Swine Flu: reasonable or overracting?

Each year 37,000 people die from the flu. How many have been infected with the swine flu? Is the potential infection worth all this hype?

At work they sent an email asking everyone to disinfect their desks, keyboard and mouse three times a day, avoid crowds, but when you are in a crowd wear a mask. The housekeeping staff have been instructed to disinfect doorknobs and other public places four times a day. We are banned from visiting Mexico for the time being. Due to the nature of our work (International travel) we are likely a vector point - a point of viral spread in our community.

I've been issued my own bottle of disinfectant wipes. I took a picture because advertising amuses me - "kills flu virus." Really?

Is this a reasonable reaction to swine flu or are we overreacting? What is your work doing in response?

changing Africa, part two

Today, I want to introduce you to Martin. Martin is HIV positive. He's lost most of his family due to violent conflict in the area or due to AIDS. At one time he was a compassionate care beneficiary. That means our staff would visit him weekly, bring him some food and help him with household chores. That seems like a benevolent and worthwhile project, right? Well, in my opinion it didn't go far enough to restore Martin and those like him. When the compassionate care program manager left we revamped the program to look more like the church mobilization project.

When I met Martin he was large and in charge at a community HIV testing event. He was ushering people here and there, inviting new comers to the site and explaining the process to them. That particular day, over 400 people had showed up to their local church to be tested for HIV. The testing is done in partnership with the local Ministry of Health (MOH) to ensure quality and sustainability.

We stopped Martin from working for a few minutes so he could talk with me. He told me the most compelling story of life change. It is stories like his that keep me going on the days when I feel overwhelmed or discouraged. In the newly designed project (the change was made January 2008), Martin became part of a community based volunteer team (those in the blue t-shirts). This team is made up of church and community leaders, HIV positive and HIV negative members. Talk about overcoming discrimination! These people are now working side-by-side, where previously they would not even be caught looking in the direction of someone like Martin because of his HIV status.

I asked Martin his opinion on the training and what he thinks about the program...when I'm in the field I want to get reports from those on the ground, spontaneously, not just from the program managers who report to me. Martin told me that he had appreciated the help that the previous project provided him, but that he still felt terrible shame from his illness and had no will to live. He longed for death and wished this dreadful disease were progressing faster in order to put him out of his misery. The training we offered changed his mindset. He saw that he still has a purpose. That God can use him in the days he has remaining on earth. According to Martin, he now believes that God wants him to help protect his community from his own fate. He is so glad to be a part of the program, now as a trainer himself and at events like this. He prays God gives him more days so he can help more people.

What a difference! He went from longing for death, to living, truly living with purpose. Everyone on his team regardless of position or HIV status told me a similar story. Through this project they realized they could do more, they are blessed with resources and they want to use these to impact their community.

This project is funded through the end of 2009. We may extend it to a couple of new communities in the district in 2010, but there will be a day when my organization no longer has a presence in this community. I believe we've left behind something lasting. I don't think the work will stop just because our presence is no longer there, Martin and his team have taken ownership of this project and we didn't create bondage or dependance on outsiders, we've mobilized a community to care for their orphans, widow and sick with or without us.

changing Africa, part one

I anticipate there are some naysayers in the crowd, so as a follow-up to my post from yesterday, over the next few days I am going to post a few stories from my recent trip to Uganda. These are actual stories of life-change in Northern Uganda.

If you are not familiar with the area, let me give you a brief history. A few years ago Northern Uganda was the site of some terrible violence. The Lord's Resistance Army known as the LRA (they are the one's now causing troubles in Sudan) had displaced hundreds of thousands of people. They were stealing children to be soldiers, as well as labour and sex slaves to their troops. Lira, Uganda had become a settlement site for many of these displaced people. That is when we came in. Our first project in Lira was managing an IDP camp (internally displaced people). We were recognized by the UN as having one of the best run camps in the area. In fact, the manager of that camp was invited to a UN Summit to share best practices because the work was so extraordinary.

At that time we had two HIV projects running. You can think of it as a mini-experiment, though that wasn't the intent. One project followed tradition relief guidelines...find the sick and offer them compassionate care. That means we would clean for them and give them food, the hand-out model. We had a relatively large staff to do the home visits and distributions. The second project was a church mobilization project. We asked for community volunteers to come to a training, in the training we look at community resources (individual and corporate), then work with them to develop a plan or strategy to take care of their perceived and real needs. These are people with multiple needs; they need shelter, food, educational opportunities for their children, there are concerns about safety and employment. That is their reality; the needs are many, the resources are limited...some may wonder, where to even begin in order to make a difference.

One of the exercises we do with the community groups is called "problem tree." One of our staff, usually a national from the area who speaks the language and knows the culture, will walk them through this exercise. We draw a tree not to dissimilar from the one below.

We write the problems they identified on sticky notes, then we rank them - most difficult at the top and less difficult problems at the bottom. The problems at the bottom are called "low hanging fruit." That means there it is something the community can solve given their existing resources and talents. Then we help them solve the smaller problems and if necessary will address the larger problems if it helps them get further faster. This is a very empowering exercise because they quickly realize how much they actually have in their community. It helps to restore dignity and promote future problem solving, because they are addressing the needs themselves. In the long run, this is so much more effective than a hand-out. I will begin to share some success stories tomorrow.

Traditional foreign aid is harmful, not helpful to Africa

"Giving alms to Africa remains one of the biggest ideas of our time -- millions march for it, governments are judged by it, celebrities proselytize the need for it. Calls for more aid to Africa are growing louder, with advocates pushing for doubling the roughly $50 billion of international assistance that already goes to Africa each year.

Yet evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that aid to Africa has made the poor poorer, and the growth slower. The insidious aid culture has left African countries more debt-laden, more inflation-prone, more vulnerable to the vagaries of the currency markets and more unattractive to higher-quality investment. It's increased the risk of civil conflict and unrest (the fact that over 60% of sub-Saharan Africa's population is under the age of 24 with few economic prospects is a cause for worry). Aid is an unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster."

-an economist from Ghana

Maybe you find it odd that a person, such as myself, who works for an International NGO (non-governmental organization) and has dedicated my life to alleviating poverty in struggling areas would post such a critical article about those who work in my field. It may surprise you to learn that I agree whole heartedly with the author. He's right traditional foreign aid is harmful...that's why I don't participate in it. The work I do is community focused, it's purpose is empowerment. We don't provide handouts (except in disaster circumstances).

It is my belief that the solution to Africa's problems will come from an African. It is my belief that repeated handouts can turn in to unnecessary bondage. It is my belief that the living God endowed each individual (not just Americans) with talents, skills and abilities that are helpful to the betterment of society. That is why the work we do focuses on capacity and asset building, not distribution. Is it easier to handout rice and consider ourselves successful? It sure would be! At least the people are no longer hungry, right? I think the better option is to teach someone how to grow a garden full of nutritious foods that will sustain a family. Then teach them marketing and financial management skills to make the most of the vegetables they grow. It takes more work to do the latter, but it is well worth the effort!

We ask people in some of the poorest places on earth to volunteer in their communities along side us - by volunteer I mean give their time for free. In exchange, they learn a marketable skill, restore their dignity, apply their talents...and when we leave at the end of the project they are more likely to continue the work started because there was never a monetary incentive for their involvement, only an intrinsic one.

God bless Dambisa Moyo for challenging the Western mindset that prefers to give away loads of money or make minimal handouts in order to feel better about themselves or appease guilt, but are too often not as willing to engage in the hard work to help someone truly overcome difficult circumstances.

shuttle launch

I had an experience recently that was worth posting about, even if it is weeks after the fact. While on my way to Bolivia in March I got to see the shuttle launch from the window of my airplane. It was amazing! I wish I'd have thought to take the picture sooner...but you still get the idea. What an unconventional life I lead!

Have you had any experiences recently where you happened to be in the right place at the right time?