Invisible Form of Greed

There's this invisible form of greed. It’s difficult for us to see. Us being “the greedy ones”. We are so removed as wittinesses. We rarely go to places where the greed is having its full effect. We are even further distanced from the deeper causes. Global commerce moves without feelings and with no awareness around the dis-equity of opportunity.

There are forces in the world I feel powerless at times to affect. How do you convince a government or a corporation to open a factory in Somalia? How can you get the next hi-tech manufacturer to open a plant in Kibera? We will not have equity for humanity until we have equity in prosperity. Until we all have equal opportunities we are not equal. Does equity matter to you?

The big changes are difficult, maybe we leave those to Bono. Small changes are so easy to make. May I suggest the following:

If you have plenty to eat go a day or two hungry. I can get your savings to someone who is lacking. Here’s the best part, go 2-3 days without eating and that savings will feed a family in Kibera for 2-3 weeks.

If you have employment sell some PTO. You will never miss it, in the big scheme of things you’ll quickly forget you even did it. But $100 will help someone get a micro business going in a big way. How many can you help by simply selling 1-2 days of PTO? 5? 10? 20? You’ll never miss the PTO, but for those on the other side of equity, it will change their lives. I have people lined up.

Let me ask this? Did you get a good education? Did you get to go to college? Maybe consider the impact of that on your current life. What can you do to give thanks? In Kibera mothers/parents are forced to choose beteween food or school for their kids. Education isn't a given. What can you do?  

For sure life isn't fair, but still - people can be fair. As individuals, we can choose to be fair.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

The New Trailer

Here's the new trailer for the film "The Road to Pundamilia". This documentary film is about international volunteering. It's being made entirely by volunteers, including the music, provided by The Farewell Circuit. We hope to have the entire film completed sometime in September. VIEW HERE

overdue post

i'm long overdue for an update. there's actually too much to update - i just don't have time. i've returned from my second trip to kenya and it was amazing. just bullet points for now. visited chazon in molo - so exciting to see how it's grown visited at melon in nakuru - got to meet a whole new set of volunteers who came to work together and accomplished so much spent a lot of time in kibera - stayed with the amazing brothers of mother teresa got to get a lot accomplished re: kibera pride got to meet and interview the amazing irene kasandi wish i had more time to blog!

lost files

:( i lost a lot of files to my film and other things. pretty sure i know what happened. one morning while working on one of the somali pieces and i deleted stuff to make render space believing i was backed up. there is an option in final cut, i thought it only eliminated render files - it was far more. i have been able to recover a fair amount but only beginning to realize how much is gone. i was just going to go to bed, but instead i will start the process of recreating all that's lost. i fear it's hundreds of hours of work.

upside down

i think the biggest risk one takes by going, by volunteering isn't malaria or one form of crime or another, it's losing your life completely, having your life irrevocably changed. it's returning and struggling with overwhelming issues, fairness, justice, love, and I think mostly "what must I now do?" how can I move forward in ways that will honor it all? and here's the hardest part - i can't do it! no matter how hard i work, no matter what i do, it'll never be enough... that's the greatest risk. it's impossible to honor properly, and it's impossible to move on and feel you are doing enough. and someone you love is going to be hurt for sure, whether it's family here or family there. in the sum of all things i'd say this - i'd rather be here struggling with this - then to be living selfishly. i've completed 2 of the 3 hard animations - one to go, i'm in the thick of editing danny of TFC's interview, there's lot's to do, but it feels like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...

i'm the problem

i'm one of those dreamers who wants to change the world - i was even confident about the possibility but now, having actually visited "that world" i realize that "the change" i really need to make is far more personal. it's NOW about me and my life verses ruth and her life. i was 200 hundred pounds over-weight (over-eating all my life), living in a house valued at a quarter million, 30 acres, horses, closets full of clothes, and stuff everywhere. over-consuming.

and i look at ruth's life - she's living in a house with one room, with 6-7 others, no electricity, no running water, her skin is parched (lucy thinks she may have aids) her parents died from it - God, she's so tiny, she's like 11 but she looks no more then 7-8. she shows all the signs of malnutrition and she has had a stick lodged in her ear - for the last 2 years. they can't afford to take her to a doctor.

me vs. ruth - to see this and say it's not fair is such an understatement. even to say it's wrong is not quite getting to it. it's evil. and it's not the world trade organization, it's not about the effects of imperialism a hundred years ago or 40 years ago - or this or that government or this or that ideology. it's me. i'm the problem. i don't need to change the world i need to change me.

i wish

do you ever just sit down in front of your computer - and open up a doc or a blog and look at that blank page and wish that you could say something amazing? something that will inspire people to take action? something that will make people care a little more? give a little more?

i do.