Dancing

Dancing into remember

swirling and circling closer
closer
back to here and 
now
re-connected (re-membered) to my body and its parts
Ah.. here are my arms

and, my body moves, again, heart first.

Thanks to Loveleen Kaur Nijjar for connecting the picture (artist unknown) 
and the inspiration for the poem

I joined the "Contest to find the worst examples of donations intended to help people in disasters.

If you click on this link you can read my entries for this odd award with three stories, one from Pakistan about a boatload of donated left shoes, the second when pallets of Milk of Magnesia plagued us in Afghanistan, and finally the donation of iron tablets for our clinic in the Afghan refugee camp to prevent and treat iron deficiency.  Sadly it was mis-labeled and wasn't iron but something else altogether.   The website is called "good intentions".  It is written by aid workers and international development specialists and covers all aspects of disaster, relief and development work.

Worth a look!  Whether you work in international development or want to figure out ways to be of use in situations such as Haiti or, just to check out what we hear from the media.

 Street Art (graffiti)

 in Valencia Spain

photographed by

Morgan McDonnell from the series

Art crimes

Graffitti from Valencia Spain

This lovely image was just one of the series by Morgan McDonnell who became fascinated by the street art in Valencia and soon we were all watching out for it. Want more?

Haiti: information about assistance

The earthquake in Haiti is a sudden unimaginable disaster that occurred amidst the chronic humanitarian disaster that is sadly normal for the Haitian people.    The challenges to the people and the organizations that are committed to work with Haiti were already huge and are now unbelievable.  This additional disaster--the type that leaves a person's mind reeling because the Universe seems no longer to follow its normal rules-- is paralyzing and saps resilience and adaptability.

Members of the American Public Health Association (APHA) International Health section have offered to monitor the Congress as they formulate a response program, to create and update a list of deserving operational groups working in Haiti, and to help distribute this information widely.   What follows here is the information I have so far.  If people know of more groups or have additional suggestions, I would be happy to update this and link with APHA and others.

This may be a huge disaster, but we must not believe that it is TOO big.  The worst thing is to believe that problems are insolvable or that we cannot make a difference.  Creativity and compassion matter.

Actions for Haiti

1. Donate to Meds and Food for Kids (MFK).  Meds and Food for Kids produces Medika Mamba or Peanut Butter Medicine, a highly nutritious, fortified peanut paste designed to treat malnutrition. It is a non-profit program.  Ila Irwin, a public health practitioner in Columbia, Missouri, has known this project for many years and spent time on site with them.  It is run by Dr. Pat Wolff from St. Louis. Thankfully, Dr. Wolff, her staff, and the Medika Mamba factory survived the earthquake. Ila wrote: "MFK is an amazing and very reputable organization that is poised, in Haiti and employing Haitian workers, to quickly address this urgent need for non-refrigerated food. The demand for ready-to-use food will be astronomical and will quickly outstrip MFK’s current ability to produce this life saving food.  They must be able to increase production to address this dire need.  Please go to http://mfkhaiti.org/  or donate directly at 

https://www.justgive.org/nonprofits/donate.jsp?ein=20-1257910

2. Partners In Health. They’ve set-up this Facebook group <http://apps.facebook.com/causes/431732/129609?m=71bb3202>  and email alert system. Click here to sign up for earthquake relief efforts: http://act.pih.org/haitiearthquakeupdates

3. Circle of Health International <http://www.cohintl.org/>  (COHI) is currently putting together a team of women's health experts (practitioners, public health experts, trauma specialists, etc.) to help with the response in Haiti. Here’s a website and contact info for Executive Director Leilani Johnson: leilani@cohintl.org <mailto:leilani@cohintl.org> .
 

More information to come.  Please look to news sources beyond the traditional media-- go to websites for reliable agencies and share good sources. This is important. Talk to people who know Haiti.

Light a candle and offer this light.  

The power of design: Fun in funny places

Recently, while traveling with friends we reconsidered  a question posed  some years ago via questionnaire about how to increase the traffic flow in public restrooms, particularly womens' rooms.

A variety of suggestions were put forward at the time based mostly on dark humor and the assumption that people move more quickly in places that they don't like.

My son suggested that if you really wanted to shake things up that you could significantly change the traffic in mens rooms by putting the urinals back-to-back so the patrons faced each other.  Alternatively, one could place them in a circle facing inwards.

All men  present agreed this was a potent idea that would have far-reaching effects (none that they were in support of).  Some predicted that such a design would create a restroom that no one (man) would use.

The inquiries of the curious women were met with curt certainty and unusual concordance among the men but, no details.

Thus, much giggling ensued.

Tonight I found this wonderful picture by Wim Wiskerke a photographer based in Holland.  He has been a great help to me as I learn the ropes in stock photography and seek to expand and share Gay's available images .  His image that I've included in this post is available at Alamy Stock or from him directly.  It  provides a similar innovative culturally-based approach taken in a REAL mens room in Brussels.  The caption reads "Mens bathroom; urinals at a Brussels restaurant featuring 4 women onlookers, amused, making jokes".

 The anthropologists among us want to assess the response to the design and its impact on use, demand,  and time spent.  We are intrigued.

In truth, the actual solution to the long lines outside the womens loo is  probably to double to number of womens bathrooms available or make all public restrooms unisex.

Then again if some of the ideas proposed here were tried it might be that certain mens rooms could be documented as underutilized and therefore, candidates for renovation into womens rooms.

Please, share your response to these far-fetched notions-- the actual pictures from a Brussles resturant and their loo, or the facing urinals design, how would these affect the situation or environment  we know now?

And, thanks Wim for a great shot.

sharon

A First installment Blog post from Jane Flink

Dear Sharon — Double thanks for the beautiful cards and for the blogosphere direction. I look out my window on a world of white. Unusual for Missouri, we have had snow since Christmas eve and its as if the clouds take naps and the sun comes out and then they wake up, remember what they should be about, and sprinkle more snow crystals on us. Rather nice for us, as we had a very busy Christmas holiday season, and now have the luxury of pushing back in our comfy chairs with good books or catching up on the airline terrorist or watching some silly show (such as “Samantha takes charge”) while
snow drifts down on the other side of cold window panes. It is always a joy to hear from you.

Fondly,

Jane Flink

Jane Flink is Author of "Unmarked Trails: A Memoir". It is available at Amazon and other online and real book stores. The cover photograph by Gay McDonnell Bumgarner. Gay was excited about this book because Jane welcomed her into the creative process. She got to read earlier drafts and she was consulted about decisions such as the book cover photo and the title. She respected Janes' experience and found it energizing to be part of a new creative process.

It is through our friends that we get to learn about whole worlds we would otherwise never know. For example, how to run a small business, practice public health, be a scientist, sell real estate, be a music professor, or write a book.

I am delighted that Jane agreed to let me take her thank you note for photo cards and its wonderful imagery of winter and how the weather can be integrated into our experience of the world and perhaps, sets our pace. The weather personified or humans naturalized. Enjoy!

Over the last 30 years, Jane Flink has been an award-winning reporter, photographer, editor and publisher, and is nationally recognized as a community journalist. Check out her book

We welcome all of you to share your writing and tell us of your connections perhaps newly experienced. We are still floating the question of aging and "how to", see previous post on Indian hornbill. If you want help posting -- just ask but, join the club

Meanwhile, greetings from Valencia Spain. Some stories and pictures to follow. Tomorrow is the parade of kings for the start of Epihany.