Synthesis

So what is the plan!?  How is it that all of a sudden we can simply add a new country and a new city such as Newburgh (for a bit more perspective on Newburgh you can read this article).  I have put months of specific effort (and years of indirect effort) into the prospective work in Sierra Leone.  Things are possible there right now.  What has to be developed at this point is the holistic entity that will be not just this endeavor, but an entire organization.  I am trying to find a way to use these two locations in conjunction with both each other and with the bigger picture.

The key insight to it all is to see what the over arching goal of both this project and an organization.  Despite my passion for Sierra Leone and its people, this was never solely about this country.  It has always been about broader goals, a broader learning curve on society, and the systemic way that we order ourselves.  Poverty is a big part of this.  We live in a Capitalist society that has certain values and is achieving certain outcomes.  These outcomes show their faces in both the 'rich' and 'poor' worlds.

Could this be Newburgh?!?

What is really the difference between poverty in Sierra Leone and America/Newburgh?  Some, including myself, would argue - a great deal.  Poverty by American standards is very different from the poverty found in most of the rest of the world.  But I would also say that there are a tremendous amount of similarities, especially on a personal level.  To a person in Newburgh, when they look around the world they see, they are at the bottom of the income ladder.  They are by most social measures at the bottom of society.  The poverty of a place like Sierra Leone is so far away and out of site it may as well not even exist.  All they can see is themselves, their situation, their "poverty", their mental state.

Or maybe this is Makeni?!?

It is not much different in Sierra Leone, they know little of the Western world.  A few products, stories, and movies.  But spend a few days there and you quickly realize that they have no clue, just as we really have no clue about their lives there.  They simply do what they must each and every day to survive.  But this poverty is relative.  There are so few people with anything around them that they know little of the nothing they have.  In their head's, they may even seem better off than the poor in Newburgh.  When everyone has nothing, what is there to be make you think you have nothing? 

But either way, both groups of people are left to struggle.  This is what I find unacceptable.  As friends of mine buy new clothes, talk about summer vacations, the difficulties of their work... those without the means to eat, live, and do, simply embrace the struggle that will come from that day's effort just to survive.  This is poverty, this is evident all over the world.  It must be studied, it must be understood, and it must have a solution found for it.   

Why to expand this process rests in the delivery of these goals and services.  Sierra Leone needs money, expertise, knowledge, and effort, as does Newburgh.  In order to set up an organization to help both places, we need both the means to deliver services, and services to deliver.  By the two locations working together we can provide local comparative advantages that can be capitalized upon by both.

The key to all this is to brainstorm through a process that provides for both places.  The American operations can provide knowledge, expertise, research, and money for work done in Sierra Leone.  Projects can be planned, managed, and even in some cases executed, from America, for delivery in Sierra Leone.  Local products from Sierra Leone can be shipped to the US and administered and sold in America to supplement local projects.

This is not a novel business model.  But it does start to get interesting if being done by a revenue generating non-profit focused on "maximizing local socio-economic outcomes" rather than just maximizing profit.  This means that in Newburgh, we don't always hire the 'best, most experienced' person for the job, we hire the right person.  We hire a person that needs the opportunity and is capable of seizing it, and we make training and teaching work skills just as important a part of the projects as the jobs.  A "socially thick" development model.  Our organization will be about doing business and making money, but it is more so about emboldening local populations with usable and transferable knowledge and skill sets - hiring potential, not achievement.

So what businesses will we be getting into?  This is complicated, and a question that is yet to have an answer.  You can make money in Sierra Leone doing virtually anything.  It is an entrepreneur's heaven.  But making money in Newburgh is different.  Anywhere in the US you have to come up with an original idea or at minimum completely reinvent an old one for non-profit inner city implementation.  The US market is totally saturated, no regurgitation of proven ideas allowed.

Competition??

This is a short list right now:

• Brick making in Sierra Leone.  The money would need to come from the US, but there is then a huge opportunity for revenue generation.  The kind that could fund project upon project for the foreseeable future. This project also opens other opportunities that surround this, transportation, contracting, etc.
• Sierra Leone Diaspora Funding Network.  This project would be managed from the US, and then implemented in Sierra Leone.  Providing for both locations.
• Solar street lamps in Sierra Leone.  This project would be managed from NY and implemented by the operations in Sierra Leone.
• Internet and learning facilities.  This is applicable in both Sierra Leone and the US.  It is thought to provide the front of the office space for revenue generation.  Training classes could also be added on top of this.  
• Sale of artisan goods produced in Sierra Leone for sale in NY.  This can also be expanded to be done online, with distribution from Newburgh. 
• Obtaining old used goods (such as welding/carpentry tools, clothes, computers, etc) and shipping them to Sierra Leone for donation/local sale.
• Fruit processing in Sierra Leone.  In time the products could be sold within the US, again with distribution in Newburgh.  That is a long way away though.  For the time being it would be a local operation in Sierra Leone. 
• Verma composting (with worms).  This has a tremendous upside in decreasing organic waste and is viable in both locations.  Selling the castings as fertilizer is also a revenue generator.
• Makeni Athletics Facility.  This is strictly a charitable endeavor and thus will take time. 

This list is still missing a good deal.  Newburgh has yet to truly be explored and realized in terms of what opportunities exist there. Hopefully that will happen over the next several weeks as I get further ingrained in the city.  But time will take us there, and a bridge between two impoverished worlds will become both apparent and a reality... 

Directions

So I've pretty much thrown myself into the exploration of Newburgh.  The work regarding foundations and feasibility with Sierra Leone is done.  I know what can be done there and really the issue is what we can get done here in terms of setting up a non-profit and getting donations/funding.  So to move forward with this agenda, I am trying to set up meetings with NGO's, local government, and other stakeholders I have found in Newburgh to see what kind of cooperation is possible.

New information on working in Connecticut has been very slow coming.  They seem to be stalling, as am I, so no rush there.  I have time to try to map a few things out and see how feasible other things could be.  Thus, I have buried myself in Newburgh's "sustainable masterplan" and am quite impressed.  It is a plan to take the city into the year 2040.  They put a lot of work into it and professional work at that.  I am seeing the city in a new light right now.  Of course this doesn't mean they can do any of it, or pay for it even if they could, but they've got some solid forward thinking people there.  The plan was also ratified by the city council which (within the friendly confines of democratic theory) says that the city is behind it.  So I will spend what time I can with local individuals and see where things go.

Regardless of what happens anywhere, to do anything in Sierra Leone I have to register a non-profit here.  This could be very easily done with the help of fiscal sponsorship and/or a possible incubator relationship with another organization.  Perhaps even an address and/or a desk to work from with someone in Newburgh.  I feel like it is very important for me to get around other people of like minds and to get "back in the game" so to speak.  I have so many ideas, but they need technical business guidance and more focus in direction.  I have it all in my head, I just need to get the concepts more precise and onto paper in a way that others could digest and think to fund.

Options...

What to do now?  There are several possibilities.  But first, a caveat...  There are of course two aspects to this blog, the project and me the person.  I have worked hard to try to minimize myself as a person in comparison to the project and issues being faced.  This trip and its aftermath taught me though that I do have to pay some semblance of attention to my own well being and self.  Meaning that at some point I have to find some stability in terms of income, housing, etc.  As much as I'd love to function purely as a wondering anti-povertyism monk, it is not proving to be entirely feasible!

This being said, the following options may tend to be colored with a bit more of a compromising pragmatism than the blind devotion to the purely altruistic goals that I'd like to follow.

Options

1. Once I got out of the hospital I started looking for work.  I was applying all over the US to any non-profit job I was either qualified or over-qualified for.  I have since been tentatively offered a job in Connecticut working with individuals with disabilities.  I am hopelessly overqualified for it by their own admissions, but there is tremendous room for upward mobility, as the organization is expanding into Connecticut and will be growing and developing there quickly.  I could be a big part of spearheading that.  Granted it is not the socio-economic poverty alleviation type of work that keeps me excited and up at night, but it would be a solid job that I would believe in and enjoy.  It would also give me solid experience and something more recently American on my resume.  I would have to move to Connecticut though which is a barrier, not to mention that I would need a car - which I currently don't have.  The job is in a holding pattern right now as they do not know where or when they expect to open the office.
1. This job would give me cash to be able to do work on the side, nights and weekends.  But there would also be location and work related learning curves.  This stuff for Sierra Leone would be slow going.
2. Sierra Leone.  Obviously my trip had a point.  I wanted to get experience/learn and I wanted to identify possible humanitarian opportunities.  I found more than I knew what to do with, and left early to try to facilitate them.  In a malaria induced haze, I think I lost track of my real goals and sought stability and safety.  I am not longer steeped in helplessness and clutching for branches.  I want to do what I set out to do.  The issue though is that things have changed a bit.  In my two months of sickness and recovery the time frames I was working with have been obscured.  I do not as of now know exactly where we stand with the brick project, the diaspora, or the solar street lamps.  I have communicated with Yapo and he is talking about materials and importing used goods from the US, as well as working to set up an internet cafe there.  So those are more things to think about, but realistically, I have to get the non-profit here set up and functional.  Only then can I accept donations and apply for funding and grants.  So making this a priority is an option.  But it does not provide a stable income or living situation.  
3. My whole plan from the beginning while designing business operations for Sierra Leone, was to have offices in the US and Europe for fund raising and then operational offices globally such as the one in Sierra Leone.  There is of course poverty here in the US as well, though not like in Africa, and over the last two months I have spent a lot of time in several small cities just north of New York City, and have become enamored with Newburgh, NY. 
1. It would be a good place to settle in to both do local work and operate an office for work abroad.  There could also be some good opportunities for funding for a local city like this.  
2. It is a small city of 29,000 people but has one of the highest per capita violent crime and murder rates in the US, and endemic poverty.  There were 11 murders last year and a 76 person FBI gang bust.  The murder rate per capita puts it on par with cities like St. Louis and Detroit.  
3. I grew up playing football and running track against the local high school and find myself driving through the city every chance I get.  The architecture and the historical side of the city begets so many possibilities, while at the same time, the current day socio-economic situation is a catastrophe of poverty and crime.
4. With such a small city, we could really produce visible and understandable outcomes, especially with the type of programs that we would be interested in undertaking.  

So there it is, three real options.  Two are set up in may ways, Sierra Leone and Connecticut, one of which is easy, the other not.  Then of course there is the local addition, another ambitious scenario.  Is it feasible to move to Connecticut without the resources?  How could I move away from all this work and struggle?  Is it smart to try to add something new?  I'm just a squirrel trying to get a nut... so I can give it away!!

 
 

Fast Forward

So here we are today and things are very different from originally planned.  By this point right now I was going to have things here in the US set up, a non-profit, a source of funding, etc.  We were going to have operational plans in place for Sierra Leone, and would be waiting on the district council to get things started.  I would have been talking about when to go back and how best to handle getting things there set up and moving.

Fast Forward... two months later...

I got off the plane November 23rd, two months ago yesterday.  A lot has happened since then.  Malaria, gastro-intestinal infections, reactions to medicines, liver, spleen, and kidney issues, imaginary frogs... all sorts of fun stuff.  So what.  Where are we now and how close are we to getting things done.  In the last few days I have been trying to get myself back into the game.  Yeah, I'm not the strongest or sharpest I've ever been, but again... so what.  Poverty doesn't care if I'm sick. 

So I have been trying to pull some things back together.  I have sent out some emails trying to see if I can keep everyone interested pull them back together.  I have spoken briefly with Yapo and touched base with Ikenna in Sierra Leone.  Yapo has been supportive under the circumstances, but as I said, poverty doesn't wait for anyone - least of all me - and there is always an undertone of urgency there.  He is looking into the projects that we have discussed with the district council and where things stand.  He also seems to be trying to get his head around a computer training and internet project there in addition to possible donation situations.  Our junk, is VERY usable there.  Agricultural equipment, welding, tailoring, carpentry tools are all needed in the country and are mostly free of import duties.  Obviously, our old computers - too slow 18 months later - are just fine for basic computing and internet work there.  

So as it is, the options just continue to mount up.  It comes down to feasibility and logistics.  Are there the means and is there the will here to get things done.  This is something that we will have to explore.  Setting up a non-profit is not a simple endeavor, nor is it free.  Especially without money or a job.  Right now we/I am looking at multiple pathways both for here and Sierra Leone, for both myself personally and the goals we've been looking at.  Multiple options to diagram in another post...  But I will say this... the easy way is always easy, the hard way is always hard, which way is always more rewarding?     

Analysis

(written December 6th after first returning from the hospital)

So, it seems that it is about that time.  The trip is now over.  I have been home for over two weeks, and though most of that was spent sick and in the hospital, it is now time to start assessing the trip itself and what came from it. 

So my initial goal was to spend three months walking through Sierra Leone in an effort to learn a great deal more about the country, the diversity of its people, about poverty, about development, and to try to identify prospective humanitarian ventures to undertake in the future.  Ultimately my personal goals where to make myself a better, more knowledgeable person (instead of sitting around unemployed), to fill what I felt was a hole in my resume, and to perhaps either come away with a job, my own non-profit, or a good story to write.

As the trip went, I never once did any hiking.  The most I did was walk all around the city of Makeni and its outlaying areas.  In this respect my "walking" trip never even happened, let alone could it be considered a success.  But realistically, only in this respect could the trip be considered a failure.  On every other account on my agenda the trip was a resounding success.  Granted, it was absolutely NOTHING as I anticipated or planned for it to be.  I ended up spending a more specific amount of time with a specific family and in a specific neighborhood and didn't get much diversity in.  I was inundated the society and culture there in a way that I never could have if I was hiking from village to village as planned.


I ate nothing but local food and drank the local water, everything in fact was local.  I started to establish relationships with people and people in town started to recognize me and call my name as I passed.  It was a very good feeling.  I worked at being able to speak to them in Krio and at least address them in Temne.  As with anywhere you go, I feel a subtle show of respect like this goes a long way.

The heart of the trip very quickly turned from exploration to more concrete discussions on specific developmental initiatives.  So much so that I have a list of projects that I've come back with and two signed Memorandum's of Understanding that I have with the local Development Council for future work.  The whole initial reason to come back early was to get started with setting these projects in motion.  The trip jumped straight into development work, no fun and games allowed!  This specifically is why it would be utterly impossible to call the trip a failure, or even not a resounding success. 

The issue now is going to be following through with them.  I came back and have gotten very sick, and to the point where I have been recommended by my doctors here not to return to Sierra Leone.  This may prove to be nothing, but it certainly changes the game a little bit.  No matter though, I now have to sit down and assess where I am both personally and professionally with the trip and possible projects.  Is the team that I established while there ready to make things happen, and what needs to be done to do this.  The work is only just beginning!!

Ah yes...

Can I get back in the saddle??  So it's been an eternity since my malaria encrusted mind saw light enough to turn into electronic words.  Where to begin...

So I got off the plane on Tuesday the 23rd of November and was vomiting not much after walking in the door in New York (Could I be allergic to America!?! lol.).  A couple days later, more of the similar but of the less pleasant variety.  Come Friday I was in the hospital, but was sent home after a couple of bags of IV and an apparently botched malaria test.  Sunday I awoke on what felt like death's door with a decent fever, horrible sickness, and an ambulance ride back to the hospital.  By mid afternoon I was in the Critical Care Unit (CCU) and signing papers for possible blood transfusions.  They hadn't yet figured out if it was malaria, lasah fever, or something else.  Things from there for me though are pretty fuzzy.  They started pumping enough antibiotics and meds into me to look like Chris' cow.

They also came across a positive malaria test and some other mysteries at some point.  Of course then come the medications - which I ceremoniously threw back up after 45 minutes.  The next night was even worse.  They gave me the pill at 8:45 in the evening and I was determined to keep it down no matter what.  I fought with ever ounce of strength I had.  Every meditative thing I'd ever learned, breathing, energy movement, acupressure, whatever.  But the pain...  I was determined to make it 45 mins.  I wanted to throw it up for every single one of those 45 minutes, but I concentrated and pushed past it the best I could, trying to get to an hour and be certain.  The nausea started moving from my stomach into my digestive system though and turning into cramps and pain.  I think then and there is the first time I ever blacked out.  I was in agony, concentrating on my breathing, just trying to handle it - then all of a sudden it was later, where was I?.  Not sure what happened.  But regardless, I had started seeing things.  Not real things, but they were way to vivid and multidimensional to be dreams.  Rumor has it they were hallucinations, and I kept hearing this frog behind me in my right ear...  Funny though, no one else seemed to hear it.  Not sure why, what isn't normal about having frogs in hospital rooms...  What a horrible night.

To top it all off, in critical care each nurse has two patients and no one else can sign off on anything/has responsibility.  No nurse tech or helper.  The women next door had just come in and had to go to emergency surgery, her/my nurse left with her.  There was no one to help me.  I ended up naked, writhing in pain, and cursing belligerently about ancient Chinese medicine and listening to that damn frog sing his/her tune!!  Finally, I called my mother.  It was 11pm and I'd lost it!!  Lol!!  Miraculously, by 11:30 my mother (and maybe brother) and four nurses were in there helping me.  Funny how that works, a naked man writhing in pain and talking of a strange Kermit type comrade doesn't bring help, but a mother sure can!!   

I expected much the same the next night.  But I had gotten them to drop the antibiotics that day in hope of not having a reaction.  Wonderfully so, it worked.  I took the malaria meds and slowly drifted off to sleep an hour later.

I got moved out of critical care a day or two later and then was home a bit after that.  It was quite an experience.  Since then I've been dealing with the after affects.  For the next month I had a tremendous amount of weekness and dizziness.  Pretty much debilitated for all intents and purposes.  Sequestered to my house, bed, and couch, using the walls for balance and movies to keep time. 

I started getting better though, enough to be motivated to look for work.  Non-profit jobs all over the country.  I need to get something meaningful to do, put some cash in my pocket, and allow me to try to move forward with the projects found on this trip.  I have a lot of thoughts on things and some options to hep get things started here in the US.  The problem obviously is that my health has not put me in a position to function at full mental and physical capacity - or even at half capacity much of the time.  But I am getting there. 

I got to a point where I was out hiking: elevation, millage, even some trotting and walk/run trail trips.  Things were looking up, until I got some other kind of sickness.  This seems to have put other things over the edge, or have been the edge itself.  I had been getting follow up doctor visits and blood work, and as it turned out, things were going in the wrong direction.  The tests were showing problems with my liver, spleen, and kidneys.  Each visit things were worse.  So off to the specialists I went.  And that gets me right up to today. 

All this while I've been slowly getting an increasing amount of abdominal pain.  Sharp, bend you over, type stuff at times of late, coupled with a light hazzy film covering all physical and cognitive functioning.  I've still got that of course, and apparently will for quite some time.  But my blood work has turned around and is going in the "right" direction.  So theoretically - while there was a concern for things like liver disease - I really am just "hurt", not "injured".  Which in American football terms means: if your hurt, you can play; if your injured, you can't.  So it seems I can't make myself worse.  The pain is there, and the organs are still not functioning properly, but the body is cleaning itself out and I'm apparently headed in the right direction.  That of course is all I can ask.  They said it may take several more months to get back to full strength, but rest assured I will, and I will come back much stronger than ever before. 

I would do it all over again.  Every bit of it.