Cooper, Nike, and Africa

This past weekend my family and I vacationed to the Oregon Coasts and went to a Nike outlet store. Cooper found himself some Air Jordan basketball shoes. Then on our way to check out, he noticed the Lace Up and Save Lives campaign designed to fight AIDS in Africa. You buy red shoelaces and all the proceeds go to to The Global Fund. A lot of football players are getting involved. As we were driving home, Cooper said, "wouldn't it be cool if I could get everyone in my school to purchase these and we all had them, and we all helped out." That was a proud moment for me as I realized that kids learn through example and it was great to see my child wanting to make a difference. When we arrived home, Cooper got out a piece of paper and began writing a letter to Phil Knight requesting that he allow him to distribute and sell the Lace up and Save Lives to his friends. I put the letter in the mail today. We will see where this goes and what he will accomplish.

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." - Anne Frank

Soap smells

Today I met with an Aromatherapy expert and discussed the different properties of each of the essential oils and scents I am incorporating in my soap. Found out that some would cause the skin to be photo sensitive and that would not be good. I feel like I made some progress. I also made another batch of soap today. So far my conflict soap includes the following:

AIDS
Hunger -
Nigeria
Sierra Leon
Congo
Somalia
Dar fur
Lost Boys of Sudan

So my nose has been stimulated too much... Another step closer to Africa.

Bead for Life

I found a new company today that supports Ugandan women. It is called Bead for Life. Throw a party!!! This jewerly is made by women in Uganda.

Check out the website at www.beadforlife.com.

PARTY ON!

Ingrid

United in Service Blog

Check out the new blog..........still editing..........but finally taking shape.
The link is posted over to the right.

Ingrid and Leslie

International Women's Day

Here we are on the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland, Oregon. This was in honor of the 100th year of International Women's Day.
"Join Women on the Bridge" was through Women for Women International & Run for Congo Women. These grassroot organizations empower women in war-torn countries to find the self-reliance needed to rebuild their families, communities, and countries. Women all across the world stood on bridges to honor the resilience of millions of women survivors of war.

www.runforcongowomen.org
www.womenforwomen.org
Ingrid

Purchasing of supplies

Yesterday, I purchased most of the ingredients to make Mbuzi Products. (Ouch on the savings account) It's amazing to think that for the past 2 years I have been researching, pondering, and acquiring knowledge on how to accomplish this. I never thought I would be here. This vision and dream is becoming more of a reality. I feel like this is a defining moment. The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof. Right now I'm living in that hope, running down its hallway, and touching the walls on both sides.

Leslie

International Woman's Day - Join Me At the Bridge

Women for Women International provides women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies. We're changing the world one woman at a time.

Their Mission
Women for Women International provides women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies. We're changing the world one woman at a time.

With the tenth anniversary of the UN Millennium Development Goals in 2010, we are given pause to reflect on the tremendous work left to be done in order to eradicate poverty and achieve equality for all the world’s citizens. 70% of the world’s poor are women and 75% of the civilians killed in war are women and children.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, site of over 5 million deaths and hundreds of thousands of rapes in a conflict spanning more than a decade, women are imagining peace. They say peace means being able to live and to work freely. They see peace as walking to the fields without fear of rape; they envision a more prosperous future, harvesting from the fields the fruits of their own labor. Yet war wages on.

To honor the resilience of millions of women survivors of war around the world, Women for Women International is hosting a global campaign – Join me on the Bridge - which will unite women all over the world in a global women’s movement showing that women can build the bridges of peace and development for the future.

On March 8, 2010, thousands of women will stand together in Congo and neighboring Rwanda to demand peace and development. Supporting them in their call for the war’s end will be thousands of women from Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Sudan, Nigeria, as well as in the United States and the United Kingdom, to say no to war and yes to peace and hope.

Tomorrow at 4:00pm at the Smith Student Center, Portland State, women in Portland will united, and walk to the Hawthorn bridge. Join us.... To find out more

For me, this is part of that inner feeling to be a collective voice of change. The solution for world peace, love, and hope, could very well lie within the nurturing grasps of women. "Be the change you wish to see in the World."

Leslie

Congo, Congo, why so much war?

Researched the Democratic Republic of Congo today. The conflict of this country stems from Rwandan genocide. This war is referred to the seven Nation war, has lasted 10 years, and it is the largest UN Peacekeeping mission in history. Over 5 million Congo, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi people have lost their lives. The war is over control, power, and greed of the natural resources that prevail in this lush landscape. Diamonds, Gold, Silver, tin, copper are the ransom paid for murder, rape, and pillaging. One of the resources colton is a highly valuable to our techno world. It is used in cellphones and computers and has made a few greedy international companies billions as they support corrupt rebel forces. Perhaps the most frustrating issue is the use of rape as a weapon of war. These rebel forces go into villages and and beat and rape the women to submission, and instill a terror in them that gives the power they need to control the resources. I am horrified for these women and it is not just a few.. it's hundreds of thousands of women. Awareness of this has evoked within me, a need to give these women a voice to their plight. I will be creating a special product just for these women, where all of the donations are going to Women for Women.

The City of Vancouver has a bump in the curb.

This past week, I ventured downtown Vancouver, Washington. I wanted to photograph the homeless. As I was wandering aimlessly around, I came across a gentleman in a wheelchair. He asked me if I was from the newspaper. I told him "no", but then asked him why he would ask that. I let him know I co-authored a blog and I would like to hear what he had to say. I told him I might possibly be able to post his concerns on my blog. These were his concerns:
The City of Vancouver has not made their curb sides conducive to those individuals in wheelchairs. Although, the curb sides do slope down toward the streets and they can cross to the other side. They have not made it easy for wheelchairs to go back up onto the curb once they are down on the street. There is a large lip preventing wheelchairs from smoothly transitioning back onto the sidewalk. This is a safety issue because while individuals are trying to maneuver their wheelchairs up onto the sidewalks, cars are turning those corners, and could possibly hit one of them. This gentleman (unfortunately, I did not get his name) has had several close calls with cars. He has talked with an organization in the past, who has taken photos and written to the city, but the city has only fixed a few of the curbs.

Later that day, I met up with a woman who also lives downtown Vancouver, and she too confirmed the trouble she has had with the curbs. She almost tipped over her wheelchair onto Main street.
I am not sure what to do with this information yet. I have thought about writing a press release, after researching the issue, making phone calls, confirming what has been done, and what needs to be done. But for now, I am posting their story as promised, in hopes that someone, who might work for the City of Vancouver, will be reading this blog.
To all others; as you cross the street this week, let us remind ourselves that sometimes an unnoticed, minuscule, bump in the road to one, is a giant mountain for another.
We can reach out, grab hold of another, cross the street and lift each other, over the curbside bumps of life.

Love to all,
Ingrid