tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90105612024-03-13T14:28:41.313+03:00LiveDeliberately.orgPictures and Ponderings of a Peculiar PersonAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.comBlogger105125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-18091778478117552992012-11-11T12:23:00.001+03:002012-11-11T13:34:19.741+03:00Children Cheerfully Change Choices <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c3BJbqlLoVY/UIKX_DXIVOI/AAAAAAAB1tU/djo6BTy7Bs8/s1600/Amboseli+National+Park-036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c3BJbqlLoVY/UIKX_DXIVOI/AAAAAAAB1tU/djo6BTy7Bs8/s320/Amboseli+National+Park-036.JPG" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The three of us go to <br />
Amboseli National Park</td></tr>
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If I went back in time 5 years, and asked myself how I pictured things working out there are a few things I expected. I would likely be happily living in Colorado, I'd have some nice office job, and having a baby would be the last thing on my mind. How things have changed. I'm living in Kenya, starting and running a small factory, and my daughter is due in January.<br />
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Even though I made every key decision along the way, daily I am surprised when I step back and realize where where this path has taken me. The biggest surprise, without a doubt, is the baby. I never really wanted kids before. I like children, to be sure, but I also like giving them back to their parents. I'd looked at a lot of people around, and wasn't convinced that a massive lifelong responsibility would really improve the quality of my life. Objectively, the decision to not have children isn't hard to understand. There is no doubt that kids are messy, expensive, and a constant drain of attention. I've lived my life in such a way where I would regularly reboot my life, in an exotic land, starting with little more than vague idealistic intentions. I could afford to take gambles like that, because at the end of the day the only person who pays the consequences is myself or another adult that simultaneously chose the same thing.<br />
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I moved around a lot of as a child, and was often the 'new kid' at school. And I don't feel bad about it, it was a remarkable childhood that helped me launch into a deliberate life spanning dozens of countries. That being said, I never really had a say in it. Several years ago, I had a friend who was thinking about moving and she talked about how she asked her 5 & 7 year old their vote on it. That struck me as ludicrous, why would an adult who understood the opportunities and challenges for the whole family share massive life-changing decisions with those who most certainly don't. I said as much, and she gave me a puzzled look. She thought it was ludicrous NOT to consult them, as it was their life too. That insight knocked me back, pretty far. A corollary of my 'Live Deliberately' creed is to actively support and encourage others to live their own lives deliberately. Apparently, I'd been operating under the assumption that 'live deliberately' doesn't apply to those under 18, which really doesn't make any sense.<br />
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Although I had never really considered having kids before, as this moral insight cut deeper into my thoughts and made up my mind for a child free life. For many years, I've been saying I want to live 'an exceptional life,' and carefully make my own decisions and whenever possible not let any others in a position where they could make them for me. I may be particularly sensitive around this issue, because I had so little say in how my childhood unfolded. This perspective has certainly doomed many wonderful romances, but it also freed me to figure out what I wanted in life and doggedly pursue it without having to ask permission. My family has long since come to terms with the fact that I will go anywhere in the world, and do whatever I want, without asking. In some cases, happily, I found people whose own life path kept us together. When my brother and I quit everything for an extended trip through Latin America we shared a tight bond. I found that bond stronger because I was secure in the knowledge that he was choosing his own path, that he also chose to travel together. There is a real and profound freedom in arranging ones life with only these kinds of relationships. I was wise enough to recognize that if I had a spouse, or a child, their deliberate life might not correspond with mine. Unless I wanted to develop a dictatorial, 'Father knows best,' personality (which just isn't in me) there would inevitably be compromises.<br />
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All that still makes sense to me, so I'm more than a little bewildered that I've now come to the opposite conclusion. Although Erin has long wanted a child, I shocked both of us when I told her I wanted one too. What happened is, the whole question got elevated to a another level. This, I think, deserves some exploration.<br />
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Although I've always enjoyed playing with little cousins, or tickling friends babies, children haven't been a significant part of my life. Few of my close friends have children, and I never made an effort to seek kids out, so I could easily go months without saying a word to a little person. That changed in Tanzania, quite a bit. Erin was working at a small school, IIS, and very quickly our lives started revolving the school. I started out the endeavor by substitute teaching 10 year olds, and found myself happily enmeshed in almost every school event. The school held regular events, from school plays to fundraisers, and they expected that the teachers, like Erin, would work them. Sometimes that got tiresome, when yet another Saturday night needed 'volunteers' it got frustrating. But then we'd try to figure out what else to do, it usually turned out that the school event was the most interesting thing happening. There is not a lot going on in a small town in rural southern Tanzania, so a Saturday night spent selling drinks to friends at a concession stand was better than the alternative of sitting at home surfing the internet (until the power went out). As I wasn't a teacher I didn't have to volunteer, but most of my friends were doing it, so otherwise I had little to look forward to but a lonely night at home. <br />
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Very quickly I realized that none of these parents had given up on their own exceptional lives to raise a family. Quite the opposite, in fact. We became close to a Finnish family with three kids who'd left their lives in the cold north to have a adventure in Africa. About half of the students were children of expats, and none seemed like they were being dragged around the world unwillingly. I remember being fascinated as a child by the animal pictures in my families encyclopedia, so I can only imagine what it'd be like growing up next to one of the largest national parks in Africa. None had X Boxes, but since no one did they didn't whine about spending most of their free time outside and exploring. Their childhood is pretty exceptional in it's own right. Although they had a lot more responsibilities, their parents didn't seem like they were sacrificing as much as choosing different exceptional experiences. Its true that none joined Erin and I on our shoestring Xmas trip around Malawi, including riding the back of pickups. But instead many piled everyone into the family car and went off to see the world. It's a different experience, to be sure, but I was no longer quite so certain that my way was the best, even for me.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Most couples are 'nesting' when 6 months pregnant. <br />
We went to Egypt</td></tr>
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Most of what hit home was getting to know the kids. After my brief stint of substitute teaching finished up, I joined Erin to run the weekly chess club, and eventually worked as a science and math tutor. Every day there were little people running around, causing trouble, and innocently commenting on the world in ways I find utterly fascinating. I found that I love explaining things and getting a glimpse of the world from their eyes. Sometimes, rather than looking forward to sending them back to their parents, I was annoyed that their parents were taking them away from me. I'd find myself developing ideas about how best to treat a certain child, but was forced to recognize that I hadn't earned the right to my opinion. Almost by accident, I caught myself daydreaming about 'if I had a kid we'd…' with an impossibly long list of what I'd imagine would be fun for both of us.<br />
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All of this came together, but it wasn't an instantaneous shift, it was long and slow with plenty of setbacks. But all the sudden, when I did one of my periodic 'what do I want out of life' gut checks I realized that the deliberately chosen life I wanted included progeny. There absolutely will be compromises I wouldn't choose if I was a bachelor, but that is inevitable in all deliberate decisions. Whenever I choose a new country to visit, I simultaneously don't choose all the others that I would also like to see. I probably can't have all the crazy Saturday nights on the town I've enjoyed so much, but the reality is they haven't been much of a priority for about half a decade. And for all the sacrifices, there will hopefully be a lot of rewards too. I can't wait until my daughter clobbers me in chess or squeals in delighted fright when she sees a herd of elephants. Giving those experiences up so that I can retain the freedom to drop everything and start over alone on a shoestring suddenly seems like the sacrifice.<br />
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I won't ever become one of those people that thinks everyone they know should have kids. The world already has more than enough babies and there is no doubt that many wonderful life paths never involve procreation. But if I could go back in time, I would try to soften my own resolve about the issue and would encourage others sharing my former perspective to consider what I've written. If you've got a partner craving kids, or are a confirmed bachelor that isn't quite ready to give up on the idea, it might be worth it to find some way to integrate children into your life for a while. Maybe you'll come around to where I'm at now, or maybe you'll learn for sure that you don't want your own. But either way, it not a deliberate life if you don't really consider what life isn't being chosen.<br />
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Then again, my plea for unsure people to integrate kids into their life probably has an agenda. In a couple months, I'm going to want babysitters!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com2Karen Hardy, Nairobi, Kenya-1.3628652 36.733459-1.3946137 36.693977000000004 -1.3311167000000002 36.772941tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-6726332391640891442012-05-07T06:50:00.000+03:002012-06-03T15:02:13.516+03:00The best feeling abstract statistical numbers<a href="http://goo.gl/photos/YGXHA2zRel" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="75" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ple21AhB2-U/TwlxymTbdAI/AAAAAAABOJs/pVwpuWmlqag/s200/Fort%252520Portal%252520for%252520Christmas-5.JPG" width="100" /></a> There are a lot of awful news stories coming out of Africa, but it's a huge continent so it's vital to keep anecdotes and meaningful statistics separate in ones thoughts.<br />
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<a href="http://goo.gl/photos/apnZO3jDPI" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-37CiTOpwhoM/Ty8BTYy-pAI/AAAAAAABGxo/nGUzxPyv7XI/s200/Kande-7.JPG" width="75" /></a>Yes, there are armed genocidal maniacs in the Sudan and I have wild lions running free in my neighborhood. But overall that doesn't mean things are getting worse or even stagnating in Africa. A World Bank report just came out that shows <a href="http://blogs.cgdev.org/globaldevelopment/2012/05/africas-child-health-miracle-the-biggest-best-story-in-development.php" target="_blank">child mortality across 15 African countries is falling faster than almost any imagined possible</a>, an almost 6% drop every year. That's about quadruple the rate the ambitious 'Millennium Development Goals' aimed for. </div>
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<a href="http://goo.gl/photos/qPAvmkzLE3" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="66" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-FwOW9Q4o-8s/T74eRQ5l4gI/AAAAAAABxAg/1RKovc0ovgc/s200/Matamba%252520Tanzania-26.JPG" width="100" /></a><a href="http://goo.gl/photos/9RDztLqSnQ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="75" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-OdnvrAdHcVM/T74SlOpjeqI/AAAAAAABwoY/lHwxzfJ4T-s/s200/Chole%252520Island-149.JPG" width="100" /></a><a href="http://goo.gl/photos/QL6dgYfp54" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-H7HW9BobJEs/Ty8BP1y7PNI/AAAAAAABGxc/p24IGpzgXn0/s200/Kande-4.JPG" width="75" /></a>
<a href="http://goo.gl/photos/a1fYA7igGr" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-WZaklr8ZoHk/TxNBszwb-2I/AAAAAAABOKE/K_lw2iEL1Ds/s200/Cycling%252520around%252520Ambositra-38.JPG" width="75" /></a>This is an powerfully important statistic for a couple reasons. One, is that child mortality actually reflects a lot more than the "<i>how many under-5 yr. olds die per 1000 born</i>" number. It's a simultaneous insight into a whole lot of areas. Keeping babies alive requires a lot: nutrition, medical care, stability, energy, and a coherent (if diverse and complex) social support network. You could help child mortality a little in an area by building a hospital, but to really make a difference that child has to go live in a mostly stable home with constant access to healthy food and water. If a newborn has all of those, there is a good chance that their parents, siblings, and neighbors do too. Although the causes for this massive improvement are as diverse as Africa, it indicates that things are getting better for millions. And FAST.</div>
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<a href="http://goo.gl/photos/1jUJrXOQlT" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="75" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-FgjnXiIxdDE/Ty7_67_QJNI/AAAAAAABGsQ/KmEPe24AImE/s200/Likoma%252520Island-17.JPG" width="100" /></a><a href="http://goo.gl/photos/woIXY5QH4c" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="75" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Nubk1TpfWr0/T74R_16zWGI/AAAAAAABwm8/yKVrgqjWMbk/s200/Chole%252520Island-60.JPG" width="100" /></a>The second part is what it means about the future. Many people are rightly concerned about the world population, but it's a tricky to actually do anything about. Chinas 'One-child' policy has been very effective at lowering the population growth, but not many countries in the world will likely follow their model. However, when one generation sees that most of their siblings survive there is a lot less pressure to have large families in the next generation. Both Erin and my parents came from large families in a generation that reaped the early benefits of the polio vaccine, widespread antibiotics and the roaring 50s-60s economy that pulled many Americans out of poverty. Not coincidentally, I suspect, both Erin and I only have one sibling. If the same pattern holds true here, the smaller families will have a larger impact on societal, economic and environmental sustainability than almost anything else. </div>
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<a href="http://goo.gl/photos/n7WHUJMdHA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="75" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qd08OtjQ2Do/T74WSLkgznI/AAAAAAABwww/QDRHWashgsY/s200/Tanzanian%252520Confirmation%252520Party-13.JPG" width="100" /></a><a href="http://goo.gl/photos/IMtVWPR57Q" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8RfvmuecJDw/T74Sb3MB6vI/AAAAAAABwoE/Txu4oD72OM0/s200/Chole%252520Island-122.JPG" width="66" /></a>All of this is wonderful news, but it isn't why this <i>feels</i> so wonderful. Everywhere we go, kids are thrilled to model for our pictures. Of the 27 kids in just these pictures, statistically more than three wouldn't make it to age 5 in Kenya in 2003. Today, just a handful of years later, that number dropped to less than two.</div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-25953289592771938842012-04-01T11:26:00.000+03:002012-04-01T11:26:27.084+03:00A Nuanced Perspective of Kony2012<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kony2012: Absolutely worth watching, but not the whole story</td></tr>
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This internet sensation movie talks about Kony, a leader of the horrible Lords Resistance Army (LRA) that kidnaps and maims children in Central Africa. He is despicable, the organization is terrible, and no one anywhere supports him (<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/Vox-News/2012/0309/Why-did-Rush-Limbaugh-defend-Joseph-Kony-and-Lord-s-Resistance-Army-video" target="_blank">except for Rush Limbaugh</a>). The movie itself is very slick, and seeks to publicize his actions so that he will be stopped.<br />
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That's all true, but <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/" target="_blank">the critics say it's naive and incredibly oversimplified</a>. That is true too. For example, the LRA used to be massive in Uganda, today it is maybe a few hundred soldiers running for their lives in the jungle of a neighboring country. Much of the world mostly ignored the movement in it's heyday, mostly in the 90s and early 2000s, but we are well past that point today. The powers that be in the world have long since actively worked to shut down the LRA are almost done. There are American troops on the ground helping the Ugandan army hunt down Kony with broad international support. The recent huge facebook mobs are quite late to the party. <br />
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Africans, in particular, seem to be the most annoyed at this movement. Ugandans stormed out of the theater in anger when they saw the movie because ironically they didn't find themselves represented in it. Editorials across the continent skewer it's naivety, and it's reliance on the 'White Savior Complex.' The vast majority of the victims shown in the movie were Africans, the majority of the 'heros' were white people from another hemisphere. However it has mostly been African soldiers and African communities that have beaten the LRA back over the last decade, and so it's more than a little insulting to say that they now need George Clooney to come in and finish him off.<br />
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I suppose I am part of the 'White Savior Industrial Complex' and although I won't ever pretend that Africa needs me, I do think I'm doing genuine good. Contrary to the adoring facebookers, or disgruntled Africans I see the movie in a different way. It's far less about what needs to happen now, and much more about what has happened. Jason Russell has spent much of his adult life organizing and agitating for awareness of Kony and the struggles of central Africa. It's impossible to know how much practical influence they have had, but it's likely more than nothing. And now, this long standing campaign is almost over.<br />
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The movie, and incipient movement, are most effective with young people. Although oversimplified, it is bringing an awareness of contemporary history to a demographic known for being apathetic and disengaged from some of the worlds bigger injustices. It shows how privileged young Americans have been able to make a difference on another continent. If it engages anyone enough to want to make a difference, and think a little on their own, there are some very real and practical steps that they could take. For example, the movie points out that the International Criminal Court (ICC) finds Kony to be one of the worlds worst war criminals. However, the ICC doesn't have much power, in part, because the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_the_International_Criminal_Court#Bush_Administration.27s_approach_to_the_ICC" target="_blank">United States has not ratified it</a>. If an American acted like Kony, and is arrested by the ICC, George Bush Jr. famously said he'd invade Holland to 'rescue' them. A Facebook campaign in an election year really could force politicians to bring the US into the world community. <br />
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Rather than soliciting support for a necessary movement I think the point of Kony 2012 is more subtle. It's inviting an entire generation to join in a victory for humanity.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-36925386904646052422012-03-03T19:09:00.000+03:002012-06-03T15:09:05.514+03:00Ancestors affect an American-African<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My American-African Fiance</td></tr>
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I'm now engaged to an American-African. Identity is a fickle thing, legal, social as well as individual. That's how, after a long and lovely relationship I asked an American woman to marry me. A few short months later, I found myself engaged to a resident of Africa.</div>
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A lot changed, and nothing. After the painfully slow machinations of the government Erin got her Kenyan work permit. That means, at this moment she is legally a resident of two different East African countries. I'm being facetious, but not entirely. Most African-Americans have a much smaller personal connection to Africa than Erin and I do. At this point we've spent about 5% of our lives in Africa, but most African-Americans haven't stepped foot on the continent, nor have any of their ancestors in living memory. At what point does ones physical location completely define ones continental or national affiliation?</div>
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For me, calling Erin an American-African is an amusing play on words, but for others these kinds of distinctions are vitally important. I have a good white South African friend here who has told me a bit about his experiences. During the crumbling of Apartheid in his country the white people had a lot of deplorable reasons to maintain their stranglehold, but they also had some legitimate concerns. As the black majority began to flex their strength some advocated 'pushing the settlers to the sea.' That's made for a powerful sentiment, but the reality of it was complicated. Many parts of Africa had been heavily colonized well before North America was, with the first Dutch settlement established near Cape Town in 1647. So these settlers had no other homeland since well over a century before my country got around to existing. Even most black South Africans aren't 'native' depending on how one chooses to define it. The majority of the black populations ancestors moved in from other regions in the north about a 1000 years ago (which means it's closer to today than it is to the time of Jesus). That's a long time, to be sure, but their people have only been in the region for less than three times the as long as the Europeans.</div>
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<a href="http://goo.gl/photos/pxUUa9CmJB" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-6jg2w1P1Qjs/T74bQFTeLlI/AAAAAAABw7s/ZNy29qUHWKc/s200/Masai%252520in%252520Tanzania-245.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
This fear of being 'pushed to the sea' is why my friend said 'no white South African in his right mind would have voted for Mandela' (in 1994.) What happens to someone who doesn't have a right to exist anywhere on earth? My friend quickly followed up his assertion by saying 'but then, Mandela's presidency was nothing short of a miracle.' Balancing the opposing demands and rights of the whole population looked to be an impossible achievement, but one that has (with some hiccups) come into being.<br />
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<div class="p1">
I focused out South Africa only because it built to a crescendo within my life time, similar stories play out all over the continent. I spent a a month living on a farm in Tanzania with three generations of farmers. Although white, they easily identified themselves as Tanzanians in every way that matters. Serious debates about who 'belongs' in a place is also an active issue in Kenya today. During the colonial era tribes were pushed around as English settlers claimed vast swathes of land. In many cases, entire tribes uprooted and moved to the ancestral land of other tribes. Today on one side you have some angry that they have rights to land because their recent ancestors lived there. On the other hand, todays residents also justifiably say they have rights to it because they have lived there for generations.
</div>
<div class="p2">
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<div class="p1">
Identity and legal residence has been a vital issue for me too. There was a time, while Erin and I were living in Tanzania, that I was an 'illegal.' My visa took a long time to process through, and in the meantime the clock had run out on my three month 'Tourist Visa.' Suddenly I had to live with the constant fear that if someone chose to make an issue out of it I could be deported on a moments notice. Although I'm happy to still have an American passport, I didn't have as much to return to as my home, vocation, worldly goods and Erin were all in Tanzania. If I was robbed, I would have had to seriously debate going to the police because the cost to me could have been far worse than what would happen to the actual criminal.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4161239447/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Sedona Arizona with Rein Teen Tours-4 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Sedona Arizona with Rein Teen Tours-4" height="162" src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4040/4161239447_00088b756a_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arizona, a beautiful place with ugly laws</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
Suddenly I had a lot more empathy for the illegal immigrants in America. Although they always disgusted me, I now understand the horror of the recent anti-immigrant laws in Arizona and Alabama. For me, at least I made the decision to come to Africa as an adult equipped to deal with the consequences. For immigrant children who know nothing but life in America, and want to contribute, their nebulous status is not only dangerous and economically stupid, it's profoundly immoral too. But it certainly gets worse, at least children born in the US are automatically granted citizenship, this is not true elsewhere. In China and Switzerland, for example, you can have multiple generations of immigrants born in the country.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
The point of this post is to show that, ultimately, our concepts of nationality are fundamentally arbitrary and based on the flawed rules of men not any higher morality. Congress could easily eliminate millions of criminals from the country by simply making their immigration legal. Those freshly minted Americans would have the prospects to add more to economy, serve in the military, pay into social security, and consider the police allies not enemies. It may seem outrageous today, but I see it as inevitable evolution. Our modern ideas of nationality aren't new, the first evidence of something comprable to a passport was in the Persian empire in 450BC.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
If we are indeed living in an era of globalization, it's tragically amusing that we're struggling with problems that exist largely because of concept of nationality established two and a half millenniums ago.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-60887576005253103282012-02-05T12:10:00.000+03:002012-06-03T15:13:01.764+03:00Identity infiltrates institutions illegally, involving the ICC<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://goo.gl/photos/3GjXK3dJ8v" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-b5kRmOyCrZ8/T14er9qG_PI/AAAAAAABLDs/3aG3vPuJ45I/s200/National%252520Museum%252520of%252520Kenya-25.JPG" width="159" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Erin, in front of my<br />
favorite map of Kenya</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: right;">
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A friend of mine recently complained that outside of Africa, most people would think of him as an African, not a Kenyan. I teased him about that and said that when I go to another country I'm usually considered an American which really isn't a lot more specific. Since July, and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sudan">birth of a new country</a>, Africa has 54 independent countries while the Americas have a respectable 35.<br />
<br />
I'll admit, that's kind of misleading. When most people say 'American' they are referring to people from the USA much to the chagrin of Canadians, Argentineans and others. But it's also misleading on the other end because an argument could be made that most Kenyans themselves don't see themselves as Kenyans. Despite the well intentioned efforts of many, much of this country divides on tribal lines. This concept of tribal identity makes huge difference here, and has arguably shaped post colonial history more than anything else.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/5484434123/" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Masai in Tanzania-51 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Masai in Tanzania-51" height="190" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5100/5484434123_6af5cfe4cb_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Masai, like these performing a traditional dance<br />
are found throughout Kenya</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Consider this, as the United States gears up for another 'most divisive presidential election' in modern history, the International Criminal Court <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/01/2012128125931617297.html">just ruled</a> that four of Kenyas most powerful people must stand trial for crimes against humanity committed during the last election. Because of issues drawn on tribal lines in the 2007 election well over a 1,000 people were killed by angry mobs as they burned and looted cities. High profile politicians (and many others) fanned the flames of violence, even as the then-candidate Obama pleaded with the people for calm. This is history, but it's in no way the past, many of the same players are positioning themselves for this years election.<br />
<br />
This puts things into perspective, doesn't it? In the US, many are appalled that Newt Gingrich is running for president despite being the only Speaker of the US House in history to be reprimanded <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/leadership/stories/012297.htm">for 'Ethical Wrongdoing</a>'. In Kenya, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/kenya/index.html">two current top-tier presidential candidates</a> have been indicted for crimes against humanity by the ICC.<br />
<br />
Depending on how you divide it, there are 40 different tribes in Kenya but just a handful have a large enough population to dominate politically. Since the countries independence whichever tribe had power brazenly shifted the priorities to help out 'their' people as opposed to Kenyans in general. That applies roads, schools, government contracts as well as truly shocking levels of pure graft. The book <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=LxMlXPZi1Q0C&dq=our+turn+to+eat&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ri4uT63EDYWnrAeY3OTbDA&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA">Our turn to Eat</a> is a fascinating, adventurous, story that lays out a lot of this by telling the true and inspiring story of one mans fight against the status quo. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://goo.gl/photos/4K7Z5wDVNN" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vURyGp3ytfc/T14ehiOftOI/AAAAAAABLDY/w6mjJNz6Ut4/s200/National%252520Museum%252520of%252520Kenya-2.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.499999046325684px; text-align: center;">History is alive in Kenya<br />
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</tbody></table>
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Before any take this post to be anti-Kenyan, it's definately not. Nearly every country in the world has struggled with issues of corruption and some form tribalism. When the US shook the yoke of colonialism and promised freedom and democracy, it shared little of either with any who weren't in the 'tribe' of Anglo-Saxon male property owners. It took nearly a century before a literal civil war set free the underclass, and another century before the civil rights movement made it a legal reality. Kenya is a young country, founded in 1963 in the place of a colony where tribal rivalries were created, encouraged and amplified. Kenya has problems, but it is straining to make the same cultural shift that the US is doing over two hundred years into a single human lifetime. <br />
<br />
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. In many ways I'm very nervous about the elections this year, but I am in equal measure excited about it too. Most Kenyans I speak with are not happy with how things work, despise the tribal political spoils system, and almost everyone is emphatic that things will be different this time around. Almost two-thirds of the people approved a revolutionary new constitution in 2010 and in many ways Kenya is poised to quickly leap ahead as soon as it can put it's house in order. One of the biggest indicators of what will happen is this coming presidential election through both how Kenya votes as well as their collective response to the results.<br />
<br />
This is all complicated, scary, and profoundly uncertain. This is one of those fleeting moments when humans get to decide whether their society should evolve. It's fascinating, thrilling and I'm honored to be a witness.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-75562602445901054512012-01-29T13:08:00.000+03:002012-06-03T15:20:09.334+03:00Risk is the blade that shapes a life.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/5627039905/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Mudds visit Mikumi-244 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Mudds visit Mikumi-244" height="160" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5028/5627039905_f83a5242f4_m.jpg" width="240" /></a>
African wild buffalos are one of the most dangerous animals on the continent, they attack and kill hundreds of people each year. That's why, when we went to the gate of Hell, one of the most terrifying experiences of my life was when I came face to face with an angry bull while on a bicycle.<br />
<br />
As we rented bikes to cruise around Hells Gate National Park we asked what animals we would see. We were told ostriches, giraffes, warthogs, and buffalo. 'Wait, what was the last one!? Aren't Buffalo dangerous?' Yes they are, we were (not!) assured, but usually when they're in a herd they don't bother people. It's actually single bulls that you need be afraid of. If alone, it means they've lost a fight to dominate their herd and are likely angry, irritable, and anxious to prove that they can gore a living being to death. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://goo.gl/photos/uDsw7XHLjm" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-CkAOKK-QcLQ/T14fDOdeFwI/AAAAAAABLL0/Y0SzoMQPKcc/s200/Hells%252520Gate%252520National%252520Park-30.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, biking past a herd of one of<br />
Africa's most dangerous mammals</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
With that advice, Erin and I smiled, and started peddling towards the park. It turns out, both of us are willing to take careful risks even if we don't know exactly what the rewards will be. It's why we found each other, as well as why we find ourselves in Africa. A couple years ago, we had a little too much wine while in the Colorado mountains and somehow got the idea in our head '<i>Lets both apply to jobs in Africa, and if either gets one, we go.</i>' A month later, Erin had a job offer for a little school in Tanzania.<br />
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<a href="http://goo.gl/photos/thgFiobMS0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-sJRMllwXLN4/T14ZVNLV29I/AAAAAAABLE8/N58fesZ842Y/s200/Hells%252520Gate%252520National%252520Park-55.JPG" width="200" /></a>
Ernest Hemmingway, the author who popularized the idea of the African wildlife safari, once said, "<i>Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.</i>" So before we knew it we'd taken an 85% pay cut, rented the house and were on a long journey to Iringa. I'd like to say it seemed like a good idea at the time, but it really didn't. The world economy was in the midst of crumbling into the deepest financial crisis since the great depression. In our mid-30s, we both had given up stable and decent professional jobs each doing something we believed in a city we both love surrounded by friends and family. <br />
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<a href="http://goo.gl/photos/gkXFQs6oLo" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-qkZiyFPQQuE/T14ZjUXSIII/AAAAAAABLM8/ZrKiNijyid0/s200/Hells%252520Gate%252520National%252520Park-65.JPG" width="150" /></a>
Today Erin has a job developing the reading curriculum for thousands of underserved Kenyans. I've got a dream job, I'm starting a factory for a company that uses advanced technology to save lives, forests, and money via hyper efficient stoves. We're engaged, living in a beautiful place in Kenya, and life is coming together surprisingly well. After living frugally, except for many 'once in a lifetime' vacations, we're now actually saving money every month. In hindsight, we couldn't have planned this epic journey any better but in the beginning we didn't have much of a plan. We knew we were taking a big risk and had little but the hope that some unimagined rewards would make it worth it.<br />
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That's not unlike the risk of riding a bike through a buffalo infested landscape because we'd heard it was nice place. In that case the reward was a gorgeous day, stunning landscapes, and even a heated waterfall cascading down a cliff from a hot spring. On our ride home sunburnt but smiling our legs were tired and after such a lovely day I was thinking more about dinner than the landscape.<br />
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<a href="http://goo.gl/photos/kbtfOyzM7b" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ssJn3fS8QlM/T14ZtoAriVI/AAAAAAABLFc/LMtmr_TQZG4/s200/Hells%252520Gate%252520National%252520Park-103.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
That's why I didn't notice the single male Buffalo until were almost on top of him. He noticed us though, and was getting visibly angry. By accident, the road we were following curved along the side of tall sheer cliff, making it seem to the buffalo that we were trapping him. He was not about to put up with that so started started snorting, shaking his head and lumbering towards us.<br />
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In Africa in general, we're plunging ahead to see what life has to offer. There, however, we turned around and pedalled back so fast that Lance Armstrong himself couldn't have kept up.<br />
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PS) Speaking of risk, as I write this there are reports that a lion escaped from the national park and is loose somewhere in my neighborhood. No wonder why I love it here.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/5676793848/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Mudds visit Mikumi-600 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Mudds visit Mikumi-600" height="160" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5021/5676793848_7ffc7d74a4_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
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</tbody></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com1Hell's Gate National Park, Naivasha, Kenya-0.8840197 36.3064595-0.94752669999999994 36.2274955 -0.8205127 36.3854235tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-15602594267731370732012-01-22T18:09:00.003+03:002012-06-03T15:27:13.106+03:00Carefully constructing community<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/5495813093/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Micahs BDay Weekend-13 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Micahs BDay Weekend-13" height="180" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5100/5495813093_c3a83339cc_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birthday with friends</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Community is fickle, hard to put your finger on, but vital. To people like Erin and I, who've started afresh in a new country twice in the last two years, it's something we actively need to think about in a way that our more stable friends don't. Everyone needs to carve out space in their life for others, but after you've been in the same place for years the idea of establishing traditions and meeting people is something is so so engrained in that's it's hard to examine it separately from everyday life. If one is lucky it just happens organically.<br />
<br />
Being the new kid on the block is not a new thing for either of us. I changed school districts five times growing up, and moved to a new city for college during which I studied abroad four times. After school I ended up living and working in three different states and as many countries each time with a new beginning. As someone who has a natural tendency to withdraw, I've had varying levels of success in finding the community I crave. I actually enjoy having a lot of time to myself, and have had many pleasant friday nights with the companionship of only a glass of wine and a good book. However, when the days add into weeks, and then months, without meaningfully connecting with another person it creates a subtly growing depression.<br />
<br />
Finding Erin, my partner in crime, helps a lot. A community of two is a wonderful gift, and it has been on the strength of that that we've both been able to grow. Upon getting to Tanzania we, for the first time in our adult lives, gave up having our own personal space. Erin and I moved into a single room in an apartment with much younger strangers in a small town in an exotic land. I'll never regret it, but sometimes we called it the 'pressure cooker,' because any small disagreement stewed because there was nowhere to go to cool off and get perspective. Even taking a long walk wasn't an option after dark when the small threat of crime, and the bigger threat of wild dogs kept us inside. The only solution was the same as when I sat in my lonely little studio apartment having just moved to Massachusetts: finding a broader community. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://goo.gl/photos/imXKxbRBC8" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-wsx53bOc5zc/Txvw5I6GIBI/AAAAAAABA8w/YqyM0-_iGVs/s200/Visiting%252520NY-20.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mr MacAllen and Me</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
That's harder than it sounds, to say the least. Fortunately, my father unwittingly taught me a lesson early in life that's served me well. He too craves community, but with a stubborn proactivity that few share. Shortly after moving our family to NY he wished he had some good friends that he could discuss books with. So, he declared it. He got permission from a local church to have a morning 'philosophy group' every Sunday and thereafter every week he dutifully went and made a pot of coffee. He once let me know that it wasn't that easy, and there were many weeks early on where he was the only person there. But, as Woody Allen once said '80% of anything is showing up,' so he ignored the lonely mornings and just kept at it. Today that dynamic discussion group has been around for decades, outlasting him when he moved so far away he can't make it anymore. But he hasn't stopped there, he brought the same stubbornness to his passion for playing music with people which has evolved over the years into a constantly changing kaleidoscope of bands, events, and now a regular folk music class at a local library. Although a remarkable person, he isn't a professor of philosophy or an acclaimed musical prodigy that draws people in through his star power.<br />
<br />
He does it by simply giving peoples need for community something to crystalize around. Most humans crave community, and despite the economic boom in 'social media' it is something western society is not very good at meaningfully providing. Most people don't recognize it, or know what to do about it, even as they suffer measurably from it's lack. Obviously there are many worthwhile communities that do make the difference in many lives, but almost always their origin can be traced to a single person that willed it into being. For it to be a success it must grow beyond it's founder to embrace the dynamic nature of it's members to a point where the founding is really just a small blip in it's history. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/6714469361/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Xmas Party 2010-2 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Xmas Party 2010-2" height="180" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7163/6714469361_546c8c3c8d_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We were thrilled when our Christmas party<br />
had more Tanzanians than expats</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
When Erin and moved to Iringa we had some great luck. The three strangers we moved in with quickly became dear friends, and the small school Erin worked at had long been the hub of tight nit local community. Our household wanted to do our part, so we declared our apartment the party house for faculty and friends. We spent long happy hours preparing meals, procuring drinks, and begging people to come. There were game nights, 'movie nights' done a laptop, and an American Thanksgiving (starring a couple small chickens, because turkey is hard to find). A lot of people worked hard at the community and far more than our amazing wildlife safaris this made our time in Tanzania wonderful.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://goo.gl/photos/kQqUyzuEkS" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-RJ7Jb0-rofQ/T14bjJWkQRI/AAAAAAABLCU/Ze8DHC28JHk/s320/Menengai%252520Crater-55.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kids at the Mesengai Crater</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And then we moved north, to Nairobi Kenya and needed to start again. We ended up in a neat little group called <a href="http://www.sports4change.org/">sports for change,</a> which organizes outdoor activities in return for a small donation to a worth cause and started on a hike in the spectacular Mesengai crater. Jumping forward a few months, moved to a smaller, and far less convenient, house because the new house was on a compound shared with a couple people we met on that hike. We were lured to the outskirts of the vibrant city of Nairobi by the possibility of living in something more akin to cohousing.<br />
<br />
Although it's taken some adjustment we love the gardens around the house, the bird filled trees, and reprieve from the crazy city. We really like the people from neighboring houses, a motley crew from five different countries, but within a few weeks started missing the community that we'd moved here for because everyone was busy with their own lives. So, Erin and I declared a weekly gathering. Erin has long had the same philosophy on community as my father, with the added invaluable skill of being a very clever cook. So, we invited whichever of our neighbors over for dinner and drinks one Monday. Most couldn't make it, but some did, and by the end of the evening we let it be known that something like it was going to be a weekly tradition. A lot more people showed up for the next one, this last week. And by the end of the evening a couple people let it be known that next week the gathering should be at their place. <br />
<br />
Success!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-48749104759351349602012-01-14T12:14:00.000+03:002012-01-14T12:14:51.284+03:00The Wedding-Industrial-Complex<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4938120595/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Storms River South Africa-125 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Storms River South Africa-125" height="150" src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4094/4938120595_dfab3fb6f9_m.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Storms River, South Africa</td></tr>
</tbody></table>South Africa has some of the oldest earth on earth. Accordingly, it has some astonishing mineral reserves. Since they started digging for it, it has been one (if not the) leading source of gold, platinum, diamonds (and much else). This simple fact has altered a country, a race, the continent and the world for generations. It is why South Africa has developed (and struggled) leaps and bounds beyond any other sub-saharan African country, and has since the late 1800s. Today, the 18% of that countries economy that mining fuels keeps the country vibrant and growing even when the rest of the world economy struggles. The simple fact that diamonds are an integral part of todays wedding ceremonies has much more to do with a guy named Cecil Rhodes than a naturally occurring stone.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/6693759793/" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Cecil Rhodes Straddling Africa by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Cecil Rhodes Straddling Africa" height="200" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6693759793_07ac75e41a_m.jpg" width="155" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cecil Rhodes, and his plan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It's not only mineral riches, it's also marketing genius. Diamonds are undeniably beautiful, but they aren't the rarest gem nor are they the <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16610-diamond-no-longer-natures-hardest-material.html">hardest</a> material. They are an essential part of todays engagement and marriage rituals not because of something inherent, but because of a marketing campaign from the 1930s. But the story starts well before that, with Cecil Rhodes a colonial leader of a huge swathes of southern Africa. He got his start in South Africa, and ultimately bought out the De Beers family farm and used that to secure the majority control of the worlds diamond output. He was able to pull off this coup because his domain had the vast majority of the worlds diamonds. He found that by carefully controlling the worlds supply he could set the price for a diamond to whatever he wanted. <br />
<br />
After his death, the De Beers diamond company had a near worldwide monopoly of a gemstone that the world cared less and less about (in 1932 worldwide diamond sales were <a href="http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2524/is-a-diamonds-price-a-true-measure-of-its-value">about $100,000</a>.) So, one day in the 1930s, they hired a firm called NW Ayers in the US to see what could be done. They tried to rescue a fading concept, the 'diamond engagement ring' through clever product placement. By 1979 the the worldwide diamond market was worth $2.1 Billion. Specifics are difficult to find, but in <a href="http://www.diamineexplorations.com/web/index.php?id=147">2005 the worlds output</a> of diamonds were worth $13.4 Billion. More than <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/weddings/2007/06/diamonds_are_a_girls_worst_friend.html">80% of American engagement rings have a diamond</a>, at an average cost of about $3,200.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4938728961/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Cape Town South Africa-513 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Cape Town South Africa-513" height="160" src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4118/4938728961_f3d0fdfc71_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, breaking the (Apartheid) law</td></tr>
</tbody></table>That campaign has had an unbelievable impact well beyond convincing people what stone engaged women need to wear. It changed the economy and power base of sub saharan-Africa. I won't exaggerate a point, but there is a reason people call them <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamond">blood diamonds</a>. They've literally held up apartheid regimes, finance civil wars, and make a lot of beautiful people glitter.<br />
<br />
That's only one part of what has become an astonishingly lucrative industry. What I now like to call, 'the Wedding-Industrial-Complex' has taken DeBeers lead and used clever marketing to convince people that an average American couple needs to spend an average of over $26,000 on a single day. There is nothing wrong with that, and I'm grateful that I've been invited to some truly remarkable weddings. At the end of the day, it's a couples decision and whatever it becomes should be considered a generous gift to the friends and family that they invite. But, when Erin and I talk about it, we found that even if we could afford it, it doesn't fit with our quirky priorities. We can think of other things we'd prefer to spend that kind of money on. That could be a year-long international adventure travel honeymoon, clean drinking water for about a thousand people that don't have it, or sending 650 poor kids to the schools Erin is developing for a year. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/6524403333/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Antananarivo-123 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Antananarivo-123" height="240" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6524403333_66119ac3ed_m.jpg" width="91" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Erin in 'Tano</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It's right about here that this whole story collapses into something a lot more personal. People have every right to have any wedding they want, and I've long known that I'm peculiar because many of my priorities don't align with much of the society I grew up in. What I find remarkable is, I've been fortunate enough to meet another person who shares my peculiar perspective. I love Erin, and have gotten to a point where I can't really imagine my life without her. I wanted to ask her to marry me, but was stuck. I don't want to be that guy so obsessed by history, politics and being manipulated by marketing that I can't let true emotions show. Unfortunately, I didn't know if I had it in me to buy a diamond.<br />
<br />
I asked Erin to marry me in Antananarivo, Madagascar. I'd been thinking about it for a long time, but it wasn't until we were lost in a conversation about how we both wanted to live an 'exceptional life' that I realized that I didn't need or want to wait any more. The next morning, we got up early and went shopping for rings in the jewelry district. I started the day by asking her to choose any ring she wanted, quite literally, and without any caveats. We looked at thousands of rings. Most of them, obviously, were diamonds.<br />
<br />
For her engagement ring, Erin chose an Emerald.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/6693935899/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Erins Ring by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Erins Ring" height="114" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6693935899_6a0b4893ef_m.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com0Antananarivo, Madagascar-18.914872 47.531611999999996-19.055014 47.436151999999993 -18.774729999999998 47.627072tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-4229155006989837652012-01-08T12:18:00.001+03:002012-01-08T12:34:37.004+03:00An African account, and an allusive alternative approach<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/6652918575/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Fort Portal for Christmas-5 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Fort Portal for Christmas-5" height="180" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7031/6652918575_31fc28fbc5_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dressed in their Christmas best, with 'staches!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>This blog has been quiet for a long time, and I'm not happy about it. In part, because I didn't know what the story is that I am trying to tell. Moving to Africa about a year and a half ago has proven to be a spectacular journey in many ways with lots of experiences that I'd love to share. But it has all felt different than the travelogue I wrote in this blog in Latin America. At that time my brother Tyler and I were mostly in motion, here Erin and I are mostly settled down. We've had a lot spectacular trips, but the real essence of living deliberately in this era of my life is the settling into an exotic local (first, the southern highlands of Tanzania, now the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya.) On one hand, I need to write about the road trips: seeing elephants and giving kids mustaches. Those will be a fun stories to tell, easily digested into bite-sized pieces. But while those kinds of stories were much of what the 'Latin American Epic' was about, they are only a side story to what life is about now.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/5675934778/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Mudds visit Mikumi-418 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Mudds visit Mikumi-418" height="160" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5187/5675934778_1fc6358e7f_m.jpg" width="240" /></a>The way I see 'living deliberately' today has a stronger focus on meaningful living in the non-traveler world. It's about navigating the vast poverty, wealth, and complexities of life in Africa. It's about understanding who is really doing good work here, and trying to join forces with them. It's about being an uncomfortably privileged racial minority. And it's also about the slow transition of my fierce personal independence to a union with Erin. And these kinds of topics are the hardest to write about. It's all a slow evolution, with plenty of stumbles along the way. So the real story keeps changing, and most of it is likely half a life time away from a conclusion. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/5605958847/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Mudds visit Mikumi-183 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Mudds visit Mikumi-183" height="180" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5264/5605958847_c08c0b10ab_m.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
Although getting chased by an african buffalo, or coming face to face with an lion, is something I can detail in a blogpost they don't really have a lot to say on these broader themes. But without telling the big story it feels unforgivably misleading to tell only about the vacations. This has been the hardest (and most wonderful) time of my life so to write only about the good times misses the whole point. So, to date, I have taken the lazy mans compromise and did neither. But it shouldn't be impossible for me to write about both, so long as I can get used to telling a small part of a story so vast that I can't see the edges. And that is my new years resolution.<br />
<br />
So, welcome to the next stage of my deliberate life. I can actually start this story in the same way another did 99 years ago...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: black;">"<i style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills. The Equator runs across these highlands, a hundred miles to the north, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet. In the day-time you felt that you had got high up; near the sun, but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful, and the nights were cold ..." <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Africa">Karen Blixen, in Out of Africa</a></i></span></blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com0Karen, Nairobi, Kenya-1.3117524 36.698597800000016-1.3511919000000001 36.654404300000017 -1.2723129 36.742791300000015tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-64153028600325919782011-06-21T20:09:00.000+03:002011-06-21T20:09:48.022+03:00An African AdventureWow.<br />
<br />
Looking back at this woefully unupdated blog, I feel shame and regret. In one of the most profound, satisfying, and interesting eras of my life the only post about Tanzania was about one of the very few things I don't appreciate about this country. The reality of everyday life here has little to do with mob rule, and everything about fascinating and friendly people, being welcomed into a burgeoning middle class of Tanzanians and expats, spectacular wilderness and satisfying personal exploration. <br />
<br />
When we started daydreaming about Tanzania, the only places we'd heard about were in the north, like Mt. Kilimanjaro or the Serengeti, and we quickly realized that we were in the far less touristed southern highlands. It was disappointing that we'd have to start every trip with a minimum of a ten hour busride, but we figured we would try to make the most of what we could find around us.<br />
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That was yet another misconception. It turns out, our home Iringa is in between largest protected game reserve in Tanzania<i> </i>(Selous) and <i>the</i> largest national park in Africa (Ruaha), and one of Tanzanias newest national parks (Kitulo Plateau). We saw a dozen wild lions on a daytrip from our apartment, and spent other nights in the park listening to elephants foraging around us. <br />
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<div><iframe border="0" frameborder="0" height="461" scrolling="no" src="http://imapflickr.com/67a7e7" style="border: 0px;" width="542"></iframe></div><br />
Because this region is off the beaten path usually we had much of these wilderness areas to ourselves. Well, we weren't technically alone. I'd never been so close to so many incredible animals, and that includes trips to the zoo. Although it's almost cliched to say it, but every one of our wilderness safaris has been one of the most magical experiences of my life. Below is a slideshow of the animals we saw.<br />
<br />
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But thats just the animals, I'll certainly never forget the flowers! The Kitulo Plateau alone is a new park, on top of a mountain, with a reputation for a dazzling area of flowers (including 45 varieties of orchids!).<br />
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<br />
And that's just the wilderness. I got to party with the Masai, shared Ugali with the locals , substitute taught a 5th grade class and build an industrial scale biodigester at a dairy farm. We've already spent more time in Africa than Hemmingway ever did (although we've been in two fewer plane crashes which is much appreciated). <br />
<br />
There are so many stories to tell, but that's for another time. Erin and I committed to a full year in east Africa and are proud by what we've accomplished here. So much so, that we're not ready to leave... we're now about to leave on a journey that, via one of the circuitous routes I'm famous for, will end up with us living in Nairobi, Kenya. On to more adventures!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com0Iringa, Tanzania-7.77 35.690000000000055-7.815963 35.653740000000056 -7.7240369999999992 35.726260000000053tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-10201532406387009572010-09-28T14:09:00.000+03:002010-09-28T14:09:11.802+03:00Arrival and an Alarming Actual AllegoryOur arrival to Tanzania was, how shall I put it, dramatic.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/5032713440/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Scale of Africa by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Scale of Africa" height="240" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/5032713440_931fd72eac_m.jpg" width="186" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Africa is enormous!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Initially Erin and I planned to make the trek from South Africa overland. Looking at a world map this appeared to be approximately the same distance as Colorado to NY. I've driven that a number of a times in a little over a day, so three weeks seemed like plenty of time. I knew it wasn't precise, projecting a globe onto a 2d map skews the size of continents. Not to mention that the US highway system has a reputation of being a little bit easier to navigate than crossing countries in sub-Saharan Africa.<br />
<br />
Before we made it to Africa, however, I found this intriguing map in a history book (the exceptional <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Dm_WAAAAMAAJ">Africa: A Biography of a Continent by John Reader</a>.) I knew Africa was big, but had no concept that you could comfortably fit India, China, the continental US, Europe, Argentina and New Zealand inside the continent. In reality, a direct route from Cape Town to Iringa would be farther than going from NY to California. Not only that, but the most direct route (on sketchy roads) would send us through the painfully war torn Democratic Republic of Congo. In other words, we decided to fly instead.<br />
<br />
When we arrived at the airport in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania the school thoughtfully had a man named Fouad pick us up. He seemed to be a gentle man, very helpful and with perfect English. As we stepped outside the airport, a mob of people rushed into the airport screaming. Puzzled, we asked what was going on... is Bono visiting Africa again?<br />
<br />
Fouad paused and calmly stated "<i>A man stole car. I think they will kill him.</i>" <br />
<br />
Wait, what?!? He explained that because people have little faith in their criminal system people here take justice into their own hands. Instead of waiting for an arrest, court, and an appeal process a mob may simply stack tires around an alleged criminal and set them on fire. Often it's a brutal but non-lethal beating, but one study found that in <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1831959/">a five year period over 1,200 people</a> were executed by crowds in the city of Dar Es Salaam. Tanzanian mobs find all sorts of crimes to be capital offenses in Africa, including a shocking amount of <a href="http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61596.htm">executions because of witchcraft</a> (in the mobs defense, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/world/africa/08albino.html">witchcraft community is far from innocent</a>). Although many are probably guilty of their crimes, many are not. Although vigilante justice makes great comic book super heroes it is deeply disturbing to see in reality. <br />
<br />
I find this all horrifying, but an argument could be made that as an American my perspective is hypocritical. Although I don't support it, my country does have the death penalty. Furthermore, it wasn't until 1968 that the US got serious about ending the practice of public lynching. However, my problem is about more than the terror an individual would feel if chased by a mob. It's also the symptom of a broader problem that hurts the prosperity of the country. People take justice into their own hands because they fear, right or wrong, that if they went to the police a criminal need only pay a bribe to be set free. Broadly perceived corruption, whether real or not, <a href="http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/sunday-citizen/40-sunday-citizen-news/2800-grave-concern-as-disorder-mounts.html">cripples society as a whole</a>. For example, if most people believe a small bribe will get them out of a traffic ticket there will be more bad drivers and more people die as a result of reckless driving. The same concept applies on every level of society ranging from who gets elected to how businesses operate. A just rule of law can make a society prosper. <br />
<br />
For example, despite this frightening story Tanzania is a far more peaceful place than the United States. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Peace_Index">Global Peace Index</a> distills an array of complex statistics, ranging from wars to number of homicides, about a nations relationship to violence into a single number. Tanzania is consistently ranked one of the most peaceful in Africa and far higher than the US. However, concerns about justice and the rule of law inhibit development in a self perpetuating downward spiral whereas these particular problems aren't really a concern in the US. This real and imagined corruption, and the societal reactions to it, hold back this rich and kind society from profiting from its peaceful nature. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-26498986412198950812010-09-19T15:35:00.001+03:002010-09-19T15:54:35.808+03:00Colorful Cape Kingdom Kaleidoscope<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4939103948/" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Cape Town South Africa-92 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Cape Town South Africa-92" height="266" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4134/4939103948_35923edaf1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Micah in front of Table Mountain in Cape Town</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> In the last post I wrote about a nation that was given independence by South Africa, until Mandela welcomed it back into the country in 1994. For the sake of symmetry, after our visit to the </span><a href="http://blog.livedeliberately.org/2010/09/nonexistent-nation.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Transkei</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Erin I went to a kingdom that South Africa, also through Mandela, gave to the whole world ten years later. It's a fascinating place, and one that goes far deeper than stories about kings, politics, or even human beings.</span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/5004045890/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Floristic Kingdoms by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Floristic Kingdoms" height="134" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/5004045890_6ae9a33432.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Floristic Kingdoms</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4939153542/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Cape Town South Africa-205 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Cape Town South Africa-205" height="67" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/4939153542_bce7d31e48_t.jpg" width="100" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> When studying where flowers exist botanists divide the world into six broad <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floristic_region#Floristic_kingdoms">floristic kingdoms</a>. One can find many kinds of flowers, ecosystems and climates within a each kingdom but they share enough characteristics to be clustered together. Most kingdoms span many countries and even continents. I personally visited over thirty countries across the Northern Hemisphere before I stepped foot outside of a single kingdom. When I finally did, on a long trip through Latin America, I was continually amazed by the strange new flowers I came across. </span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4938571573/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Cape Town South Africa-208 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Cape Town South Africa-208" height="75" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4102/4938571573_7e61252873_t.jpg" width="100" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4938575211/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Cape Town South Africa-221 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Cape Town South Africa-221" height="75" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4938575211_bbcf9cd7e1_t.jpg" width="100" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The smallest kingdom is the only one that fits inside a single country, South Africa. Although tiny, it has one of the highest densities of different plant species on the planet. Mandela declared the </span><a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1007/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Cape Floral Region</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> a UNESCO World heritage site in 2004 because of this unbelievable diversity. To give a sense of scale, there are more plant species endemic to the top of Cape Towns iconic Table Mountain than there are in the United Kingdom. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><br />
The biological diversity of this small part of the world is matched by it's ethnic and cultural diversity. The southern tip of Africa has been a busy since long before history has been recorded. Ever since Cape Town was established by Europeans it has been a vital port city and embraced immigrants from all over the world. Nearly every european power is represented, the huge Bo-Kaap neighborhood is historically muslim Malay, and it proves almost irresistible to every expat who visits. It took all our willpower to escape from Cape Town to the final leg of our journey to our new home in Tanzania. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4938760851/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Cape Town South Africa-599 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Cape Town South Africa-599" height="375" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4938760851_6956b47fbf.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The colorful Bo-Kaap neighbood of Cape Town</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="300" width="400"> <param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fmicahmacallen%2Fsets%2F72157624835333008%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fmicahmacallen%2Fsets%2F72157624835333008%2F&set_id=72157624835333008&jump_to="></param><param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fmicahmacallen%2Fsets%2F72157624835333008%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fmicahmacallen%2Fsets%2F72157624835333008%2F&set_id=72157624835333008&jump_to=" width="400" height="300"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The National Gallery in Capetown is remarkable and worth a visit, play the above slideshow to see some of our favorite pieces!</span></i></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-4447506932772308712010-09-06T22:04:00.001+03:002010-09-19T15:55:09.887+03:00Nonexistent Nation<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4938424095/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Port St Johns South Africa-166 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Port St Johns South Africa-166" height="150" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4938424095_a378b211a6_m.jpg" width="200" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"> You just can't make this stuff up</span></span>. Imagine a tiny 'nation' that tried to secede from the brutal regime of the South Africa. And instead of waging a civil war to keep it the South African Prime Minister (and former Nazi) declared it an independent republic by referring to '<i>the right of every people to have full control over its own affairs</i>' which was just a wee bit ironic considering he also staunchly also supported apartheid. <br />
<div></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4938943712/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Port St Johns South Africa-46 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Port St Johns South Africa-46" height="112" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4095/4938943712_d145ab0e0c_m.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4938986296/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Port St Johns South Africa-125 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Port St Johns South Africa-125" height="133" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4134/4938986296_3f5474cbbc_m.jpg" width="200" /></a> So this newly independent state was no longer South Africa, it became the Transkei with it's own flag, government, and military for 18 years. The only problem? South Africa was also the only country on the planet that recognized it. Despite their best efforts, the rest of the world (and the ANC) refused to let South Africa give it up. It's a peculiar situation, and one that only got stranger in 1978 when the leaders of the Transkei got so frustrated with South Africa that they cut off all diplomatic ties. Which means they cut off all relations with the only country that acknowledged their very existence. </div><div></div><div>This all ended in 1994. Nelson Mandela was released, apartheid was eliminated, the constitution was rewritten, and the Transkei was welcomed back into South Africa. Which was very convenient, because both Mandela and the next president Thabo Mbeki weren't actually from South Africa. They were both born in the Transkei. </div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4938416101/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Port St Johns South Africa-151 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Port St Johns South Africa-151" height="180" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4100/4938416101_58374db75b_m.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
<div><br />
With a history like that, Erin and I couldn't resist visiting. We navigated some long rides off the beaten path to a little coastal town called Port St Johns. The wilderness was lush and diverse, people were friendly, laidback and integrated. More than anything, after a long scramble along the garden route Erin and I needed a place slow down, relax and spend our days hiking and watching the waves crash onto the beach from hammocks.</div><div><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-20838755922713877162010-09-01T23:11:00.001+03:002010-09-19T15:55:44.687+03:00Galavanting around the Garden route<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4937859241/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Storms River South Africa-62 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Storms River South Africa-62" height="180" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4143/4937859241_dc7a4fe89d_m.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
Beautiful coastal landscape, a region of vineyards renowned the world over, high end homes, strip malls, navigating as helpless pedestrians in a car culture... our trip along the South<strike><i>ern California</i></strike> African coast was fascinating and energizing. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4938728961/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Cape Town South Africa-513 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Cape Town South Africa-513" height="160" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4938728961_f3d0fdfc71_m.jpg" width="240" /></a>I remember learning about South Africa politics as a child. This proud bastion of legal racism drove my late great uncle Pat crazy with frustration. He explained the concept of Apartheid in words simple enough that I could grasp it, but never in such a way that I have ever been able to understand it. The task of making those laws itself proves their insanity. When creating inhuman laws for humans, the details keep compounding complexity well past the point of absurdity. They could make a law that said blacks and whites had different legal rights ... but what about mixed-races? Or people that weren't 'native' but also weren't exactly aryan? Before long high courts had to develop long list of criteria, as absurd as 'if the hair is curly enough to support a pencil then they are black.' But when that petty distinction can have a massive impact on everything about how a person lives, one has to wonder if the high court had to weigh on on whether hair straighteners were a legitimate way to 'change races.' At some point, I've got to believe, that even the people creating the laws realized how ridiculous it had gotten.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4937626805/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;" title="Hermanus South Africa-24 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Hermanus South Africa-24" height="160" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4136/4937626805_b20b3486c3_m.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
At the time I couldn't understand why Pat thought a man thrown in prison a generation ago would still be able to change things. But in the final years of his life Pat got to live in a world where that man, Mandela, was released and helped rebuild South African law from the ground up. Unfortunately, there is more to ending discrimination than law and that was a reality that kept screaming out to Erin and I while we travelled along the legendary 'Garden Route.' The major cities along the coast are immaculate, well guarded, and look like a beautiful cross between Europe, California and an army base. Without exception people were kind, friendly and engaging but the constant reminders of economic segregation hung in the air. Cities the hummed with activity during the day shut down at night, when the last bus to the townships took the workers back to the townships and others barricaded themselves in each night. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4937749339/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Buffelsbaai South Africa-1 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Buffelsbaai South Africa-1" height="180" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/4937749339_134d8ae384_m.jpg" width="240" /></a>The Garden route is aptly named as it had some of the most spectacular fauna I've seen anywhere in the world. South Africa has barely 1% of the worlds landmass, but nearly 10% of the worlds plant species. In some parts of the Colorado Rocky Mountains you can hike all day and see only one or two species of trees. In South Africa, its almost impossible to open your eyes without seeing a dozen. The topography itself is magical, we sat on top of a cliff and watched surfers and a couple whales play in the bay for over an hour. We camped on empty beaches that looked like an artists rendering of 'the ideal beach.' We saw dozens of different types of birds on long hikes out of the back door of our 18th century Dutch farmhouse. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4937880773/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Storms River South Africa-85 by Micah & Erin, on Flickr"><img alt="Storms River South Africa-85" height="75" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4937880773_627292bb16_t.jpg" width="100" /></a><br />
It was a remarkable and worthwhile trek through half a dozen destinations, but halfway up the coast both Erin and I were craving something a little more 'cultural.' We'd heard legends about a formerly independent nation hidden inside of South Africa that only South Africa recognized. It sounded like a fascinating place. It was far poorer than it's "neighboring," country but also without the painful history of Apartheid. But that is a story for another blog post....<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe border="0" frameborder="0" height="461" scrolling="no" src="http://imapflickr.com/f542cd" style="border: 0px;" width="418"></iframe></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-5954831256097136612010-08-22T18:50:00.004+03:002010-09-19T16:04:29.460+03:00Inspiring and Incredible Iceland<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4902645863/" title="The Laugavegur hike Iceland-336 by MacAllenBrothers, on Flickr"><img alt="The Laugavegur hike Iceland-336" height="300" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/4902645863_931b0b9f2b.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
In 2002 I was stranded on Iceland with little but the clothes on my back. In this spectacularly expensive country I was very nearly broke and all my bags were so anxious to get home from a year abroad that they skipped my extended layover and went directly to NY. But, in the way things often do when traveling on a shoestring, it worked out. This time it took the form of an Australian guardian angel who'd made entirely too much money working off the coast of Norway for a year and wanted a friend to explore with. It was only a couple days and I got just enough of a taste of this fascinating country to swear I'd be back.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4901645821/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Reykjavik Iceland-19 by MacAllenBrothers, on Flickr"><img alt="Reykjavik Iceland-19" height="200" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/4901645821_0af8bc4170_m.jpg" width="150" /></a>Erin, <a href="http://erinmudd.blogspot.com/2010/08/directionally-challenged-africa-via.html">as it turns out</a>, has lifelong attraction for gnomes and surreal landscapes so we pleaded with the airline until we got our one hour layover in Reykjavik extended by a week. The only problem was, Iceland is so spectacularly expensive that it really is out of reach to a couple who just quit their nice jobs to work in Sub-Saharan Africa. This time the guardian angel took the form of some despicable American money managers who'd thoughtfully imploded the world economy a couple years before. Iceland has a tiny population and too many people worked in international financial services. With few resources other than surreal natural beauty, wool and hot water the economy of Iceland crumbled and the Kroner halved in value relative to the dollar. What was once impossibly expensive, became merely extremely expensive and we booked the flights.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>The Blue Lagoon</b></div><br />
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<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4901527955/" title="Blue Lagoon Iceland-68 by MacAllenBrothers, on Flickr"><img alt="Blue Lagoon Iceland-68" height="131" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4100/4901527955_a1b2b6f540.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
</center><br />
The legendary <a href="http://www.bluelagoon.com/">Blue Lagoon</a> is a small lake of opaque water that bubbles up from ground so hot that they built a power plant on top of it. Instead of burning mountains of coal to power their cities, Iceland has clean and inexpensive geothermal energy. Coal plants generate massive amounts of waste which sometimes causes disasters, like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_Fossil_Plant_coal_fly_ash_slurry_spill">TVA slurry spill in 2008</a> that dumped tons of toxic chemicals into the water supply in Tennessee, crippled the local ecosystem and will cost nearly a $billion to clean up. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4902102998/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Blue Lagoon Iceland-51 by MacAllenBrothers, on Flickr"><img align="RIGHT/" alt="Blue Lagoon Iceland-51" height="180" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4121/4902102998_ebf619e534_m.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Bathing in industrial waste</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>In Iceland, their system works differently. In 1976 they built a geothermal powerplant outside of the capital city Reykjavik. Like the coal plant, it too constantly spills out a byproduct. The difference is, people started bathing the hot mineral water the geothermal plant produced. Before long, the bathers noticed that it helped with health problems and the minerals did wonders for their skin. So, while in Tennessee they'll be cleaning up their disaster for generations, in Iceland they built a luxury spa next to the power plant and sell mineral creams worldwide as high end skin care products. Call me crazy, but I like their system better. Although geothermal power plants only work in volcanic regions, it would <a href="http://www.nrel.gov/analysis/tech_geo_analysis.html">work well in parts of the US</a>.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>The Laugavegur Hike</b></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4902658967/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="The Laugavegur hike Iceland-383 by MacAllenBrothers, on Flickr"><img alt="The Laugavegur hike Iceland-383" height="96" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4102/4902658967_6f4a1124ce.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's impossible to describe Iceland without talking about the landscape. It's also impossible to describe the landscape<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12.5px;"> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>The oldest democracy (~930AD) is located on one of the newest landscapes on earth, a country that grows about an inch every year as the the North American and European continental plates pull apart. There aren't many species of plants and animals because its an isolated island that was buried under a massive glacier during the last ice age. That seems like a long time ago, until I found that about 10% of the country is still under ice today.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/4901849575/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="The Laugavegur hike Iceland-157 by MacAllenBrothers, on Flickr"><img alt="The Laugavegur hike Iceland-157" height="180" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4901849575_59e4804907_m.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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When I came to Iceland the first time I was intrigued by the landscape, but mostly only saw it through the bus window. One of the many benefits of being with a Colorado girl is that she craves mountains and insists on making time to be in the wilderness. We'd heard of a legendary four-day 53km backpacking trip in the south east. Thanks to the devious machinations of gnomes we only had three days free to do it, which was disappointing until Erin noted that since the sun never sets we could hike all day (uh oh!). The landscape is quite unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Even within the hike itself the views were so unique that every couple hours it looked totally different. Rather than describe it with words, click below for a slideshow of our pictures (or click any picture to get to our Flickr site).<br />
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It was a tough hike, and the weather ranged from sunny and pleasant, to intense hailstorms. Most of the time we were alone, but the route itself is divided by public campsites every 12-16 km apart. Although they offered little but flat spots for a tent and an outhouse, they were a godsend when trudging through occasionally brutal weather late into the daylit night. It was an amazing and rewarding trek.<br />
<div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe border="0" frameborder="0" height="461" scrolling="no" src="http://imapflickr.com/74c7aa" style="border: 0px;" width="418"></iframe></div></div>Although we were disappointed not to have seen any gnomes in Iceland, they did pilfer some of our stuff along the way. They got my camera charger, and a passport... but at least they had the decency to give the latter back. Next time we're in Iceland, I'm going to have to capture one.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-30355855552001768332010-08-05T14:26:00.000+03:002010-08-05T14:26:48.036+03:00An apology! To the handful of you diligent enough to be checking this site regularly with hopes of a brand new post from any one of the countries we've been in 'til now, I'm sorry! The Journey has been spectacular thus far... and ranged from a happy homecoming, UNBELIEVABLE backpacking in Iceland, romantic adventures traipsing around Europe, and an spectacular introduction to Africa.<br />
Unfortunately, what this trip hasn't had (yet) is good or reasonably priced internet. It's either painfully expensive, or terribly slow (and when we're lucky, both!)<br />
Fortunately, that'll hopefully change when we get to Tanzania (in a week!) I've got a lot of pictures and stories to share!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-64141323635607328692010-06-27T21:00:00.019+03:002010-08-12T16:30:12.197+03:00Hopecoming Hijinks<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Kcn2dv4UhBk/TF__avmKsII/AAAAAAAA7Fo/diTvshWigC4/s1600/Erins%20Pictures%20from%20Albany-74.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Kcn2dv4UhBk/TF__avmKsII/AAAAAAAA7Fo/diTvshWigC4/s200/Erins%20Pictures%20from%20Albany-74.JPG" width="200" /></a>This journey started with a visit to a place so unique, so off-the-beaten-path, that most travelers will have never heard of it.</div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Erin and I visited it for several reasons, but one of those was that this place like our future home in Tanzania. It has a pre-British Colonial history that still has an influence on life today. In it's day this relatively small city was the capital of one of the wealthiest empire states the world has ever seen. But even today, it's possible to be attacked by wild animals in the heart of the downtown. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Kcn2dv4UhBk/TF__aju5l2I/AAAAAAAA7Fo/4Qg0NRp80Uw/s1600/Erins%20Pictures%20from%20Albany-79.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Kcn2dv4UhBk/TF__aju5l2I/AAAAAAAA7Fo/4Qg0NRp80Uw/s200/Erins%20Pictures%20from%20Albany-79.JPG" width="150" /></a>The other reason to visit Albany, NY is that it's been the launching point for every trip I've ever made. My folks, and many of my oldest friends still live there. We had a few other rounds of frantic 'Oh my God, this is the <b>last chance to buy___ before moving to Africa</b>' shopping sprees (<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>following similar runs in Colorado, and followed by others in Amsterdam, Paris, and yet another 'last chance' opportunity in the cosmopolitan Cape Town. </i></span>).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">We had a wonderful time, and it was the first chance Erin and I had to breath after our frantic departure from Denver. We went hiking in the Adirondacks, Mom threw us a Bon Voyage party, and Dad took us to a spectacular bridge over the Hudson river. In Colorado they call it a river if you can't jump over it, so its nice to see what a river that nearly a mile across looks like. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Kcn2dv4UhBk/TF__alSr9MI/AAAAAAAA7GQ/t29kAaOsOWk/s1600/IMGP0304.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Kcn2dv4UhBk/TF__alSr9MI/AAAAAAAA7GQ/t29kAaOsOWk/s400/IMGP0304.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">It was great to see so many old friends, and even better to see them doing well. </div><br />
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PS) Getting pictures uploaded and organized from the road is still a challenge. These pictures aren't linked to a broader album yet. I'll fix these, and breath new life into my Flickr account , when I can sit down with a laptop and quicker connection. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-42711909454276139152010-06-20T16:39:00.000+03:002010-08-13T12:49:20.149+03:00Dramatic Departure Demonstrates Devotion<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4741505330_73c815c5b7_m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4741505330_73c815c5b7_m.jpg" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">We always knew leaving Colorado would be hard but we had no idea how hard. A couple months before, when I put in notice at work, we debated whether I should take the last week off. We thought it through, confident in the fact that we were already both better prepared than either of us had been before. We weighed having the time to say goodbye to our home state casually versus the economics that one weeks income in Colorado is roughly comparable to one years rent in Tanzania.</div><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: right;"><div style="text-align: left;">So, it turned out, I made the first spectacularly bad decision of the trip two months before we even left the country.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Somehow life accumulates. When Tyler and I moved to Colorado we both fit everything we owned comfortably in a small minivan but somewhere along the way I picked up enough things to fill up a small mountain kingdom. Erin had even longer to collect things, including a small house that we simply could not fit in either backpack.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Suddenly two months was two weeks and we just barely got someone to agree to rent the house. We both have tons of family and friends in Colorado to say goodbye to, and only one small box tentatively packed. Recognizing our predicament, I did the most logical thing... get into the worst bike accident of my life. My right elbow hurt to even think about picking up anything the same week we had to pack an entire household into storage, which immediately preceded carrying our whole life halfway around the planet, all while scrambling to tie up loose ends from a full time job. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">It was while drowning under this massive sea of stress that we discovered what we will really miss about life in Colorado. While we started wondering if what would happen if we simply missed the flight, our people came out of the woodwork. Neighbors, family and friends stepped up and spent long hours packing, cleaning, moving and keeping us alive. We couldn't possibly have done it without their help. As it was, we weren't able to stop moving for the last week, and even then it came down to packing our backpacks the morning our flight left. If any one of our heros hadn't offered to help, we literally would not have made it. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">It was an awe inspiring display of spontaneous community, and by the time we finally got to breath a sigh of relief on a plane flying out of Denver we were both in tears. Thank you all so much, and you are why we already miss Colorado.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-5637976000633882322010-05-18T08:16:00.001+03:002010-06-18T20:34:26.576+03:00An African Adventure (and Alliterations!)I have always wanted to go into the Peace Corps. And I almost did, twice. <br />
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An ill defined dream of living in a mud hut kept me pushing through to the grueling finish line of an undergrad engineering degree. The idea of development work was why I got interested in building with local materials, renewable energy systems and Buckminster Fuller. That spring, I got my posting... To teach chemistry in Tanzania. It sounded like a magical place, home to Africas tallest mountain and the Serengeti national park. I was excited about the prospect, but a bit disappointed too. After a years of academia, I wanted to go out an build something not stay in school (although on the other side of the desk). I didn't go, there was too much going on at school to leave so I promised myself that I'd wait until I had some skills to share. <br />
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And then, as it does, life took over.<br />
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Over a decade later I'm about to fulfill my promise... in two days Erin and I are leaving our lives in Colorado and moving to Iringa, Tanzania. I'll keep this blog updated with how we get there, and what we find when we arrive so drop by my new virtual home once in a while to say hi!.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-25262597192408358422009-06-19T21:28:00.002+03:002009-06-19T21:32:09.059+03:00... And here we go again!Hi all, I know it's been quiet hereabouts, but I'm back in Latin America and loving it! I've take lots of pictures, and have a lot to say, but will have to wait 'til I'm back and home in a couple weeks. <br /> But until then, just know I'm loving the cigars and classic cars!<br /> ~MicahAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-55394661726755947512009-03-06T07:28:00.002+03:002009-03-06T07:34:31.792+03:00Real power isn't who takes orders, its who does favors.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-54939702213525454592008-12-13T07:40:00.005+03:002008-12-15T03:54:44.108+03:00More than a feeling<a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.truthdig.com/images/eartothegrounduploads/lk_obama_attack5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 237px; height: 173px;" src="http://www.truthdig.com/images/eartothegrounduploads/lk_obama_attack5.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" > <span style="font-size:100%;">There has been <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/09-2">a lot of concern</a>, as of late, about Obamas appointments. For the first 'progressive' president in a generation, he has been appointing staff from across the political spectrum, ranging from Robert Gates, the current Republican Secretary of Defense to stay in office, and rival Hillary Clinton coming in as Secretary of State.<br /><br />Barack Obama kicked off his presidential campaign by writing a book,<a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9780307237699-0"> <u>Audacity of Hope</u></a> about this topic. It was an eloquent, and passionate screed against the ‘smallness of American politics.’ How the government today is so fossilized by partisan disputes today it is crippled. Not only is there a Republican/Democrat divide, but there are the extremes in both parties fighting to assert dominance. Obama burst into the national scene targeting this very topic, in his 2004 convention speech (“<span style="font-style: italic;">There is not a red America, and a blue America. There is the United States of America!</span>”). The thesis of that entire book was that this partisan rancor has to change, and that can only done by meaningfully bridge the gap. In other words, get ‘buy in’ and advisors from across the political spectrum.</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><a style="left: 342.733px ! important; top: 15px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-016831322446122865 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/_fMNIofUw2I&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 342.733px ! important; top: 15px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-016831322446122865 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/_fMNIofUw2I&hl=en&fs=1"></a><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_fMNIofUw2I&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_fMNIofUw2I&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Obama suggested he wanted to change these political litmus tests (talk about audacity!) but knew he needed to win an election in a partisan society, so he ran a campaign dominated by vague phrases so he could be anything to anyone… Change & Hope (as if everyone else was pushing Stagnation & Despair). He’s said himself in his books and speeches, that people perceive him to share their values even if he doesn’t. There is something about his charisma that makes many of us (myself very much included) feel he agrees on everything important without him ever actually saying it. Obama ran on a feeling… and feelings are not legally or politically binding</span>.<br /><br />So, contrary to the Obama that I (and many liberals) <b><i>felt</i></b> was running, the Obama that is starting to assert himself is the one that he <b><i>told</i></b> us he would be. Although he has been against the Iraq war since he ran for the Senate he asked Hillary Clinton, an unapologetic supporter, to run the state department (the office that plans our foreign policy.) Today she can walk into a room and say ‘<span style="font-style: italic;">I, like most of you, supported the war. Now we need to get out.</span>’ It’ll be an opportunity for political redemption for people across the political spectrum, even for those that had the spectacularly bad judgment to get us in the mess in the first place. The main thing that the ‘extreme anti-war liberals’ will have to show from this appointment is an end to a horrible, expensive, bloody never-ending war.<p></p> <p style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);font-size:100%;" > Personally, I think that counts for a lot.</span></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-83100664927032700832008-12-01T04:26:00.003+03:002008-12-01T06:56:43.326+03:00Discovery of an entirely new directionBefore I moved back to Colorado, I never really understood the point of ritual. When I ask my devout Catholic friends 'Why?' their first answer is never about Heaven nor Hell, it is simply 'tradition.' That seemed harmless enough, but also seemed pointless. Why wake up early every Sunday morning to see something that you've seen before, and that you will always be able to see again?<br /><br />Don't get me wrong, as a fan of a multicultural world I've never wished (<a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/">most</a>) human traditions would disappear, I just saw little reason to play a part in them myself. In Japan I joined in an intricate '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tea_ceremony#History">Tea Ceremony</a>,' and found it fascinating and am<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Kcn2dv4UhBk/STNHWJ8b9jI/AAAAAAAADyI/VzmRkuoOHbY/tea%20ceremony.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 297px; height: 200px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Kcn2dv4UhBk/STNHWJ8b9jI/AAAAAAAADyI/VzmRkuoOHbY/tea%20ceremony.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>using. About 800 years ago a man dedicated his long life to 'perfecting' the art of making tea and has been subsequently mimicked by Japanese ever since. It's a long, tedious, detailed process to make cup of gritty tea that could be replicated (more or less) in 20 seconds with a teabag and a microwave. I appreciated it as something cultural that I could attend to get a 'Japan experience' but what could possibly be in it for eight long centuries worth of Japanese who just want something hot to drink?<br /><br />It took me about a decade and a half after that to figure it out, but it's starting to make sense. Every holiday since I moved to Colorado, I've been a part of some unique family rituals. They are loosely based on Native American traditions adapted heavily by my uncle Stephen. One such tradition, that crops up on every major holiday and gathering, is a prayer to the <a href="http://www.mysticfamiliar.com/archive/shamanic_pathways/the_elemental_prayer.htm">six directions</a>. In a nutshell, everyone faces each direction (compass direction + up and down) offering a prayer to what we find there. For example, towards the East we pray to the direction where the sun rises, the great plains, and the possibility of new beginnings... etc. After that we each, in turn, wave <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagebrush">sagebrush</a> smoke over us as a spiritual cleanse.<br /><br />When Tyler and I moved to Colorado we dutifully joined in on these quirky family rituals to try to fit in as the prodigal sons from east, but before long I caught myself craving them. There is something I find incredibly powerful each and every time we do it. Every time I play a part I feel connected in some vital way to me, and the others there, doing the same ritual both into the past and into the future. To an outside observer, or a surly teenager, it is nothing more than an incantation spoken into a suburban backyard. And although that may well be accurate, it misses huge impacts in how it can inexplicably change how each participant sees the universe. The effect, for me, in some way fuels energy, focus and understanding that do alter how I face the world. When on Thanksgiving this year I felt myself connected to Thanksgiving '07, '06 I couldn't help but get an understanding of personal, and community evolution. I can't begin to explain it, but I can no longer deny it.<br /><br />Beyond the personal benefits, rituals like this have a powerful way of connecting people. Although I only started a few years ago, I've been able to watch new people brought into it. Last year I brought my Chinese friend Zhuolun, this year his new wife Katie came too. When people circle up and we start the prayer new people fidget unsure of what they're supposed to do. Somehow, by the end, everyone involved feels a measure closer to the others and that comfort stays with them, long after the ritual is over.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">It doesn't really matter why these rituals have such power. What matters is they have it.</span><br /></div><br />For all the power of continuity, this year the ritual changed. Stephen took inspiration from a Lakota speaker and added a whole new direction. In addition to praying East, South, West, North, Up and Down we now also take a moment to focus Inside. It seems apropos, obvious in retrospect, but it also represents a brand new dimension in my spiritual evolution. Going into a new year, I'm looking forward to finding out what something so simple actually means.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/CuuE7ONXHBi56zokeQee1A?authkey=jGHTR-yJlKY"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Kcn2dv4UhBk/STNdon9JiJI/AAAAAAAADy8/kqIkzWpx6QY/s400/IMG_6113_2.JPG" /></a><br />Happy Thanksgiving!<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-59439044932721132522008-11-25T20:09:00.003+03:002008-11-25T20:20:59.454+03:00Hey buddy, can you spare a dime....... or $5 Trillion, so I can get a hot meal. Thanks!<br /><br />I'd just like to say, kids are great. They have that wide-eyed innocence and naivete about them and they're quick to help out a friend in need (even if they haven't been born yet!) I just wish I had kids, so I could take out credit cards in their names.<br /> <br />Curious what I'm talking about? These bailout bills that keep showing up in the news are staggering in scope and I just found <a href="http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2008/11/big-bailouts-bigger-bucks/">a blog post</a> that puts them into context.<br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">If we add in the Citi bailout, the total cost now exceeds $4.6165 trillion dollars. </span> <p style="font-style: italic;">People have a hard time conceptualizing very large numbers, so let’s give this some context. The current Credit Crisis bailout is now the largest outlay In American history. </p> <p style="font-style: italic;">Crunching the inflation adjusted numbers, we find the bailout has cost more than all of these big budget government expenditures – combined: </p> <p style="font-style: italic;"> • Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion<br />• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion<br />• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion<br />• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion<br />• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion<br />• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)<br />• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion<br />• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion<br />• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion </p> <p><span style="font-style: italic;"> TOTAL: $3.92 trillion </span><br /></p><p>This doesn't mean we necessarily should not do it, leaving the next generation a crumbled economy helps no one. It does mean that we should expect and demand that the bailout should have a massive impact on how humans live on the planet. <br /></p><p>As we sell the next generation of Americans into desperate debt the least we can do is leave them a well running planet. Or, perhaps, we should just continue to funnel resources to the greediest generation of Americans in history, the Baby Boomers.<br /></p></blockquote><p></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9010561.post-89898926172666226252008-10-20T05:55:00.004+03:002008-10-20T08:53:08.970+03:00Awakening from a ComaShocking fans world wide LiveDeliberately awoke today from a coma. In mid 2006, for no apparent reason, this wildly popular blog keeled over in front of friends and family and lost consciousness. Initially, all assumed it was a joke and the blog would soon be up and alliterating. As the days stretched to weeks, then months and years the gaunt frame of this once vibrant blog was only a pale shadow of its former glory. It lost weight, withering into the generic 'blogger' template. Aside from a short bout of delusional ranting in 2007 not a word has been heard from this once mighty internet pulpit. Until this moment.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/j_fN3dLSmseWBBqjZ_khnQ?authkey=m-U1qVwar9g"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/MicahAllen/SPwaYc-SilI/AAAAAAAADuo/LJqGxgAompM/s400/IMG_5405_2.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I just blinked my eyes awake...bewildered by the bright lights of 2008. My last memory was something about a pool table and a dream in 2006, but that seems like a lifetime ago. So, what've I missed? Huh? An Obama is a what? Really? OK, OK, Wise guy. You almost had me believing that America was about to elect him president, until you pushed the joke too far with hints that the 'very experienced' Republicans chose a weathergirl to be VP. Cute. Seriously, who has Clinton chosen as her running mate?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">It turns out, Micah has been a little more active than I have. When we fell silent he had just netted a dream job, and was anxious to plunge into life in Denver. Home was a Koi pond with an adjoining building, and the job was doing energy modelling of buildings at a little consulting firm. It had everything Micah was looking for interesting projects, brilliant colleagues, and meaningful work. It had everything, except passion.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Micah and Tyler moved into a large apartment in the up and coming part of Denver called Five Points, and were soon joined by their lovely cousin Crystal. This trio made the house home, and invited dear friends to use it as an entree into Denver. Peter, Holly, and Raph also started their Denver stories at that mansion on Glenarm.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahmacallen/637685398/" title="2007-06-12 WheatfieldDays 37 of 70 by MacAllenBrothers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1200/637685398_3c83887f0c.jpg" alt="2007-06-12 WheatfieldDays 37 of 70" height="375" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Micahs 'dream job' didn't work out for anyone. Feeling down, because he had found the career he'd been preparing for since the last millenium made him miserable when he did it. Micah chose to to go into the Peace Corps and signed on with a tiny nonprofit called iCAST to pay the bills 'til the plane left... but didn't quite leave. iCAST gave Micah an opportunity to do more of things he hoped, with a lot of luck and hard work, he might do in the Peace Corps. It quickly became the best job he ever had. His coworkers are dear friends, and the projects were dizzying in scope and variety. Micah taught farmers how to make biodiesel, sited wind turbines, tutored students, upgraded homeless shelters, and generally working tirelessly to shrink the gap between fantasy and reality. The world woke up, green turned hip ... and iCAST quintupled in a year and a half.</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DrlfGWSKf179mHUhrbKYtQ"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/MicahAllen/SL7PC3LMRvI/AAAAAAAAAKA/qI3gXzzhsio/s400/IMG_5210.JPG" /></a><br /><br /></div><span style="font-style: italic;">In addition to the deliciously frantic pace during the week this blog was left all alone on weekends too because of the big lumbering giants to the west. In the grey northeast, blue skies can make a compelling argument to drop everything and go outside. In Colorado there are blue skies 300 days a year and Micah still can't resist going out to play in the mountains. Somehow, with good fortune and a tall tale about Herbert Hoover Micah met his muse. Erin is a teacher who has built her life around chasing hope, dreams and passion all over the world.</span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Dywd-qOjP_zdbX6mkAYmbQ?authkey=m-U1qVwar9g"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/MicahAllen/SPwTcxI7UGI/AAAAAAAADtw/bAvP_42kOUA/s288/IMG_5685_2.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Micahs era at iCAST ended with smiles and hopeful handshakes. Today Micah spends his days talking to utilities about how they can make more money by polluting less. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">But this, and the rest of the tale, is a story for another day. The ice has been broken, and once more this blog will share the unfolding saga of the Brothers MacAllen.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12985888534925972386noreply@blogger.com1