If I could change the world..

Every day humanitarian aid workers help millions of people around the world. The day recognizes the sacrifices and contributions of those who risk their lives to give others help and hope. It is also about inspiring the spirit of aid work in everyone.

Love is really what it's about. Showing love in tangible ways to the most vulnerable and marginalized amongst us is not easy. It requires sacrifice and getting outside our comfort zone. It can mean being misunderstood and disenfranchised. But that which we do for the least is also what we do for God.

To all the incredible people I've had the pleasure of meeting since starting on this journey, happy humanitarian day! I am blessed by the efforts of my team-mates, colleagues and former classmates and friends. May we never forget what a privilege it is to live this life as we do.

Africa notes: Part tres

Ghana Logs – Day Seven.

The past days have been exhausting! Start early in the morning and then day-long conference workshops. Monday’s workshop was being facilitated by my organization – so we had to be extra sharp in the morning. Of course, there’s always last-minute things like needing extra copies of handouts and the friendly photocopy person taking her own sweet time in pushing a few buttons. I wanted to go up to her and say, ‘Oye..Mami..please let me do this’ (insert african accent) :)

Oh, I should tell y’all about the ‘Opening Ceremony’! So – in Africa – things don’t start, unless there’s a 5 hour opening ceremony (usually scheduled for 1-2 hours, but then runs overtime for reasons described below). There’s usually a stage with a podium. (Pics on picasa). Seated at this stage are the ‘distinguished’ guests. It usually starts with a prayer or the national anthem. Then we go into introductions. This opening ceremony started in the morning and ended at 1pm! The first hour was introductions! I mean – the first person introduced the next who introduced the next and so on – till we go to the most senior person – the ‘Chairperson of the meeting’.

THEN came the speeches. OMG! The longest things ever! I mean – this one guy was allotted 15 minutes – he talked for an hour! (What did I tell you about Africans and verbosity?) I kept having an internal giggle-loop about things and wish I could telepathically have a conversation with someone about the speeches. Hehe!) Anyways – my butt was so numb at the end of this all! The highlight of all this was a traditional African dance at the end! It was amazing, guys! So full of energy and life! We were all moving/tapping our feet etc at the end of it all. (Kait – now I know why you love west African drumming so much! I was thinking of you the whole time – I’ll send you a video clip I took for you)

Oh, I should mention food. Dude – the food here is amazing! Dishes (like most cuisines around the world) are comprised of a starch and protein. They have this spicy curry looking thing – and they serve it with rice. Then they have this watery soupy (again spicy) one that they serve with corn-meal mash – called fufu. Then there’s banku and kenkey – which are variants of fufu. Oh, and fried plantains! YUM-MY! I’m going to gain so much weight! Ha! The food here tastes so fresh and tasty. Like yday I had pineapple – the best pineapple I’ve had! I love sampling food from everywhere – and this trip is definitely hitting my foodie spots. :)

Other than that – nothing much to report – the rest of conference has been good. We’ve had several power outages both during the day and the speakers make the best of the situation. At night, it’s a different story. Taking a shower in the dark with a candle brings back memories. :)

Interviews are going well. I am using every available ‘free’ minute to grab people outside of meeting rooms to hold this qualitative survey on family planning. It’s exhausting. But rewarding when I think of the impact that this information will have in helping to bring family planning commodities to African countries. I’m looking forward to the weekend – the conference ends on Thurs, and I’ll have Sat/Sun to do some sightseeing. No idea what I’m going to do – and where I’m going to go. BUT I can’t come all this way and not see/do something, so watch for my next update on the weekend adventures! :)

Thanks so much to those who’ve been writing – I love hearing back from you! I have pretty reliable email access and have communicated with a lot of you - even been able to video-skype with some!

Much love and hugs from this end of the world! :)

Food talk: Tabaq

Credit:Molly V. Strzelecki, Special to Metromix

I love being outdoors. Being cooped up all week indoors, I look for opportunities to be outside as much as I can. (Don't ask me how much outside-time I spend when it is 105 degrees, like it has been this past few weeks in DC!!)

Anyways, Tabaq is a beautiful outdoors roof-top terrace restaurant on the U-street corridor of Washington, DC. I wish more restaurants would do this! Great views of the neighborhoods and monuments in Washington, DC.

I've been four times and haven't been disappointed. First time for a friend's birthday party - good music, good drinks, great service. The subsequent times, I met people for happy hour and also have had dinner once. I'm partial to Mediterranean cuisine, and have to say that what I've ordered thus far has been good. I will admit that the I will admit that it is a little on the pricey side - but then I suppose DC is an expensive city. It's definitely on my list of favorite roof-top places to eat at.

Food talk: Busboys and Poets

A name like Busboys and Poets is bound to get a double-take. At least, it did for me. I walked past this snazzy establishment one fine Tues evening. Later that week, my housemate tells me that it should be on my ‘Things-to-do-in-DC list’. So today, I set out to scratch that off my list. Mission: to take my friend K visiting from Beantown to a fine DC establishment in an effort to show him what stuff DC is made of (and in the process – discover DC for myself! Ha!)

So..much has been written about this place (dang, if there’s a Wiki page to something, no need to reinvent the wheel, ya know?) so I won’t go into the humdrum of what this is. I’ll simply give my own impressions and hope that I win over more business for this place. (Not that it needs it..it seems to have enough word-of-mouth advertisement going on!)

I got the Grilled Brie Panini with spinach, caramelized onions and tomatoes on ciabatta bread. K got a burger with gorgonzola cheese, and the regular stuff that goes on a burger. I liked my food. What I loved better was the burger that my friend got! YUMMY – I never knew gorgonzola and moo (aka beef) went SO well together! This is definitely one that I'm going to try creating at home! (Thank the good Lord for sunny weather and backyard bbqs!)

What I loved the best though was the ambience of the place – the resto is a coffee-house-lounge-bookstore-restaurant. People come here to work on their laptops (yay! free wifi!), drink coffee, enjoy some libations after work, check out their books, listen to poetry being read or simply come out to eat. Definitely an interesting place! Would love to go again, if only to simply read on their comfy couches and people-watch! ha! Check it out if you’re in DC. :)