During the last outreach a satellite system was installed on the ship that allows the ship to receive a few television shows. One that has been very popular with the crew is the Animal Planet. Today I ate lunch in the midship's lounge, instead of the dining room, and one of the kids was watching a program on endangered gorillas in Africa. It followed Natalie Portman (an American actress) through the Republic of the Congo and Rwanda as she visited different rescue projects and narrated the show.
It was beautiful. The countryside and all of the forest were lush and green and the gorillas were strong and beautiful. The show was very heartfelt and Natalie was an excellent narrator. But the entire time I watched it I kept thinking am I crazy? Is she talking about gorillas or humans? Is this heart wrenching story of sadness and survival about poor African people trying to survive in a developing country or about some animals living in the jungles of Africa? Now I am a huge animal lover and am in no way promoting an attitude that animals do not need to be cared for and protected. But the entire time I watched the show I thought how much better this world might be if people would put this type of money and time into promoting injustices happening to humans around the world. She spoke about "how beautiful the animals were and how tragic their lives were". That they were "hunted and often the parents died leaving orphans behind". They even gave facts: in 2007, four gorilla babies were orphaned and had to be rehabilitated in the Republic of the Congo.
I don't know. Maybe I am comparing apples to oranges. Maybe it is all fruit and depending on your perspective it is all injustice that shows how damaged our world is. I just know that there are hundreds of human children being orphaned everyday around the world because of civil unrest, war, AIDS, starvation, preventable diseases, and unclean water. I know that they are beautiful and have horrific stories to tell. What I don't know is how I am going to end this blog entry. This really is one of the many thoughts racing through my head that I am not sure I will ever have answers for. Because it does depend on perspective. I feel a bit awkward ending this blog with my rant...
Well in other news, my lovely friend Nadine here has added her opinion on life, and she says,
"God is good. All the time."
Love you. Miss you. And thank you. I hope my rant gives you something to think about.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
April Showers
As the rainy season looms ahead many "old" crew members have begun to prepare by either reflecting on what they hate about rainy season or by doing everything they can to deny it is on its way. All of the new kids on the block (those who have never experienced a true rainy season) have no idea what they are about to experience. How do you tell 70% of the crew that it will rain all day and all night and expect them to believe you? No one is prepared to believe that 3 weeks will pass and they will never see the sun. Even if you could really imagine the depressive-ness of the weather you would want to deny it at all cost.
So there are a lot of us weather veterans who are spending as much time outdoors as possible and mentally preparing for the lack of sunshine and the cabin fever that is soon approaching. This past week has been a very sudden reminder that the summer aka rainy season is near. The change in the weather has been very visible. While it is still as hot as Hades outside and the humidity is bouncy between 80 and 90 percent, the evening weather has changed dramatically. We have had a few nights when it has been pouring down rain and the sun is beginning to set earlier. Soon these evening showers will cease to stop and will run into the morning. And then that one full day will become two. And eventually it will be raining for weeks and the crew will start bouncing off of the walls with bordum. And the roads will start to wash away and the beach sand will erode.
Yet for now it is still sunny and from our dock we can still view downtown Monrovia (in full rainy season you can not see any buildings or lights from across the harbour). It seems the rain, rain has gone away for a few more weeks!
So there are a lot of us weather veterans who are spending as much time outdoors as possible and mentally preparing for the lack of sunshine and the cabin fever that is soon approaching. This past week has been a very sudden reminder that the summer aka rainy season is near. The change in the weather has been very visible. While it is still as hot as Hades outside and the humidity is bouncy between 80 and 90 percent, the evening weather has changed dramatically. We have had a few nights when it has been pouring down rain and the sun is beginning to set earlier. Soon these evening showers will cease to stop and will run into the morning. And then that one full day will become two. And eventually it will be raining for weeks and the crew will start bouncing off of the walls with bordum. And the roads will start to wash away and the beach sand will erode.
Yet for now it is still sunny and from our dock we can still view downtown Monrovia (in full rainy season you can not see any buildings or lights from across the harbour). It seems the rain, rain has gone away for a few more weeks!
Friday, April 04, 2008
What time is it?
A few nights ago I had a very unexpected wake up call. At 04:15 a soft alarm started beeping. My bunk mate and I can recognize each others alarms: Elizabeth's alarm is a loud beep-pause sequence that increases with time, like a bomb. My alarm is quiet with a steady beep; I keep it under my pillow which muffles the sound. So suddenly there is a third unknown beeping that is coming from within our room.
Since I am the lightest sleeper in the world I am up and fumbling under my pillow thinking it is my alarm. When smashing the snooze button does not shut off the sound I finally turn on my bunk light to investigate. This movement and the continual beeping finally wakes up Elizabeth, who then jumps out of bed and dives at our table. She turns off the third mystery alarm and heads to the bathroom. So I'm all confused and asking what time is it? I then hear my roommie getting back in bed. After looking at my own alarm for the time I then attempt to go back to sleep. This of course does not work so I'm up for an extra two hours trying to figure out why my roommate set an alarm to go the bathroom!
I bumped into her the next day to find out what the deal was and if 04:15 would be our regular morning wake up time. Turns out it was her watch alarm. Apparently her nursery kids were playing with her watch and set the alarm, which she forgot to turn off. Living in community can be so much fun...especially at 4 in the morning!
Since I am the lightest sleeper in the world I am up and fumbling under my pillow thinking it is my alarm. When smashing the snooze button does not shut off the sound I finally turn on my bunk light to investigate. This movement and the continual beeping finally wakes up Elizabeth, who then jumps out of bed and dives at our table. She turns off the third mystery alarm and heads to the bathroom. So I'm all confused and asking what time is it? I then hear my roommie getting back in bed. After looking at my own alarm for the time I then attempt to go back to sleep. This of course does not work so I'm up for an extra two hours trying to figure out why my roommate set an alarm to go the bathroom!
I bumped into her the next day to find out what the deal was and if 04:15 would be our regular morning wake up time. Turns out it was her watch alarm. Apparently her nursery kids were playing with her watch and set the alarm, which she forgot to turn off. Living in community can be so much fun...especially at 4 in the morning!
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