Exploring the edges

I'm headed back to Cameroon, to CWAF, and leaving New York City. I love New York, especially the energy and pace. But it wasn't until I went to the remote jungles of Africa and slowed down my pace....tremendously...that I discovered I can paint, and how rhythmic I am with nature. It has suddenly occurred to me that my life's been like a top, or wheels, spinning at a fast pace, one sees a general outline. But when the top or the wheel slows down or stops, one can observe the intricate shapes and patterns, colors and textures, of the object. It also makes me think of the film, "Awakenings." Oliver Sacks, played by Robin Williams, is a neurologist who discovers that a medicine generally used to "slow down" the rapid shaking movements of Parkinson's disease, in another type of patient - catatonic - it acts the opposite, to "wake them up."

I have to go back to Cameroon to see what else there might be inside me awaiting the appropriate moment to make its entrance.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Energizing update for the Cameroon return. I've been starting to investigate doing a stove project in Cameroon, modeled on a successful project operating in Rwanda by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). I attended a primate reception last week by WCS and got names of the Rwandan team.

At the same time, I'll be talking to 25 eight-year-olds at a local school about my trip, the gorillas, and conservation. I'm trying to connect the kids with the children in the nature club in Cameroon, led by CWAF's education group. I've mentioned both endeavors to Rachel, and this is the note she sent back to me this week:

"We are doing loads with the community at the minute, I'm about to head off to meet some builders who will build the school new classrooms. We are also supplying teachers etc. Which is why me and talila came up with an idea if you would be interested in doing some after school clubs with the local kids,doing art,sewing,mabe gardening, all the crafty type stuff. It would be great for the relationship with the population and the kids would love it. We are already arranging after school clubs for them,footall sports etc. Art would be fab. So what do you think? In the day you could work in the forest and then the afternoon with the kids in the school. Maybe you can think of other ideas, and we have a while to arrange maybe donations of materials etc. All of this work with the community is vital for what we do, we can never achieve anything without the support of them for the project. Anyway let me know what you think.I'm off to meet my builders!"

So I will focus on this as well as the general preparation.... and it's true. Those children are the conservationists of the future. And even now. At January's gorilla conference, one person told of a group of children in Cameroon who'd been taught about the plight of primates. One seven-year-old girl from the group, afterwards, marched right up to the front door of a high military official in her town, who she knew kept a pet chimpanzee. He answered the door, and she berated him, telling him in no uncertain terms that that chimp - NO primate - is anyone's pet, and that he was wrong to have it. The man delivered it to a sanctuary the next day.

Some days are like that

There are so many activities going on right now in my life, my mom likens it to my brain being like a gerbil cage with the treadmill frantically spinning. There is so much to do. One needs spaces between the lines.... so I'm trying to carve that out to keep on track.

I am on a committee organizing an annual grassroots fundraiser party to benefit Sereolipi, which are 2 elementary schools for Samburu kids in northern Kenya. Last year at the party we raised $70,000! I "sold" 52 camels (at $200 each, people donated milking camels. Camels give 8 times the amount of milk of a cow, and are drought resistant). This year they have enough money to get more camels, but can't actually get them because they're in short supply due to the drought in Kenya.

So this year's focus is school teachers and food. It costs $2,000 for a teacher's salary for a year, and they each teach up to 50 kids. The more startling statistic is that it costs $14 a YEAR to feed a child one meal a day !!!! So we're selling these beaded bracelets, which are lovely. The substrate is rubber from old tires, but not visible because they are coated in these lovely strung glass beads. The mothers of the schoolchildren make them to help get their kids through school. We wanted to feature them and have a "one-night special" at $20 each (they usually sell for $30), and come in riotous colors. We're going to combine the "sexy" bracelets with the "not-sexy" food focus, and we came up with the following concept:
ONE....... bracelet/child/meal/year...
Hard to imagine that that could be true. Then again, they're eating cattle corn and gruel.
I'm determined to get a lot of kids' meals paid for, and people will have lots of dazzling bracelets on their arms leaving the party!

The Search for "Happiness"

A friend sent this to me.

http://www.newint.org/columns/essays/2006/07/01/happiness-conspiracy/

Squandering Time

It occurred to me the other morning that very often, I squander time. I spend weekends or weekday evenings just frittering away what is our most precious resource, and the ONLY resource which cannot in any way be recaptured or regained. Oh sure, I tell myself that puttering and mindless activities are relaxing and rejuvenating and that I shouldn't always drive myself at a frantic pace. But there are still so many ways to relax - REALLY relax - in a more luxurious way than just letting hours evaporate while running tiny little errands without regard to planning them. If I truly let it sink in what a precious commodity my irreplaceable minutes are, I would honor them by spending a few minutes to strategize even my errands. Like wait until a workday to pick things up at the nearby library rather than take the subway down and back on a Sunday.

How many more incredible things could I get done, like writing that book I've always thought about, or learning that language, or writing to a dear friend? How I could have time to get rid of those nagging little chores that gnawrelentlessly at my mind and which I've been putting off? I could end up with more time to spread the word on my gorillas and monkeys. I could work on my website or my paintings, or prepare some delicious, nutritious meals for the week and celebrate the act of cooking. Intentional time. Deliberate, conscious expenditure of time and energy. And in the process very likely conserving energy and natural resources as a by-product.

An "Owen Meany" experience

Years ago, I read John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany." I have been haunted and moved by that story for a long, long time. It is about a boy who has numerous odd, quirky physical and behavioural traits that no one can understand. His mother and best friend are his only real social group. Owen is extremely short for his age, has a loud, off-putting, high-pitched voice, he's always trying to see how long he can hold his breath underwater, always trying to make baskets at the hoop, and is fascinated by the date of his death. Throughout the book it is almost painful to see him go through life. In the last 2 pages there is an incident in which every one of his quirks becomes of great value, and because of them, he ends up saving a lot of lives.

Sometimes I think of my summer at CWAF in a similar way. All the quirky odd activities, hobbies and paassions I acquired over my lifetime came to bear during that time in Cameroon. Everything from shiatsu to animal massage to cooking and gardening, interior design, art, public touring, Excel, animal care, writing and documenting, adventure travel, fundraising, camping, sewing, French, I had a chance to do it all! There has never been a time or place where I've felt so fulfilled and alive.

Save paper....save a tree...save a gorilla

I just read an article on the environmental makeover of 2 families, with Matthew Modine and actress Laurie David, who are both staunch eco-activists, teaching them how they can be more earth-friendly. When Laurie tells "her" family about saving paper, "When you see paper, think of a tree," a more accurate and powerful way to think about it is, "when you see paper, think of a tree; think of a gorilla or chimp."

It is the logging industry devastating the Congo rain forests which is largely responsible for the decimation of tens of thousands of animals, including elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees and monkeys. The animals are eaten for "bushmeat." Altogether, almost 90 million cubic meters of wood per year are removed from the forests of Central Africa and shipped to other continents.

This is due to:

• The animals' habitat is destroyed
• Logging roads penetrate deep into the forest making it easy for hunting
• Thousands of men on the crew are fed most economically and conveniently by the hiring of hunters with sophisticated weapons (provided by the logging companies), who kill the animals. That's why CWAF exists - the Cameroon Wildlife Aid Fund - where orphaned primates - the lucky ones - end up when their parents are killed and eaten.

So, think about it the next time you trash a kilo of wasted printer paper, or grab a gob of paper napkins at Pret a Manger, or toss 5 paper cups a day instead of a mug....save a tree, save a gorilla.