THANK YOU for being so generous with your ideas and desire to help fund shelters to the quake affected areas of Pakistan.
The lastest is that the a donor in Pakistan is exploring how to fund 5000 of these dome homes. However, we suggested that they first install only 2 dome homes to get an idea of whether the communities will accept them.
There is no doubt that the communities will be warm in these homes and that they will be able to use the domes structures for decades to come. However, as serveral of you have pointed out, there is a chance that the domes won't be accepted culturally.
Others of you suggested alternate dome shelter designs that are quite amazing and can be made from local material. We are also exploring how to execute these designs in short time as well.
Lastly, for those of you that want to send funds for relief efforts, I have been brainstorming ways in which you can be more engaged with your own ideas or funds.
For instance, I could spend a week in a cluster of communities assessing what is needed and what could be done with small funds and with the skills I have. I could post these on the blog, and you could tell me how you want your funds spent, and hopefully even provide further ideas.
Also, since some of you have such great community experience in southeast Asia, you could send ideas on how you want the funds to be spent even before I visit the communities. I could then see how much time and skill I have to execute your ideas. ...I'm thinking aloud and open to your thoughts.
I will be leaving for Islamabad by Nov. 15 and will spend a month there. ...My strengths are in connecting with the local flow...listening to individuals/families and actively sharing in their experience--good or bad.
I'm not sure how much "I" will "help", but the point is to experience and learn, go deeper inside on both my end and their end...and if you want, hopefully connect you in the process as well.
What do you think?
Friday, October 28, 2005
Friday, October 21, 2005
On Fire
The last train ride:
On Fire. Heart thumping. Sweat secreting. One foot flying after the other, as fast as possible. Focus: Follow the red shirt of the Kuli-bhai. Trust him. Trust the rhythms. If not this one, then the next. But not without a fight.
…I did make the train with 3 minutes to spare…whew. Wish I could fight for the Universe with the same focus…as if there were no next moment. Treat every person as if there were no other. The Earth as if it were the only….heartbeats are still so fast.
…Finally, I get to sleep at some point, only to wake up at about 5am to some dream about…I forget it as soon as the usual jolt of 'Oh yeah, I'm still on a train' kicks in. It never fails on the entry back into consciousness from slumber. …Though this time it seemed that I entered another dream:
Down the aisle, there is row of young men with hats on. I slowly remember the group of young Muslim boys in the next compartment as I had ran onto the cabin. They were now doing their first prayer of the day. The smiling adolescents had neatly rolled about cloth on the aisle and formed a comfortable line to pray. After the namaz, they read…their day on the train continues with other prayers and readings. So young and fired towards worship.
On Fire. Heart thumping. Sweat secreting. One foot flying after the other, as fast as possible. Focus: Follow the red shirt of the Kuli-bhai. Trust him. Trust the rhythms. If not this one, then the next. But not without a fight.
…I did make the train with 3 minutes to spare…whew. Wish I could fight for the Universe with the same focus…as if there were no next moment. Treat every person as if there were no other. The Earth as if it were the only….heartbeats are still so fast.
…Finally, I get to sleep at some point, only to wake up at about 5am to some dream about…I forget it as soon as the usual jolt of 'Oh yeah, I'm still on a train' kicks in. It never fails on the entry back into consciousness from slumber. …Though this time it seemed that I entered another dream:
Down the aisle, there is row of young men with hats on. I slowly remember the group of young Muslim boys in the next compartment as I had ran onto the cabin. They were now doing their first prayer of the day. The smiling adolescents had neatly rolled about cloth on the aisle and formed a comfortable line to pray. After the namaz, they read…their day on the train continues with other prayers and readings. So young and fired towards worship.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Domes for Pakistan
The wave of the Moment is to get as many fiberglass dome homes to Pakistan before the cold really sets in the earthquake affected areas.
For a while it seemed that we were jumping into an unrealistic goal reaching Pakistan with some sort of relief aid; but as always, enough thinking and desire to do manifests into reality.
Two domes will be sponsored by Friends of Pakistan, with an aim to generate further awareness of the dome structure's ability to save lives this winter.
http://www.domesintl.com/index.htm
Open to your ideas on what else to take/ send, whom to work with, etc.
For a while it seemed that we were jumping into an unrealistic goal reaching Pakistan with some sort of relief aid; but as always, enough thinking and desire to do manifests into reality.
Two domes will be sponsored by Friends of Pakistan, with an aim to generate further awareness of the dome structure's ability to save lives this winter.
http://www.domesintl.com/index.htm
Open to your ideas on what else to take/ send, whom to work with, etc.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Waves
More aware than ever. Different waves forming...as always, for the better. Moving on from Green Empowerment...and just focusing on catching the wave now, and now, and now. :)
"Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work--that goes on, it adds up. It goes into the ground, into crops, into children's bellies, and their bright eyes. Good things don't get lost...the very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope, right in it, under its roof. What I want is so simple I almost can't say: elementary kindness."
-Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Dreams (thanks Anna)
"Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work--that goes on, it adds up. It goes into the ground, into crops, into children's bellies, and their bright eyes. Good things don't get lost...the very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope, right in it, under its roof. What I want is so simple I almost can't say: elementary kindness."
-Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Dreams (thanks Anna)
Monday, October 03, 2005
TiriKonaMalai (Triangled Mountain)
Below is a rather dry update....but in general the visits to the conflict and tsunami affected villages has been quite a lesson in the double-tragedy that the northeast of the country has faced. ...Wish I could speak the local language. ...Will post photos soon.
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The first 2 days in Sri Lanka were spent meeting with international groups, such as Mercy Corps, and recommended local groups, such as Sarvodya and Energy Forum, in Colombo. With some contacts of a Sri Lankan friends, we've also met some influential folks who are backing humanitarian work around the island, such as www.unconditionalcompassion.org and hugely hearted Mr. Ajit Chitty. We also met the pioneer of solar in Sri Lanka (...and got to hear his daughters (ages 9 and 12) sing parts of the Phantom of the Opera!)
Day 3, Sat., Oct. 1
We left Colombo at 8am by road and reached Trinkomalee at 2pm. As soon as we arrived, we had our meeting with Gretchen Ansorge at Mercy Corps. Gretchen provided us with contact info for international and local groups she thought we should meet, namely the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA), SEDOT, and the UNHCR. As we drove thru town, we saw signs for countless NGOs and relief groups, including familiar ones like ZOA and UNDP.
In the evening, we met with the Energy Forum rep in Trinko named Sukannathan. Since Sukannathan spoke only Tamil and broken English, but we had our Sinhalese, Tamil, and English speaking driver helped to translate. Sukannathan had coordinated work in areas north of Trinko and also in Batticola (several hours driving south of Trinko, which after 20 years of war, became a peaceful area in 1991). He had helped with the implementing a loan based project which involved installing 300 SHLS in the Trinko area and 2000 SHLS in Batticola. He was stressing for us to work in villages even north of the villages in FIA, near Tiriyia. Sukannathan agreed to come with us to FIA's villages the next morning. We spent the night at Ajit Chitty's house 20km north of Trinko.
Day 4, Sun., Oct. 2
We were on the road by 7:30am to visit what we thought were just 2 villages, the accessible villages in which FIA works in. To our surprise, the day ended with visiting 5 villages, the other 3 being in the conflict areas north of the tsunami affected areas northwest of Trinko. Sukannathan had encouraged us to make the unplanned visits to the additional 3 villages, one of them being Tiriyia. We passed numerous military check points getting to the latter 3 villages…
Many questions came up during the day, we met again in the evening with Sukannathan. He was kind enough to go to town and copy some maps he had prepared for the various areas, which showed where there is and is not electricity.
Day 5, Mon., Oct. 3
Since we got in at Sat. afternoon (Sat. being only a half workday in Sri Lanka) and we had to leave Mon. at noon to make our other appointments with Mercy Corps staff in the southern towns of Ampare, Arugun Bay, and Hambantota, we had to make the most of Mon. morning meeting with Sarvodaya and the groups that Gretchen had recommended. We ended up having in-person meetings with Sarvodaya, CHA, and SEDOT, and a phone meeting with UNHCR.
Sarvodaya and SEDOT turned out to be excellent candidates for partnerships, although they differ in their scale of work (Sarvodaya being a large org working around the country and SEDOT being smaller working only in Trinko). CHA and UNHCR are worthwhile to consult before starting any work in northeastern Sri Lanka because they know about both the conflict issues and the tsunami reconstruction status.
Next
We left Trinko in time to get to Amapare, a seven hour drive south. Here in Ampare we will be meeting with the Mercy Corps office and one of its partners. We will leave Ampare tomorrow afternoon to reach Arugun Bay in the evening, where we will meet the local Mercy Corps office the next morning. From there we will continue south to Habantota to visit the Mercy Corps and ITDG offices and sites there.
-----------------------------------------------
The first 2 days in Sri Lanka were spent meeting with international groups, such as Mercy Corps, and recommended local groups, such as Sarvodya and Energy Forum, in Colombo. With some contacts of a Sri Lankan friends, we've also met some influential folks who are backing humanitarian work around the island, such as www.unconditionalcompassion.org and hugely hearted Mr. Ajit Chitty. We also met the pioneer of solar in Sri Lanka (...and got to hear his daughters (ages 9 and 12) sing parts of the Phantom of the Opera!)
Day 3, Sat., Oct. 1
We left Colombo at 8am by road and reached Trinkomalee at 2pm. As soon as we arrived, we had our meeting with Gretchen Ansorge at Mercy Corps. Gretchen provided us with contact info for international and local groups she thought we should meet, namely the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA), SEDOT, and the UNHCR. As we drove thru town, we saw signs for countless NGOs and relief groups, including familiar ones like ZOA and UNDP.
In the evening, we met with the Energy Forum rep in Trinko named Sukannathan. Since Sukannathan spoke only Tamil and broken English, but we had our Sinhalese, Tamil, and English speaking driver helped to translate. Sukannathan had coordinated work in areas north of Trinko and also in Batticola (several hours driving south of Trinko, which after 20 years of war, became a peaceful area in 1991). He had helped with the implementing a loan based project which involved installing 300 SHLS in the Trinko area and 2000 SHLS in Batticola. He was stressing for us to work in villages even north of the villages in FIA, near Tiriyia. Sukannathan agreed to come with us to FIA's villages the next morning. We spent the night at Ajit Chitty's house 20km north of Trinko.
Day 4, Sun., Oct. 2
We were on the road by 7:30am to visit what we thought were just 2 villages, the accessible villages in which FIA works in. To our surprise, the day ended with visiting 5 villages, the other 3 being in the conflict areas north of the tsunami affected areas northwest of Trinko. Sukannathan had encouraged us to make the unplanned visits to the additional 3 villages, one of them being Tiriyia. We passed numerous military check points getting to the latter 3 villages…
Many questions came up during the day, we met again in the evening with Sukannathan. He was kind enough to go to town and copy some maps he had prepared for the various areas, which showed where there is and is not electricity.
Day 5, Mon., Oct. 3
Since we got in at Sat. afternoon (Sat. being only a half workday in Sri Lanka) and we had to leave Mon. at noon to make our other appointments with Mercy Corps staff in the southern towns of Ampare, Arugun Bay, and Hambantota, we had to make the most of Mon. morning meeting with Sarvodaya and the groups that Gretchen had recommended. We ended up having in-person meetings with Sarvodaya, CHA, and SEDOT, and a phone meeting with UNHCR.
Sarvodaya and SEDOT turned out to be excellent candidates for partnerships, although they differ in their scale of work (Sarvodaya being a large org working around the country and SEDOT being smaller working only in Trinko). CHA and UNHCR are worthwhile to consult before starting any work in northeastern Sri Lanka because they know about both the conflict issues and the tsunami reconstruction status.
Next
We left Trinko in time to get to Amapare, a seven hour drive south. Here in Ampare we will be meeting with the Mercy Corps office and one of its partners. We will leave Ampare tomorrow afternoon to reach Arugun Bay in the evening, where we will meet the local Mercy Corps office the next morning. From there we will continue south to Habantota to visit the Mercy Corps and ITDG offices and sites there.
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