World Toilet Day

So I just found out (via Christine Sine’s blog) that today is World Toilet Day. Thanks to my little sister, who recommended a book to me this summer called “The Big Necessity” (check out some excerpts from it here on Slate), as well as just being friends with Mel Temple, I’ve slowly been realizing the importance of this.

- Approximately 2.5 billion people worldwide (almost 40% of global population) do not have access to toilets, latrines, outhouses, or other sanitation facilities (somewhere safe, private, and hygenic) ~ via wateraid

- That lack of sanitation contributes to approximately 1.8 million (that’s 1,800,000) deaths per year.

- Over 4000 children die every day from diseases that could be prevented with access to clean water and hygenic sanitation – killing 5 times as many children as HIV/AIDS, and over twice as many as are killed by malaria. ~ via endwaterpoverty.org

- The vast majority of organizations that focus on water issue focus on the drinking side of the equation – the getting of clean water (whether through wells, desalinization plants, filtration systems, etc.), and not on the hygiene/sanitation/sewer side of the problem. However, the two are inextricably intertwined.

Working to contribute to solving this problem is the WTO. No, not the World Trade Organization. The World Toilet Organization. The WTO’s approach is intriguing.

In addition to advocacy, capacity building and sanitation projects, WTO is now driving a market-based strategy to address the dysfunctional sanitation market for the poor, by installing efficient market infrastructure.

Sanitation brings benefits of health and dignity to humanity especially to the slums, and rural areas. Promotion of ecological sanitation through recycling of excreta helps prevent environmental pollution into water ways.

Our work is important to improve the quality of human life, and we look forward to include you into this meaningful movement.

Or, as Jack Sim, the founder of the WTO states,

“We want to make toilets sexy…”

The WTO site goes on to discuss their strategy for implementing the installation and spread of basic sanitation services on such a large scale.

Instead of seeing 2.5 billion toilet-less as underprivileged and helpless people, WTO visualizes 2.5 billion of potential customers demanding safe and affordable toilets. WTO is driving a market-based approach to address the dysfunctional sanitation market for the poor.

Dependence on donations is not enough to address the problem of such vast magnitude and scale. Further, toilet promotion on health reasons has not motivated poor to invest in toilets. WTO aims to emotionally connect with poor by branding toilets as status symbol and an object of desire. (emphasis mine)

And while I’m unsure about the approach (I don’t know if I want to encourage our materialism and commercialism in this regard), I do appreciate the desire to implement this through sustainable means, and in a way this is empowering and inclusive.

I’d love to hear other’s thoughts on this (as I dash it off to make sure that this post is posted before World Toilet Day officially ends…) Anyone?

Slow motion drop of water

So this morning in church there was a guy who looked more than a little bit like Quentin Tarantino.  I don’t think it was Quentin, however, because Quentin’s look-a-like was wearing a wonderfully loud Christmas sweater, and was singing in the choir.  It made me happy to see him up there though.

In other news, slow motion is pretty amazing.  Check these out:

To see a guy get hit in the face with a water baloon in slow motion, go here.

Friday the 13th

Well, today happens to be that scary day – Friday the 13th…  And in honor of the holiday (it should be…  it probably is in Brazil…) we’re going camping!!!  A friend and I are taking the small group of high-schoolers we meet with weekly on a camping adventure in the local state park…  What else would you do on a fun, November night?  It actually won’t be that bad – it’s only supposed to get into the lower 40’s tonight, so freezing shouldn’t happen.  Not with the ginormous bonfire we have planned, anyway.  Although, the sleeping bag I’m going to be using is one bought at a garage sale for five bucks, and has never been tested by anyone I know…  That might have been a bad idea.  Hopefully though, there will be an adventure or two to enlighten you with.  I’ll let you know.

—–

I heard on NPR today that the FDA is requesting more information from the manufacturers of alcoholic energy drinks on their safety.  I didn’t know these existed until today.  I mean, I knew that Red Bull and vodka was a popular mixture at the Rio de Janeiro favela funk parties, but I didn’t realize that they actually market them…  Now if they could only mix in some nicotine as well, and have it in handy patch form (“step right up kids, get your alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine fixes for the day, all in one handy place…”)  I’m sure someone is working on it…  sigh…

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And there is reason to fear for the survival of the human race.  NASA (Yes, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has put up a FAQ on its website to answer your questions about the “impending global catastrophe and the end of the world” that will come about in the year 2012.

An excerpt -

Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.
Answer (A): Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.

Q: Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction?
A: Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.

You can read the rest of their FAQ here.

—–

And now, I need to go finish gathering firewood, packing warm clothes and the five pounds of hot dogs I bought, run by to pick up my TB medication, and sell off some scrap metal that’s been rattling around in the trunk of my car for a few weeks now…

 

In absentia

So apparently I haven’t really written anything on here for like a month or two – what has been on here are just quotes, videos, random snippets of information… For that, I blame my focus on studying for the LSAT, and then my attempts to focus my writing skills on my applications and the infamous “personal statement” that all schools will require. It hasn’t worked out so well…

Last Wed. I packed up the car, stopped to get new tires for my great little Honda Civic (tentatively named “Herbert” after the impatient snail…), and drove west through Illinois and Iowa towards Nebraska. I had two days and nights of debriefing scheduled (whenever I hear the term “debrief,” it reminds me of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip that I tried to find online and couldn’t. In the strip, Calvin is imagining he is Spaceman Spiff, captured by the hideous aliens. They are taking him to be debriefed. With a wicked grin, Calvin snickers “Little do they realize, but our hero doesn’t WEAR briefs…”)

But it was wonderful to step away from everyday life for a few days and take the time to remember and grieve the losses of relationships, to laugh again with joy over happy memories, to cry and get angry over sad and frustrating ones, to look over the experiences, decisions, and relationships over the past six years of my time in Brazil that have marked me and helped make me into the person I am today… Silas did a great job directing and providing feedback. And due to the time spent remembering, and also my friend Josh’s ongoing project, I am hoping to write something similar… delve into some of the life and stories that are floating around in my head, and to do so in a way that honors those friends and friendships in Rio.

Friday and Saturday alternated between rich times of connecting and a few moments of isolation, awkwardness, and self-consciousness as I tried to fit into my new role of “no-longer-WMF-staff, but I’m still a friend and love these people a ton.”  But it really was a refreshing change of pace – spending several afternoons with Matt and Julie and their sweet high-energy boys, soup and conversation with Hilary and Mandy, laughing and telling stories and reliving ridiculously beautiful traditions (Father Winter Freedom Day anyone?) with former servant team members, future staff, and current friends, sharing guarana, speaking Portuguese with Jara, humbling time of gratitude and thanks, sushi and wine after the board meeting (but barely any sips of wine, thanks to my tuberculosis medication that will destroy my liver and give me hepatitis if I am not super careful), discussing books in the living room while watching Chad show us how his middle schoolers can dance, breakfast with Brent at the Leavenworth Cafe, and phone conversations to fill the ride home…

I am blessed.  Thank you friends for your hospitality, generosity, graciousness and love…

Two things

So I haven’t been on here for a while, as I’ve been trying to concentrate my writing time on my law school application essays. That hasn’t necessarily worked out as well as I’d hoped. But I wanted to tell you two cool things that happened today.

1 – I woke up at four this morning, drove to the hospital, put on a sterile surgical suit and the little booties that cover your shoes and the doctor’s mask, went into the OR, and watched (while translating/interpreting) as the doctors cut into a woman’s abdomen and pulled out a baby. Wow.

And right now, I’m just amazed that we (as a species) can do that, and have invented all these machines to fix you when you break, or something isn’t quite right, and then they sewed her back up. And they did this in 40 minutes.

2 – I just got an email that tells me how I did on the LSAT. However, I’m procrastinating and finishing this post before I open it, just to build suspense. Then, I think I’ll put on Europe’s song “The Final Countdown”… (And for those of you who don’t know why I love that song, I give you “a magician named G.O.B.,” from “Arrested Development.” Now I’m going to see what I got. I’ll be in touch. Enjoy…

The Power of the Poor

Thursday, October 8th, this will be shown on PBS… I’ve never read de Soto before, so really am unsure about recommending this… but it could be interesting, and maybe even spark some discussion. Let me know if ya’ll watch it, and what you think…

Saudades

Wow… this made me miss Rio, so very very much… The city itself is gorgeous and home, but nothing compared to the beautiful people who make their home their – hospitable, generous, loving, and so full of vitality.

Of course, this is only one piece of the puzzle – don’t forget our friends on the street, the favelas, the camelôs, and those who hustle and strive to make a better life for themselves and their children. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers, and if you feel like getting more info, go here.  If you feel led to give, go here…

And now, I’m thinking it’s about time to go back, at least for a visit… anyone want to help me out on that front? =)  Hopefully it won’t be too long.

Beijos pra todos lá. Estão sempre nos meus orações… Sinto muito sua falta. Saudades e saudades…

Disturb us, O Lord…

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
This we ask in the name of our Captain, Who is Jesus Christ.

Sir Francis Drake, 1577

Sir Francis Drake, 1577

—–

via Prayers and Creeds.

Hosea

A Friday night before bed poem for you, because you are special:

(via 3 Quarks Daily…)

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Hosea

The prophet Hosea
Predecessor of Friedrich Nietzsche
Did not preach hope to the poor
A whore bore him a daughter and he called her
No more mercy;
Then she bore him a son, whom he called
You are not my people;
And his unfaithful wife he called
People.

Hosea believed that the bond
between men was not the law
but love.
To disown him they called him
A minor prophet, but
Hosea was, before Christ,
The prophet of love
And of the mystic fight
against the degradation of the spirit,
the incompetence of the lords
and the degeneration of the privileged and the prophets.

He was quoted by Christ
When he said “love, not sacrifices”
Maybe Christ was only a preacher of Hosea’s doctrine
And was turned by time into the son of God, while Hosea
Was turned into a prophet forgotten by men

by Álvaro Marín

From: Noche lìquida
Publisher: Muestra de Poesía Colombiana,
Manizales, 2000.

Oseas

El profeta Oseas
Antecesor de Federico Nietzsche
No predicaba entre los pobres la esperanza.
Tuvo una hija con una ramera y la llamó
No más misericordia;
a su segundo hijo le dio el nombre
de No eres mi pueblo,
Y a su infiel mujer la llamó
Pueblo.

No creía Oseas que el vínculo
entre los hombres era la ley
sino el amor.
Para negarlo lo llamaron
Profeta menor, pero
Oseas era antes que Cristo
El profeta del amor
Y de la lucha mística
contra la degradación del espíritu,
la incompetencia de los señores
y la degeneración de los investidos y los profetas.

Citado por Cristo
Cuando decía “amor, no sacrificios”
Tal vez cristo fue solo un predicador de la doctrina de Oseas
Que el tiempo convirtió en el hijo de dios, y a Oseas
En un profeta olvidado por los hombres.

—–

And now, I go to bed, to get up early, eat breakfast, drive for an hour up into Wisconsin, then sit for hours and hours filling in little bubbles on a sheet of paper…  Pray for me, if you think of it…  Pray that I remember the key is “love (mercy), not sacrifice…”

Pride goeth

As you may or may not know, this Saturday is a big day for me.  No, it’s not that…  This Saturday I get to sit down in a classroom with many other people (probably most of them younger than I) and take a beast of a test known as the LSAT.  They tell me that much depends on this test.  They say that if I do well, doors will open, and trumpets will sound, and all will be well.

See, I’ve always been a fairly intelligent person.  At least, that’s what people tell me.  And secretly, I eat it up.  I pretend not to care, or mock myself, but I enjoy being the smart one.  And I enjoy being validated in that belief – people telling me, remind me, etc.  So, you can imagine the gift to my pride when I get to take this test that people say is hard, and have where I stand made clear to all – “Look how smart I am!  Value me because of that…”

Even as I studied, and took practice test, it began to be a comparison game.  ”I did better than 95% of people who took this test.  I’m awesome.”  And it eventually escalated to the point that I caught myself being upset and frustrated because the score that I got on a particulary bad day would put me out of the application pool at the top schools (as in Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, etc.)  And that’s when I realized that I had gotten a little carried away.

So, dose of perspective time: I’ll do my best.  I might do well.  I might not.  Either way, I’ll end up in a place that challenges me, that pushes me, that allows me to use my gifts in a way that honors God.  I’ll work hard, aim high, and see what happens – trusting that God can and will open doors.  And I will be content…

I’d appreciate your thoughts and prayers this week, as I finish studying, and Sat. as I take the test…  And hopefully once this is over I will have a little more time and energy to write.  ’Til then…

As you may or may not know, this Saturday is a big day for me.  No, it’s not that…  This Saturday I get to sit down in a classroom with many other people (probably most of them younger than I) and take a beast of a test known as the LSAT – the test they make you take to apply to law schools.  They tell me that much depends on this test.  They tell me my future and my career and my vocation hang on the result.  They say that if I do well, doors will open, and trumpets will sound, and all will be well.

See, I’ve always been a fairly intelligent person.  At least, that’s what people tell me.  And secretly, I eat it up.  I pretend not to care, or mock myself, or joke that I have two brains, etc., but I enjoy being “the smart one.”  And I enjoy having that belief validated.  So, you can imagine the gift to my pride when I get to take this test that people say is hard, and have where I stand made clear to all – “Look how smart I am!  Value me because of that…”

Even as I studied, and took practice test, it began to be a comparison game.  ”I did better than 95% of people who took this test.  I’m awesome.”  And it eventually escalated to the point that I caught myself being upset and frustrated because the score that I got on a particulary bad day would put me out of the application pool at the top schools (as in Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, etc.)  And that’s when I realized that I had gotten a little carried away.

So, dose of perspective time: I’ll do my best.  I might do well.  I might not.  Either way, I’ll end up in a place that challenges me, that pushes me, that allows me to use my gifts in a way that honors God.  I’ll work hard, aim high, and see what happens – trusting that God can and will open doors.  And I will be content…

I’d appreciate your thoughts and prayers this week, as I finish studying, and Sat. as I take the test…  And hopefully once this is over I will have a little more time and energy to write.  ’Til then…