Meme (what does that mean anyway?)

Saw this meme over at Sharon’s blog today and thought I’d join in. I’m so tired lately that it’s been hard to write but this is an easy way to get something down.

What is your current obsession?

Raising funds to ship 473 boxes of donated medical supplies out of my garage and to the Howard Hospital in Zimbabwe.  Also poverty in general and raising people’s awareness of it.

What is your weirdest obsession?

I have no idea. If you think I have a weird obsession be sure to let me know. Thanks.

What are you wearing today?

Jeans, t-shirt, cardi.

What’s for dinner?

D made fried rice. Yum

What’s the last thing you bought?

A pair of knitting needles and a ball of wool because my 4 year old son wants me to make him a scarf to wear in the snow on Saturday. We are going on a (long) day trip to Mt Ruapehu.

What are you listening to right now?

Rain on the roof, crackling fireplace. Hum of computer.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

To visit family in Australia

Which language do you want to learn?

Hindi

What do you love most about where you currently live?

We are safe and warm and we get to eat every single day.

What is your favourite colour?

Pink or green

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?

A white cotton peasant blousey thingy.

What were you doing ten years ago?

Backpacking around India with my buddy Ali.

Describe your personal style?

Um…..style? Casual. Comfortable. Practical.

If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on?

Well, that’s about NZ$259 which would cover the shipping of about 16 of the 473 boxes mentioned above.

What are you going to do after this?

Sleep

What are your favourite films?

I always find it hard to answer this question because I forget movies. (Never forget a good book though!) Also I don’t tend to watch the same movie over and over so none become a firm favourite. But let’s try……I enjoyed Australia, and did enjoy Slumdog Millionaire,

What inspires you?

When people discover and make time to pursue their dreams or the thing they are best at. I really believe that every single person has a unique and valuable contribution to make to the world…a destiny or purpose if you like and there is nothing more wonderful and inspiring to me that seeing them doing it with all their heart.

Your favourite books?

How long have we got? Ha ha there are many. I just finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaleed Hossieni and loved it. Also loved Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Oh and The City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre, and The Hiding Place by Corrie TenBoom.  I love learning about how other people live and books that inspire me to action about things that are unjust in the world – like poverty and war and political regimes.

But I also love the classics, like Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Jane Austens works. I also like classic childrens literature like Treasure Island – RL Stevenson and The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Do you collect anything?

Books and clutter.

What makes you follow a blog?

I like to read blogs of people I know as it’s a great way to get to know someone better. I also like to read blogs that inspire my creativity, or about ordinary people doing extraordinary things to make a difference in the world. Sometime I follow a blog out of habit because it’s been on my feed reader for such a long time and it would seem disloyal to suddenly delete it!

Name an unfulfilled dream or one thing you must do before you die?

To visit/travel in/ live in Africa. Feed a hungry child. (I mean literally….be there, not just send money)

What’s your biggest regret in life?

I don’t really have any regrets, but that’s not because I haven’t done anything stupid, but you can’t change the past so I tend not to think about them. I dunno. A minor regret prehaps …not celebrating my 30th birthday with a big fat party.

When you were a child/teenages what did you really want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a nurse and a mother. (So far so good!)

The rules:1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own.2. Tag eight other people.

I’m tagging anyone anywhere who wants to join in. Leave a comment here so I can come read yours too.

Just thinking

I’ve been brewing a bit of an idea around here…which has been keeping me busy, hence the long absence. I am going to be sharing it with my church people on Sunday morning…and so here it is for you too! It’s totally terrifying to have a dream and more so to share it. I feel like I’m really putting myself out there and it’s rather scary!

Around the time just prior to starting the Zimbabwe project, and over the months that have followed, I have been making myself aware of some of the issues around poverty, particularly extreme poverty in developing nations. I have let myself be shocked at the statistics. I mean really let myself think about what they mean. The numbers are so big that we struggle to comprehend the magnitude of the problem. When we read that 1.1 billion people in the world live in extreme poverty, do we really get it? ¹ Have we ever stopped to really think about that? What would you and I do if tomorrow and for the foreseeable future we had only $1 per day to pay for all our daily needs of food and drinking water, shelter, clothing, medical care, and education?

As I have read and become more aware of the great needs in the world, I have become increasingly convinced that it is everyone’s responsibility to address the problem of poverty.

In my opinion it’s far too easy for those of us who live privileged lives to be ignorant of the way hundreds of millions of people in the world are living. It far too easy for us to be so wrapped up in our day to day lives worried about our houses, and cars and shopping and jobs and children; and spending our days working hard and watching TV, trying to pay the rent or pay off the house, that we are selfishly ignorant of the fact that several million mothers in the world struggled to find food for their babies today.

As a mother I think ‘what makes me so different from those other mothers who face a daily anguish of finding food for their fretful hungry baby?‘ Broadly, the answer is simply circumstance. There is no other difference between us than the circumstances of our births.

It could have been me born in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 40% of toddlers die from Malaria, which by the way is a preventable and treatable disease. It costs between $0.50 – $5.00 NZD for life saving medication to treat Malaria.² But sadly for most of the people dying of malaria, it’s not as easy as popping down to the local doctor, or having a friend take you to hospital. Even if they do make it to a hospital often times the medication simply isn’t available.

I wonder what would happen if people in New Zealand started dying at a rate of 10000 per day³ of a preventable disease? Just wondering.

And lets not forget the orphans. The are around 40 million orphans in the world today. 15 million of these are orphaned because of HIV/AIDS and of those 11.6 million are in Sub-Saharan Africa. ⁴

See….the statistics are shocking aren’t they?

So as I have been considering all these things and letting myself be confronted with the harsh realities, I have asked myself what can be done. Whose problem is it? Governments? Politicians? United Nations? Charities? Aid Organisations?The Church? Individuals? And the answer I came up with is Yes to all of these. It’s every body’s problem. There are many causes of extreme poverty, but injustice is a major one. And so just because I believe it isn’t right, I believe it’s my problem to address it. And, as Christ followers it is our very mission to break the chains of injustice and bring good news to the poor.

So, essentially my vision or idea is to:

Firstly, and most importantly develop in myself and us a heart like God’s for the poor.

Secondly, to take action to support projects that directly benefit the poor, by setting up a separate fund to which we as a local church can give as we are moved to and collectively make a huge difference. Together we could save hundreds if not thousands of lives, and

Thirdly some time in the future, to make a way where ordinary people like us can go to the destitute places and get our hands dirty and really help in practical ways to bring an end to extreme poverty.

And now, something to think about.

“What, therefore, is our task today? Should I answer “Faith, hope and love?” That sounds beautiful. But I would say – courage. No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth. Our task today is recklessness. For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature… we lack a holy rage – the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity. The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth… a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God’s earth and and the destruction of God’s people. To rage when little children must die of hunger, while the tables of the rich are sagging with food. To rage at the senseless killing of so many, and the madness of militaries. To rage against the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction, peace. To rage against COMPLACENCY. To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the kingdom of God.”

~ Father Kaj Munk (1944)

1Extreme poverty being defined as living on less than $1 per day. Moderate poverty defined as living on $1-$2 per day. (The End of Poverty (2005) Jeffery Sachs pp20-21)

2http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/facts.htm

3(The End of Poverty (2005) Jeffery Sachs p215)

42007 Data. http://www.avert.org/subaadults.htm

Blog Action Day – Let’s Talk About Poverty

Today is Blog Action Day where approximately 9000 bloggers from around the world will be writing about poverty. Hopefully our collective voice will make a difference in raising awareness and generating ideas to combat the misery of living in poverty. This is my contribution. Also posted at Make A Plan. Read what others are saying about it here. (Also, it’s not too late to join in if you have something to say about it too).

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I first encountered extreme poverty when I visited India in 1996. It was the first time I’d been out of Australia where I grew up and it was a massive culture shock. I had mentally acknowledged poverty, but seeing it in front of my eyes made it real to me in a way reading about it or even being told about it could never do.

I couldn’t believe people lived in such terrible conditions, day after day. I couldn’t believe there were people begging who had massive open wounds, and no one did anything about it. Or someone lying on the road in dust and dirt, and quite possibly dying and ordinary people walked straight past. I wanted to stop and do something! I wanted to get that person to a hospital and cared for.

But I walked past too. I was intimidated. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know where I could take these people, didn’t speak the language, and couldn’t very well scoop them up and take them in an auto rickshaw back to the backpackers hostel! I was also just too scared. I thought I might be told I was doing something wrong or offensive in a foreign culture. In a way, I was too young. Yes I was naive and idealistic…sometimes the issues aren’t simple at all, and I didn’t give much thought about the reality of taking on a person’s care when I was just 20 years old, in India for 3 weeks on a very limited budget! I didn’t have a clue.

But in a way I never want to lose that youthful naivety, and almost reckless approach to poverty. So often we don’t do anything at all because the problem is too big, or too complicated, or not our problem. We don’t act because it’s a political issue, or it could be dangerous, or we are just one person and what difference will it really make. We are intimidated.

Earlier this year, a friend of my husband’s who lives in Taiwan and regularly emails us, sent us an email about the political situation in Zimbabwe. I’ve seen these emails before…you know what I mean. Emails about a cause. Most of the time I delete them thinking that I can’t take on the worlds problems, and often just not interested. Something about that email caught my eye though. I think because it was a story about an ordinary person just like me, a family just like mine struggling in life. I became interested enough to start searching the internet to find out more. I remember typing “What is going on in Zimbabwe?’ into google. The results were alarming for me.

I read about chronic shortages of the most basic kind, of hunger, of starvation, of illnesses. I read about hospitals unable to treat patients because of lack of basic medical goods and pharmaceuticals. I was moved to pray and continued to read about the situation (then approaching the March 29th elections)

And then a few weeks later by chance I stumbled upon an article which listed the wish list of items required by a hospital in a rural hospital north of Harare. The list had been collated by the Chief medical officer, and I was shocked to read some of those items. Things such as toothpaste and toilet paper. The most basic supplies. Also large quantities of fairly basic medical supplies like gauze and dressings.

‘Stuff it’ I said. ‘I’m going to send something’. I was sick of talking about how bad things were and doing nothing. I didn’t want to walk away again. So I emailed the doctor and indicated my intentions to send something and he gave me advice on how best to go about. My secret dream was to send a shipping container, but I mentioned this only to my husband and privately told myself to get my head out of the clouds and just take baby steps. Personally we didn’t have the money to send a container and I knew that it was more realistic to send a couple of boxes.

I started by emailing local medical supply companies and asking outright for donations. I approached over 15 companies and heard back from only one. They offered 4 pallets of perfectly usable goods.

I was so excited I could hardly think. A few weeks later this was followed up by a further large donation from the same company, and eventually a third. Now our garage is full to capacity with boxes of medical goods to be sent to Zimbabwe. It is approximately 28-30 cubic metres. ( A 20ft shipping container hold exactly 33 cubic metres.)

Our next challenge is to raise the funds to ship it there. It’s been a slow process, but I’m confident we’ll get there. I can’t wait to get it sent, and that hopefully my little crazy idea is actually going to make a difference in peoples lives.

This project has shown me that everyone has something to give no matter how insignificant you think it may be. Some people think that dealing with poverty is only about money. Yes, some people have money to give, and I think that all of us who live privileged lives in developed nations should consider giving something regularly. After all we live like kings and queens with our clean hot running showers and fresh food every day.

But it’s not just money. Some people have time on their hands. Some people can paint. Some people can give manual labour. Some people are good in business. Some people have blogs. Some people are hospitable. Some people are nurses. Some people can pray. Some people can design websites. Some people are doctors. Some people can sew. Some people can write. Some people can sell. Some people are politicians. Some people can make amazing food. Some people can sing. Some people can fundraise. Some people can spread the word. Some people can create beautiful things. Some people are lawyers. Some people are actors. Some people are activists. Some people work in medical supply companies and make compassionate decisions about what to do with surplus or written off goods.

Anyone regardless of age or background has something to give. Be creative about what you can do to help those less fortunate than yourself.

I’d love to hear your thoughts…especially if you’ve come here for Blog Action Day. Drop me a comment and let’s talk about what we can do about poverty.

To help with this project called Make A Plan please consider a donation using Paypal here, or join our Facebook group here. You can read more about the project or order items from the store here

Busy Busy Busy

Honestly while some days I feel like I don’t get much done, or that my diary is empty, actually I have heaps to do. I’m feeling slightly overwhelmed at the moment. (Maybe my diary is empty because I don’t write anything in it.)

I have too many things going on right now…the most pressing of which is our application for exemption for E5’s home schooling. Her 6th birthday is coming up, by which time we need to already hold the exemption. I think I’ve nearly finished it, but our printer isn’t working (gah!) and I still need to photocopy her birth certificate and get it sent.

Then the Zim project is weighing on my mind a bit. Just lots of outstanding tasks…mostly ones I’m not good at. (Like phoning shipping companies). I also need to finish the inventory of each item in the shipment. It’s a big task…so far I’m just under halfway and have marked 250 boxes and documented their contents.  Also, a lovely friend has donated some amazing art work for me to sell to raise funds. I’m not sure that selling it online is the way to go because it’s hard to do them justice…so I’m supposed to be organising an art display/coffee morning or something, but just the thought of it boggles me. The little store is going so well….having regular orders…thanks to everyone for their support of the project.

I also need to consider getting re-registered (nursing) in order to go back to work for a couple of shifts a week. Not sure when it will need to happen, but I feel like with everything else going on that I just can’t fit work in right now. So…..I want to get the Zim thing finished (sent) by Christmas so the I can perhaps start working in the new year.

Oh, and school term starts on Monday and the kids want to go to swimming lessons…that means I need to re-enrol them Pronto! As in TODAY!

Oh, yes I mentioned a birthday….E5 and R3 both have birthdays coming up. What am I gonna do !?

I think that’s it. Not sooo bad I guess…just I keep forgetting things, and feeling a little stressed. And, I’ve got this annoying twingy pain…in the appendix area. Its’ not terribly bad, just annoying and slightly worrying because I don’t know what it is. Been to the doctor…nothing major came out of that (waiting a few months probably for a scan)…except a blood test showed my Ferritin (measure of iron stores) is really low. Like 17 low. Should be around 20-150. Great…sigh

Blanket for Evie

Back in August, as a way to spread the word about my Zimbabwe Project (sending medical supplies) I held a little giveaway here. Jen from The Short Years won a baby blanket which I have finally finished! (This is actually the second one, the first one was a complete disaster. I couldn’t find the fabric I was wanting and bought an alternative which turned out to be a big mistake.)

Jen has a new baby girl, so Evie now has her very own named blanket. It’s made from a lovely cotton velour, with satin binding. It’s nice and big, so could work as a cot blanket. Measures 115cm x 150cm.

So, Jen…it’s done. I will send it as soon as I can….E5 has chicken pox, and no doubt the boys will get them too, so not sure when I’ll be able to get out of the house!

The Perfect Storm – Sebastian Junger

The Perfect Storm – Sebastian Junger

(This is going to sound very lazy, but I’m too tired to write a proper review of this book. I’ve been out in the garage this afternoon moving boxes (67 so far and that’s just the beginning) and taking an inventory of their contents. The boxes are the medical supplies for the Zim project. And I’m tired. )

Anyway…I read this book because I’d seen the movie and if I enjoy a movie that was a book first (does that make sense!?) I like to read it.

I enjoyed this book. It was meticulously researched. The author presented factual information about the fishing industry, the construction of fishing vessels, how storms work, how waves (in particular freak or rogue waves) work. He discussed the wind and the ocean currents. All these things to build up the known information about the story.

The story that is about the Andrea Gail. A swordfishing boat that was lost in a massive storm. The entire crew of 6 were killed. The story also covers the rescue of various other vessels caught in the storm, and the resulting death of a rescue swimmer.

While the story does cover the human drama, it’s mostly a compilation of fact and an attempted reconstruction of events on the Andrea Gail. Once the crew lost radio contact early in the storm, there is obviously no way of knowing exactly what happened on board.

I’m glad I saw the movie first, because I’d otherwise have been bogged down in information that I’m not particularly interested in (meteorology etc. ) I did find in interesting, however I can’t say I’ve learned much…retention was low! A good book for people interested in meteorology, boating, fishing, or search and rescue. If you’re less technical and prefer the human aspect of the story get the DVD.

Look what we did!

I love candles. I love reading at night with a candle next to me. I love candles burning in the evening while we’re having dinner or drinking coffee or whatever. Not just candles though, I still like a light on, but I love the warm atmosphere and the little bit of a fragrance they create.

Check what we’ve been up to!

No, not candle shopping….Candle Making! These are soy wax candles. Lightly fragranced, and so creamy. E5 really wanted blueberry fragrance, so that’s what these are, but we also made French Vanilla. It has been so much fun learning about wax and fragrance and wicks and temperatures etc etc.

And I know I go on about it, but some of you asked to be kept up dated….These candles are for sale and the proceeds will go towards my Make a Plan project sending a shipment of medical supplies to Zimbabwe. We now have enough stuff to nearly fill a 20ft shipping container so that is very exciting for me. If you click over here you’ll find the candle range and prices.

And the winners are…

A big thank you to everyone who helped spread the news of my Make a Plan project.

The following names went into the draw:

SweetP – For telling her facebook friends

SweetP – For This Post and This one!

Leanne – For This Post

Jen – For This Post

Mother Me – For This Post

Carrien – For This Post And Please go and see what she’s up to for some orphans in Thailand! She’s an inspiration

Sarah Bean – For This Post

Sarah Bean – For the idea for me to start a Facebook Group

SS – a donation

JK – a donation

PV – a donation

KG – a donation

So, the names went onto little pieces of paper into this little box (that my friend J brought back from India for me),

and two names were drawn at random by my daughter E5.

And here they are:

The first name out says Challenged blog who will receive the set of four CutieBums nappies. (This is slightly ironic, because way back in the day Leanne sent me some hand made nappies in a swap for some home made chocolate sauce!) Leanne, I’ll be emailing you for your postal address.

And the second name out says Jen’s Page, who will receive a baby blanket which is also kinda cool because she has a new baby daughter. Jen, I’ll be in touch.

And a special thank you to Sweet P who not only posted twice, and told her facebook friends, she also auctioned off some hand dyed wool and some hand made (!!) needles in support of the project. This in turn inspired someone else called Fi to do the same. Thanks everyone for your support! You’re very much appreciated. To stay in the know with how it’s all going, check out (or subscribe to) Make a Plan.

Moving right along

So, where was I?…Oh, yes ahem. Moving on. This post is NOT going to be about.. ah… the thing I’m not posting about.

Right! Well, in other news. I bought a canvas yesterday and last night I set aside some time to not think about the you know what. I can’t draw to save myself, and can’t really paint either but it never hurt anyone trying and I just want to try. This is what came out of it.

I know it’s not very good, but I was ridiculously pleased with it. Don’t look too close though…it has some serious problems. It was fun to try and I was surprised to actually end up with something that does resemble something of what is in my head. I’m finding it hard to get the colours I want though. The sky is OK, but the sea should be more vibrant and less solid looking, if that makes any sense. ha ha ! You can tell I don’t know what I’m talking about! Sorry to all you artists out there.

Also, the overall thing looks a bit more child like than I imagined…..it’s the primary-ness of the colours I think.

Oh, and it’s all the wrong size. You see, although bought a stretched canvas, I actually painted it on a sheet canvas pad because I thought it’d be so bad it’d be a waste of a good canvas. Hmmm… positively exuding confidence aren’t I?

And tonight, I’m washing my hair with my new and deliciously natural Rosemary Shampoo bar! Oh, wow. Why didn’t I know about these before. I’ve tried being ‘poo free’ before using baking soda and it just didn’t last. Found that I couldn’t’ get my hair really clean because it was hard to massage through all my hair. My new shampoo bar is so lovely though! It’s a natural product made from Almond and Coconut oils and it froths really nicely without those nasty chemical frothers. (SLS?) I follow up with a vinegar rinse which I infused with rosemary from our garden. Here’s how:

1 litre hot water

3/4 cup vinegar

1 sprig rosemary

1 apple/chamomile tea bag for fragrance. (‘Cept I didn’t have any tea bags except Rooibos and ordinary old tea.)

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That’s it. When it cools of course. Just pour over 1/2 to 1 cup full over your hair as a rinse. I let most of it rinse out with water. Not sure if you’re meant to leave it in or rinse it out. Ha! Aren’t I the expert?! Anyway, my hair was manageable, no where near as tangly as I expected without using my usual 1/4 cup of conditioner, and doesn’t smell like vinegar at all! That’s a bonus clearly!

I’m not going to tell you where I got the Shampoo bar. Not yet anyhow. More on that another day. (Because I promised not to go on about the *whispers* you know what)

Updated the fundraiser post

I’ve edited The Post In Which I Beg because I forgot to put a closing date. I’ll draw two winners on the 28th August. I’m developing a complex because it’s going dismally so far… ha ha! ….but reality is probably good for me because I’m a bit of a dreamer! But still, you could get something for free for a little effort, and it’s a great project. Here’s a pic of the first pile of stuff we collected to send.

Click to Enlarge

This represents only a quarter of the total. The rest will be collected early next week. We have to hire a truck and evict our cars from the garage first!

So, if you can spare a dollar or ten, please consider a donation by clicking here. It’s easy. Thanks so much. (Don’t forget your address so we can send a receipt if you want to claim a tax rebate.)