30 for 30

It’s Monday, June 20^th, 2011.  Today is the 60^th anniversary of International Refugee Day and my 30^th birthday (I believe this is more than just a coincidence).  The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has recognized June 20^th as the day to commemorate the courageous people across the world that have been forced to flee their country in fear of persecution for reasons of race, nationality, religion or political affiliation.  Today I will have the opportunity and fortune to celebrate with the refugees and support the ongoing commitment to help them realize their rights.  It should be a birthday unlike any other.   

Just two days ago someone asked me where I thought I would be at 30.  I opened my mouth to say something but realized I didn’t have an exact answer.  In reflection, my mind started to quantify my life and take stock of what I have done, where I have been, lessons I have learned and most importantly relationships I have built.  Even now, I can’t answer the question entirely but I can say that I am so very happy with my life’s journey thus far.  Happy with what I have achieved, people who I have surround myself with, places I have gone, experiences I have had, decisions I have made, risks I have taken and work I have dedicated myself to.  I realize more and more that it’s not so much about where I thought I would be at 30 but the incredible path I have taken to get here.

Over my 30 years on this globe I have come to understand some facts of life, been given some pearls of wisdom, had some epiphanies and discovered some lessons to live by…  

1.     

1.   When you tell someone you forgive them, mean it.  Holding grudges can only lead to more pain.
2.     Grampy Healy holds the title for best Mickey Mouse pancake maker
3.     Being a ‘pretty girl helper’ is the best job to have as a kid
4.     Getting told you throw like a girl is a compliment
5.     Coming in second place in an invention convention two years in a row motivates you to work harder
6.     Making kids run the mile on Friday is not a horrible thing, no matter how much they tell you it is
7.     Being a part of team sports is one of the greatest gifts you can give to a kid
8.     Only the Sheriff can make house calls to Amigo Lane
9.     Don’t buy your 16 year old a Volkswagen
10.  Being able to say your best friends are the same friends you had in grade school is something to be proud of
11.  Karma says you should pay the bridge toll for the stranger in the car behind you every once in a while (Fastrak is not an excuse) 
12.  Always celebrate the little things in life
13.  In a diehard’s book, a fair weather fan is not a fan at all
14.  Work hard, play hard
15.  Send kids to summer camp
16.  Jiff Extra Chunky Peanut Butter.  Enough said.
17.  Learning to ride a bike for the first time without training wheels is one of the single best feelings
18.  Taking five years to graduate from college is not only okay but a wonderful idea
19.  Live by the ocean at least once in your life
20.  Live outside of your native country at least once in your life to see how others do it
21.  Learn a foreign language
22.  Sunscreen not baby oil
23.  Guinness tastes better in Ireland
24.  Spending time alone is good for you
25.  Exercise and floss your teeth every day
26.  No book can teach you more than experience can
27.  Underwear is often overrated  
28.  Everyone loves Betty Cookies. Everyone!
29.  There are few views better than that from the top of Mount Kilimanjaro
30.  Keep a secret.

LOVE ALWAYS!!!!

L

Set the World on Fire

“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good things ever dies.”                                                                                                                                    -SR

Hope.  Ask many, dare I say most, refugees and they will admit that they have all but lost hope for their future.  I have sat down with many people to have heart to heart conversations about the topic of hope.  It can be so simple, yet in the context of a refugee camp it can be so very complex.  How can one have hope for the future if there are no job opportunities or prospects for higher education?  Civil war, gender based violence, political unrest, persecution and the most ferocious brutality that makes you question the very soul of humanity has driven these people away from their homes and into refugee camps.  They have fled their respective countries hoping for a brighter future complete with freedom and safety.  

Parents hope to raise families where opportunity lies, where children can grow up to be doctors and lawyers and men and women are not reliant on handouts from others but instead on their own conviction and hard work.  If there is no foreseeable future beyond surviving today where does the hope lie?  As an internal optimist I have always encouraged hope and positive energy but my message often falls on deaf ears here in Dzaleka.  This is understandable when I consider the troubling truth staring me in the face.  Very few refugees are resettled and an even smaller number are given higher education scholarships to universities inside as well as outside of the country.  During one of these intimate conversations one man spoke up with certainty in his voice, “Africa holds my destiny, I don’t.”  From the time I spent with him I came to the conclusion that what he meant was that resource poor Africa has already decided his fate.  It has been engulfed in war, raised corrupt dictators, forced people to leave their homeland, denied democracy, complicated investment, thwarted infrastructure and business and hindered education for all.  Africa has set him up to fail.    

Without touching on the consequences of colonialism, the cost of Africa’s and the international community’s actions has prolonged the vicious cycle of helplessness, reliance, poverty and suffering.  The hardest pill for me to swallow is that many youth in camp are not able to hold on to the idea of hope.  Nothing breaks my heart more than looking into a child’s eyes knowing they have given up on themselves and their future.  I know that every child harbors that flame of curiosity and imagination that if given oxygen can set the world on fire.  When I dig deep I believe the source of my love for working alongside youth is their ability to hope and dream despite the challenges of their reality. 

With the odds stacked against us we persevere.  I for one refuse to give up hope for a brighter future.  I want to help supply the oxygen and not deplete it for I believe that no good thing ever dies.  I believe that is why so many people in camp are religious.  If faith in their god is the only place they find solace and answers to their problems then let there be that belief in a higher being that can provide comfort, consolation and dare I say it…Hope!

Futbol at sunset in Dzaleka Camp

DF:  Doggy Dip Days in Lilongwe.  What is doggy dip you ask?  Doggy dip is a designated day every week when all of the dogs in the city are rounded up and taken to a central location where they are bathed by their owners/hired help in a pool of flea treated water.  Dogs of all shapes and sizes are marched down to the dip, some willing, some not, some hostile, some not and then plunged into the pool.  You know it’s doggy dip day when all the leashed dogs are violently shaking water from their coats and are wet to the bone revealing their wiry frames.  Clean, tick and flea free doggies, thanks to the Lilongwe laws mandating doggies to dip.   

Reasons & Seasons

Top 10 Reasons Why You Don’t Show Up to Appointments in Dzaleka Refugee Camp:

10)  You are waiting at home for the camp police to show up to file a report about a break in or another crime committed against you

9)  You are suffering from Malaria

8)  It is food distribution day and you need to be present with your ration card in order to receive food  

7)  You must attend a funeral and spend all day mourning with the family

6)  It is Tuesday (market day) and you are going to buy and sell produce, second-hand clothing and various items to earn an income

5)  You are called by UNHCR to conduct an initial resettlement interview

4)  You have to travel to the big city in order to be seen by a specialist not available in the camp clinic

3)  You have to go to the clinic/hospital in camp (this could be a reason to miss consecutive days because the wait can be more than 24 hours)

2)  A friend or relative is sick and needs your assistance (watching their child, repairing a roof, fetching water or otherwise)  

1)  The idea of time and day is a business minded orientation to the world.  Crop cycles, sunsets and weather patterns are better indicators of time and day.  What are scheduled appointments anyway?  

Seasonal Crops of Malawi

January:  Mango and Pineapple

February:  Avocado, Irish Potato, Peas and Tomato

March: Onion, Maize, Okra, Termite and Tomato

April: Carrot, Ground Nut, Tangerine, Apple and Tomato

May: Sweet Potato, Pumpkin, Gourds and Mice

June: Papaya and Plum

*The rest I will find out soon enough…

DF’s:  A family in my neighborhood has a small shop in front of their house stocked with various household items and other food stuffs.  People go there on occasion to pick up bread, eggs or rice instead of having to go into town to the larger groceries.  The shop owner purchases bread from a local market called ‘Peoples Cash and Carry’ aka PCC and sells it to us at a slightly higher cost for convenience sake.  For the past three weeks we have picked up loaves of bread, as always pre sliced by a machine.  You may have all heard of the saying, “That is the best thing since sliced bread,” well the slices of bread from the PCC more resemble chunks or slabs of bread.  There will be uniform slices amongst double or triple wide slices in the loaf.  It seems that for weeks the blades in the slicing machine have been missing or broken and they continue to produce oblong pieces of bread.  Perhaps they can’t afford to replace the blades, maybe the parts are being imported from another country and have not arrived yet or quite possibly no one cares enough to fix it.  Either way the next time you go to use the saying, “That is the best thing since sliced bread,” think of Malawi and understand that sometimes sliced bread isn’t that great and it surely isn’t perfect.  Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise because oober fat hunks of bread require more peanut butter and more PB is always welcomed.