Get some $$$ for your jingle!!

Got this in my email this morning. Write in...you never know if you might win!
(wait that's a great jingle already!!) :-)

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Global handwashing day contest

As a contribution to Global Handwashing Day on October 15, 2009, the IRC/USAID Sanitation Updates news feed is having a Handwashing Slogan Contest.

• Participants may enter as many slogans as he or she wishes
• Each slogan must be 8 words or less
• October 13 is the contest deadline
• Contest winners will be announced on October 15th and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place slogans and authors will be featured on Sanitation Updates

Please post slogan submisisons in the Comments section of Sanitation Updates, http://sanitationupdates.wordpress.com, or email them to: dcampbell@usaid.gov

Examples of slogans include:

• Be aware, wash with care!
• Filthy fingers forecast sickness and sadness.
• Drown a germ and wash your hands!

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"Enhancing U.S. Leadership on Drinking Water and Sanitation"

You may be interested in a report that was recently released by the CSIS Global Health Policy Center : “Enhancing U.S. Leadership on Drinking Water and Sanitation - Opportunities within Global Health Programs” by Katherine Bliss, a CSIS Senior Fellow.

Here is an excerpt from the introduction:

“With the Obama administration's announcement of a new Global Health Initiative, the time is right for U.S. agencies to assert political leadership in addressing the persistent and significant global health challenges related to water and sanitation. This report focuses on the links among water, sanitation, and the health sector and identifies opportunities for greater U.S. engagement on water and sanitation as global health challenges.”

A digital version is available : http://csis.org/files/publication/090924_Bliss_WaterHealth_Web.pdf . A hard-copy of the publication is forth coming.


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Lessons from my trip

I'm back from my trip. I think everyone should take some time off and do something for themselves. This long-ish break was a b'day present to myself, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I love traveling. There is SO much to be said for the education one receives while on their travels.

There is also a level of appreciation I feel for being back in the US (of course, the in-your-face advertising, and constant level of activity here quickly drained that out). Its nice to finally be in a place where I am understood immediately, rather than the wild gesturing and slow, repetitive speaking I've had to do. Where I can browse the magazines and books, and instantly understand what is written. And I like that everything generally works efficiently, sometimes 24 hours a day. But I do miss the European way of life; there is a tremendous emphasis on living well and a little more respect for human life there. People take care of themselves there, something that is completely missing here. Salaries aren't high there, but people seem SO much happier...continually reinforcing my belief that life isn't about money.

I generally have 3 rules when I am out traveling:

• Eat locally.
• Limit gadget use to 10-30 mins per day (I stick to the lower end usually).
• Use as much public transit, and walk as much as possible.

This allows me to be quite away from my life at home (a true vacation), and be fully immersed in another culture. This is how my greatest learning happens.

From a "Tworque" point-of-view, most of my education came from understanding the points-of-view of colonial powers. I am continually curious about what prompted Colonization, their later cessation, and generally where these "Powers" are now as a result of their past actions. Are they really better off?? How do the citizens feel about their past? And where did their methods of governance come from. Being the product of a former colony myself, has allowed me a great understanding of why my country is the way it is. It also allows me to forgive and move on, and figure out the best way to deal with the current situation. 

Of all the places I visited this time (France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany), Belgium was the most fascinating. 

Belgium is utter chaos now. And I was shocked that such a small and chaotic country could have have colonized a significant part of Africa. Probably not so surprisingly, looking at Belgium today reinforced the fact that chaotic colonizers tend to transfer their chaos to their colonies (Portugal is another perfect example of this). No wonder former Belgian African colonies are still in a state of extreme and violent chaos (Rwanda, Central African Republic, and Congo).  I would highly recommend reading the book "King Leopold's Ghost" further on this subject. 

Knowing England, France, Portugal, and Belgium as I do now, I'm glad I came out of a former British colony. I can honestly say that their high-nosedness, and class-based governance combined with their interest in advanced science, technology and education (ironically) created better colonies than any others. If you look at colonies that have best survived the tests of time, former British Colonies are probably most stable.  Of course there are exceptions, and I want to make it clear that colonization, British or otherwise, did TERRIBLE, terrible things. I do not sanction the act at all, but it did happen, and it sometimes needs to be analyzed at a distance.

Finally, its a pleasant change to finally have people think positively of the US. Obama has significantly "upped the ante." The past eight years were a particularly miserable time to be traveling around. I heard every kind of anti-American sentiment (quite rightly so) when I was out-and-about, particularly in the developing world. But it does get tiring, and it is SO refreshing to not have to deal with it any more.

Obama's Youthful Idealism Comes to Fruition

President Obama was ahead of his time (photo courtesy: NY Times)

Sunday's NY Times paper was chock full of really great articles. It is during this time that I physically miss having the newspaper in my hands with my morning glass of milk and OJ, under the warm sun. But I'm not complaining. 

(watching Ecotrip yesterday...the episode about what goes into making a paper napkin, I'm not going to cut down yet another tree to get my paper fix!)

Reading this article yesterday again confirmed for me that Obama started training for his critical leadership role as a kid. Obama was way ahead of his time in terms of his thinking (making him an idealist at that age...I wonder how lonely he was as a kid!). Coming of age in the greedy 80's, he formed ideas about nuclear issues that he had no business having even then.

“I personally came of age,” Mr. Obama wrote in “The Audacity of Hope,” his second memoir, “during the Reagan presidency.”

It was a time when President Ronald Reagan began a trillion-dollar arms buildup, called the Soviet Union “an evil empire” and ordered scores of atomic detonations under the Nevada desert. Some Reagan aides talked of fighting and winning a nuclear war.

The popular response was the nuclear freeze movement. Dozens of books warned that Mr. Reagan’s policies threatened to end civilization and most life on Earth. In June 1982, a million protesters gathered in Central Park, their placards reading “Bread Not Bombs” and “Freeze or Burn.” The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops issued a pastoral letter denouncing nuclear war.

Many Columbia students campaigned for the freeze movement, which sought a halt to additional nuclear arms deployments. Mr. Obama explored going further.

At that point the President, then a 21 y/o senior at Columbia University, wrote about disarming our nuclear stockpiles. Not only did he write about it in his report for his class (which got an "A"), but he also went on to pen a lengthy article on the same in the school newspaper. Twenty plus years later, just as he was being elected into the highest political office, the article surfaced again and blew people away. He was way ahead of his time. (see the Conservatives' take on this article) 

Recently the President said this, which forms the crux of his thesis:

“It’s naïve for us to think,” he said, “that we can grow our nuclear stockpiles, the Russians continue to grow their nuclear stockpiles, and our allies grow their nuclear stockpiles, and that in that environment we’re going to be able to pressure countries like Iran and North Korea not to pursue nuclear weapons themselves.”

Thank you Mr President!!

The Case for Idealism...an Ode to Idealists!

Three young idealists, who blew away their competition: (L-R) Gandhi, Obama with his high school basketball team, and Walt Disney, all in their teens.


I often wonder about the difference between great idealism, great ambition, and great stupidity. It is a fine line indeed. Idealism has always been scoffed at. But where would we be without it?? Failed idealism is often termed as stupidity. But is it really??

I like the quote "Aim for the moon; if you miss it, you will still land among the stars." It is only when you aim high that you can soar high.

George Bernard Shaw once famously said, "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

And indeed so. Its very easy to forget that the people who have been the greatest visionaries were also termed as idiots and idealists. While everyone now might laugh at the thought, Americans have been quick to forget that the president they now adore would not have been but for a healthy dose of idealism on his part. Barack Obama for all given purposes had no business even thinking he would be President. He was of mixed parentage, with a white mother and African (different from African American) father; grew up in Hawaii (a state that has produced zero presidents before this one) with no proper religious background; had a muslim middle name sandwiched between strong Kenyan names; had a Harvard degree, no military service, very little public service, and was of modest means. Add onto that, that he was running against a Clinton. Yet he ran, and he won. And hopefully, he will be the change we all want to see among leaders of our world.

Speaking of "be the change," think of Gandhi, a softspoken, slight Indian man who thought that he could take down the mighty British empire, with a grand total of, well, no weapons. Even fist fights weren't allowed!! If he had told you in the early 1900's that the non-violence movement would not only encompass India and topple the British empire, but bring civil rights to African Americans in the US, reverse apartheid in one of the most racist regimes in the world - South Africa, bring the Chinese military to its knees in Tianenman Square, and become the mainstay of EVERY modern demonstration in the world, you would have laughed!! Many did; yet all those things happened and the movement still endures.

A few days ago, I found myself in another mecca of idealism - Disneyland. Riding some of the rides I had loved as a kid, I was struck by how timeless they were. Disney was SO ahead of his time. To think that much of Disneyland and Disney World's layouts have scarcely changed since they were built, inspite of the massive changes in technology in the recent past; that the most popular rides then still endure, and they continue to "make dreams come true" everyday is mindboggling. I'm sure if Disney had told you in the 30's that people would pay an-arm-and-a-leg to watch talking robot animals in the 21st century, we would have laughed. Yet here we are, years later doing exactly that.

Probably the biggest and powerful idealists are parents and teachers - moms, especially.

I think we need more idealism. Balanced with pragmatism, an unrelenting idealist with clear vision is capable of great change. Rather than laughing at them, maybe we should support them with our pragmatism. That while they soar high, we can be the tails on their kites to guide them, while also enjoying the ride.

Here's to the idealists amongst us!!

A wave of change is sweeping through the world

A wave of change (hopefully for the better!) is sweeping through the world; I am sure of it.

At home, a newly minted president taking over from pathetic, lackadaisical leadership stood up for the hardworking people of our country. I can only hope that other leaders of the world begin to take their lessons from him.

In a remote corner of the world, the new president of the Maldives, also taking over from bad leadership, told the world that Maldives would be carbon neutral by 2020, the first country to do so!

And only a few months ago, Bhutan's king of 30 years stepped down early to crown his 28-y/o son in power while also ushering a new move to democracy. The younger king has spent quite a bit of time abroad, including his education at Oxford and has a much more global ideological vision for moving his country forward.

And then this...I do hope that this change is also for the good...

Not sure if you heard about the coup that took place in Madagascar over the past 24 hours. But I've been following the news and been worried. SO little is known in the western world about the politics of this small island nation. I have been in regular contact with a friend of mine, based there and was quite concerned for his safety. A month ago, when we met in Los Angeles, he seemed depressed and worried about the chaos in his motherland. This morning, after a frightful 24 hours, we heard from him. This is what he had to say.

Yes, the former president was a normally good president after being elected...; but then, he got "high" on his almost unlimited powers and used it against the madagasy people´s interest.

[for example, the former president has been responsible for]:

• selling...all the fertile land in Madagascar for 99 years [author's note: he is referring to land leasing laws that the old government has put into place]

• the monopoly of numerous businesses for private interest.
  

• the small farmers' desolate situation caused by shameless overall control of business opportunities by people with big political and economic power (on this subject there should be written a book, title: THE ORIGIN OF OUR POVERTY).
  

• the mishandling of microcredits in Madagascar, in cooperation with international banks, who discovered 36% interest rates(!!) and people take it because they have no choice! Local banking institutions who want to give out domestic savings for less than half of this interest rate, are not allowed to!

• the [mishandling and privatization] of natural resources for [private gain]

• the suppression of democratic opposition and free media (imprisonment of opposition leaders, close dawn the tv channel, eliminate free speech and fire even too liberal cartoonists)

...these and many other political and economical phenomena, mixed into presidential powers, are the avoidable cause of the misery of our people in this moment.

THERE IS CERTAINLY NO EXCUSE FOR ANY KIND OF VIOLENCE [but there isn't an excuse for his] imprisonment of the opposition leaders, or for shooting instead of dialoging. And please let us try to put things cronologically right: the dialogue was refused and then the protesting started!

Today is a big day for me , my family and my kids => the end of Ravalomanana dictatorship in Madagascar ( He owned everything in our country and it have to stop) CHANGE

I don't know the future, and what will be happen tomorrow, but please pray for us to have a wise president who will think of the interest of the malagasy people and Madagascar which is one of the poorest countries in the world today.

I am safe and I am free and I am happy. Thank you for your love and support!

The End of Whiteness

The Atlantic has a fascinating article about the "erosion of whiteness" within the United States and how, on the eve of a truly historic presidency, what has long been considered the cornerstone of America is now being threatened.

The Election of Barack Obama is just the most startling manifestation of a larger trend: the gradual erosion of “whiteness” as the touchstone of what it means to be American. If the end of white America is a cultural and demographic inevitability, what will the new mainstream look like—and how will white Americans fit into it? What will it mean to be white when whiteness is no longer the norm? And will a post-white America be less racially divided—or more so? ...

[read more]