Bob Geldof and President Bush on Africa

Bob Geldof, a British rocker responsible for the ‘80’s Live Aid, traveled with President Bush on the Africa tour this month. Here’s the article in Time magazine on-line.

It’s not a rah-rah speech for the President and it’s not venomous like many journalists tend to be. Instead, it’s very insightful into the African situation by two outsiders from opposing political viewpoints who are united on Africa.

Several quotes in the article from the American President (that might also apply to our work):

“One thing I will say: Human suffering should preempt commercial interest.”

"Stop coming to Africa feeling guilty. Come with love and feeling confident for its future."

"When we see hunger we feed them. Not to spread our influence, but because they're hungry."

"U.S. solutions should not be imposed on African leaders."

"Africa has changed since I've become President. Not because of me, but because of African leaders."

Viritual Tattoos

A couple of years ago I read a near-future sci-fi trilogy called Axis of Time by John Birmingham that included flexi-pads, a combination of mobile phones, laptops, and an Internet connection. This morning I just read about a real-life technological concept that takes it a bit further:

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Electronic tattoo display runs on blood

Jim Mielke's wireless blood-fueled display is a true merging of technology and body art. At the recent Greener Gadgets Design Competition, the engineer demonstrated a subcutaneously implanted touch-screen that operates as a cell phone display, with the potential for 3G video calls that are visible just underneath the skin.

The basis of the 2x4-inch "Digital Tattoo Interface" is a Bluetooth device made of thin, flexible silicon and silicone. It´s inserted through a small incision as a tightly rolled tube, and then it unfurls beneath the skin to align between skin and muscle. Through the same incision, two small tubes on the device are attached to an artery and a vein to allow the blood to flow to a coin-sized blood fuel cell that converts glucose and oxygen to electricity. After blood flows in from the artery to the fuel cell, it flows out again through the vein.

On both the top and bottom surfaces of the display is a matching matrix of field-producing pixels. The top surface also enables touch-screen control through the skin. Instead of ink, the display uses tiny microscopic spheres, somewhat similar to tattoo ink. A field-sensitive material in the spheres changes their color from clear to black, aligned with the matrix fields.

The tattoo display communicates wirelessly to other Bluetooth devices - both in the outside world and within the same body. Although the device is always on (as long as your blood´s flowing), the display can be turned off and on by pushing a small dot on the skin. When the phone rings, for example, an individual turns the display on, and "the tattoo comes to life as a digital video of the caller," Mielke explains. When the call ends, the tattoo disappears.

Could such an invasive device have harmful biological effects? Actually, the device could offer health benefits. That´s because it also continually monitors for many blood disorders, alerting the person of a health problem.

The tattoo display is still just a concept, with no word on plans for commercialization.

core77.com via
Gizmodo

This news is brought to you by PhysOrg.com

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Credit: Jonah Goldberg's weird links gal at The Corner.

10,000 Talibe Boys

Talibe (TAH-lee-bay) boys can be seen all over Dakar, Senegal. They are known by their tattered clothing and carrying empty tomato cans to collect "alms." Most boys are sent by their parents to receive teaching from elders in the city, but most of them end up on street corners begging for a few francs.

Below is an article from the UN sponsored IRIN news service at www.irin.org.

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SENEGAL: A day in the life of the 'talibe'

DAKAR, 21 February 2008 (IRIN) - In Senegal up to 100,00 children roam the streets begging for money and scraps of food in order to survive, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF, 2004). Many of these beggars are ‘talibes’ or Koranic students, who follow a religious teacher or ‘marabout’ to whom they are entrusted to learn the Koran. Originally, communities gave alms to children to help support religious teaching, but in many places this cultural practice has lost its value and become a means of enforced begging.

To try to reduce the practice the government is currently creating modern religious schools or ‘daaras’ in which children can learn Koranic teachings without having to go out to beg. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) run projects to help ‘marabouts’ return to their villages to get involved in alternative income-generating activities, and try to reunite children with their families. Despite these efforts, UNICEF estimates there are still up to 10,000 child beggars, many of them ‘talibes’, on the streets of Dakar alone. We documented the daily lives of some of these boys in Dakar and in Kaffrine, western Senegal.

To read more about efforts to combat the problem, go to our report, ‘Why the ‘talibe’ problem won’t go away.’

Carnaval 2008

Every year French schools have a Carnaval celebration. The kids create costumes and they march around the neighborhood. This year's theme was "le voyage", or travel. After the parade, they gather in a circle to burn the "bonhomme." This year's bonhomme was an exploding rocket. Here are some photos from Ecole Montaigne's Carnaval parade:

"The Quintessence of Nonsense"

I've been thinking recently about the biblical views on usury, interest, micro-finance, loaning money, and giving to the poor which led me to John Wesley's sermon "On the Danger of Increasing Riches" (1790).

J.W. whips himself up to full form by paragraph 12. This is one of the juiciest bits, and reminds me so much of why I'm glad to be a Wesleyan:

"Perhaps you say you can now afford the expense. This is the quintessence of nonsense. Who gave you this addition to your fortune; or (to speak properly) lent it to you? To speak more properly still, who lodged it for a time in your hands as his stewards; informing you at the same time for what purposes he entrusted you with it? And can you afford to waste your Lord's goods, for every part of which you are to give an account; or to expend them in any other way than that which he hath expressly appointed? Away with this vile, diabolical cant! Let it never more come out of your lips. This affording to rob God is the very cant of hell. Do not you know that God entrusted you with that money (all above what buys necessaries for your families) to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to help the stranger, the widow, the fatherless; and, indeed, as far as it will go, to relieve the wants of all mankind? How can you, how dare you, defraud your Lord, by applying it to any other purpose? When he entrusted you with a little, did he not entrust you with it that you might lay out all that little in doing good? And when he entrusted you with more, did he not entrust you with that additional money that you might do so much the more good, as you had more ability? Had you any more right to waste a pound, a shilling, or a penny, than you had before? You have, therefore, no more right to gratify the desire of the flesh, or the desire of the eyes, now than when you was a beggar. O no! do not make so poor a return to your beneficent Lord! Rather, the more he entrusts you with, be so much the more careful to employ every mite as he hath appointed."

Paragraph 14 has this morsel:
"But this vice [the love of money] is very rarely found in children or young persons; but only, or chiefly, in the old,--in those that have the least need of money, and the least time to enjoy it."

Paragraph 15 has the oft-quoted: "gained all you can…saved all you can…give all you can" with the oft-forgotten injunction to "hoard nothing."

And, of course, this remark in paragraph 16 just made me laugh out loud: "Let me add one word more. After having served you between sixty and seventy years; with dim eyes, shaking hands, and tottering feet, I give you one more advice before I sink into the dust." Seriously, those three self-mocking descriptors counter the warnings of 1 John that he quoted earlier in paragraph 10 against the "desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life."

Air Force One in Cotonou

President Bush, the First Lady, and the Secretary of State were in Cotonou yesterday morning. Pretty exciting, let me tell you.

Here's a photo taken by Marianne, a fellow Nazarene and missionary with SIL-Wycliffe:

The Living Languages of Benin

Click here for an overview of the 54 languages spoken in Benin found in the Ethnologue Report distributed by SIL.

We have many good friends working for SIL, an organization committed to literacy and development of written alphabets for the thousands of living languages spoken in the world today.

Bush: No more paternalism in aid to Africa

The following is an excerpt from an AP article by Ben Feller on Brietbart.com:

"The president is traveling to Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia. All have benefited from U.S. aid to save lives and develop their countries.

"We have also revolutionized the way we approach development," Bush said. "Too many nations continue to follow either the paternalistic notion that treats African countries as charity cases, or a model of exploitation that seeks only to buy up their resources. America rejects both approaches."

"Instead, Bush said, the U.S. treats African leaders as equal partners who must set clear goals and achieve measurable results."

. . .

"Bush's address had another goal: to ease nervousness in Africa, where some who have benefited in his presidency wonder what will happen when it ends.

"I will assure our partners in Africa that the United States is committed to them today, tomorrow, and long into their continent's bright future," Bush said, even though that promise extends beyond his reach.

"Bush's investment initiatives for Africa are widely viewed as popular and productive, even in a deeply political atmosphere in Washington."

Programs mentioned in the article include the Millennium Challenge Account and funds for combatting HIV/AIDS and malaria. The Secretary of State will take a side trip to Kenya to encourage the peace and reconciliation talks there following last month's violence.

These are all encouraging signs, but I'm cynical enough know that it takes more than human government to make a real difference in the world.

President Bush's Visit to Benin

Pretty exciting around here. Word is that President Bush is visiting today or tomorrow. One of our friends from English Fellowship is organizing one of the ceremonies. His daughter might give a bouquet of flowers to the President and the First Lady.

There's been tons of activity at the Cotonou airport for the past week. We live right beside it, so we've been listening to it all. "Yovo" hotels and restaurants have been bustling. Today there are Benin and U.S. flags all over the place.

It's cool to think the U.S. finds Benin a place worth visiting. One of the major reasons for the visit is to review the development plans given for malaria prevention among others agenda items I'm sure.

What I’m Reading Right Now (Feb 2008)

I’m reading Fully Alive by Jerry and Larry Hull (1998) from NPH. It’s fourteen chapters written by middle-aged, incredibly fit twins—one a social work prof and the other a medical doctor. Each chapter deals with one-word subjects, like Happiness, Pain, Exercise, Work and how to be healthy and holy all at the same time. I’m doing a chapter a day, so I’ll be done two weeks. I’ll let you know if it worked.

Also, I’m about ten pages into Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov (1954?). Since December, I’ve read the first two books in the Foundation trilogy first published in the 1950s. It’s simply written with small scenes, other-worldly yet mundane settings, no more than four characters at a time. But, the ideas are big, and it’s easy to see how these books influenced sci-fi for the next fifty years, such as Star Trek and Star Wars. I’m in a hurry to get this one read—an omnibus with all three books—so I can return it to my friend before they leave the country.

I’m also reading Bill Bryson’s In a Sunburned Country (2001) about his travels through Australia. One of the funniest writers around and he doesn’t disappoint. Great bathroom reading, by the way, with four or five pages dividers within the chapters.

Imperial Grunts and the Missionary Task

In April 2006, I asked Franklin Cook,retired Nazarene missionary and Holiness Today editor, for book suggestions. He gave me a few off the top of his head.

I just finished one of these books entitled Imperial Grunts by Robert Kaplan (2006). I read most of it on a trip to Rwanda via Kenya.

I can see where Cook found lots of good insights for the current missionary task:

Not only knowing the culture, but loving it in a way that makes a seamless connection to the locals.

Generals need to support the decisions of their sergeants, not the other way around.

Small-footprint deployment, task-oriented teams rather than large-footprint, muddled, and costly organizations/offices.

The value of “national guard” volunteers rather than professional, “company men” soldiers.

What it takes to immerse into local cultures and adapt in ways that those behind desks and budgets can’t understand.

Making linguistic skills the highest priority for anyone willing to get into this kind of work. You can have lots to say, but it doesn’t mean a thing if it can’t be said in a way someone can understand.

Getting “off the base” for “presence patrols” to see, hear, smell, and “intuit” what is really going on.

Doing whatever we do alongside or behind local leaders who should get the credit in the minds of the people.

Encouraging local projects that bolster the view of local leaders and the organization in the minds of the public.

Taking a tough stand with local leaders when necessary, not bowing to the weak-willed or selfish leaders when they obscure or obstruct the task.

A corollary: Staying with some of these weak-willed leaders only as long as it takes to find the right person for the job.

Another corollary: Constantly keeping our eye out for fresh and new leadership, and prepare them, because someone will not work out and another will always be needed.

Recognizing there is a long and complex history everywhere we go, even though it is all new to us or our organization.

Training and supporting local leaders as the primary task for missionaries and not “direct action,” though direct action is more appealing.

Avoiding the “Big Army” way by allowing small teams to do their thing with most strategic and tactical decisions being localized and not always waiting for “Washington” to get on board.

I’ll stop there. The encouraging thing is that most of this is already happening in missionary work from my perspective, but we also have a long way to go to enact many of these principles.

I know, I know, how crazy and inappropriate can it be that a book offering insights for the missionary task also “imperial” or "military" in the title. The similarities between imperialism, the military, and missionary work are as great as the differences. All I can say is, read the book, and you’ll see what Kaplan’s talking about.

I knew of Robert Kaplan and respected his work before Cook’s recommendation. But, Cook’s enthusiasm for the book motivated me to get it and read it before home assignment this summer. One of the interesting things Cook said when giving me this recommendation was that he rarely reads Christian books any more. He finds them too repetitive and just missing the mark with regard to how to interact with today’s world.

Chili Cheese French Toast?

Never in my life would I have put two of my favorite foods together into one meal: chili & cheese and French toast. But someone has done it.

A little background first: I could eat breakfast for every meal. Today I discovered a website after my own heart, and taste buds, called Mr. Breakfast.

Mr. Breakfast offers up one of the most interesting French toast recipes I've ever seen. WARNING: I haven't tried it yet, so I can't vouch for it other than it's uniqueness:

Chili-Cheese French Toast

(4 servings)

3 large eggs 1 cup half and half 8 slices French or other Challah bread -- cut diagonally to about 1/3 inch thick

1/3 pound jack cheese -- shredded

1 4-ounce can of diced green chiles

1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

2 cups salsa

In a large bowl, beat eggs and milk together. Dip 4 slices of bread into egg mixture -- coating both sides of each slice.

Arrange slices evenly on a lightly greased baking sheet. Top bread evenly with cheese, then add green chilies and cilantro.

Dip remaining slices in egg mixture, coating both sides. Top cheese-covered bread with plain slices to form 4 sandwiches.

Bake in 400-degree oven until they reach a golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. With side spatula, turn over and continue baking until they are puffed and evenly browned, about 10 minutes longer.

Cut each sandwhich in half crosswise. Serve with salsa.

Not your grandmother's French Toast. Great for lunch or dinner too! Mr Breakfast would like to thank susan for this recipe.

Beavercreek to Benin

Here are some photos of six volunteers from Dayton (OH) Beavercreek Church of the Nazarene led by Senior High Youth Pastor Ashley Barchus. They spent last weekend in Cotonou working on the district center and visiting the Nazarene church in Ganvie. This week they are in Sakete at an orphanage operated by some friends of ours.

We are very impressed with how they have handled the heat, culture shock, and group dynamics during their first few days.

Take a look:








That's Ashley on the left, I mean, the right . . . or is Emily on the left? I don't know. (Actually, I think Ashley is on the left in this photo.)



Go here for more photos or check my Facebook page here.

Cool Photos from 2007

Here's a selection of interesting photos from the London Telegraph for 2007. Click here. Via Jonah Goldberg at NRO.

Traveling Gripes and Graces

As much as I complain about how much I travel, I have to admit how much I actually like it. I think sometimes my complaining becomes a camouflaged form of bragging. Sure, travel gets tiring and the recovery time after a trip takes longer with each mile. But I love the sense of the unexpected, the array of new faces and old friends, and fact that I can say, "I've been there."

During my trip 6,500 mile (10,000+ km) trip last week to Rwanda via Kenya, I was on the return leg somewhere over Sudan or Chad or Niger in a Kenya Airways 737 when I was reading from a book called Imperial Grunts by Robert Kaplan (2005). Franklin Cook, a long-time Nazarene missionary and director in Eurasia, guided me toward this book last year. I'd read Kaplan's articles in Atlantic Monthly since 2001 and another of his books entitled Warrior Politics (2003). Here is the bit on the ambivalence of traveling life that caught my attention:

"Within half an hour of leaving Gardez [a small town in Afganistan] I was matted with dust and my day pack had turned from black to solid brown. I was fifty-one years old. Why was I doing this? I was full of doubt my last night amid the pampered luxury of Dubai. In Bagram [a large US Army base], the night before flying to Gardez, I was again doubtful. But now the past and future, and every other place on the planet besides here, did not exist. I was living completely for the moment: the ultimate happiness. Every trip followed the same pattern." [page 214]

I am continually struck by how Kaplan's analysis in this book rings true with the missionary life, though he may be surprised to hear that it does. The good and bad news is: no trips on my schedule for another two weeks.

So, Are You a Brit or What?

I remember the first time I introduced a British friend as "British." She went off on a tirade about how she was English not British, and please don't confuse them.

The Venn diagram at this site would make my friends proud who are Brit-, I mean, English, Scottish, Irish, and all others I know who live in the UK, British Isles, or both.

A Night in Nairobi

I had an overnight in Nairobi last Friday to Saturday. As Rod, Russ, and I drove in a taxi from the airport to their housing complex, I thought to myself, 'What violence.' Rod pointed out a couple of places that we drove through where there had been violent demonstrations earlier in the month. But, on that night, except for extra police patrols, nothing seemed unusual.

I actually got to play Nintendo Wii for the first time as well as see old friends like Jon and Sally Mellinger. Here's a photo of Jon and I playing baseball on the Wii:


That's Rod's wife, Sarah, in the background.



Now, according to this story, it looks like the US is pulling their Peace Corps volunteers (PCVs). The situation does not look hopeful if this happens. It might just mean the US gov't doesn't want a PCV to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hopefully, it's just a precaution and not the result of something more serious.

Pray for our friends in Nairobi and around Kenya.

Random Thoughts on Rwanda

1) I can't believe the people I saw could be the same people who at one time in recent history were capable of genocide. They seemed so gentle and non-confrontational compared to the people on the street that I've encountered in Benin and Nigeria, for instance.



2) What a beautiful city! Kigali is one of the cleanest African cities I've ever seen. The last Saturday of the month is reserved by law for community clean-up. It has large traffic circles enclosing beautiful flower gardens, wide boulevards, and new shopping centers. Not to mention, the moto taxis are all four-cycle and not the noxious 2-cyle motors we have in Cotonou, and all riders must wear helmets (see below).(I can't imagine seeing the streets lined with bodies and flowing with blood, but that was what this city looked like only 15 years ago.)



3) I could not believe the number of foreigners flying into and out of Kigali on Kenya Airways. Must mean lots of development going on.

4) I did not know Rwanda grows amazingly good coffee!

5) I did not realize the Mille Collines Hotel is so small. It was the focus of the film Hotel Rwanda and the novel Sundays at the Pool in Kigali.

6) Hard to believe there is only one local language: Kinyarwanda. Most African nations have more than one. Benin has 52 languages and dialects. Many times language is a divider and barrier for discrimination.

7) English is spoken by almost every person without gray hair and American dollars are readily accepted.

8) Below is the Nazarene Center in Kigali on a main boulevard between the airport and downtown.

Four Mornings, Four countries.

I woke up today in Benin. In the past four days I've woken up in four different countries.

Friday, I woke up in Rwanda.
Saturday, I woke up in Kenya.
Sunday, I woke up in Ghana.
Today, back home in Benin.

Crazy days of travel. I'm toast. Today I've just hung out with the boys, re-watched the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl to make sure my bleary eyes did not trick me at 4:00 a.m. when I first watched it last night/this morning with Brian Mitton.

Seven new churches in Parakou!

JESUS Film equipment brought by the team from Medford-Klamath Falls was given to the church leaders in Parakou. In the past three weeks, these pastors have planted seven new churches in Nima , Alafiarou, Korouborou, Kpèssègambo , Badé,Kikparé et Baka.

Here is a photo of the zone leader named H-. He is visiting another village where the Church of the Nazarene was given six parcels of land (6 x 500 sq meters) by the village chief:


:

JESUS Film team from Oregon--January 2008

A group of volunteers spent ten days traveling over 1,000 km (600 miles) from one end of Benin to the other. They brought two sets of JESUS film equipment. They participated in four showings and visited local churches in small rural villages.

Here is a photo of the team under the baobob trees in northern Benin:

Tabaski in Benin

We’ve had an opportunity to celebrate this holiday season by singing carols and baking cookies. We are also thankful for all of the Christmas cards, boxes, and birthday cards for Sonya and I, especially from our family and LINKS churches. It has been good to read the Christmas e-mail newsletters from friends around the world. We also had the opportunity today to celebrate a Happy Tabaski.



Tabaski is for goats-sheep-rams what Thanksgiving is for turkeys. For most Beninese it is a day off from school or work. For Muslims, it is Eid ul-Adha, or Tabaski as it is called in West Africa—the “Feast of the Sacrifice.”



The Feast of the Sacrifice is one of the largest celebrations of the year in Islam. It coincides with the Hajj—where 2 million Muslims are making pilgrimage to Mecca this week. The meaning of the feast concerns Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Ishmael, according to the Qu’ran. The Hebrew Scriptures tell a different story in Genesis chapter 22:1-19.



We don’t talk much about animal sacrifices any more. In the culture of the Hebrews it was important. The idea of sacrifice gave much significance to Jesus’ death on the cross, and the meaning of His death is spelled out through the imagery of sacrifice in the New Testament book of Hebrews. For West Africans, animal sacrifice is quite common today. In fact, the appearance of avian flu in Benin this month creates a concern, according to a recent article from Reuters, among voodoo priests and priestesses that regularly sacrifice chickens as well as goats in their ceremonies.

Link to the article: http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL1720456620071217?sp=true



The slaughtering of a ram is a main focus of Tabaski. In Senegal a cell phone company or a bank gave away Tabaski rams for a promotion—sign up for an account and earn the chance to win a ram. So, Tabaski is why we woke up this morning to five rams in our neighbor’s garage. The garage smelled very much like a state fair, and still does this evening. We have to walk through their garage to get to stairs leading to our office-guesthouse located above their house. While an electrician worked on our generator in the guesthouse, I watched our neighbors slaughter the five rams on the street in front of the house. I didn’t stick around to see them finish the process, but some other neighbors around the corner already had three rams “dressed” and hanging in front of their house by 11:00 a.m. One significant aspect of this sacrifice is that the Muslim making the sacrifice should give a significant portion of the sacrifice to the poor. I wonder how we could incorporate the idea of sacrifice into the Advent season . . .