Albums That Are a “Must Listen” - aka The Short List

• Santogold - Santogold
• MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
• Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever
• Iron And Wine - The Shepard’s Dog (I wasn’t sure about putting this one at the top… but it grows on you.  Still not as good as Endless Numbered Days)

Good Albums / Honorable Mentions

• Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
• Portishead - Third
• The Black Keys - Catch and Release
• The Myriad
• Snow Patrol - A hundred million suns
• M.I.A. - Kala
• Vampire Weekend
• The Cool Kids - Bake Sale
• Marching Band - Spark Large
• Metallica - Death Magnetic

Disappointments

• Coldplay - Viva la Vida

I really wanted Gnarls Barkley and The Black Keys to be in the top category.  I expected them to be… But they didn’t quite live up to what I was hoping for.

For me, talk is easy, action is hard.  While I’ve always viewed actions more important than words, and have tried to carry this idea out, I often find myself too stuck on ‘Orthodoxy’ instead of ‘proxy’.

I spend a lot of time pondering the Bible in terms of what it really is, and how divine and inerrant it really is.  Mulling over questions like…  What’s up with the canon?  Was John high when he conjured up Revelation? And how about the letters and documents that aren’t in the Bible?  Instead I could stand to give that a rest and focus more on the way I carry myself day to day.

McKnight says, “Deep inside we know that the reason that God gave us the Bible was not so we could figure out what the right view of it was.  No, God gave us the Bible so that we could love God with reckless abandon and let that love overflow into reckless love for ourselves and for others in this world”.

He goes on to say that if you find yourself loving others, and living selflessly, and loving God then your reading the Bible right.

Most will agree that the media is in some form or another biased, tends to lean toward the liberal side, and will always be quick to point out the problems in our political system regardless of who is in office.  This may never change.  Reporting on negative topics and bringing about fear is what consumers want, and is what will ultimately be delivered since that is what will make the most money.  (I intend to write on the problem of perpetual fear, and commercialization thereof in our society at some point in the future)

Since the negative has been communicated to us on the inadequacies of George W. presidency, what are some of the positives?  What good things have been overlooked for the most part.

A popular relief effort is being taken on by many to help solve the HIV/AIDS pandemic.  And it should be noted that Bush has done so much more for this problem than those before him.  He has tripled the amount provided to helping solve the AIDS pandemic.  http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030129-1.html

I would love to hear what you think.  Please leave a comment describing what you think some of the positives of the G.W.Bush era have been.

I’m not listing out things to point a finger at anyone, or to say that it is wrong to do what we do. The reason I bring this up is with regards to our impact on the wildlife that sourounds us. A common argument for pro-hunting advocates is that there is a deer popluation that needs to be managed. And the way we manage it is by harvesting x number of animals each year.

I’ll be the first to admit that this ‘argument’ is overused, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t valid. Ignoring this potential problem wouldn’t make things better for us or the wildlife. So why do we have an overpopulation? After all, at some point we weren’t here to control the population. That’s true… we weren’t here, and so because of that the deer herd was stable. The reason it was stable was that there were natural preditors of deer before humans popluated the area. Deer preditors like coyotes, foxes, cougars, and wolves have been replaced by humans. A typical carnivore requires a huge amount of land compared to it’s prey. The dispersment of people, and it’s intolarance of these preditors have all but eliminated these animals in much of the state. The prey however, require very little land to survive comparitively. So when the natural preditors are eliminated, the prey overpopulate causing new issues of starvation, and other survival resources that happen to be in short(er) supply.

Without man as a preditor populations would grow out of control. A new ‘limit’ would be reached where the herd size stablizes, but this is at the cost of massive starvation each year. Nature WILL find a way balance itself whether or not we are a large or small part of the process.

A good example of how wildlife lives without the inhabitation of man is on the island of Isle Royale in northern Lake Superior. This island… isolated from the mainland holds numerous Moose, and a number of wolves. The population of both has remained constant due to the delicate balance created by the preditor vs. prey. The moose are held in check by the wolves, and the population of the wolves is directly affected by the number of moose available to eat. So what if the wolves were removed? That balance would be upset.

Hunting isn’t the only option, but is by far the most practical. Since the other option is packing our bags and moving from the area, and restoring the original preditors to the area.  I would just like to make the point, that while hunting isn’t required, it does ultimately restore more balance to wildlife of our country.

Currently we are seeing news about the strike Israel is making against it’s neighbors in Gaza.  Clearly this strike has been provoked by the constant bombardment of Israel missiles and suicide bombers.  It would be difficult to really look at the facts and blame the Jewish people turning to war.

The evil situation in the middle east is one that is extremely complicated, and will most likely require a complicated resolution.  Is war and violence the answer?  Or even part of the answer?  I believe alternatives are needed to really bring this region closer to peace.  Alternatives that are far more difficult than war.

The problem with violence

Military retaliation may be the quickest partial resolution to violence inflicted on the Jewish people.  However, it will only fuel the hatred it’s neighbors have for them.  This goes way beyond Hamas or the PLO.  These organizations are inherently violent and are unfortunately part of what may be a violent religion.  It’s the civilians that are gaining hatred for Israel.  Perhaps because their apartment complex was bombed, or witnessing their loved ones injured and killed (who may or may not be part of a terrorist organization).

I would imagine for every attack on Gaza, at least one new enemy will be created.  For example, with each attack in Gaza; Hamas and others like it are getting more support for their cause.  The five year old witnessing this war will be all to eager to prepare him or herself to be the next suicide bomber.  There is no shortage of these people in any of Israels neighboring nations.

The underlining question here is whether or not a problem of violence and terror can be fought with violence and war.  Can you stop someone from bombing you… by bombing them?  Unless everyone in Gaza is killed, and every enemy of Israel removed, there will be terror inflicted on the nation of Israel.  Someone will be in line to bring harm to the Jewish people.

Diplomacy may be the only really answer.  Peaceful action instead of war may be what is needed to bring peace.  This idea may seem so unreasonable and optimistic that it isn’t even worth consideration.  But if the goal is peace at some point in the future, then peaceful action must be used in replace of violence.

I certainly don’t have the answer as to what peaceful action needs to be done.  It will no doubt involve some major creativity.  It is easy for me to sit here watching the news and form my judgment of the situation.  And as I mentioned I can not blame Israel for taking violent action, but this doesn’t make it right or the most productive in the long run.

Peaceful force by Israel will no doubt require great sacrifice on their part.  Just as Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice to bring about a peaceful revolution.  I do not think the world will stand by watching the genocide of a peaceful Jewish nation.

The argument can be made that as long as the Koran is teaching it followers the art of holy war there will be violence and pain.  But that is beyond what I am prepared to discuss in this post.  It will no doubt require the power of God, and the triumph of the human spirit to bring about the revolution needed to solve a crisis like this.

I blame Israel no more than I blame it’s neighbors. I would consider myself on the side of God’s chosen people.  And it is on them that I call to take the higher, more difficult road.  Following the ways of our Lord and allowing his power to prevail.  Turning the impossible into reality.

In my deepest being I believe Peace can NOT be attained through Violence.

The work completed so far was basically the metal structure, and most of the cement work. Concrete is a rare commodity in Southern Sudan. No components of concrete are found in South Sudan, with the exception of some sand, which is still an hours drive away from where we are, and requires ‘mining’ the sand out of the ground along the Nile river. Gravel, Lime, and other parts of concrete need to be shipped into the area. There are very few roads, and the roads are terrible. Gravel is the closest at about 200 miles away. But costs over $5,000 to have it shipped to our location. And all of these parts need to be mixed the old fashion way. With a hoe, and a wheelbarrow. It makes for very slow work. Putting concrete together for anchoring a post is one thing, but when you need to create the floor of a 90 x 30 foot building, a foot thick, it makes for a lot of work. Of course the gravel, sand, and lime are all dumped in different locations, so there is a lot of wheelbarrowing from one location to another, all being done in 110 plus degree temperature. Luckily we aquired an old cement mixer that aided in the concrete creation process.

Other than pouring concrete we also moved things. Object that were donated to the hospital. Large objects. Now while these things are a blessing to the hospital, it also is a bit of a burden since many things are not needed, and they were donated prior to the completion of the hospital structure. Basically there is no room for this stuff. And there is no garbage collection to throw it away. So as patients are treated in the half built building it was our job to shuffle this equipment from one spot to another. This was unfortunately very time consuming.

While the actual structure of the hospital is being built, some work is being done in the shipping containers that supplies were delivered in. This actually worked quite well, and one container was turned into a O.R. Using shipping containers as buildings must be a popular thing to do in this part of the world. Many other places we visited used shipping containers. Like the airport in Lokiochoggio, Kenya.

Once supplies arrive the next phase will be to put up interior walls using actual wallboard. Along with this wiring will be done for electricity.

I’ve attached a few photos of the hospital building

Upon arriving in Werkok, we were greeted by everyone from the local village area. We got off the plane, and had people all around us, shaking hands, etc. The kids were dressed in rags, very dirty, and had as many flies as phisically possible landing and crawling on them. Something I would get used to very quickly.

Things were as primative as they could be. We had a couple of tukels (pronounced tookle, and is what they call their mud hut homes), and a few tents. The team there at the hospital has started to construct cement tukles which were just made of concrete instead of mud. Toilets were ‘long-drops’ or ’short-drops’. Simply a hole, that is either a few feet where flies and maggots are all around you, or the luxourious long-drop where seperates the fecal matter from you by maybe 10 meters. All water needs to be pumped by hand. And it is very very difficult. Showers are just using maybe a gallon of water, and a dipper. You use water very carefully when it takes a while to get in blazing heat.

We constantly drank water. But never went to the bathroom, I imagine it all came out via perspiration. The water was always warm, sometimes hot, even after pulling out of the well from several hundred feet below the ground.

The ground is made up of this black clay. The people call it black cotton. As far as we could tell, it was good for absolutely nothing. It was EXTREMELY hard to dig in. It was like concrete. Yet when it crumbled it was like powder. Maybe if you put water on it, then it would soften, but as I mentioned water is a rare commodity.

Meals were primarily lentils and rice. If I see them again it will be too soon. Though when we got there, I was thinking this stuff is pretty good. We did have some variety in what we ate. Some things very good.

We got to know the people well. And upon leaving I missed them already.

There is a ton more to share, so hopefully I will write more details about this part of the trip.

The was a great mix if people on the flights over. Many Indian, Muslim, and European people. I thought that was fun. The food was decent on the plane, but it after the 5th meal it got a little old.

We were in Amsterdam for a couple of hours. And it was pretty boring. I was surprised. I was hoping to at least get a glimpse of what the Netherlands is like. But it was as though I had just stepped off the plane into O’Hare or something. Everything was just as it would be in America. All signs were in English (often they didn’t even have translations, in dutch or anything). It was like a mall with tons of stores, but I felt ‘mall stoned’ not long after arriving there, so mostly I just sat and waited.

When we finally arrived in Nairobi, customs went very smooth. We paid more than double what we thought we would need to, and were not able to get them down. In any case, we got our Visas for Kenya, and our Sudan visas came today as well. Some dudes took our luggage, so we would tip them. We chased them yelling for them to let us do it. The men guarding the airport ( and all policemen for that matter) where carrying assault rifles. Interesting to see. I guess this is Africa.

The city is in a very pretty setting. The weather is just right. Maybe around 80, and usually a quick shower every day, but mostly sunny. We are sleeping under mosquito nets. The accommodations are actually quite nice. Certainly better than I thought. There is a lot of security everywhere in this city. I was told that 1/3 of the people protect or provide security for another 1/3 of the population. And the other third are in poverty. There actually seems to be a decent population of ‘middle-class’ people here. It is quite westernized. You can walk into certain buildings and feel like your back in the US. There are people wearing trendy cloths and talking on cell phones all over. We stopped at a flea market today, and I must say, these people were the most aggressive I’ve ever seen, one by one they would follow me/us (the only white people) as we walked by there stands. And after about 15 minutes there were like 30 ‘vendors’ getting in my face, shaking my hand, and working to get me to buy something. I bought nothing. And joked around with them quite a bit. I asked one man if he would be my friend if I didn’t buy anything. He said yes, I said really, then he said no. I then told him to go. To turn around and leave and that I was offended :).

So tomorrow, any glimpse of civilization will be gone. I’m actually looking forward to it. Sleeping under the stars with tribal drums in the background. I won’t post anything most likely till next wed.

Here are a few boring pictures. It’s really really hard to take pictures around here. People all over make a stink about it for some reason. They want to be paid for just being in the vicinity, and think that I’m stealing from them. Weird.

The Mayfield were we are staying, and Aaron and I composing this blog entry.

How Sudan is Divided

Although there are many divisions through the country there are three major divisions. The northern portion of Sudan is primarily Muslim. This is where the ‘government’ of Sudan is. And is where Khartoum is, the nations capital and biggest city. Because a majority of Sudan is occupied by the Muslim state the country is considered Muslim, and operates using the Islamic Shira Law (polygamy, prohibition of alcohol, etc).

The western portion of Sudan also called the Darfur is also primarily Muslim, but unlike the government power they are not Arab, but African. I won’t claim to be an expert on things going on in this region. But the way I understand things is that the Islamic north including the government see African Muslims as pagans or infidels, and apparently this is fuel for genocide, and the elimination of African Muslims. There is most likely way more to it. I’m sure oil plays a huge role as western and southern Sudan has plenty of it, and northern sudan wants it. This area of late has received most of the press when it comes to this area of Africa because of what is happening there.

Southern Sudan consist mostly of Christian and Animist (which pretty much embodies the tribal religions of the area). South Sudan has been through a long and terrible civil war. Defending themselves against the northern government, and inter-tribal fighting with themselves. South Sudan is now run by the ’sudo-government’ the SPLA, the army of the south. Three years ago a 6 year cease-fire was enacted, so things for the moment are mostly peaceful. Most turbulence is happening in the west (Darfur) which by the way also has a cease-fire with the government but isn’t being enforced. The Dinka are the main tribe of the south.

South Sudan

The Dinka have endured extreme hardships. Many have heard of the ‘Lost Boys’ which is a label used for the young boys, around 10 yeas of age that narrowly escaped the attacks of the north. The men fought (and mostly died) the women and girls were abused and killed. Over the course of up to 5 years these boys traveled in groups around the savannas of Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya. They covered thousands of miles. The ones that survived made it through countless attacks by army, and local tribes, as well as attacks by Lions and Hyenas. They had pretty much no food, or water. It is amazing as to what these boys survived. They were young and lacked survival skills, but somehow banded together and a few of them made it. I would recommend the book “They threw fire down on us.” As it is written by three of these lost boys that finally made it to the U.S.

Much of Sudan has be ravaged by war, and unfortunately there isn’t an end. When the cease-fire ends in Sudan with the SPLA and the GOS (government of Sudan). I believe South Sudan will look to secede and become it’s own country.