sarafina soundtrack ( Whoopi Goldberg)

i have been looking for a few soundtracks and have finally found this one!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm1LOMHyBsc

am also looking for the soundtrack for :

• In My Country
• The Power of One
• Cry Freedom
• Cry, The Beloved Country
  

the malawi national anthem...

a group of school children from a primary school in Lilongwe, Malawi!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_pzNBULRKw


"join toogetha eeech an every waaaan..."

Love it!!!

cant wait to be able to have footage of the Makuluni village children too!

a vision for humanity

you may be interested in these websites : the provision of these addresses is only intended as a way of illustrating the various ways others are attempting to make the world a better place

www.visionofhumanity.org

Vision of Humanity is a strong proponent of the need to further study,advocate and act on peace. It is a collaborative enterprise bringing together a group of initiatives which enjoy the support of a wide range of philanthropists,business people, politicians,religious leaders and intellectuals.

www.onetreefilms.com

One Tree Films was established in 2006 by Tim Wise and Steve Killelea. Steve and Tim discovered a unique connection over lunch one day-both had experience working with child soldiers in Northern Uganda.

Tim had spent 3 weeks living with a Child Soldier Unit of the SPLA rebels while making an ABC television documentary in Sudan, while Steve runs a charity that helps to rehabilitate former Child Soldiers from the LRA rebels. After 6 months of discussions, they decided to set up One Tree Films together. The core value of the company is to produce world-class documentaries and other forms of media, including on line format that have a strong focus on social issues.

recipes for goat, anyone?

this one looks promising...onion, parsley, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, coriander, cumin seeds...ah, and goat. marinate for a long time! Still considering the option of camel...or maybe a vegetarian theme?

4 sleeps to go.

when i open my eyes i hope we all will see Africa, come Friday night!

a new day dawns...( or is that yawns?)

this morning i drove virginia home. For the last 9 days V has work solidly, literally day and night, to complete her final assignments and declare her Master of Public Health studies finally complete. The past few months have seen her battle so many emotions but today this woman emerged a victor. An extraordinary, amazing example of the power of faith and dedication to a dream.

CONGRATULATIONS, my dear friend. So many people will be (and already are) rejoicing with you. God bless you and may He use you powerfully in His plans.

a grand total for which the School Bell must surely ring!

It is official!

St Andrews School students, teachers and parents collected :

570 pairs of shoes!!

Simply wonderful, remarkable and amazing! There will indeed be very happy,happy feet in Makuluni! The shoes are beautiful, in great condition and clearly donated with consideration and thought.

We thank you from the depths of our hearts.

another test...

i am trying to see if i can hyperlink some websites...


Lighting Africa is a World Bank Group (WBG) initiative which supports the private sector to develop, accelerte and sustain the market for modern off-grid lighting technologies tailored to the needs of African consumers

http://www.lightingafrica.org


Malawi National Anthem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3DGPwpwYto


The St Andrews school newsletter the School Bell which contains an article regarding the shoe collecting by the students

http:///www.standrews.sa.edu.au/documents/SAS090514_000.pdf

thought for the day...

" Never tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon"

a wonderfully warm welcome at St Marks Lutheran School in the chilly Mt!

What a simply stunning morning for a drive to Mt Barker.

Freezing cold, mind you: icy-windscreen-see-your breath-in-the-car-despite-the heating-on-full-blast-cant-feel-your-fingers-gripping-the-steering-wheel-icing-sugar-dusted-snap-frozen-white-grass-kind-of-morning!

I'd received brilliant instructions on how to find the school and the street directory even had Mt barker in it so a grand start all round. As I pulled in to the car park to wait I watched the children arriving and reflected on how incredibly luck this country is. i could smell the smoke from the nearby homes with wood fires where children were preparing to rug up and walk with their mums or dads a few minutes to their school, arriving to a beautiful facility where there was heating as well as books and technology and art and music and such wonderful opportunities for their future.

The Grade 3 students made a fantastic assembly presentation regarding their recent camp to a 'wilderness'site at Mylor and the school principal engaged in negotiation with the student body regarding play areas in view of the very wet weather. A very small student raised his hand, engaging in a question with the principal, freely and fully expecting his question to be met with seriousness and consideration - which it was.

The presentation regarding the chimwemwe project was met with enthusiasm demonstrated by the childrens' spontaneous(and very successful)efforts to engage in the Chichewa language. Such great effort has been put into the shoe raising project- boxes have been built and painted, charts to monitor growth of the shoe numbers and a colourful display at the entrance to the school building to remind students and visitors of the endeavour.

Virginia and I will return after the collection period is completed, probably next term and hopefully to visit individual classes. Shoe Pal #2 is bearing shining witness to "the Power of One", working with wonderful staff to bring a dream true for little(and big) feet on the other side of the world.

Our heartfelt thanks to Lori, the staff and students at St Marks Luterhan School at Mt Barker.

wofetsa mowolowa manja, mowolowa manjanso adzakolola

Blessed in the hand that giveth

RSVPs come rollin' in!

the RSVPs for the Feast for Feet (South) dinner are rolling in! It was such great fun in the lead up to our previous dinner, the excitment is already bubbling away. Things are a bit different this time though - in part because of the farewell feature as we prepare to see Virginia head home to her homeland and those she holds so very dear to her heart. In addition, this dinner is in Adelaide's deep south with a distinctly country type air to the planning in contrast with our 'inner city' experience back in March.

GOAT is back on the menu...mixed responses predominantly enthusiastic although there has been a request for camel instead??

widget the world watcher..

back in the '90's, widget the world watcher,the alien environmentalist, was rescuing African elephants from poachers. Our daughter followed Widget's efforts as well as Captain Planet's effort to right the environmental wrongs and to promote a pro-active view of 'saving the planet for the future'.

Now i am contentding with widgets of another variety. hopefully, if you scroll right to the bottom of the blog site, you will be able to enjoy the music that with a bit of luck, is brought ot you via a widget!

i also hope that in the near future i will be able to wor out how to direct you to youtube screens and maybe even video footage of events ie the dinners. Not sure about that one either yet but as established very very early, this is all about learning!

Third Culture Kids...

i am deviating somewhat from the usual theme and using the opportunity to 'diarise' ( still not sure it is a word) thoughts that are emerging as part of this project.

A few years ago i was loaned a book by a dear friend (who as part of 'womens business', instead of her husband, invited me to be her support person for the labouring which produced her beautiful son and to whom i will always be so very grateful and honoured) entitled 'Third Culture Kids: the experience of growing up among worlds' by David C Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken ( 2001).

Third culture kids are those who have spent some of their growing up years in a foreign country and experience a sense of not belonging to their passport country when they return to it. In adapting to life in a 'foreign' country, they have also missed learning ways of their homeland and feel most at home in the 'third-culture' which they have created.

The term Third Culture Kids or Trans-Culture Kids, sometimes called Global Nomads, refers to someone who as a child has spent a significant period of time in one or more cultures other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and their own birth culture, into a third culture.

i was born in Rabaul, PNG in 1965 where my father was working as a medical officer. My sister was also born in Goroka in 1968.

On Sohano, a preacher-boi usually took the service in the little church and would pray for Dokta, Missus and the picannini bilong en, the service, including hymns conducted in place - tok. The church had a bell - a huge oxygen cylinder strung up on a tree and beaten with an iron bar.

With my dad requently off 'on patrol', my mother (at the tender age of 20) was left to manage as best she was able, along with many other young mums in similar situations, whose husbands were away on duty. Her right hand man /house-boi was Lewis - our protector! He chased snakes out of my bedroom and carried me in his arms or high on his shoulders - while pushing my pram!

So much is laid down in the child by the age of 3. I dont remember my time in PNG - i have seen many photos but my earliest memories begin very soon after our return to Australia around the age the time i was accidentally in a storage area locked under the house with my cousin, probably around the age of 4.

I do remember at the age of 10, soon after returning to Australia again after 3 years in England, waking up distressed in the middle of the night and my dad coming in to talk to me. I could not put my finger on the cause of my grief, apart from a sense of overwhelming sadness. I felt homesick, but it wasn't for England, nor was it for Australia. I still remember asking him if it was possible to be homesick for a place i couldn't remember and he told me it was not.

Years on, I often think about this, particularly in light of the book. On my pin up board in the study I have had an article now for many years - the management of sick young infants at primary health centres in a rural developing country. it was a multi site 12 month observational study of consecutive presentations of infants less then 2 months old and investigation of neonates who died in one district without accessing health care - in the highlands of PNG. It is next to a photo of myself as a baby and a tiny PNG baby - the daughter of our house-boi.

i have spoken to Virginia on a number of occasions about my theory - that deep down, imprinted in my soul and inaccessible memory, are kind, supportive black hands that protected me and my family for those years, before the age of 3 and are now embedded in my sense of wellbeing and comfort. many of my dearest friends are black as black. I wonder if that is where my security is found. With them I can laugh and be myself. And feel at home.

Priorities

And so ... what is our priority?

We backtrack a little to the day that "Aunty Susie and Miss Virginia" came to St Andrews school. Shoepal#1 was psyched; preparing (?) his introduction. Shoepal#3 was not feeling well, and hadn't been for a few days. But "AUNTY SUSIE AND MISS VIRGINIA are coming to school, so I want to go too".

So we went, and together we witnessed a powerful assembly, as students watched Sue and Virginia present information about the differences in cultures and environment between two groups of children of similar ages; and the students were captivated (both by the information, and Virginia's unique passion of delivery).

And yet, I noticed that Shoepal #3 was grey. So after assembly, we went to hospital where he stayed for 3 days, being most unwell.

As a mother, what do I feel? I feel grateful. My child was very very sick. I took him to the hospital (5 minutes from school), and received medical intervention (literally medicine) within minutes of him needing it. Our hospital is 3 minutes from our home, and the doctors are skilled and caring. What a privilege. This was NOT how it would have been in Malawi.

As a mother, what do I feel? I feel proud. My 7-yr-old wanted to help the children of Malawi; his actions have had a ripple effect which has produced nearly 2000 shoes, and changed many more lives. My 9-yr-old felt the importance of the moment so much that he wanted to be a part of it so much that he ignored his own sense of illness as long as he could.

So, how do I change the future as a 'stay at home mum'? Well, I look at my boys, and how they are growing, as in homework tonight one studies the structure of the South Australian government, and the other studies where in the world people in his family were born, and I know that the youth of today truly are the strength and power of tomorrow; may we instill in them a love of the world, and all that is right and fair. And if that means learning how to gather shoes and send them (without political obstruction) to Malawi (because that's where Miss Virginia was born), ............ then this is a powerful role to be playing in the future of our world.

What are our priorities? To do all the little things we can, until we can do bigger things, because all things will effect a change. May my boys learn that they can do great things with little feet until their feats become bigger.

it's a date!

Finally we have a date for the Feast for Feet ( South)!

Friday 26th June 2009 @ 7pm

The interstate 'guest chef' will be returning for the event and we are hoping that this will not just be a chance to lend final support to the fundraising for freight but a chance to say farewell to Virginia. Time is vanishing ( like sands through an hour glass?) and the weeks of Semester 1 are disappearing - so many things to consider - final assignments, exams, airline tickets, plans for the future...

A date has even been set for a meeting to consider the possibilities of formalising the Chimwemwe Footprints Project as an entity of its own - the past 6 months just shows that none of us can predict just what the future holds - for any of us!

heading for the hills...or at least the Mt!

It has been confirmed today that Virginia and I will be at St Mark's at Mt Barker next week, speaking to the students there who, under the influence of Shoe-Pal #2 are already collecting shoes!

We are in touching distance of our 2000 pairs - who ever would have thought!!

Big shoe news to follow, I am sure!

St Andrews School Walkerville...what an outstanding achievement!

"Walk to School Day" will hopefully be a day the children of Makuluni will come to understand as the day they were remembered by the St Andrew's school community who with such big smiles and open hearts also opened their wardrobes too!

The school yard was buzzing as the children brought their shoes, boots, sandals, soccer shoes,footy boots and 'very favourites' they had outgrown - as well as mum and dads shoes for which we were also very grateful. They excitedly line the pairs up, tying the laces and buckles together so they wouldnt get muddled up and keeping count of the pairs...which kept coming! Hopefully there will be teachers and healthworkers as well as mums and dads in the village who will also recognise that they are in the thoughts of people on the other side of the world.

An enormous thank you again to the staff , parents and students that supported the event - shoes are still being counted but over 400 pairs in 3 days is simply extraordinary. The Eggleton students should feel very proud of their hard work and a big thank you to the Grade 5 girls who helped keep things in order, as well as the students from Eggleton who kept the tallying going as the shoes arrived! Not to mention the people who sorted the shoes into sizes and varieties before we collected them!!

and time marches on...

..and so the Feast for Feet in the City has become an event of the past and new adventures have quickly followed. The number of shoes continues to multiply and more and more Aussies learn about Malawi and the children and villagers of the village of Makuluni.

On the 6th May, Virginia and I were guests at the school assembly at St Andrews at Walkerville. it was part of Shoe-Pal #1's contribution to the project and he had been working with his House leader and Deputy Principal to bring Virginia and I along to talk to the students about the shoee project and invite them to participate in it.

We were beautifully introduced by the students of Lawson who were hosting the assembly that day and the project as well and Virginia and I were introduced by students from the house of Eggleton and Shoe Pal#1.

The students of Eggleton House had arranged that to coincide with the "Walk to School' Friday the following week, students would be encouraged to bring along any pairs of shoes they would like to donate. The shoes would be strategically placed in a big line around the school building and as more and more shoes were collected, the line would wind around in front of the different classrooms.

We were so thrilled to be able to visit the children, meet their teachers and tell them more about the village in Malawi where so many people are excitedly waiting to hear more news about the children of Australia.

Adelaide Central Market hosts meeting of the United Nations

backtracking a few hours, there is a story to tell!

On the morning of the dinner we played tag with mum and dad and the little ones so all those involved in the cooking etc could get into the Central Market relatively free to do our own thing without tired little legs of nephew #3 who would so much rather do baby-ccino's with gunmmin and bubba anyway.

nephew #4 was papoosed and shared between us all (well mainly virginia and poni and aunty suzie to be honest who more than happily shared his little load!) and we embarked on 'coffee' whilst waiting for the Melbourne contingent to arrive and meet us.

Squashed in together, knees around necks and shoulders to shoulders so we could sit together around 2 coffee tables built for 2 x 2, 6 adults plus baby communed over coffees, scrambled eggs, toast, mushrooms etc and balancing shopping bags etc on laps and planning our attack onthe grocers for kale, semolina and the tricker items to be sourced. Baby was passed from laps to arms, over the table, around the table and as the next person took directions, he was moved on again...oops, there nearly went the coffee and eggs...

Virginia's landlord happened to drop past and seeing her came up for a big greeting and introduction to the troop, a chat and then and 'i'll be off' after big farewells. Then a total stranger came up to the table - the lady had been at a table a few seats away from us all. Having been watching us, the carry on, the interaction with each other, the baby and generally the others who seemed to be forming the meet and greet line (Adelaide is NOT that big!!) to the table, the lady wondered if the SA Premier was aware that a meeting of the United Nations was being held right here in the city of Adelaide and that if only this type of meeting happened more often how much better the world would be.

the recovery party...

it is called the morning after the night before...the light of day that brings exhaustion and yet elation that the evening had been such fun and so thoroughly enjoyable, even for those with supposedly 'responsible'roles!

Karen took to her sick bed and the boys go stuck in to the 'tidying up' (or lizard-hunting - somehow the lizards that had been so well behaved on the tables early in the night had found themselves into all sorts of far more interesting hiding places during the course of the evening) with aunty suzie and miss virginia then pancakes when we could finally find the table!

We discussed the choice of food - it was a hit and the overall perspective was shock that what people had expected might be a bit of a challenge - the eating with their fingers ( WHAT - NO KNIVES AND FORKS??) and 'mashed potato like stodge' (ugali)that could actually be formed into a scoop for the vegetables and stew- had actually been the best fun and maybe even made the food taste better ( still being debated, i might add as some would say the food was so fantastic it couldnt be made any better)?

To hear Virginia speak and to hear her voice take up the Malawi nation song as those in the room stood respectfully with their hands on their hearts (even the children who have so completely taken the project into their own little hearts) made it seem that there are positive possibilities for the future of this world. In that room stood Christians, Muslims, Protestants, Catholics, Iranians, Germans, Australians, Africans, Indians, Asians, Buddhists, academics, tradespeople, (all of which, in the end are just 'tags' or 'labels' and do not define us) all united in friendship and a desire for a better world. Thank God.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3DGPwpeYto

for the malawi national anthem!!