Zimbabwe

I don’t know how many of you have been following the current situation in Zimbabwe? But if you have, you might find the following interesting. It’s an excerpt from an email dated 04/20/08 sent to my parents by some good family friends still living in Zimbabwe, (my parents were born and raised in Zim and we still have friends and family living there).
It reads:

“Not a good day for me, we have not had water for 5 days – taking water from the swimming pool to wash ourselves filling the toilets and general cleaning, using the irrigation tank for drinking and cooking – whoever thought it would come to this – We are just fed up with making plans a b and c – the deep freeze looking rather bare too.”
“I am sitting at my machine with unwashed hair with news on, wondering if that Chinese ship will arrive with its deadly cargo.”
“Just to give you a small indication how quickly the prices change – one week ago I bought a cabbage it cost $45 million (Zim Dollars) the one I bought this week cost $66 million (Zim Dollars). One cabbage = US$1.00 does not sound much when you put into US. Every month we put our domestic’s wages up but it is never enough.”

Tony and Avril are part of some of the wealthier residents of Harare (Zimbabwean capital city), and if they are experiencing the above, I can just imagine what the rest of the population, particularly those in rural areas and informal settlements are going through just to get the basics.
My parents left Zimbabwe in 1981 shortly after the nation gained its independence and the current president of 28 years Robert Mugabe came into power. Subsequently they’ve witnessed from across the South African border the slow decline in the nation’s political leadership and the general lack of quality of the lives of it’s citizens. Now, since the country’s elections on 03/29/08 and the resulting situation, they do not hold out much hope for it’s future

My dad recently related to me in an email:

“… I really think that it is such a mess that even if Mugabe is out it will take decades to repair the damage. The western world is not really interested so will not do anything, and SADC (South African Development Community) is useless with Mbeke saying there is no crisis in Zim – the truth is that they are all a bunch of incompetents in politics for self gain and power. So I do not see any real hope for Zim in the future. I read a report in the Cape Times (local newspaper) yesterday of what they thought it would take to recover Zim and it just looks too much of a task for any new leader there, nor do they have the great amounts of money required to rebuild the economy.”

“This all sounds negative, but I just do not think that Zim (has) a positive future and all that I read in the news papers and the commentaries I hear seem to support my feelings.”

In another emailed to my parents dated 04/07/08, Avril said:

“We … are anything but settled. Since the elections I don’t know what to do with myself, I just can’t concentrate on anything every hour on the hour I watch Sky or BBC news for a glimmer of hope, I feel like a robot, one day elated the next day down in the dumps. We love this country and don’t want to live anywhere else, oh well only time will tell.”

Something my Dad mentioned in his email to me really got me thinking: “The western world is not really interested so will not do anything”. That might not be entirely true, but I think the statement has merit. I feel that if a similar situation had taken place in a region of the world were the West had more of a financial interest, the general Western population would know a great deal more about what was going on. It seems so sad to me that basic human rights are being taken away from people in parts of the world that most westerners (or the rest of the world for that matter) have never even heard of, and consequently have never heard of the struggles of it's peoples. Hence the purpose of this post: There are real people like you and me living in parts of the world right now who are enduring the outcomes of incompetent political leaders decisions, or do not have access to clean water, adequate shelter, basic health care, etc. In some instances, there is probably nothing that we personally can do about it except be aware and raise awareness. I have found that sometimes it’s a little unsettling to learn about the horrid situations that people find themselves in due to no fault of their own; but the thought that if I was in that situation I would at least want people to be aware of me, vastly out-weighs those anxieties. Even though most of us do not have personal ties to these areas of the world, I strongly feel that it would be a worthwhile effort to educate ourselves and our families of their plights.

With regards to the state of affairs in Zimbabwe and many other regions of the world, like Avril said, “only time will tell”. Until then, maybe all we can do is take the advice of my Mom:

“That beautiful country has touched our lives in many ways. Let’s unite our thoughts and prayers for the people there.”

Let me know what you think...

P.S. Today is World Malaria Day - check out the link on the top left hand side of this blog.

Gaza-Sderot

Check out the new link in my "links of interest" list. It's a blog hosted by 2 individuals who call themselves "Peace Man" and "Hope Man" who live in the Gaza Strip and Sderot (Israel) respectively. It's an interesting read as it offers a personal insight into the day to day life of those living in the middle of this ongoing conflict.
Let me know what you think.
Also, check out the link to the World Malaria Day campaign. It's definitely a worthwhile cause that's worth looking into and learning a little more about.

Fiasco

Have any of you read, or heard of this book entitled "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq"? It's by Thomas E. Ricks, a reporter for The Washington Post who speaks out against the war.

My mother-in-law, Debi mentioned it in conversation the other day. It was recommended to her by Oregon's Republican Senator, Gordon Smith (Debi co-chaired his Southern Oregon campaign a few years ago). Sen. Smith is a Republican who has taken the unpopular (within his party) stance of opposing the war in Iraq . He told Debi that this book, "Fiasco" helped him form his current opinion on this war.

I started reading it online, but could only get so far. It seems like an interesting read.

Food for Thought

I finished reading "In Defense of Food" as well as another book entitled "Holy Cows and Hog Heaven" by Joel Salatin which also focuses on the benefits of purchasing and consuming whole foods. Salatin is a farmer who has practiced small scale, organic farming for many years and adamantly endorses it and it's benefits on society. I think both Salatin and Pollan have converted me to the idea of buying local, organically produced produce - it's definitely not a hard thing to do here in Southern Oregon. I'm interested to find out from you your thoughts on this - do any of you frequent local farmers markets? If so, why (what are your personal reasons for doing so) and for how long have you been doing it? Do you mind forking out the extra $?
Let me know what you think.

Am I orthorexic?

So... I just finished up the introduction to another Michael Pollan book: In Defense of Food. In it, he briefly describes what he believes to be the downfall and almost extinction of food. He claims that back in the day, our diet (the food we ate) was dictated primarily by culture and tradition. In other words: we ate what our momma gave us - there weren't any nutritional guidelines on the back of the milk cartons she bought from the corner store (there weren't any growth hormone surprises in them either for that matter). He claims that we were healthier back then and reaped not only the biological rewards but also the cultural ones - we enjoyed eating for eating's sake and had a closer connection to our food and the land from which it came. It had been this way for countless generations.
Our contemporary situation, he claims is a world away from this. The "food" we now purchase in the supermarket has been through countless stages of processing, during which it's original state is drastically altered, turning out something that might resemble its original condition, but in actuality is far from it. One of his main points of concern is that during these processes, additional nutrients are added to the edible's make up - the problem being that these additional nutrients are dictated by nutritionists and scientists who's research and findings are flawed and continually changing. Not only that, but food has become a huge industry achieving billions of US dollars for those involved, changing the way that we manufacture (grow, process, distribute) and perceive it: Our food has been industrialized! He aptly names the result of this food mutilation as the "Western diet" stating that wherever this diet migrates, diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and the like are hot on its tale.
Now, this idea that Pollan promotes: the notion of returning to "the good 'ol days" of food, might seem like a highly romanticized one (one that is actually becoming easier and easier to do with the recent push for organic, sustainable local produce). However, he makes a good point by pointing out that the state of our health in the west, when compared to our well being not even a generation ago, is poor - which is kind of funny when you think about the push for "healthy" eating and good nutrition that we westerners have been experiencing over the past couple of decades.
Which brings me to my title question "Am I orthorexic?" Orthorexia: a condition in which people have an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating. What do you think, do we?

Will You Join Me?

Since graduating from College a couple of years ago, I’ve grown to miss the classroom. It provided for me a place of education - a space in which learning and learned minds alike could formulate and verbalize thoughts and ideas. It is to this academic arena that I owe an eternal debt of gratitude. It provided me with an environment in which I was able to develop a great deal of my thought processes and current perspectives on the world. This blog is an attempt to find a similar space, all-be-it a virtual one in which I can share thoughts and ideas about topics ranging from politics, to health, to current news with anyone who is willing to listen and comment.

I am not an expert on anything (just ask my wife), and I don’t claim to be. Consequently there is a very good chance that a number of my postings will contain inaccuracies, and may be in need of some correction – hence you and the intention of this venture! Please feel free to join in on any discussion that takes place here and share your insights into any given topic. The purpose of this blog is not to find an absolute answer to questions raised or thoughts posted, but rather to share viewpoints and ideas in the pursuit of further enlightenment and the development of personal opinions.

I’ve recently started reading a book entitled “A Place of my Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder” in which the author, Michael Pollan yearns for, and constructs a place (a one-roomed “cabin" in the woods behind his home) in which he can view his day-to-day life from an alternate perspective. In this space he is able to concentrate (or not) on reading, writing, daydreaming… essentially learning. My wish is, with the “construction” of this blog to create a Place of OUR Own in which we can aspire to similar ideals. What do you say… are you with me?

PS – Michael Pollan seems to have some worthwhile books out there dealing with the current state of food in the US. I’ve put a couple of them on hold at our local library. Anyone heard of him before or read any of his stuff? He also has some really interesting articles on his website.