These are the kinds of people I look for when I want to do something good. I want to support people who are genuinely selfless and skilled in lifting others up. The two men (and their teams) which my team and I are working with currently are: Abbe Veron Okavu in Lodja, DR-Congo. He received a 60,000. euro prize for his brilliant dissertation back in 1997 and used it to build schools in his hometown, Lodja. He was a professor... Read more
I am writing this in the master bedroom–a term distinctly first world. The idea of a bedroom with beds, let alone a MASTER bedroom (meaning that it’s not the only one), would astound many if not most people in the world. Many of us have felt drawn to the poor and homeless (particularly to the thousands of refugees at this time in our world history) as part of our religious life. As a Latter-day Saint (Christian), I have been intensely... Read more
This shower game is specifically for people with some scientific or literary background, though it can be played by anyone. Each assignment is for ONE guest. They have fifteen minutes to complete the assignment, and then they share. ASSIGNMENTS: Write a rap song including these words Bride Wedding Plans Engaged Rings Honeymoon Dress Rose Bouquet Choose a song which describes the bride and sing it for us. Write a nursery rhyme which describes the bride... Read more
Congo Rising (www.congorising.org) is now a 501c3 company. Here’s our first fundraiser as a 501c3! We focus on: SANITATION (compost toilets and hand-washing units.Compost is for use in tree groves.) ORAL HISTORIES AS LIBRARIES in a place with few books and no libraries. (The oral history center will be set up in cyber-cafes which the students will establish. Cyber cafes pay for their education.) We hire students to build, man, and maintain the sanitation stations and the cyber cafes,... Read more
Last year, we raised some money for school benches in a place where children sat either on the ground or on rocks. This year, we are getting more serious. Several of us spent a long time in Lodja, DR-Congo this past summer. The most desperate need became clear: sanitation. In the general hospital, fifteen people die every month of malaria or of typhoid fever and other diseases related to poor sanitation. Consider that those who died in the hospital likely... Read more
I remember realizing that Stephanie Smith was the picture of COOL and BEAUTIFUL around sixth grade. Her sisters were, too. Her older sister, Sandy, did makeovers for all of us just-starting-puberty girls and showed me how to style my hair in a way I still use fifty years later. (Note the photo of me in July 2018 with my hair done exactly as Sandy taught me when I was a teenager.) My earliest memory of the Smiths was the day... Read more
DO YOU SEE? (1) For those who don’t know the play, here’s a brief introduction: (a) Twins (Sebastian and Viola) shipwrecked, separated (each thinks the other has drowned); both come on the shores of Illyria but neither runs into the other; Viola dresses as her brother (and passes as a man) for protection; goes into service with Duke Orsino (b) Duke Orsino is in love with Countess Olivia, who won’t give him the time of day ... Read more
When God was distributing wealth to all the nations on the earth, he fell asleep in the Congo and gems, minerals, oil, precious everything, fell out of his pocket. Thus, the land became the richest land on earth. Does it follow that the richest land would summon the greatest greed? We know why the people are poor. Now, what can be done about it? Read more
Twice a week, I babysit my granddaughter, who is quite certain that she is the center of the universe. Until last month, she could sleep between her mother and father and say simply, “Some” and a nipple would be placed in her mouth. She will remain the center of the universe at least for awhile—maybe until a sibling joins her. And then—disruption! Disruption to all assumptions, disruption to all days, disruption to her own disruptions. She will eventually join other... Read more
Deux fois par semaine, je garde ma petite-fille, qui est certaine qu’elle est le centre de l’univers. Jusqu’au mois dernier, elle pouvait dormir entre sa mère et son père et dire simplement: «Some!» et un mamelon serait placé dans sa bouche. Elle restera le centre de l’univers au moins pendant un certain temps, peut-être jusqu’à ce qu’un frère ou une soeur la rejoigne. Et puis-perturbation! Perturbation de toutes les hypothèses, perturbation de tous les jours, perturbation de ses propres perturbations.... Read more
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