Today’s round-up of news about migraine, visual snow, persistent aura and related illnesses:

Uganda Health News: Ugandans suffer from migraine headaches. www.ugpulse.com First published: 20091126 5:46:35 AM EST. By Walakira Nyanzi, Ultimate Media. The number of people suffering from migraine headaches is on increase in Uganda. Migraine is a severe and repeated headache with pain on only one side of the head or face and typically with disorder of the eyesight.

Central Nervous System Migraine Therapy Area Pipeline Report – new report released. www.pr-inside.com 2009-11-26 17:03:02. Central Nervous System Migraine Therapy Area Pipeline Report – a new market research report on companiesandmarkets.com www.companiesandmarkets.com/Summary-Market-Report/central-nervou .. The Migraine Therapy Area Pipeline Report contains detailed information on the allergy drug pipeline.

Selling milk from dairy cows and goats can be an excellent business for small-scale farmers. Recently, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has established a project in three East African countries, which aims to double the income of one million rural people, through small-scale dairying. Dr Amos Omore from the International Livestock Research Institute explains more to Pius Sawa.

Read (and listen) … (AGFAX)

Thanksgiving Day AND Gotcha Day all in one!    It’s been a whole year, folks!    We’re blessed beyond words.

Gotcha Day!

Over the past 365 days we’ve had some amazing days (like this one) and we’ve had some really hard ones (which I didn’t actually have the energy to blog about much).   The boys have grown and have adapted to so much in the past year ~ and so have we.       We are forever re-defined as a family and have stretched and groaned and giggled our way through the past 12 months. And,  with this important anniversary date, feel like we are no longer novices at this thing.   We are now officially seasoned veterans!  <wink>

Thanksgiving dinner brought the first comments about the fact that today is the anniversary of the day we were became a family together.     Philip, especially, was interested to hear about it again and before we ate he thanked God for ‘the airplane and for America and for home and for the plane coming down here’.

Yep – we were all choked up and could each say a hearty ‘amen’ at the end of that prayer.

Later tonight, when we were finally ready for pie, we had our Gotcha Day .   A couple weeks ago, I wrote about being in a bit of a dilemma, not knowing whether to do Gotcha Day or not.   Thanks for your input, friends.   You really did help us make up our minds.

We decided to celebrate the day by looking at pictures from our return trip  from Uganda and there was lots of laughing as we told the story over again.   Haley made a great little slide show for them, which they loved.   And, finally, we gave them their first gift from Uganda.    Each boy got a stuffed animal that we purchased in Jinja – their home for a while before we all became a family.

They felt celebrated.   We felt delighted.   Such a fun time.

Lee Webster, CARE UK

Lee Webster is joining women activists, all survivors of rape, who are embarking on a four-day march from their home in the conflict-affected north to the capital Kampala to meet their politicians and say enough is enough. They’ll be joined by more than 1,000 people on the streets of Kampala, including a national pop star (Mariam Ndagire), to send a strong message to the government to end sexual and gender based violence.

25 November

The first moment I really know I’m back in Africa is when a shimmer of pink catches my eye through the plane window, and I turn to see a beautiful sunrise on the horizon.  I think sleepily about warm days and sunshine, it’s been a long flight.

When I get off the plane in Nairobi, it’s raining and cold.  So much for sunny days!  I immediately panic about my lack of waterproof clothes, my hasty scan of the internet for weather in East Africa had yielded favourable reports, and I’d brought light summery clothes.

After a short wait at Nairobi airport, I’m on the plane to Entebbe, Uganda’s international airport, an hour from the capital, Kampala.

As I take the final leg of the journey, I reflect on the fact that I’m arriving in Uganda on November 25^th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.  Violence against women is no small problem in Uganda, and it’s no coincidence I’m arriving today, I’m here to take part in CARE’s Voices Against Violence campaign with women activists in the north of the country.

According to Grace Kirembe, manager of CARE’s Transforming Lives initiative in the north of Uganda, violence against women is widespread.  “Most women here are survivors of violence, sadly its commonplace in northern Uganda”, she tells me.  Grace and her colleague Judith have worked with local women’s organisations to organise a ‘caravan of women’ to travel around northern Uganda raising awareness of violence against women and women’s rights, and then to Kampala to present the government with a petition, demanding that the government listens to grassroots women and takes action to combat violence.  I’m here to share experiences about campaigning, to collect the stories of women so we can alert the world to their struggle, and to capture the events – and I’m traveling with internationally-renowned photographer Jenny Matthews.

I’m really excited to be here and feel really privileged to take part in the women of Uganda’s campaign.  But I feel the weight of responsibility of my trip.  The women are not campaigning about something distant or abstract.  They are campaigning about rape, which has happened to them, and continues to threaten their lives.  Who am I to worry about staying dry, when they have to worry about staying alive?

26 November

According to an article in today’s New Vision newspaper, a total of 12,829 sexual violence cases were reported to police in 2007.  This led to only 28 convictions.  8,512 of the cases are still pending enquiry.  It’s a stark reminder of the scale of the problem that the campaign is up against.

We’ve driven to Gulu, in the north of Uganda, where much of CARE’s work on gender-based violence takes place.  Robert, who drove us here in the CARE truck, has worked for CARE since 2000.  He laughs at me when I say I’ve worked for CARE for 7 months.

Grace has instructed us to be ready at 7am tomorrow – for the journey to Pader, where the official launch of the Voices Against Violence campaign will take place.

Ifølge organisationen Uganda Land Alliance er der grund til bekymring over den ugandiske regerings salg og udlejning af landbrugsjord til rigere lande og firmaer.

Dette er ikke kun et problem i Uganda, men også i flere andre afrikanske lande. Problemet er, at afgrøderne fra den udlejede landbrugsjord for det meste bliver sendt ud af landet og derfor ikke hjælper de lokale meget. Jorden er ofte heller ikke bare noget, der har ligget ubrugt hen og derfor uden problemer kan lejes ud. Ofte er den eller dele af den opdyrket af subsistensbønder, der ikke har papir på jorden. Den mulighed mister de naturligvis, hvis jorden bliver lejet ud til udenlandske firmaer.

Uganda Land Alliance skriver blandt andet:

The government of Uganda is said to have leased 840, 127 Ha of land in various parts of the country to the private sector in Egypt to grow wheat, produce organic beef and rice for export to Egypt. This acreage represents about 2.2% of Uganda’s total land mass; and

In 2006, President Museveni is said to have provided Chinese investors with 10,000 acres (4, 046 Ha) of land in Uganda, which is being utilized by 400 Chinese farmers using imported Chinese seeds of corn and rice. The project is overseen by Liu Jianun, a former Chinese government official and now head of the China-Africa Business Council.

Læs hele meddelelsen på The African Executive.

Læs mere om Uganda Land Alliance her.

Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Kenya open a common market.

Last Friday, the presidents of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Kenya signed the East African Common Market protocol in Arusha, Tanzania, after eight years of discussion.  Goods, services, and labor will now move freely in the trading bloc, home to 120 million consumers.

They had planned to sign the protocol last April, but disagreements over aspects of the protocol had derailed the signing.

New changes:

-Goods and services produced in the region will be treated equally, and labor can move freely in East Africa.

-Companies can move production plants  to where they find the best business environment.

-Countries with more developed manufacturing sectors can sell their goods cheaply in other countries in the bloc, potentially harming local manufacturers and saving consumers money.

Igår var jag alltså på RFSL i Gävle, tack vare L som släpade med mig dit. De visade en film som heter The kuchus of Uganda, som handlar om HBTI-aktivister*, och Mac, en transperson från organisationen FARUG i Uganda, var också där och berättade om hur det är i landet. Det ligger ett lagförslag som om det går igenom innebär fängelse för “homosexuella handlingar” eller tillochmed dödsstraff, och den som känner någon som de upptäcker är homosexuell blir skyldig att rapportera henom till polisen inom 24 timmar, ifall lagen skulle bli verklighet. Filmen visar hur illa det är redan innan lagen gått igenom, och det är inte världens mest upplyftande berättelse.

Mac berättade bland annat att de är ständigt på sin vakt mot polisen, och att deras telefoner är avlyssnade. Han berättar också att det oftast är transpersonerna som är de som blir trakasserade, eftersom det är de som syns. En cisperson har ju oftast lättare för att smälta in i heteronormen rent socialt, medan transpersoner sticker ut. L frågade hur det är att få vård som transperson, och det var ju som väntat väldigt svårt. Man kan självmedicinera med hormoner, men att få vård under en läkares överinseende är praktiskt taget omöjligt. Det var vad jag gissade, efter att ha sett den scen i filmen som berörde mig mest.

Aktivisterna skulle delta i en paneldebatt på ett universitetssjukhus, där det satt vårdpersonal och och vårdstudenter i publiken. De hade hoppats att det skulle gå att resonera med åhörarna: De var ju akademiker, de var forskare, de borde kunna sätta sina egna känslor åt sidan och bete sig professionellt. Istället stod de upp och skrek att homosexualitet var omoraliskt, att analsex var onaturligt och att “de” förstörde samhället. När Victor, en transkille, började prata skrattade folk och himlade med ögonen, och senare när en av de andra deltagarna påminde om vad Victor sagt och sa “som han nämnde…” ropade publiken unisont “hon!”. Till sist kände aktivisterna sig tvungna att gå därifrån för att inte bli fysiskt attackerade. Detta var alltså läkare och läkarstudenter som uttryckte sitt hat mot HBT-personer.

Både Victor i filmen och Mac tog upp det faktum att det var engelsmännen som tog med sig homofobin när de kolonialiserade Uganda, vilket är tvärtemot vad en del av deras motståndare hävdar: att homosexualitet i sig är någon som kommer från västvärlden. Mac sa ungefär såhär: “Jag hade aldrig träffat en muzungu – en vit människa – när jag växte upp och ändå kände jag att jag inte var som de andra tjejerna, så hur skulle det kunna vara något västerländskt?”. Det är ju dessutom amerikanska kyrkor som ligger bakom lagförslaget, så det är väl snarare homofobin som är västerländsk.

Jag letade efter något hoppfullt hela kvällen igår, och hela natten och dagen idag. Jag vet inte om jag har hittat något, men jag fick i alla fall känslan av att det finns en rörelse med modiga aktivister som vågar utmana systemet. När jag frågade Mac vad vi i Sverige kan göra föreslog hen att andra länder skulle visa i ord och handling att de inte tolererar utvecklingen. Inte för att “vi” i västvärlden vet bättre, utan för att det var “vi” som införde och än idag upprätthåller homofobin i Uganda. Jag hoppas att västländerna tar sitt ansvar och stöttar folket i Uganda snarare än staten – och att det gör folket starka nog att stoppa lagen.

*) HBTI är en vanligare benämning utanför västvärlden, som räknar in homosexuella, bisexuella, transpersoner och intersexuella.

Läs även andra bloggares intressanta åsikter om homofobi, heterosexism, HBTQ, Uganda, Afrika, film, politik, lagar, homosexualitet, bisexualitet, transpersoner, kön, genus, sexism, cissexism, vård, könskorrigering, läkare, fördomar, normer, övervakningssamhälle, moral, etik, religion, kyrkor, USA, aktivism, film, The Kuchus of Uganda, RFSL, transfobi

In Uganda: A partnership born to save lives

In recent years, the Hutchinson Center’s presence has been quietly growing in Uganda. This presence has emerged in the form of a partnership with the potential to expand knowledge about how to fight infection-related cancers and, perhaps, expand the way people in this country think about people living with cancer 9,000 miles away.

Drs. Jackson Orem and Larry Corey tour the UCI facilities.

I learned about the Center’s partnership with the Uganda Cancer Institute in 2007 when I interviewed Dr. Jackson Orem, the institute’s director and, at the time, the sole oncologist in a country of nearly 30 million people. The soft-spoken words of this man on a mission in Seattle gave voice to millions of Ugandans who live with one of the highest rates of cancer in the world. To meet him was to glimpse the depth of his commitment, the urgency of his country’s need, and understand, immediately, what the Hutchinson Center could give and gain in Uganda. 

When we think of cancer, Africa seldom comes to mind. After all, cancer is largely a disease of old age, and we hear that in some African nations, people seldom get there. Cancer is a big reason why. The two groups most affected are middle-aged adults and children under the age of 12. I learned of one such child from Erica Sessle, managing director of the Uganda Program on Cancer and Infectious Diseases.

In December 2006, while touring the Uganda Cancer Institute, an unseen crying child made Sessle stop. She walked back, looked into the room and saw a malnourished, 11-year-old girl, Olivia.

When Ugandans undertake the journey from their village to the country’s only cancer institute, they must bring with them bedding and somebody to care for and feed them. Orphaned by AIDS, Olivia was in the Kampala clinic alone. She was receiving chemotherapy for Kaposi sarcoma and antiretroviral medications for HIV, but lacking a caregiver to bring her food, the medications weren’t working, and the 25-pound child was dying.

Sessle and her colleague Kristi Stiffler took Olivia under their care. They fed her and helped her teenage brother—who was trying to hold down a job far away in their village—learn how to be a better caregiver. As soon as she started eating regularly, Olivia began to put on weight and her medications began to work.

In late January of 2007 the hospital discharged Olivia, who went back to her village with her brother.

“I visited her in March of that year and she was running around like any normal 11-year- old girl—it’s just amazing to me how these kids can recover so quickly and vibrantly with the smallest amount of care,” Sessle said.

Two months later, on May 18, 2007, Olivia died. Ugandans told Sessle that for children with cancer and HIV, sudden death often happens.

We have the opportunity to change that expectation and outcome, one Hutchinson Center-trained oncologist at a time. The Center is giving, but its investigators are also gaining—the opportunity to study infection-related cancers.

There is something here for all of us to gain, too—the awareness of our world as a bigger village, with every child our own. 

Galen Motin Goff
Quest science writer

If you would like to help, visit:  http://www.fhcrc.org/about/pubs/quest/articles/2009/12/uganda.html

A while ago, I entered a writing contest to win a trip to Costa Rica. No, I didn’t win, but I’d like to re-post my slightly edited entry. It’s about my family vacation in Uganda, where I contracted malaria. See some of the pics below.

Side note: The malaria that I got is contagious in no way, shape or form. It does not recur. Once treated properly, it’s out of your system. I got it from an infected female Anopheles mosquito. And yes, you can still get malaria if you are taking the preventative  pills.

Malaria Takes the Bite Out of Ethnocentricity

What thoughts come to mind when you think of the word “vacation”? When you think of a family vacation, does being catapulted out of a river raft down class five rapids on the Nile, drinking unpasteurized and warm goat’s milk, getting stuck in the mud in the middle of the rainforest and contracting the deadliest form of malaria come to mind? Most people would undoubtedly say no, but in December of 2006, this is what happened with my family in Uganda. As an adventure-loving family, we got everything we could have asked for and more.

Uganda is a country so beautiful that it is deemed “the pearl of Africa” in several prominent guidebooks and online sites. The irony: not one native Ugandan, including our guide, knew what a pearl was. From the savannah plains filled with elephants, giraffes, and zebras, to the Nile River filled with crocodiles and hippos, to the capital, filled with the hustle and bustle of city life, this was an unforgettable experience.

Making the trip even more unforgettable, I became extremely sick to my stomach at two o’clock in the morning on the last day of our excursion. The bathroom floor quickly became my bed, as I could barely move due to a high fever, weakness, and continued nausea. Thinking this was just a bad case of traveler’s sickness, I took the prescribed medicine that my doctor had given me in case something like this happened. Fifteen minutes later, that medicine was back in the toilet, and I continued to lie on the floor in agony, waiting for daylight to break.

The buzz from the staff at the hotel was that I had malaria. What a preposterous idea we thought. What did they know? I had been taking malaria pills. Of course I didn’t have malaria. There was only one way to find out: take me to a nearby health clinic.

So, off to the health clinic they took me. This was no first-world health clinic; this was a primitive place, fully equipped with antiquated equipment, dirty concrete floors, open windows with no screens, no air conditioning, and mosquitoes itching for a victim. What was I getting myself into? I was repelled. Maybe I should have just stayed back at the hotel. Scratch that idea. I felt too sick.

Upon waiting 20 minutes, I went in to see the doctor. She immediately told me I had malaria. How did she know? How could she just wing it and tell me I had malaria without a blood test? Then it came … the blood test.

My blood was examined under an old microscope. The doctor, without hesitation, with little to no affect, and with a serious lack of comforting bedside manner, bluntly asserted that I had contracted the deadliest and most common form of malaria, from the plasmodium falciparum protozoan parasite, only spread by the female anopheles mosquito in certain regions of the world. After significant panic set in, I was told that I would be fine with the right medicine and that it is actually fairly common for people to still contract malaria when taking malaria pills.

Luckily, the shot and the strong antibiotics they administered had me feeling great in record time. By the last leg of our long flight home from Amsterdam to Los Angeles, I had almost forgotten that I had contracted one of the deadliest diseases in the world.

Malaria can incubate for months. I was glad to have contracted it in the host country. If the disease had surfaced in the United States, the doctors may have just dismissed it as a bad case of the stomach flu. How fortunate I was to be able to get the treatment I needed. My naivety about the sickness and my poor judgment of the doctor’s skills initially blurred my view about how to handle the situation. However, I can now happily say that I made the right decision by putting my trust in the Ugandan doctor. She saved my life.

The missing link here was indeed trust. Malaria is one of the biggest killers in Africa. This doctor sees cases of it every day. I learned to trust the locals because they know much more about my surroundings than I do. This experience taught me to be aware of my ethnocentric mindset and not let differences “bug me” or inappropriately color my perceptions.

My ability to keep an open mind and put my confidence in the natives has greatly contributed to my appreciation for adventuresome travel experiences. In fact, I would be happy to do this trip all over again, mosquitoes, malaria and all.

Incredible Scenery

Don't Mess With That Croc!

Don't Mess With the Hippo Either!

Just Us and Nature

Giraffe - So Elegant

Elephants

A Very Muddy Buffalo

Zebra

Baboon

Chimp

Lion

Gorgeous Lake

River Rafting

Curious Kids Looking At Their Photo On The Digital Camera

• Congo massacre witnesses were threatened [AP]
• UN chief urges new election date for Cote d’Ivoire [China News]
• Education not Execution: Uganda’s Defilement problem [Independent]
• Did Mbeki really support, for a while at least, the Equatorial Guinea coup attempt? [The Daily Maverick]
• Israel announces plans to limit West Bank construction for 10 months [LA Times]
• Burma engagement offers false hopes [Sydney Morning Herald]
• Indonesian government may allow mining in protected forests [The Jakarta Post]
• Haiti: UN troops shoot again [World War 4 Report]
• Blood Oil [VF]

Hello Family and Friends and Friends of Friends!

My upcoming adventure will take me to Uganda, where, with the support of Shanti Uganda and The Earth Rising Foundation, I will be responsible for the design and installation of a solar electricity system and a water filtration system for the planned Birth House and Learning Centre (see more here and here). This project is very inspirational as it will give support to birthing women in Uganda, where the death rate during childbirth is at a historical high. Given my background in engineering and my passion for renewable energy and the environment, this is an excellent domain for me to work and learn. See more details about these systems as I write more on the blog.

My hope is to build on the generous donation from Greenscape Capital to allow for greater solar electricity capacity and added water filtration units for New Hope School (a nearby orphanage that Shanti Uganda works with). What I’m asking from you is to spread the word about this project, and consider giving a cash donation or a material donation**. Donations of any quantity are very much appreciated ($10-$50), and can be made by sending a cheque made out to the Shanti Uganda Society at the address below (make sure to write solar/water on memo).

We will be working with community members to install these systems, which will also include training a superintendent to maintain the building and systems, so we will need a set of tools kept at the facility.

The following is a list of materials I am rounding up to bring with me.

- 500W power inverter (available at Canadian Tire or the like)
- 12 guage wire (any quantity, 50′ rolls appreciated)
- Battery cables
- Electrical tape
- Digital multimeter
- Screwdriver set
- Small solar module (5W, small enough to pack with me)
- Solar cell phone charger (for volunteer house)
- Frisbee
- Soccer ball

Please see list here for Birth House supplies

mailing address for donations:
The Shanti Uganda Society
1900 Bowman Ave
Coquitlam, BC V3J 6E3

**Donations of $20 or more will receive a charity tax receipt (make sure to include your e-mail address at time of donation)

In honor of his speech a few days ago, in which he praised mass-murderers Idi Amin, Robert Mugabe, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, and terrorist and murderer “Carlos the Jackal”, the supreme council of the Silverwolves’ Forestry Action Committee has decided to award the Venezuelan jackanapes its “Pigasus Maximus” award. This is not awarded in honor of the President’s porcine appearance, so different from the lean looks of his fellow countrymen, but rather to reward him for his moral turpitude in praising some of the worst mass-murdering criminals in history. Chavez has shown the true moral values of the far Left, indistingushable from the moral values of the Nazis, and it is for that reason that we Silverwolves have honored him with our annual award, so eagerly sought after by some of the world’s most heinous war criminals.

Of course we can well remember the mass-murderer Idi Amin, who is estimated to have murdered around 300,000 Human Beings. After expelling the South Asians, consisting of old Indian and Pakistani families who had mostly gone into trading in Uganda, Amin murdered his 300,000 Christians and Animists, mostly by bashing in their heads. As you may well recall, the reaction of Jimmy Carter was to say it was disgusting, leave it at that, and then permit the genocide to go ahead, just as his fellow party member Bill Clinton did a score of years later in Rwanda. Both men could have quickly stopped the genocides with American military intervention. Both found the “moral courage” to let massive numbers of women and children be bashed and hacked to death without lifting a finger to intervene. Shows how the Democrats really care about people. Especially Black Folk.

And Chavez seems to forget, though he probably approves it, the fact of the massive involvement of the PLO in propping up Amin’s reign of terror and bloodshed. And according to the UN-Published Book “Uganda and Human Rights”, Amin’s head torturer was the PLO member Ali Tawili, whose favorite game was to remove his victim’s anus with a bayonet during interrogation. These are the men that Hugo Chavez praises and holds up to the world as heroes.

And of course, he can’t forget his fellow despot Robert Mugabe, whose security forces have murdered, tortured, and starved countless Zimbabweans. I suppose dripping molten plastic on the genitals of men and women by Mugabe’s security forces is a form of political argument that Chavez can well appreciate. And the mass starvation of children due to Mugabe’s inflation, well, that small potatoes to Hugo the Porcine, who certainly hasn’t had a hunger pang since he’s been in office, judging from his girth.

The crimes of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad are legion and well known right now, since the press has been focusing on them the last few years. Hanging children for being gay, denying the Holocaust, threatening to commit mass-murder against Israeli civilians, murdering and torturing his own people when they dissent, rigging elections — there’s certainly a lot there for Chavez to praise. Probably a foretaste of life ahead in the Venezuelan Marxist paradise.

And finally, not to be left out is the mass murderer and Fascist terrorist, Carlos the Jackal. Evidently Hugo thinks it a great travesty of justice that Carlos rots in a French jail for murder. One can only wonder what the Venezuelan conception of the Law will be under El Pigasus Maximus. Certainly one radically different from the Anglo-Jeffersonian view of the law.

To deny mass murder and praise murderers is not only deeply disgusting, but it is a crime. Hugo Chavez has committed the crime of praising murderers, excusing their genocidal crimes, and encouraging terrorism. He is obviously one of the greatest Miscreants currently roaming the face of the earth, along with the child-murderer Ahmedinejad. Until he is removed from office, Jeffersonian-Libertarians should institute a boycott of all Venezuelan goods and services, and refrain from trading in the Bolivar, in order to teach the people who voted this Miscreant into power, that there is an economic price to pay for spitting on Morality.

Therefore, with the power vested in me as spokesman for the Silverwolves’ Forestry Action Committee, I, Lobo Silverwolf, do hereby invest Hugo Chavez with our “Pigasus Maximus” Award, which he richly deserves. May the millions of victims of those he praises achieve Justice.

Hooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwww! — Silverwolf

In case you are thinking of purchasing the new global version of Amazon’s Kindle for Christmas, be aware that there are still quite a few places that the global version will NOT work.  I was disappointed to find that the new version still will not work in my country.

Apparently the new global version will only work in SOME countries.   I thought it would be helpful to most expats to have a complete list of which countries it will, or will not work in (below).

It’s also interesting to note the PATTERN of groups of countries where the Kindle doesn’t work–some countries probably lack satellite coverage or delivery systems, while others probably don’t WANT readers to be able to download whatever they want by satellite.

STARRED (*) countries marked below indicate that Kindle needs to be ordered from a SPECIAL PAGE on the Amazon site.

The Global Kindle version DOES work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Aland Islands, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Australia*, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Boznia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Liberia, Leichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Moldovia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozembique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka,  Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands – British, Virgin Islands – U.S.,  Wallis and Futuna, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The Global Kindle version does NOT work in (as of Dec. 2009) the following countries:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, Chad, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, French Southern Territories, Gambia, Guinea, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Isle of Man, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea – Democratic People’s Republic of, Korea – Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (including the Western Sahara), New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pitcairn, Qatar, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uzbekistan,  Yemen.

Happy Thanksgiving!

As many of you know, my wife and I are spending two weeks in Uganda.  Below is a “prayer list” we put together, so that those who want to pray with us, can do so.  Thanks in advance for your prayers and support.  Look for an update when we get back!

Hey All,

This Friday, Emily and I head out to Uganda Africa. We are stoked about going. We are humbled by God’s invitation. We are seeking prayer and counsel from you all while we are there – for us, our team, and the people we will be encountering (with great expectations).

We will be gone until December 12 (a total of 16 days), so I have written out 16 prayer requests – one for each day. Uganda is a country of witchcraft, deceit, bitterness, crime, and the like. So, we need prayer warriors to stand with us in shining forth God’s Glory, Truth, Grace, Love, and Holiness!

Beyond the “daily” prayer requests listed below, please keep an extra prayer covering over the following:

• our team: for unity, strength, patience, discernment, wisdom, grace, and God’s Agape Love
• our health: that we do not get sick in any way (from bugs, food, drink, or the like)
• our safety: that God would protect us from all types of harm and evil deeds
• our kids: that Emily’s parents would be strengthened, that the kids would be well behaved, that “homesickness” would not distract us or the kids from having fun and growing in the Lord

DAY 1 – (US to Amsterdam) pray for our traveling, that no one gets sick, our luggage doesn’t get lost, the plane’s take off and arrive safely

DAY 2 – (Amsterdam to Entebbe, Uganda) pray for continued travel, that we recover quickly from our travels, that we take opportunities to minister on the plane (those divine appoints God has for us)

DAY 3 – (Arriving in Masaka, Uganda) pray for energy today as the GPS (prayer conference) starts, safe travel for those coming from other countries, that God’s Spirit would descend upon the Church and begin to set the place on fire

DAY 4 – (GPS) pray that God will impart His message to those who are speaking (including myself), that His testimony would be heard and glorified, that His mission would be acknowledged and put into action

DAY 5 – (GPS) pray for the teams that will be ministering to those with AIDS/HIV, for those who have been orphaned by AIDS, for those impacted by AIDS worldwide (today is World AIDS Day) – that God would have mercy and bring continued healing that would end this horrible epidemic

DAY 6 – (GPS) pray that God’s Spirit would fill all who are present, that God’s Love would dominate the hate and strife within the Ugandan land, that God’s Grace would extend from the Church to all who live in Uganda and the surrounding countries

DAY 7 – (GPS) pray for healing for those who are seeking it, for comfort for those who are desperate for it, for salvation for those who do not personally know Jesus, for life for those who are on their death beds

DAY 8 – (GPS) pray for unity within the Ugandan churches, within the African churches, within the global Church – that Christ’s Body will work as ONE body, of ONE Lord, through ONE Spirit, in order to make God’s Glory known throughout the world

DAY 9 – pray for the Hope School we will be visiting, that God’s Name would continue to be upheld there, and that the Hope of Christ would impart onto all who enter through the doors of the school; pray for building materials to come through for the new building project … pray that the teachers that they would be the hands, feet, and heart of Jesus

DAY 10 – pray for the church services many of us will be participating in (myself included), pray that all who speak are empowered to do so by God’s Spirit and Holy Passion

DAY 11 – pray for a restful day as we will be taking the “day off” to relax and freshen our own spirits, pray that we are obedient in doing whatever the Lord asks – no matter what

DAY 12 – (head to Kampala / Pregnancy outreach) pray for our next travel ventures, for Veronica’s pregnancy outreach (the only one in the country!), for women who are pregnant and thinking of having abortions – that God would change their minds and continue to provide for them, that the Church would arise and be burdened to take on this ministry full time … for strength, wisdom, finances, and favor for Veronica

DAY 13 – (Orphanage / Prisons in Kampala) pray that we would be the hands, feet, and heart of Jesus to the children we meet, those in prison, those who are prostitutes, those who are disabled, and any one else we encounter who is in need of the Saviors healing touch and love

DAY 14 – (Woman’s Conference) pray that God will minister to the women who will be attending this one-day conference, that He would restore them and help them to see themselves as He does – His beautiful daughters … pray for those leading the conference (Emily is one of them) that they would speak God’s heart for these women, that God’s Spirit would be received and that chains would be broken off from those who have been penned up by abuse, self-hate, prostitution, and past mistakes

DAY 15 – (Tourist day and heading home) pray that we take what God has given us these two weeks back home and that we keep alive the message of Christ and what we have seen Christ do … praise God for all that He has done within the people of Uganda and His Church … pray for safety as we come home

DAY 16 – (Amsterdam to US to Fort Wayne, IN) pray for strength, rest, humility, as we continue to make a long travel home … pray our luggage returns with us safely, that we get through customs without any problems, and that we remain healthy

Thank you all for your prayers! We love each of you, and know that you will be faithful in praying for us – seeking the Lord’s throne on the behalf of Uganda and our team. Thank you for being obedient. Look for an update when we get back!

For God’s Eternal Glory,
Shawn and Emily

Safari [suh-fahr-ee]: A journey or expedition to explore.

We explored Uganda.  Murchison Falls National Park to be exact.  Here is a short photo safari for you.

It can be astounding how small that our circles can be.  Only six weeks into our RTW and we have already stayed in 3 homes that have been opened up to us by strangers who have either never met us, or only met us once. Amazing really. I can’t remember the last time that I opened my home to a complete stranger where I fed them and showed them around my own city and country, often dropping my normal plans.  I certainly hope that we will have this honor in the future, and I already have many schemes to make that happen (Lord willing) in the future; from housing foreign exchange students in our home, to hosting couch-surfers needing to stay a night or two in San Francisco.  So I guess my point here, is that one of the many lessons that I have learned on this trip is that hospitality seems to run freely in this world.  Not only that, is that the world is often much smaller than we thought.

- We stayed 3 nights in a home in Kampala with a couple of whom had never met us. Jim and Esther were friends of a friend that I went to grad school with (Sherri), who opened their home to us after they received an email from Sherri telling them that we would be in town for a few days.  The best part of this connection, was that they shared their home with us during our worst bout of traveler’s diarrhea we have had as of yet.  Let me tell you from experience how much of a treat it is to have a warm shower, a flush toilet and running water at your disposal when you are dealing with explosive diarrhea every 15 minutes (things we take advantage of at home, but make a serious difference in Africa).  We were so thankful to have a real home to be in during a time in which we were both pretty ill…

- Just a few weeks before we left on our RTW, we happened to stumble upon a darling couple from Germany in the middle of Yosemite National Park during a camping trip.  We liked them.  And apparently they liked us too, because about 3 weeks later we were staying in their home in Munich, Germany.  Mathias and Tanja.

- Thanks to my dear colleague and friend Beth Schulz, we were connected with Mark in Uganda.  Mark once worked for my former employer some 10 years ago or so.  Now Mark had never met us before, had probably received one email telling him a bit about us, and then we exchanged two measly emails before my husband and I showed up on his doorstep at 4 a.m. about a week ago.  Talk about hospitality!  He housed us and fed us for a few days, while we rested up from our traumatic Egypt experience, and then we did a bit of exploring the countryside on a safari on our own for some time, only to return to his home for a few more days at the end of our trip.  Mark has a beautiful home overlooking Lake Victoria in suburbs of Kampala, an incredibly darling son named Giovanni, lovely Ugandan friends, and, he works in HIV/AIDS prevention and care (Which of course peaks my interest – For those of you who don’t know me as well, HIV/AIDS prevention work, particularly in Africa, is something I am passionate about.  I hope to be more involved in this area in my future, though I’m not exactly sure what that might look like).  So not only did our new friend Mark open up his home to us, but he also offered to take us to his local district to see some of the HIV prevention projects that he manages.  What hospitality!

All thanks to connections that we’ve found around the world, I am reminded not only of how large our world is, but how small it can really be.

Attached are a few photos from our visit to the Kayunga District to see some of the MHRP PEPFAR programs, which includes a male circumcision HIV prevention project.  Very cool!

Nature and Animal Conservation

 

     Preserving species and their habitats is important for ecosystems to self-sustain themselves. Yet, the pressures to destroy habitat for logging, illegal hunting, and other challenges are making conservation a struggle.

Visit : http://www.globalissues.org/article/1…

 What is Biodiversity ?

 

    The variety of life on Earth, its biological diversity is commonly referred to as biodiversity. The number of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the enormous diversity of genes in these species, the different ecosystems on the planet, such as deserts, rainforests and coral reefs are all part of a biologically diverse Earth.

   

    Appropriate conservation and sustainable development strategies attempt to recognize this as being integral to any approach. Almost all cultures have in some way or form recognized the importance that nature, and its biological diversity has had upon them and the need to maintain it. Yet, power, greed and politics have affected the precarious balance.

Does it really matter if there arent so many species?

Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play.

For example, a larger number of plant species means a greater variety of crops; greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.

And so, while we dominate this planet, we still need to preserve the diversity in wildlife.

Who Cares?

  Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play. For example, a larger number of plant species means a greater variety of crops; greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.

And so, while we dominate this planet, we still need to preserve the diversity in wildlife.

Loss of Biodiversity and Extinctions

It is feared that human activity is causing massive extinctions. From various animal species, forests and the ecosystems that forests support, marine life. The costs associated with deteriorating or vanishing ecosystems will be high. However, sustainable development and consumption would help avert ecological problems.

 

  

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The white ribbon has become the symbol for the day.

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