"Declaring War on Fat and Laziness"

I have lived in Zimbabwe, Spain, the US and now here and I must say I believe that I am a respectful, "PC" type guy. I like America, I dont agree with everything America does, but, I am proud of many things that embody America. I am proud to be American, some days more than others, but, nonetheless, I like being a combination of Zimbabwe, Britain and the States. I also like people who are nice.

It's difficult traveling the world and finding people who HATE America, who think we are horrible instigators of everything that is evil. I understand many of the viewpoints they come from and many I would agree with, but, even in that, I would never present things the way some people present them. There are many things that I don't like about South Africa, but, choosing to focus on the positive, I am here and I enjoy it. Although many things that America does are wrong, many things that America does are right. The point of this post though is not to get serious about those issues, because I could "argue" and debate many of the different sides to that coin, living in both countries to the person that is yelling about it while sipping his McDonalds and wearing his Nike's. The point of this post is to truly dissect the image that America has given to this one man, sitting on the couch at my bible study.

For one of my best friends bachelor's here, about 8 of us guys hit up BOOT CAMP. We did huge mud rolls and drops, ran and swam through swamps, jumped hurdles, went through sand pit cargo net routines, over rope swings and got tons of pushups in - it was a ton of fun, with or without, Sargeant Viper. We all ended up mud ridden, tired, and laughing quite a lot.

The night before Ange and I went to dinner with very close friends, Casey and Gareth and I was telling about how easy its been over the past almost 3 years to make friends with South Africans, how the cultures collide and how I feel that I have transitioned. We then discussed the typical "we hate america" experiences I had when I first got here, sadly all with Christians. The first one, was the one that stuck out the most. My 2nd week here in SA, back in 2005, my first bible study I came to - the conversation went like this:

Me: Yes, Im from America.

Rogan: Wow, all Americans are fat and lazy.

Me : (looking at my self thinking, well, im not fat, and im here in Africa, so I really can't be lazy)

Fast forward to this weekend. After me recounting this to Gareth and Casey and their horror at someone being so rude, Gareth and I pull in to the BOOT CAMP parking lot. As we are getting out, I say "uuh, hahaha, uuh, Gareth, look at the sign!!!"

BOOT CAMP: DECLARING WAR ON FAT AND LAZINESS

Apparently, I was in the right place....

Come in from the Cold

As I woke up on Sunday morning, I could feel the cold breath in my room as my face tingled with the small sensation that winter was upon us here in South Africa. As I lay underneath the comforter and leaned over to the window by my bed, I felt the cool air throughout the room cause me to want to roll back over and sleep until summer. I opened up the curtain to my bedroom window and the rain was pouring down, the mud was rising on the side of the building embankment and the trees looked like they were dripping in frost. It was cold, very cold, and one of those miserable days that beds became your best friend again and soup is your last meal.

Because Ange had been quite sick the day before and was battling what sounded like the flu, we decided to give church a skip and everything else that day. I braved the cold and the rain to get some food, some Energade, some soup, some medicines and some DVD’s. As I ran into the grocery store, the DVD store, the petrol station and the rain poured down my sweatpants and my sneakers, I thought of how miserable it was outside – it was just plain cold. I got home, made some lunch and Ange took her medicine. We set up for a day in – watching some good DVD’s and some bad DVD’s, but, hey, we were in inside. As the day continued on, the rain pounded on the roof and the windows steamed over from the temperature difference and we read books, laughed, took medicine, ate, relaxed and enjoyed being able to have a place to “seek shelter”.

It was about 4:30pm and I had just woken up from a nap on the couch, my book on my chest and my leg thrown over the side and looked outside. As I stared out over the grass through the raindrops freezing on the glass, I thought about the millions of people outside, sitting in their shacks, with their leaking roofs and their concrete floors, shivering, some, to death. In South Africa alone, there are millions of people living in squatter camps and informal settlements that, unlike us, have no warm place to lay their head and have nothing to help them escape the harsh realities of being one thing - and that is poor.

Every day I drive past the squatter camp situated outside the JAM complex and I see the thousands of people living in the cold, walking through the mud with their umbrellas to a place where there wont be a huge TV to distract them from every day, a nice warm bed to welcome them or a nice hot shower to help relax every muscle in their body. As I drive past, I truly wonder – why and how? How can I help? How can I go home to my house, sheltered from the cold and realize that so many 3 year old’s are shivering through the winter months? Why am I the one that gets into my car to leave the store while watching a family of 4 black children with their Dad, waiting, hoping, wanting a public bus home? Why? How? These are hard questions to answer, but, I do know, that potential lies in our attitudes of thankfulness and our lifestyles of action. We can’t change the fact that we are those whom have been given so much, but, we can, with gratitude, thank GOD and with action, help so many others. As America and Europe plunge into spring and summer, remember those last cold moments and how blessed life is, and what you can do, to make someone else’s….

The Cost of Commodity

Across the world today, each and every person is seeing rising costs everywhere, fuel skyrocketed to over $106 a barrel this week, the dollar is weakening, home prices are high and the real estate market is bursting in almost every major city, all very important and life-altering issues…and then there is food.

Millions of people a day are fed through international aid and development programming. Across Africa, Asia, South and Central America and Eastern Europe, millions of poverty stricken, malnourished, dying children are being fed through international food aid programming being distributed through the United Nations World Food Programme, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), SIDA, the Department for International Development UK (DFID) and then through organizations like the one I work for, Joint Aid Management (JAM). These agencies operate on budgets of millions of dollars to try and affect as many children, women and families as possible, entering into war-torn countries, disaster ridden areas and developing nations with food assistance and with sustainable programming, with their main aim to reach the Millenium Development Goals (MDG’s) and assist as many developing countries as possible.

In all of those operations come the costs, and as we all feel the rising costs everywhere, now the people to feel it most, according to a recent United Nations report will be…the poor. The UN World Food Program has just warned that it will not have enough money to keep global malnutrition “at bay” due to the rising costs of food and is now considering discontinuing programs or suspending certain operations. Iraq’s food distribution program, which at one point delivered food to families on a monthly basis had an average cost of $3 billion. Now, the Iraqi government has announced that these program costs have ballooned to over $7 billion due to the rising inflation and massive price hikes of food, yet, within their country, 1 in 4 children under the age of 5 are severely malnourished and approximately 3 million Iraqi’s need food assistance. The rising price of cereals such as maize and wheat is growing to be a worldwide concern and due to these issues, humanitarian aid agencies can only bring in the half the amount of food with the same amount of money from donors. All across the world, changes are being made, even within 2nd tier countries such as Mexico and Thailand where they are having to make a choice between healthcare, education and…food.

The purse is tightening, the wallet is feeling the crunch and things at the local Walmart might be seeming a little more expensive. In that though, the international donor community must remember those billions of people living in the 3rd world, relying on food assistance and aid programming for life. On that Friday night, as you are pulling the cart away from the frozen food section and you realize that you cant buy that tub of Edy’s ice cream for the weekend party, remember those countries where organizations have not enough money, not enough petrol, not enough food…leaving people…standing on the road…with absolutely nothing to eat.

A Crisis of Leadership....

I don’t understand why today, in an era where countries are world powers and people all over the globe can become national leaders, there seems to be a huge crisis of leadership. What does one expect from a leader? Some might say that they are just like the common citizen with the same common problems and the same common mistakes. That view might be true, but, I think that when you take a position of leadership within an organization, but, even more so, within a country, and then on the world stage, there is a certain requirement on you to act in a certain matter.

Today, as the media and Internet is a buzz with the possible resignation of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer (D), the nation has seen yet another leader make decisions that have single-handedly ruined a very promising political career, his reputation and quite possibly his family. I am reminded of Sen. Larry Craig (R), Governor McGreevey (D), Congressman Foley (R) and the most famous, President Clinton. Why does this happen? Why do people, in leadership make very ill-conceived decisions, in a world where billions of people could be great leaders, where billions of people are relying on people of stature and of moral compass? Now, its not that, as Republicans, Democrats, Buddhists, Christians, Athiests, Muslims or people of other political and national backgrounds, we need to always regulate other people’s moral compasses to confine to religious or political standards, but, it does mean that we expect our leadership to act as if they are leaders. Leaders are people who lead…they are men or women whom are there to inspire, to uplift, to take charge … of followers. To the people who might say that it really isn’t of huge consequence or of huge interest to the common citizen, I disagree, Eliot Spitzer was the most “googled” subject yesterday, Governor Spitzer was the 2nd, New York Governor was the 3rd and prostitution was the 4th. Google is the largest search engine in the world. Failed leadership is something that should concern us, apparently it also makes money.

Now, as a common citizen, I, in no way am claiming that while throwing the speck at these leaders, that I am perfect, and have no log lodged in the corner of my eye. I make decisions on a frequent basis that are irresponsible and are not of the best nature, and I am nowhere near perfect, but, I am not leading one of the largest states in the world and I was not elected to represent millions of people.

I, in no way, expect our leaders to be more than human and faultless. I don’t expect them to always agree with my moral views as mine differ from many of even my own faith, but, I do expect them to act as responsible, controlled and even inspiring contributors to the social structure they were elected to lead.

Maybe as time goes on, as the decades roll, we should stop requiring that type of moral and social obligation from our leaders, when that day comes, that would be a tragedy….

The Life and Denial of Robert Mugabe..

As many of you know, I am a Zimbabwean born kid, who, over the years, has continued to be passionate about one of the most amazing countries on the earth - Zimbabwe back in the 70's, 80's and even 90's boasted one of the strongest economies, one of the largest selection of wild game and still holds one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Over the years, whether its been in high school, at W&M or even in DC, at the smell of outside burning, friends would always hear me state "ooh, smells like .... Zimbabwe". The memories of living in Zimbabwe, specifically when I was 10 and the subsequent trips back there are strong and are of great moments in such a wonderful place. Zimbabweans, now living all over the world, are known as some of the strongest working people on the globe - people whose smiles radiate a room, whose work ethic produces results and whose current situation is because of the ignorance and destruction at the hands of one man.

At the end of this month, the country of Zimbawe will vote, in most likely, another farcical election that will end up in President Robert Mugabe, a tyrannical leader, continuing his disgusting reign over his own people. For the past 10 years, the world has watched as greed and power have overtaken a man, whom, at one point was described as possibly 'the next Nelson Mandela'. At the beginning of his initial presidency in the 1980's, Robert Mugabe was seen as a man whom had taken over Zimbabwe from British colonial rule and led it into a somewhat smooth transition, holding the currency at a very strong rate, increasing tourism and keeping the nation as a travel destination for hundreds of thousands of tourists per year. After those initial years, no one can tell you what happened, except the man himself, as he, single-handedly and needlessly has driven his own country into the depths of disaster and despair. One can only see it as a perfect example of the deteriration of the human condition. Power, greed and revenge was what must have fueled this man's policies of land distribution and squatter distruction and through a concerted campaign of 'country cleansing' pushed almost the entire white population and many blacks out of the country. In what has been seen as needless and horrifying, Robert Mugabe has destroyed his own people - his own country. As we have watched over the years, my family has been horrified at the atrocities that have been carried out under this administration. Sitting in Sevilla, Spain in 2002, I remember praying for an election defeat and then reading the UN reports of voter intimidation and ballot rigging. This upcoming election, Mr. Mugabe is having the following countries participate in election day monitoring: Iran, Venezuela and China, all bastions of civil rights. Where is Germany? France? Italy? Spain? Someone, no, Mr. Mugabe isn't dealing with them.

Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans have died, needlessly died and as he sat with The Sunday Times, a leading South African paper, the man states he has no remorse for things that 'needed to be done'. The newspaper I bought yesterday cost me R11 South African Rand, which is the equivalent to $1.50. As I scanned my eyes across the front page corner, I saw something else that made me want to cry - this newspaper, in Zimbabwe, would cost $1.5 million Zimbabwe dollars. As the inflation rate soars past 100,000%, Zimbabwe has taken the place of the highest inflation rate in the world and the country is not even at war. Higher than Sudan, Higher than Iraq, Higher than Afghanistan, Higher than Haiti. Zimbabwe, being ruled by one of its own, is dying. And its made me, yet again, mad as hell.

Now, as a man who whole-heartedly believes in the power of prayer, I pray for change, I pray that my attitude of anger and sadness fuels only prayer and anticipation for the one day that we will see Zimbabwe, one of the biggest jewels of this world, shining again.

But, sadly for now, in the practically empty Rainbow Towers Hotel in downtown Harare, the conference room that could seet a few thousand is dark and the seats are folded. As one scans through the auditorium, all you can help but notice above the abandoned stage are two large, imposing pictures of a powerful and smiling Robert Mugabe...

For 5 Liters of Oil...

The sun is beating down on the dusty, mud hut sitting within the semi-arid terrain of the local desert and the slow stirring of 4 young children is taking place as each wakes up off the floor. Each can feel the other’s legs sprawled on top of the next sibling as they fight for space amongst the dirt and animal skin cloths. Aged 2, 4, 9 and 14, each child has never known anymore than a dirt floor to call their bed and the fear of another day to survive as their pillow. Through the day and into the night, these 4 children face life within the Southern Sudan as normal as anyone else throughout the world. With barely any food, the floor to call their bed, no reliable, clean water for miles and only one parent alive, this is their reality and this is their home.

Within Southern Sudan, the girl child attendance rate in school is 35% and only 1 in 5 children ever finish school, which is lower than attendance of children living under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Through humanitarian interventions, we are creating programming to try and coax families in to letting their girls go to school through giving them a take-home ration each month of 5L of oil. The skills and strength of these girls at home are more valuable to the family and bring more assistance than if they were sitting under a tree, miles away, learning and improving their education. With each hour that passes, there is less work that has been accomplished, less food that has been made, but, as each class rolls on there is one more girl that will never understand and will never be educated. Gender inequality throughout the developing and third world is rife and girls across the globe, due to culture, income needs and forced labor are missing out on education. The education of their children, the future of their family, the revolution of a generation and the upliftment of a gender all hangs on 5L of oil.

As the problems of the world become vaster and more complicated, more dangerous and more deafening, the disconnect between the West and the underdeveloped countries becomes greater and more disastrous. Whether its down the halls of the United States Congress, among the pews of the local church, within the editing rooms of the New York Times or around the boardrooms of corporate America, the reasons that Africa struggles are barely ever understood. As we sit in our centrally heated homes, our freshly carpeted living rooms and our leather-clad SUV’s, there is no possible way to understand the life-changing exchange that occurs with 5L of oil. Why leave women out? Why the gender disparity? Why only 5L of oil? Why anything at all? All of these questions lead to one thing: when all you have is one bowl of rice left and 4 children to feed, nothing makes sense anymore.

International relations and humanitarian development across the world targets all of these issues that face so many people today: economic empowerment, gender inequality, HIV/AIDS, water borne diseases, malnutrition, sex trafficking and civil conflict. Through targeted interventions and protracted poverty alleviation projects, may we, as people whom were the lucky ones, the ones with families, parents, homes and educations, take a longer look at helping those whom are the most in need. May we strive for a greater avenue of assistance through the presidents we elect, the churches we attend, the money we donate and the time we spend.

As you pull your shopping cart out of the line, walk down the aisle of the local Wholefoods and review your list for the week, the day around you will be bustling and busy. Mothers with small children will be looking for formula and some sort of unneeded toy, the local university student will be picking up the six pack of Bud light and the young couple will be looking for the fresh vegetables. Across the world, in a hot, dusty town, one young Sudanese girl will be walking miles home, with no shoes after 3 hours at school…carrying her reward on her head.

As you turn the corner and walk down that cooking aisle the next time, will you ever look at 5L of oil the same? I pray, for the children of Sudan you do not...

The Beginning of a Blog in the Middle of a Great Life...

So as I write this blog, my first, I ponder the question some might be asking. Why now? Geddes, after 2 and a half years living great experiences Africa, 2 years with amazing political adventures in Washington DC and 4 awesome years at William and Mary. Why now? I don't know the answer to that question, but, one thing I DO know is that I will reminisce back, im a professional reminiscer. One thing I do know is that I have emailed all the adventures over the past few years, myspaced them, facebooked them, written them, IM'd them, skyped them, lived them, laughed at them...and now, ill blog them.

welcome to the erratic, predictable yet unpredictable, passionate, random writings of myself on almost everything and anything.

Here it goes!

From my neck of the woods, Welcome!