if anyone's interested...

my life is a lot less interesting back in canada. ive been surprised to hear how many people admitted to following what i did while i was away. im typically surprised by how many people are actually interested in what i do.. not just humouring me by giving me money for a funny little african phase, inspired by celebrities everywhere (i'm not inspired by celebrities, i just sometimes feel like thats how it looks).

now that im home, i spend my days setting up a home office, shop, and indulging in all the sparkly and lazy features of canadian life.

there are perks though. charitable registration has new life behind it, courtesy of two lawyers who also take me and this project more seriously than i would without them. hopefully within a few months, that blessed registration number will be all mine. watch out tax receipts.

canadians are stepping up from all over to help me out...

my family has once again whipped out an incredible amount of patience for the holiday cookies. my mom baked more than i did, probably in part to dodge a flour-covered kitchen. my sister coped with allergic reactions to unmarked buttery cookies. my dad put up with being smacked away from cookies that he hadn't really paid for. my brother luckily stayed at school learning the wonders of the business world instead. they all put up with more criticism, sarcasm and africa guilt than before. (thanks family).

ive had two especially generous donations that should have been mentioned weeks ago. two family friends recently put together a cookbook for broil king bbqs (http://www.gatheringaroundthegrill.com) and donated a portion of their profit towards eat to feed liberians. my grandparents also stepped up with a significant surprise donation. their generosity to me in general has made this entire initiative possible and cannot go without considerable recognition... which i haven't done to this point. anyway. those two have taken care of a term of feeding and opened up a lot of doors for this project so, thank you.

this doesn't downplay the other donors that have come by with days and weeks of feeding for us. again, this surge of money without the insanity that comes with a lot of cookies has opened up so many doors. updates to come with that.

students are helping with corporate sponsorship packages so that we're ready for when that charity number comes our way. securing months (years?!) in advance means i devote less of my daily life to this project, and frees me to learn from other projects, experiences etc. i'm actively looking for businesses interested in feeding programs or just making themselves look good. ideas, connections, or whatever you've got would be great at this preliminary point.

for now. its back to boxing day recovery. this is one of my favourite days of the year.

oh and.. theres a shop in my house now. reusable grocery bags and wine bottle bags are all over the place and waiting to be bought. email me at bags@eattofeedliberians.com if you want to check them out. tell your friends too.

home again

ive been home for 2 weeks and forgot about this blog.

ill write a post soon but for now, there is a pretty important heads up i wanted to give..

when deposits are made into my bank account i dont get information about who did it. ive had a few $200 donations recently that are from mystery people as far as i know.

id love to know who you are so that i can properly thank you. please let me know if you have made this donation.. if you'd rather stay anonymous though, thank you very much, whoever you are...

the big move

more interesting than my ramblings about what i think about buduburam is the move from this little spot on blogspot to a real website of our own (thanks to rupert hanson).

www.eattofeedliberians.com

ill continue to ramble here for anyone thats interested. this site though will give way more options and hopefully facilitate everybodys lives.

also. a december newsletter is also up (thanks to carolyn young)

for now, its sitting online at http://www.sendspace.com/file/3ec27p... its got a bunch of updates so please take a look!

check.

in fitting with the theme of this trip, i botched my last flight booking and had to leave from the camp early to try to get to cairo in time. i have ruled becoming a travel agent off my list of possible career paths.

i had a rushed goodbye ceremony with everyone i could get a hold of. i missed too many people and didnt say or do half of the things i wanted to. guess im coming back.

of course, i didn't fly out this morning.. why would i? and now im in accra for 3 days waiting for my flight (direct!) to jfk on friday. after going through all the goodbyes it seems weird to show up for a few more days. and i think it will make leaving harder. i came to terms yesterday with leaving and maybe some decompression in accra will be good. i did sleep all day today... seems im a bit burned out.

whenever people ask what its like to be the only volunteer in teh camp, the best description i can give is big highs and big lows. you don't have that neutralizing/normalizing presence that other internationals bring. i didn't realize last year what a big part of my experience that was.

its obviously more stressful. there are just as many people looking at only you to fix their problems. worse, it tends to be a group that, after a couple hundred volunteers, has become rather dependent/expectant on our hand outs. me saying no doesnt go over well... but i think that a few months of seeing how the cycle works, and what the effects on those people are a year later, i was maybe (hopefully) a bit wiser. the whole thing certainly makes you question the presence of whites in the camp though. and makes you wonder what it would look like without us.

i hope though, that ive had an overall positive impact on the place. i hope that the 'ripple' effect is a bit more positive this time around. ive tried to obsess over sustainability and honesty as much as possible. too many liberians would tell me that 'those white people can lie oh!'. i probably crossed the line into bluntness a few too many times.

the feeding program will always be dependent on us, and it will inevitably promote the idea of 'white lady handouts'. im not entirely comfortable with the idea but that one meal seems to considerably lessen pressures on parents at home.. and gets the kids good and pumped. the number of kids that would come up to me saying 'we will eat beans tomorrow!' helped me to get over a maybe overly academic criticism of this program. time will tell though.

the purse project (new reusable shopping/wine bags are coming) will hopefully compensate or at least contrast the feeding program.

i wish it didn't all feel so experimental...

overall, its been a good run. ive worn myself out to the point that i think im ready to come home... for a little while. im already dreaming up how to make a trip back here work. anybody want to come? you can arrange your own flights.

now. off to my hotel that seems to be infested with unattractive white men and their knock out ghanaian girls. oh the joys of a big city and a world full of sex tourists. fitting place to spend world AIDS day. inappropriate?