both groups may or may not have been causing harm to my lungs.  The small, but certain weight loss is simply an added bonus. 

 

 

 

I spoke with a nutritionist at the gym and she made mention that alot of Asthmatics have a dairy intolerence, yet dozens of doctors, and 1000's of doctor/hospital/ER visits, cannot come to this deduction. Instead, the answer was to put me on dozens of meds.  It is almost maddening.  And truly eye opening.

So, for the past month, I have been unmedicated, and loving life in a completely different light.  A light I have never known.  As I prepare for my journey to Africa, I am consciously aware of what it truly means to go without.  I will be submerged in a culture that knows no other, and I will work, laugh, and most certainly feel among them. This is where I expect the manifestation and symbiosis of beautful simplicity and clarity to appear.

 

A benevolent mind. 

 

 

 

A month and a backpack...

Happy November 1st Everyone~

Midwest Mountainering Gear provided via Sam Usem Chair
of the Americas Committee Compatible Technology International
For all your travel needs go see SAM!

A decent portion of this weekend was spent finalizing details and logistics.  From where we are staying to USAID transportation to and from our village, securing meetings in London, Dakar, Bamako, Mopti, Tominian on the Niger River (near Timbuktu) and so on and so on.

Lastly, beginning the dreaded chore of packing for the unknown.  Going to countries with so little, and so adhering to that standard, but still having the neccessities entering a 3rd World Country.  What does one truly need?

I had communication with my former Director of Prairie School of Dance.  She was eager to help me in my pursuits over in Africa, so I inquired if she would be willing to donate "Lost and Found" ballet slippers for me to bring along so that I can teach morning ballet class to the village children, and then provide the kids with those donated shoes.  Both Senegal & Mali are French speaking countries so I should be able to manage.  I will be thrilled to share with you my experiences! Please visit PSOD at http://prairieschoolofdance.com/ For any of you parents that are in the Western suburbs, this is a remarkable and wholesome environment that I highly recommend for your daughters.

Krystal Ols asked me at the gym tonight about packing. I will be taking two backpacks.  Currently, I have 3 long dresses, 4 tanks, 4 shirts, 3 cargo pants, hat, 2 scarves, meds, net, 3M DEET, Sunscreen, towel, sheets, necessities.  Because I will be needing space for the ballet slippers in the personal backpack-I will most likely be re-packing again-and I am sure again, go without, so they don't have to.

I will have a bunch of literature along in a second (day pack) for data analysis, pre-placement surveys, field study, GIS/GPS modeling and mapping, as well as a computer, solar panels, blogging, video, photo, equipment, a  few good books for Grad School (and down time) which I will be taking between work at the Toubacouta/Beach  http://www.paletuviers.com/ .  I think will be a much needed and welcomed retreat. 

Tonight I wrote down my Crossfit workouts that I can do in the privacy of my own room and not go crazy without my fix of independence, so there is now a clarity and readiness that runs deep.

There is nothing better than a clear and benevolent mind...