Christina (2984)
Subsections
Actions
- Delete
- Edit
- Reply
90DAYS - Blasting bananas to pieces with Kirabo the Gift Mom
Posted to: Christina (2984) by Christina (2984), Sun, 11 Sep 2005 16:14:06 PDT
Edited: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 01:36:15 PDT
Feedback score: 71 (* * * * * * * * * *)
Comments: 145 by 26 members
Viewed: 5600 times by 138 members
More Adventures on the Piecetrain!
WATCH THIS!! click >>here<<
Today I cleaned up baby vomit and diarrhea several times, cooked beans and franks for supper, and went out in the open online with a wacky business plan for profitably manufacturing comsumable peace that I've been dreaming up with some friends.
I am American. My kids are half Dutch. I live in Uganda, East Africa.
I build peace for a living. Or at least... I'm trying to.
I promised myself several days ago that today, 11 September 2005, would be the day I start writing a new adventure series. Then the baby got sick, so I guess this is it.
I think this writing might be about the new project I've started with this announcement today: http://www.omidyar.net/group/foodchain/news/54/ Then again, it might be the blog of a smart & sassy 40-country adventure mom who's got an insight or two to share about the state of our world today. It might be both, or neither of those. Maybe it will become a political party movement. Kirabo the Gift Mom for President!
Quite truthfully, I'm just writing this for myself. But hey, if it speaks to you in some way, feel free to let a friend know. (I am blatantly trying to get the word out about what's going on in Uganda, and could use all the help you can muster to get folks to know about the link above.)
I've decided the best place to start my new adventure series is with some general observations about my recent trip to North America. I returned 10 days ago from spending 6 long and busy weeks there, after 3 years of being away. Every time I go back, there are always themes in the changes I observe, but I'd been away for quite a long time this time. WOW - what a crazy place America has become.
1
I've seen two burning bushes!
I wonder what Moses would make of it all.
Burning Bush 1 - I was amazed at how much marijuana consumption I witnessed during this trip - there were discussions about it in public places, friends who openly imbibed or declined in party settings, people growing their own, stories of families lighting up with the teen-aged kids after dinner. Now I'm not talking about scum of the earth people. I'm talking about professional people; educated, productive members of society who have chosen marijuana as their vice of choice. Middle class educated (white) people are quietly just doing this illegal thing.
And since marijuana is illegal, we give crime gangs control of the marijuana market. I don't know about you, but I've never seen marijuana provoke the kind of violence that alcohol does, and that's available in family restaurants. So why not just stick a luxury consumption tax on it and earn more money to fight other gang-related crimes?
In Holland, they've effectively taken marijuana out of the crime scene. They've contained it above ground, in places where the police know it is licensed to be bought and sold. And if we took the people on marijuana charges out of the prisons, could that help reduce the prison overcrowding problem?
I really don't know. Just thinkin'.
What I do know is that America needs to get serious with itself about the American based crime world. While race-based gang violence has been marginalized as a national issue, US gangs have built national and international networks and power structures that are very similar in operation to terrorist networks abroad. If America starts getting smart about understanding terrorists at home, then maybe we've got a shot at making some sense in a global war on terrorism. We are obsessed with crime shows on TV, but then we go out onto the city streets with our eyes closed to it. Or have we become numbed into believing that what is on TV is what real is supposed to be like?
Hmm... You think that's because of the marijuana?
Burning Bush 2 - Meanwhile, there's the W guy. You know, the one who's first reaction when disaster strikes is to just stand there and burn. Watching all those Dukes of Hazzard re-runs in his younger days must have shaped his worldview into thinking that action just magically happens, like on TV. They say Marijuana does that to people too.
For me, the Katrina debacle is yet another confirmation of a theme my husband and I discussed several times during our trip. It seems to us that many Americans really believe - or are trying to convince themselves to believe - that the American way of life is better than life in other parts of the world. That everyone wishes they could be Americans. That the American way of life is worth protecting, and we need to be afraid of all the others out there who want what we've got.
That's just not it.
There's lots of great stuff out there in the world that is way better than what we've got in America. Our media is doing a lot these days to make us terrified of everything foreign. All you hear about is the disasters. Well, as we now know, there are disasters everywhere - even in America. But there are lots of good things too, that Americans simply don't know about.
The sad thing is, while the media spends hours reporting on what Nicole Ritchie's dog is wearing, the world is developing independently of America, and passing America by. American families are missing out on the best the world has to offer by sticking their heads in the sand and obeying Government orders to be afraid.
Poor George has all this power and doesn't know what to do with it. And like my own family in the USA, the Bushes seem to have high levels of what I call the drama gene. The current George and his government are certainly good at creating drama. It's just that the slapstick superhero genre is getting a little old. Self-inflicted destruction of a nation is something you can only watch a couple of times before it starts getting tired.
And what a shame to lose the America that once was. I can look back and be glad that I experienced America in more glorious days, before so much started sliding downhill. I've been mostly living abroad since the mid-80s, and even though I wanted to leave, I can honestly say those were good days in America. It's very sad to see my country falling apart, both abroad and at home. As the Katrina debacle unfolded to a shocked global audience in airports on the way back to Uganda from America, I watched my memories going up in flames, around the second vision that looked to me very much like a burning bush.
Since returning to Uganda and settling back into my work as a peacebuilder, I feel this incredible need to want to start setting things in stone, and get moving. I think Moses might have clicked with me in this. And after thinking long and hard about the burning bushes and what they might mean, a Piece Path is the best idea I've come up with.
To be continued... The baby just puked again.
Comments page 1
topBy Christina (2984), Mon, 12 Sep 2005 12:31:59 PDT
Edited: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 07:36:44 PDT
Comment feedback score: 2 (* *)
Going to try to do this daily, I think. At least for these next 89 days.
2
The Drama Gene
I've been given many gifts in my lifetime of globe trotting. One of the gifts I love the most is my African name, Kirabo. In the Luganda language, it means Gift. If you say it outloud, it sounds like "Cheer-a-boo." It was bestowed upon me by some loving friends. One of them who is still very dear to me has asked that I use it in my online interactions.
So, my names are Tina Christina Lee Kirabo Jordan Haitsma, but you can call me Kirabo the Gift Mom.
I was about to talk about the Piece Path, when the baby got sick again last night. I've got two kids down with stomach flu right now - this is one of those times when having the luxury of household help is a really good thing. (Bile is only beautiful if you don't have to clean it up.)
Of course today was to be the day I started actively making mountains move. All I really managed to do was decide on a stage name. Though to be fair on myself, that's not really true. I did put a call in to my friend Zachariah in Gulu, who promised to send me phone numbers of the 3 people I need to get in touch with in Gulu to get the Piece Path started.
I also set the wheels in motion for my next big job after this one - the International School's having a family fun festival for fundraising & charity in February. We talked tonight at the PTA about maybe doing a Mardis Gras theme and connecting with New Orleans. Since I already promised to organize it - and I've already started thinking about ways to connect our Gulu activities with the Katrina victims - I couldn't be more thrilled.
I touched base with my friend Do-Good Dudley. He was the one who came up with the piece prints idea. Setting the footprints in stone, with the child's name. Dated, numbered and recorded as standing for peace. Four roads reaching out from the first stones we lay together at the Center in Gulu. Paths of stones reaching out across rebel territory - one connecting with our Center in Kampala.
What did the abducted child soldiers do when they saw a path of piece prints?
Hopefully, they followed it home.
I think it's worth a try.
I don't know if we should use handprints as well. I'll talk to Dudley about it tomorrow. His idea is to get Ugandan companies stamping their brand on the piece prints from Gulu to Kampala to fuel our construction budget. He also suggested a peace flame inside a peace circle, inside a secured area that includes the WE Center community grounds - computer lab, perhaps accomodation for those who need it, art & craft production and vocational training space... maybe even athletic facilities.
It's nice to find someone who dreams as big about peace as I do. It gives me hope that my natural tendency toward drama (inherited honestly - another gift from both sides of my family) will become useful soon.
I dream of it all as the greatest show on Earth... hopefully one that not all of America will miss.
and sleep is calling - I just remembered that one of the other mountains I moved today was $200 worth of groceries!
By Evonne Heyning (CCAL30) (2442), Mon, 12 Sep 2005 17:20:36 PDT
Comment feedback score: 1 (*)
Christina, you are amazing.....with all of the things you juggle now to take on such ambitious work as the PAR factory.....astonishing!
Thank you for this global perspective on life as an American out in the world. Our programming is indeed isolationist and tragically short-sided, but getting global programming on the air in Hollywood isn't easy. When I was writing a travel show on Kenya for TV last year our international partners were drooling over it while American buyers had no interest in putting Africa on TV. There's a widely held belief here that the rest of the world is not important enough to be worried with beyond the horror show we call the evening news.
By Jean Russell (CCAL30) (3614), Tue, 13 Sep 2005 06:58:56 PDT
Comment feedback score: 1 (*)
I love the visual of "stones" with footprints. Such a visual monument to peace. Rather than the Great Wall of China which commemorates war (since it was built to protect/fight), this is a path of peace. You go girl! The way that entrenches loving values really rocks. ;-)
By Christina (2984), Tue, 13 Sep 2005 13:53:12 PDT
Edited: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 08:15:40 PDT
Comment feedback score: 0
3
Spontaneous Combustion
It feels very much as though the juggling gets easier as people with other pieces converge. What a strange sensation to be on the same plane of thought with people I admire, and find brainstorming move forward into next steps and action plans, with an almost uncanny ease.
Today was another such day as the wheels for Peace Tiles workshops to fund the start up of Piece Prints got rolling. I spoke with the 2 centers on my list in Gulu - both were delighted with the concept. Had lunch with Do-Good Dudley, his very switched on wife, and a mutual lawyer friend of ours to discuss the kind of structures and vocabulary we need to think about using as we move forward with the financing concept. In the afternoon, it was coffee with a photo-journalist with a school fees initiative who wants to do more in the North to help particularly bright children - we made our plan.
Things are supposed to be happening this way, I think... our new Wall of China that sets peace in stone would have to come together as if under a kind of magical spell. Isn't that our global plot?
I spoke to the craftmakers about my Uganda Bling-O idea - they were really excited and are all bringing in a variety of things they have made tomorrow so we can see what we've got to work with. We're also having a Peace Tiles party tomorrow morning to create a frame-like border of Life in Africa member tiles around the mural that Omidyar.net members made for us in chicago. The WE Center is busy these days. There is an excitement in the air.
It's rare that praise means much to me, but I am particularly touched by something that a Life in Africa member recently wrote. I had asked him to write about his recent decision to leave his paid job to work full time at LiA, and he has posted it here at Onet. Meet my good friend Kiwanuka: http://www.omidyar.net/user/u245097404/news/0/
Before I sign off, I'd also like folks to know about my good friend Rose. She was evacuated from New Orleans and has lost a lot. She's been writing about the experience of the displaced in a touching set of letters you want to read here: http://www.omidyar.net/user/u692748938/news/12/
And the world keeps turning...
By Jean Russell (CCAL30) (3614), Tue, 13 Sep 2005 14:25:33 PDT
Comment feedback score: 1 (*)
In NLP coaching we talk about flow--where you are exercising your ability at your edge (to be challenged but not so much that it overwhelms). You seem to be flowing.
Also, we talk about alignment. When your state of mind, intent, goals, and where you place your intention are in synch, things manifest around you with great ease. Looks like you must be aligned, and even perhaps those around you are too. When that happens the "impossible" becomes the inevitable. ;-)
Keep sharing!!!
By Evonne Heyning (CCAL30) (2442), Tue, 13 Sep 2005 16:08:06 PDT
Comment feedback score: 1 (*)
Christina, remind me to show you the documentary for the Wall of Hope, the huge 9/11 tile memorial we built in Providence in 2002....somehow we should videoshare soon! My students made a documentary of the construction for our video production class at the library and it's a great tribute to tilebuilding as community-building.
Wall of Hope was a huge endeavor with donated supplies, architects, granite, materials, corporate sponsorships and thousands of artists coming together over a six month period to build a large public artspace memorial. If they had tried to pay for everything it would've cost millions but instead almost everything was donated by the community!
By Christina (2984), Wed, 14 Sep 2005 15:14:13 PDT
Edited: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 00:22:36 PDT
Comment feedback score: 1 (*)
4
The long age of our language
It occurs to me that as we global citizens converge and merge from the global spectrum of backgrounds and realities, the language that we use to convey concepts that are important to us becomes relevant. The words we choose will speak to some and not to others, but often there is more than one set of words that can be used to describe the same thing. So the content of what we're describing gets judged one way or another depending on who the audience is vis-a-vis the chosen set of terms used.
Anyone have a clue what any of that means?
Another way to think about it is Do-Good Dudley's idea of building a wall of Piece Prints + the road to Kampala with the first sets of piece prints. Once the wall is finished, we can start paths into the bush... to Lira, Kitgum, Sudan...
What did the abducted child soldier do when she saw a path of piece prints?
Hopefully, she followed it home.
Not a memorial to tragedy and destruction, but an evolving memorial to the value of safety, and planning for the future. A wall of hope for the living... those who stood for peace, and then helped build the path for others to follow. Africa's road to peace built by children in pieces.
The goodness grows.
The language becomes simpler.
By nmw (1876), Wed, 14 Sep 2005 17:01:31 PDT
Comment feedback score: 1 (*)
Christina (Kirabo the Gift Mom) Jordan said:
4
Anyone have a clue what any of that means?
By Christina (2984), Thu, 15 Sep 2005 03:24:33 PDT
Edited: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 07:40:58 PDT
Comment feedback score: 0
Gottlob Frege- The distinction between reference and sense was expanded, primarily in "Über Sinn und Bedeutung" as holding not only for mathematical expressions, but for all linguistic expressions (whether the language in question is natural language or a formal language).
One of his primary examples therein involves the expressions "the morning star" and "the evening star." Both of these expressions refer to the planet Venus, yet they obviously denote Venus in virtue of different properties that it has. Thus, Frege claims that these two expressions have the same reference but different senses.
5
The gift of the Gemini: a breakfast fruit
Well, we're 5 minutes/days/months/thought cycles into this journey. 2 burning bushes and a feminine star with a dual identity. I don't know about you but I could use some breakfast!
That's what the Piece Path plan is
No. See these piece prints are concrete - they're heavy enough. We don't need some big heavy and structured project. Just a light bite to eat - a pick me up. A something that tastes good, not too filling, but that will give us a little fuel for the journey.
That's what the Piece Path plan is
But. We don't have time for complicated plans right now. I don't even want to sit down. Let's just grab something we can eat along the way.
That's what the Piece Path plan is
Bananas or something.
That's what the Piece Path plan is
<Sigh>
That's what the Piece Path plan is. Bananas.
The Piece Path is Bananas?
Yes.
Real bananas that we can eat?
No. Virtual bananas that feed you. You remember. I tried to tell you about it years ago, here: http://click4africa.com/3/bananas/
Is that what we're doing here? Planting a banana tree?
Is that why I feel compelled to evolve simultaneously, and in a certain ambiotic symmetry at my roots tubing out for soul-level nourishment in these pages, and in the leaves that I sense unfurling elsewhere? What a neat metaphor.
Hmmm... The fruit of a banana tree is a cluster of fruits on a single stem, from a single flowering process. Easily sharable among many hungry people. Grows well in warm & humid climates. That's good. We will be able to plant and feed many. Much more practical than an apple.
The world's army of peace-workers are hungry. Some are leaving the troops, to find food.
So we offer them bananas?
That's what the Piece Path plan is
They won't get it. Virtual bananas?
You don't have to call it that, but that's what the Piece Path plan is
<Sigh>
An invitation to breakfast
Attention all peacebuilders, social entrepreneurs, angel investors and corporate executives who pursue a personal peace-building bottom line - Please join us in a potluck breakfast of champions with hostess Kirabo the Gift Mom in Uganda. Entrance is free for the next 90 days. Register the fruits you have to share at our Ugandan breakfast table, and get bananas when you leave to help fuel your continued journey. NOTE: Nobody gets bananas until the first 1,000 guests arrive. This invitation remains open to all interested parties until 10 December 2005.
That's what the Piece Path plan is
Really. Really?
In a manner of speaking
I don't think they'll get it.
Somebody will
So you want me to try this approach?
<Sigh>. You just did
<Sigh> I think you're bipolar or something.
Exactly - isn't that where this piece started?
By Cynthia Gentry (CCAL30) (1914), Thu, 15 Sep 2005 06:39:36 PDT
Comment feedback score: 1 (*)
Girl, what's in those bananas you're eating?
:-)
Jean, love the reminder of NLP.
By Christina (2984), Thu, 15 Sep 2005 07:29:18 PDT
Edited: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 07:31:05 PDT
Comment feedback score: 0
Angel dust - you want some?
;-)
By Jean Russell (CCAL30) (3614), Thu, 15 Sep 2005 09:00:58 PDT
Comment feedback score: 0
They might not only get it, they might go bananas for it!
My son brought home this song from school:
- Go, go, go-go bananas.
- Peel it down the left
- Peel it down the right
- Peel it down the middle
- and take a bite
- Go, go, go-go bananas.
Quite energizing, really.
By Christina (2984), Fri, 16 Sep 2005 04:17:50 PDT
Edited: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 15:08:20 PDT
Comment feedback score: 2 (* *)
6
Kirabo's Mom Gifts
Unbelievable.
I just spent 2 amazing hours writing the business plan. I was really making progress and thought, "Hey, I'd better save this." Somehow, I lost it in the saving process. I have searched the computer for what I thought I had named it [businessplan.txt]. Nothing.
It's gone.
Let go of it, and it will come back to you. Don't let self-inflicted concepts of time and form drag you down.
Of course, my "To Do" list managed to save. Write the business plan down was the item on it I was supposed to be crossing off. So it's still there, along with everything I didn't get done while I was doing that. Now there just isn't time left today.
Float like a jellyfish. That's what Mom always says. Just relax and ride the waves of life.
I promised Lucas that we would experiment making stepping stones today, like the ones we learned to make at his new Aunt Riley's and Uncle Mikes house in Santa Cruz last month. It was Lucas who connected the idea with doing something for Northern Uganda.
My friend Do-Good Dudley later introduced a dramatic simplification - instead of making collage art in cement, the Ugandan children would put their footprints in cement. Voila. there's the origin of the Piece Path idea in a nutshell.
Tonight Lucas and a friend he's invited over, plus Thomas and our housekeeper Zarina's 2 boys will be making stepping stones for the garden like my new sister-in-law artist Riley does them. The boys plan to collect bottle tops and other small items of local trash to mount in mortar. After school today we'll drive over to Life in Africa. It's located in a more polluted neighborhood than the one we live in, so I've promised they can take a walk around together there to collect their materials.
As of this morning, I think they were still hoping to have an adult escort... We'll see how they feel about it when they reach home on the bus this afternoon. Cub Scouts is cancelled, so that means I also have time to take them shopping with me to pick up the supplies.
The business plan is still inside your head. You haven't lost anything but time. And in truth, it was useful time because you now know how to organize your thoughts when you write it down again. You didn't know that when you started. You have moved forward as far as you were meant to.
I've never mixed mortar, so I'm hoping that won't mess us up in any way. I think I can buy that at a small shop in Ntinda, near the Life in Africa Office. I also need to buy the molds - I know they have some rounds for under large plant pots at the Uchumi supermarket at the shopping mall. Those should work. We'll need at least 6. I'll get 7 just in case, and I also think I can get a bucket for mixing the mortar there.
You see! You were already trying to write the Piece Path business plan without actually doing this yet. And next time, don't use notepad.
Oh my goodness, of course! I should experiment doing footprints too. Hmmm... maybe I'll just get my own kids' footprints for now. That's already 4. That's enough to get the information I need, and the other kids won't mind. OK, so that's 11 molds - might as well get a dozen. Maybe we can find some in different shapes.
Mark Grimes doesn't do business plans. You should do one if you think it will help, but certainly don't stress about it. Writing it down as such is only one form in which people will see it and understand it. They will also get it through what you and others do.
This will be fun. My mom introduced us to Special Projects when I was a kid. Every year for years we did a project at Christmas time to make Christmas Decorations that we would give away as gifts to all our relatives. We always kept enough to put on our own tree - enough for each of us to take some later on, for our Christmas trees in our own homes. Sadly, our garage was burgled one summer when I was about 15. We figured by what was stolen that it was kids. One of the things they took was a fake Christmas tree. They also stole our family made decorations.
As a grandma, my mom likes to orchestrate special projects with my kids and my sister's kids for no reason at all. Paper plates, cotton balls, colored macaroni, glitter and glue, strange bits & buttons, ribbons & bows... these are the kinds of things Mom recommended I put in the 2 "Special Project Boxes" that we established in my home after she'd got my kids hooked on making simple crafts just for fun. They really love it.
The Gulu kids love it too. That's why you're writing a business plan to make Peace Tiles and Piece Prints with kids in Gulu.
I've always believed and experienced that an experience is the best gift you can offer to a child. The experience of playing sports, the experience of creating art, the experience of playing music are all experiences that give children tools for understanding who they are, and what they've got inside that they can always count on.
What did the abducted child soldier do when he saw a path of piece prints?
Hopefully, he followed it home.
It saddens me to hear recently that art, music and sports programs are now being cut from schools in California, where I grew up. This is part of the reason, however, that I believe there is a global market for delivering the "experiential" peace-building products that the business plan I was writing is about.
Darn it. I can't believe I lost that document.
Let it go. Float like a jellyfish.
Pay attention to what the kids discover on their stepping stone journey.
I think I'll have a banana.
By Christina (2984), Fri, 16 Sep 2005 04:26:06 PDT
Comment feedback score: 0
Does it carry the tune of another kids song we know, Jean?
- Go, go, go-go bananas.
- Peel it down the left
- Peel it down the right
- Peel it down the middle
- and take a bite
- Go, go, go-go bananas.
By Jean Russell (CCAL30) (3614), Fri, 16 Sep 2005 06:29:40 PDT
Comment feedback score: 0
No, I don't think so. It is pretty simple. If you say it to a quick rhythm (double speed on the last go-go) you probably came pretty close (hardly a song, huh?). It has a dance with it. The go-go part is silly whatever squirming they want. Peel it down the left is moving the left arm in a wide swinging arch like it is being peeled. Then same with right, and then both arms in front. Lean over and pretend to take a LARGE bite. Then free squirming again. :-)
Did you check your temp files? Somehow I don't think the written plan was lost, just landed somewhere else.
A good idea deserves to be followed.
By Monica Nankoma (CCAL30) (456), Fri, 16 Sep 2005 22:01:40 PDT
Edited: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 00:45:05 PDT
Comment feedback score: 1 (*)
Sure you have to get some bananas not only one!
Monica
Kirabo the Gift Mom said:
I think I'll have a banana.
[Edited by group owner: Christina (Kirabo the Gift Mom) Jordan on 17 Sep 2005 00:45 PDT: (deleted the repeat of all #6 text here)]
By Christina (2984), Sat, 17 Sep 2005 14:58:31 PDT
Edited: Thu, 22 Sep 2005 13:57:51 PDT
Comment feedback score: 5 (* * * * *)
7
Break & recreate
Today I rested... played with the kids and worked a little on the business plan document I was able to recover when turning my computer off yesterday :) I still got it!
Enjoy the pix.
The first Piece Path Party!
Piece Path Producers Present: Zarina, Fahim, Rahim, Thomas, Lucas, Andrew (an overnight guest), Christina
14 year old Fahim mixes mortar
We got the plastic whales as the measuring scoop inside an eco-friendly detergent we used to be able to buy here in Kampala. Now I know why I saved them all these years! Other supplies included colored glass shards from some old decorative bottles I didn't really need, pieces of a broken mirror, bottletops and metal buttons that used to decorate a picture frame my sister made me, and extra coins from around the world. The kids especially loved putting their old marbles and small plastic toys in the goo.
Zarina has family in Mombassa. She's attracted to the shell collection.
Look closely - it's the sea of life
1.5 hours of fun, done. Now 24 hours to set.
8 year old Lucas in the first try at a set of Piece Prints!
By Christina (2984), Sun, 18 Sep 2005 11:03:20 PDT
Edited: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 11:05:50 PDT
Comment feedback score: 7 (* * * * * * *)
8
To infinity and beyond
Kirabo's Local/Global Piece Plan - on day 8 of making mountains move
A. What/who is currently in place?
- Northern Uganda’s Pieces
- Gusco – Peace tiles workshop 2 Oct
- Noah’s Ark – Peace tiles workshop 1 Oct
- Charity for Peace – Zachariah Otto
- The Kids League – Trevor Dudley
- Kampala’s Pieces
- Legal stuff – Peter Mulira
- Life in Africa – LiA Members
- The Kids League – Anne Dudley
- Outside the Dream – Stephen Shames
- Onet Community Pieces
- i4c/LiA Onet Guides – Monica Nankoma/ need Onet Member
- Home-based Piece Builders – Kiwanuka Mulindwa / Need Onet Member
- Local/Global correspondents – Grace Ayaa / Rhiannon Talbot
- Product/program collaborators – Stephen Shames / Monica Nankoma
- Global Pieces
- Banana Blast – Christina Jordan/Rhiannon Talbot
- Ned/TMFI Investors – Mark Grimes/Christina Jordan
- Corporate Sponsors – Rhiannon Talbot/Trevor Dudley
- Invisible Children Movement – Ben Thomson/Biola Boys/Sam Neylan/Cynthia Gentry
B. What's the current plan?
- Gusco child soldiers make peace tiles
- Child soldiers auction peace tiles to start up piece prints production
- Corporate sponsors brand the Piece Prints to employ former abductees building a secure community center wall & a road to Kampala from Piece Prints
- The Kids League children get their piece prints done – 1 team at a time
- Life in Africa records each Piece Printed child and the names of 4 family members
- Internet4Change documents and connects family talents and assets with opportunities
- Life in Africa provides training & marketing in arts & craft production
- Invisible Children provides craft piece-work employment and school fees
- Ned/TMFI Provides community microfinance
- Outside the Dream provides support to families with bright kids/ siblings
- The Kids League builds local/international ties & tourism through sports
- Noah’s Ark, Charity for Peace, Gusco build global ties & goodwill through Peace Tiles
- Omidyar Network provides free collaboration tools
- Onet guides assist i4c in bringing Ugandans online
- Onet community members invited to co-develop, monitor & evaluate products & programs
- Omidyar.net members make & sell peace tiles & piece prints in their communities
- Lather, rinse, repeat
- Everyone involved earns bananas in a 90 day Banana Blast
C. What Needs to be done next?
[Oops! - I hit the save button before I got this done. Will edit this list in shortly.]
Here we go:
- Decide on a name for the Campaign/Centers:
- PAR Factory (Peace Athletics & Reconciliation)
- African PR Factory (Peace & Reconciliation is our bottom line)
- African Piece Factory
- African Piece Plant
- Piece Training & Recreation Center
2. Mobilize an army of local/global correspondents Seeking 90 day Adventure Bloggers – 40 youths between 18-25 to spend at least 1 month in Northern Uganda as part of the Piece Path’s family assessment & documentation team; another 2 months organizing parallel Piece Path building activities & events at home.
- Invisible children mailing list responses – Christina/Ben
- Letter to New Internationalist - Rhiannon
- Post to Gap Year Internet Board - Riannon
- Get more ideas for mobilizing youth
3. Develop a family assessment questionnaire Grace & Rhiannon to begin interviews in Acholi quarter on Monday for expanding bracelet production by 5 women & 5 men. Interviews to probe in the following areas, to begin matching with Life in Africa opportunities:
- peace-building passion (incl. desire to return North)
- artistic/craftmaking talent
- exceptional children
- plans and dreams
Questionaire to be developed and fine-tuned for trial October 3-7 with families of 1 Kids League Team in Gulu
4. Get help installing software for interviewee profiles Profile software needs to be configured according to the information collected through the questionnaire
- Develop Information & Reward Strategies for getting other parties onboard
- Onet community members (Food Chain Workspace)
- Family and Friends
- Corporate Sponsors
- Humanitarian Organizations
- Financial investors
- Create training space for i4c Agents at Onet
- Create workspaces in the Internet4Change group
- Mobilize volunteer Onet guides
- Begin creating member profiles
- Develop LiA watchlist (& update content)
- Develop marketing materials
- Flesh out banana blast campaign concept
- Create places for people to express interest
- Continue developing Bling-O game concept
- Send out Echoes of Africa
By Monica Nankoma (CCAL30) (456), Sun, 18 Sep 2005 13:29:16 PDT
Comment feedback score: 0
That's great! Before I saw the time you guys took to do it, I was already thinking it took you a full day. It looks beautiful, it's a real sea of life!
Very Creative,
Monica
By Kiwanuka Mulindwa (CCAL30) (578), Tue, 20 Sep 2005 10:08:39 PDT
Comment feedback score: 1 (*)
Christina, the way you have brought out this plan shows the
best picture of our commitment to achieving all the
humanity aims that Life in Africa and O-net enshrine. You
have really exemplified the PEACE PATHS in the best way
for everyone to get on board. I cannot wait to see this
take off !
By Christina (2984), Tue, 20 Sep 2005 16:11:44 PDT
Edited: Tue, 20 Sep 2005 16:28:23 PDT
Comment feedback score: 1 (*)
10
The Kismet Comet
Skipped day 9 to work on design...
http://www.omidyar.net/group/i4c/ws/piecetrain_journeys/
With that page, I'm trying to put a structure together that can collect and channel an outpouring of voices. Now I just hope the LiA members and others will actually speak! My lovely new "apprentice" Rhiannon got off to a fantastic start today with a piece about the Acholi Quarter - she's spent the past 2 days there with another Life in Africa member, looking for bracelet makers. Her description of the place is well worth the read here: http://www.omidyar.net/user/u566286243/news/0/
The kismet comet won't leave me alone - met someone from Uganda this afternoon here at Onet who I didn't know. He's with an Internet service provider that's getting the Internet to hard to reach areas. We have a meeting set up for tomorrow morning...
Amazing how people all over the world are talking about accelerating change and how time is speeding up. I love how I actually have time on my hands to spend with my kids and write about my passions, and that I can do all of that in the name of building peace in a larger sense. Large and yet so simple. Simple, and therefore so quick. Time condenses with meaning, and the kind of change I want to see appears to accelerate.
The people that Rhiannon and Grace will interview in the Acholi quarter have no idea that they are connected already now, to you, through the words that we write here. They don't know that anyone is waiting for their story to be told. But you do, so there's a push and a pull now that can make things happen just about at the blink of an eye. Today we get their stories, so that tomorrow we give some jobs & ideas for opportunities, so that on the next day we are financing some better housing.
Learn, rinse, repeat in Gulu.
Grace and Ben's plan to expand production into the Acholi quarter is giving us a perfect opportunity to test a few things out.
The kismet comet strikes again.
I love this life!
By Jean Russell (CCAL30) (3614), Tue, 20 Sep 2005 18:06:35 PDT
Comment feedback score: 0
Keep 'er comin' girl! pt to you for attitude and love!
By Christina (2984), Wed, 21 Sep 2005 15:29:30 PDT
Edited: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 15:32:27 PDT
Comment feedback score: 0
11
Getting the mix right
So far, one of my favorite parts of the Peace Tiles process is arranging them next to each other in an order that flows.
More pictures of today's Life in Africa Peace tiles Party (to complete the mural the Onet members started at the Chicago conference) here: http://www.omidyar.net/group/peacetiles/news/18/1/
I'm afraid I didn't have as much luck with the stepping stones. I think the mortar was too wet. They took a really long time to dry and then many of the larger ones broke as I was removing them from the molds. I still have two I haven't been able to remove :( (note to self - write to new sis-in-law Riley and ask for advice!)
I am really excited about the mix of voices getting ready to speak about lives and life in Africa... spoke to many of the WE Center members today who agreed to write something (or add something new) for their piecetrain blogs here on Onet by the end of this week. Rhiannon is not only a dedicated (and very committed) apprentice but a wonderfully gifted writer. Her recent experiences interviewing women in the Acholi quarter has her pumping out some powerfully descriptive reports over here.
When the other folks at Life in Africa start writing more, I guess I kind of imagine it to sound like a song - dramatic, compassionate, comforting. Hopefully harmonious... perhaps it's all just about getting the mix right, so it can be balanced to grow in strength and pitch, without falling offkey. What I hope for, equally as much as I hope that the LiA members will speak, is that people will hear them and engage with them so that they feel they are connecting.
I've decided on a new tagline for Internet4Change: Online Integration Services. That pretty much sums up the mix of services I'm developing with our members now. Once I figure out what I'm doing, I'll teach Monica, then she'll teach the others (LiA members call her their teacher). Perhaps someday the other Monica will be teaching others as well....
Had an exciting meeting this morning with a local Internet Service Provider called Bushnet. I'd heard of them but had no idea what all they are involved with. They have technology developed and available right now that would give each of our internet4change agents handheld browsers with keypads to take with them when visiting families in Northern Uganda. They are going to be away for a few weeks, but were very excited this morning to learn about what I'm working on. Somehow, it seems to me they will become involved.
And so I'm left with the financing plan - the big banana to beat down into the smallest, simplest format possible so that people (including myself) can finally get it. Once and for all. No mix-ups. And once again, it's all about getting the mix right, isn't it? Arranging the pieces side by side so that they flow. Injecting living substance to the right culture so that it takes hold and grows.
I know my ability to get the banana mix right is in my mental mix somewhere. I've seen it so many times and then lost sight of it again. I'll be sure to let y'all know when I find it. I'm not too frustrated about it - all things considered. I think I am actually enjoying the process! And, I have faith that I'm getting closer...
By Cynthia Gentry (CCAL30) (1914), Mon, 12 Sep 2005 07:22:21 PDT
Comment feedback score: 1 (*)
These words take my breath away. I feel that over the past 6 years we've been fiddling while our country burned down around us. We are so ego-centric to think that our way is the only way. And we do. Anyone who doesn't want what we want is weird, deserving of contempt. And God forbid we should offer our patronizing help and it be turned away! Where has our compassion and spirit gone? I think it is gone at the top... restoring it must be a bottom-up affair.