Breaking Ground!!

So it has been 3 years and 8 months tomorrow since I left for Sierra Leone.  What was supposed to be three months of walking/hiking through the country turned into a shorter stay within a specific location and for targeted work.  However, life, malaria, poverty, unemployment, an occupation, fundraising issues, bureaucratic hurdles, and now academia have all come in the way of me moving forward with this project. But now, finally, we have made some progress, and are building!

Moving Forward(ish)

So this week has seen a lot of different things come and go.  I have spent a lot of time looking for work for now, but also working on finding a way forward for the longer term.  Of late though, it's mostly been about conflict.  no matter what it is that we do in life it conflicts with something that we either believe in or should/must do.  I've been getting a lot of advice of late an it all seems pretty much unmanageable.  No matter what I do, whether it's in life or specific situations, there is no victory.  If I get a job in international development like my experience and degrees point to, in some people's eyes I run the risk of becoming a colonialist, imperialist, or even a missionary.  I can of course stay working where I am and just not get paid for the too few hours that I'm working.  But even then, the job is really just another capitalist wage-labor position bowing down to the man (not paying me).  I've applied to do commercial interior painting, I followed up on a nannying lead for a toddler.  Applied to more retail, and got a networked in an application for post-conflict reconstruction work.  Who knows what if anything will bare fruit.  Yapo has also come back with some work he needs done on a prospective funding line from England.  I am not sure it is feasible though at first glimpse.  But will get further in as I can.


The heart and soul of my time has been of course on Occupy stuff though.  I am really getting further into this sustainability issue.  We have to find a way to sustain the movement's individuals in a way that leaves them empowered and energized to progress the movement.  We also need to try to find a prefigurative way to illuminate the inequities of the current system by showing that another way is possible - and functional - under current auspices.

I've had some really good conversations with a number of people about it and am starting to see a solid research project, and maybe even a group for moving forward.  It would certainly be a long slow project, but ten years from now the movement will be judged on what it achieved, not how long it took to map out a structure for success.

So there we are: I am trying to juggle life, work, occupy, and social relationships and whatever else gets thrown in there that day.  I know as per societies wishes I should just be settling in and working away.  But that is just what keeps the cycle going.  If I stay both dumbed and numbed down the status quo will maintain and most of our lives will just continue to lag behind just a few.  But I can't and won't allow it.  We will all find a way forward personally and professionally, so that we can keep working on finding a way forward for the movement and in turn a more economic and socially just society.  The journey of 10,000 feet starts with a single step....

On the Radio!

So today was an interesting one. I spent the day at the internet cafe - and it was actually working!! So got some research in. Looking for a name for our company. Gotta set up an ngo here for implementation and in the US for donations. The government needs a proper company to partner with on the bricks. Anyone interested in being a part of it...?? ;) Lookin to put together a team!!

Anyway, the machine we'd be looking at is from a South African company called hyrdaform(.com). They make portable machines for the developing world. Makes the set up and use so easy. You can move them from site to site if you want, use the clay there, produce bricks there, build it there. No transport costs of bricks if you don't want. Good machine to start with and build from. Getting some manuals and will go from there.

Its not exactly what I came here to do, or would say my lot in life was - building bricks - but I did come here to make a difference by seeing what people want, and they want buildings, houses, schools, etc. And they don't have enough bricks to build them with. How do you rebuild a country with no finished building materials? Its a foot in the door and would be a big push from the local government. Plus I won't be running the machine, just making sure the right people do. This I can certainly do.

Otherwise, I was on sports radio here today talking about building the track. No turning back now, national broadcast!!

And on a side note- bit by mosquito this morning!! ;) Lets see what comes of it in two weeks time!! :p

Building materials

Umm.. So the district council just tentatively offered to partner with us making building materials and to give us a $45,000 machine to produce 3000 bricks a day (one school).. !!!!