Working Villages International

I'm working on a piece about an eco-village community in the Democratic Republic of Congo, specifically in the Ruzizi Valley. I learned about it on Ode Magazine's exchange. It's pretty neat actually. Here's some more information, should you be intrigued:

1. Working Villages International Homepage

2. Ode Magazine's, Exchange Story

3. Africa Aid Organization

Just a start into various places people can help.

Part of the reason I'm feeling more proactive in aid organizations and relief groups is from working at Ode, but also, I know there are tons of people that want to help and don't know how. I plan on posting more places where people can give in some way, either time, money or prayers. But, a good place to check if there's anywhere local is to go to Volunteer Match. It's a website that has listings of everywhere people can get involved locally. It's pretty great, and people can always use another person willing to give of themselves. And, as always, it's very easy to donate money at church, or at other religious services for different faiths. Plus, you can help others give by giving them charity-styled gifts, like a gift certificate where they can pick where to donate funds, like at TisBest, JustGive and many others. Plus, I'm sure each of you knows someone who personally needs charitable giving to do what they do, like friends who volunteer with Campus Crusade for Christ or someone who's raising money for some sort of health research or for a Breast Cancer walk. At the University of Iowa students raise money for children's cancer research with Dance Marathon. People always need help, so give from what you have, what you can. It's important, because only together can we make a difference.

Visible Changes

During my final year at Iowa I had the pleasure of continuing to write for the Daily Iowan newspaper. I usually wrote arts and culture stories, but periodically I'd somehow end up in the metro section with a good story. One worth telling. In February I wrote a story about Invisible Children, an aid organization based in San Diego, California, that was set up to benefit the children of northern Uganda. In 2003 a film was shot to tell the story of child soldiers and the mounting internally displaced people caught in the crossfire. Five years later there has been noticeable change, especially with regard to the continued peace talks between rebel leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government. For more information on the peace talks click here. Later in the year the University of Iowa's Invisible Children chapter hosted a benefit concert to raise awareness and funds for the northern Ugandan children, where I was again to write a piece on them. Since those two stories I have thought more of the movement and the US role in aiding foreign countries and have often found myself wanting to have a hand in it, rather than merely writing about it. Though, clearly both are necessary. That brings me to today.

Today I was checking out the progress of Invisible Children and learning more about the struggle on another blog and saw this above video. We'll see where this all takes me, but all I know is I have to use my skills to help others. It's too hard to stand idly by as the world turns, especially since that's not like me at all. But until I know what my next move is, all I can do is do what I know how, spend my time wisely, and help the world turn, not just watch it turn. So, volunteer it is, starting with a Habitat for Humanity project in Golden Gate Park Saturday morning bright and early. Volunteermatch.org is a lifesaver.

So, basically, I challenge myself as much as my stories challenge others to live outside yourself, and live a good story to tell about later.

Check it out: Invisible Children Video

ODE MAGAZINE

So, most of you are aware I'm working at Ode Magazine. It's an international, alt-monthly. We focus on positive news, but it's not that we're unaware of bad things happening to good people. We're intelligent about it, I guess you could say. We're getting set to launch our next issue in a few weeks. I got to see the sneak preview of it yesterday. Kind of exciting! I've got two mini pieces in it of about 300 words each. Still, it's cool. Plus, I did some layout for the web page we have in the magazine and wrote small minor things that don't get bylines. No biggie. Check it out if you want, just by clicking here.


You can also check out my special profile page. I mention my new favorite thing: vietnamese coffee.

That's all for now. If you see Ode's Silence issue from last month, it's still in stores at Whole Foods, Borders, Barnes & Noble and I think just recently we opened up an account with CVS. It's sweet to be part of something that is growing.

Musical Aid

Recently I've been thinking about the connect between non-profit fundraising types of events, those that attend them, and the artistic side of things that seems to find a welcome foothold in all of that.

Three Events/Organizations seem to exemplify what I'm saying:

1. Amnesty International's "JAMnesty" music event, which brought together the UI Anti-War Committee, Invisible Children, Iowa United Nations Association, UI Global Health Club, among others.

2. Invisible Children's use of videos to promote their cause, along with the UI chapter's possible big concert blow-out fundraising event.

3. Speakers at the UI, i.e. musician and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Angelique Kidjo, lecturing at the UI tomorrow, Wednesday, March 5.

This is just an idea I've been pondering. It seems to become more pertinent and obvious the clear relationship between creativity and the desire to help.

Thoughts?

Blending in

I have this need to do something great with my life.

I think it comes from the way my parents have raised me and my siblings. My sister is a US Peace Corps volunteer in Kyrgyzstan, my brother Sean is in the midst of applying to be a Navy officer, my brother Larry is attempting to get out of the corporate business grind focusing his sights on a career in improvisation, and Timmy and Kevin have their whole lives ahead of them as they decide upon which college to attend.

For some reason I feel this need to do something outside of myself, my comfort zone, even my country and help others, give money, I don't know. I just want to do something that will last, something that I can look back on with pride--something worth while. I don't want my life to blend in with the rest. I don't want to be another face in the crowd.

"Well, you know, we all want to change the world"

I wake up about a minute before my alarm goes off almost every day. Do I have anxiety? If I do, this is really a bad time for me, it should simply come back later or even at all.

I wrote a short story the other night and part of it had this interaction between a mother, a daughter and the phone which had a solicitors voice on the end. Whenever solicitors call I usually lie and say whoever it is that they're looking for isn't home. I do it because my mom doesn't like talking to them. She doesn't like saying, "I'm sorry, but we don't want to give our money to you." It's not because she isn't generous, it's just that as a parental unit my parents decide at the beginning of each year where everything is going to go, which charities, which institutions, which churches, etc... I realize now that even though some people do that, there still isn't ever going to be enough money to go around.

There's a part in Bridget Jones' Diary: The Edge of Reason where she's at a high-and-mighty dinner with her boyfriend, Mark Darcy. At the dinner she ends up over-hearing a group of "fat, balding, upper-middle-class twits" say that they are totally against charitable giving. That seems to be the consensus these days, and if people do give it's only the scraps from the table they didn't want anyway. Something in me says that's innately wrong. Giving what you don't want isn't really an act of kindness, it's more or less a garage sale. Perhaps I'm idealistic, perhaps others have a reason for the way they are, but in the end, people still go hungry, they still don't have enough clothing to keep them warm, they don't have a roof over their head, they don't have. And the list goes on.

If you had to give away something that you really loved, truly loved, and were allowed to choose out of three things you adored, what would you give away? Would it be the least expensive of the three, the one you cannot replace, the one you like least of the ones you love? These are the things I think about periodically. The hard part about giving away the things we think we need is just that, we think somewhere down the road we might need it. The thing we giving things away that are ours, like a sentimental teddy bear, what have you, is that we don't think another person could or would care about it as much as we do. It's like we expect a thanks after we give. The truth is, sometimes people won't say thank you, but give anyway.

As people when we give, assuming we do give, we should give from our plate, or rather our heart.