What's Woody Doing Now

Water, Sanitation, and Birth Registration

The lack of improved drinking water and adequate sanitation continue to cause high childhood (under 5-years old) mortality.  One out of five children die before reaching their fifth birthday.  Ironically, the rate may be more since, two out of three children (under 5-years old) were not registered. 

UNICEF - Congo, Democratic Republic of the - Results of 'Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey' released.

Among the worrying tendencies are the degradation of birth registration and the stagnation in the use of improved drinking water sources and improved sanitation facilities.

Still today, only one in seven people in DR Congo lives in acceptable hygienic conditions and less than half of the population has access to safe drinking water.

Two out of three children under five do not have a birth certificate, a situation that has worsened over the past decade. Indeed, while 34 percent of the country’s children under five were registered in 2000, this figure dropped to 28 per cent in 2010.

I'm Thankful

I am thankful for all those who support me and other worthy causes that make a difference in the world.  There are lots of causes because the world is full of problems that we can change for the better.  So you should be working on or supporting some cause.  Just open your eyes and heart!

Thank YOU! 

Seth's Blog: A modern thanksgiving.

A modern Thanksgiving would celebrate two things:

The people in our lives who give us the support and love we need to make a difference, and...

The opportunity to build something bigger than ourselves, something worth contributing. The ability to make connections, to lend a hand, to invent and create.

It's NOT for the Money or the Challenge

For me and my work in the Congo, I do the work because of the calling of doing the work (#3) and for the impact it makes on the world specifically the Congo (#4).  And it's interesting work to solve some long standing problems (#6).

Possibly, it's for the reputation you build in the community (#5); to be part of a group and to experience the mission (#7); and to be appreciated (#8).

My work in the Congo is NOT for the money (#1).  It's a volunteer position.

My work in the Congo is NOT for the challenge (#2).  Although, Congo is one of worst places in the world to do business, it's no fun.

Again, I agreed with Seth Godin.

Stop Thinking Others Are Dumb

Here are two signs when it's time to change the approach to an old problem.  Either when we think last person was dumb or when we think they were not trying hard enough. 

Seth's Blog: Our normal approach is useless here.

Perhaps this can be our new rallying cry.

If it's a new problem, perhaps it demands a new approach. If it's an old problem, it certainly does.

Or Maybe It's Because

 

SHENPA OR NOT!!  I'M SCRATCHING THE ITCH!  I don't see the big deal of over TSA's body scanners.

Or maybe it's because I am man.  Someone touching "my junk" or me showing my junk would not upset me.

Or maybe it's because I have lived in Europe where nudity is not a big deal.  I have sat in co-ed sauna fully naked and the killing heat was the only thing on my mind. 

Or maybe it's because I flew a Pan Am flight from Germany just months before Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed out of the sky.

Or maybe it's because I have been in dangerous parts of the world where being an American is sometimes a liability.

Or maybe it's because I don't have wings and can't fly myself.

Seth's Blog: Groping for a marketing solution: TSA and security theater.

There's plenty of controversy about the new full body scanners that the TSA is installing at airports, and plenty more about the way some TSA agents are handling those that choose to opt out.

The heart of the matter comes from the fact that the TSA often doesn't understand that it is in show business, not security business. A rational look at the threats facing travelers would indicate that intense scrutiny of a four ounce jar of mouthwash or aggressive frisking of a child is a misplaced use of resources. If the goal is to find dangerous items in cargo or track down Stinger missiles, this isn't going to help.

Instead, the mission appears to be twofold:

1. Reassure the public that the government is really trying and

2. Keep random bad actors off guard by frequently raising the bar on getting caught

Linchpins are Unreasonable, too

Linchpins are indispensable.  I believe a linchpin must be "unreasonable", too.  And you have to create an "unreasonable" product or service.

The book, "The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World", drove home the point.  I was so impressed that I gave the book away.  I JUST had to pass it on in the Seth Godin's tradition.  (Seth, what are we going to do with Kindle books?)

Muhammad Yunus is a linchpin just like Steve Jobs and Sir Richard Branson. 

Seth's Blog: Unreasonable.

All that succeeds is the unreasonable.

You can get my attention if your product is unreasonably well designed, if your preparation is unreasonably over the top, if your customer service is unreasonably attentive and generous and honest. You can earn my business or my recommendation if the build quality is unreasonable for the intended use, if the pricing is unreasonably low or if the experience is unreasonably over-the-top irresistible given the competition.

Is There A Polio Booster?

This polio outbreak is alarming!  It's atypical.  Normally, it attacks children and mostly causes paralysis.  This polio outbreaks is affecting more males, more adults, and is more deadly.  That's scary!

I hope my doctor can give me a polio booster before January.

 

Congo Republic Declares Polio Emergency - NYTimes.com.

An explosive outbreak of polio is taking place in the Congo Republic, with 201 cases of paralysis found in two weeks and 104 deaths, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

The government in Brazzaville, the nation’s capital, has declared an emergency and announced plans to vaccinate the entire population with oral drops three times with help from the W.H.O., Unicef and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Pointe Noire, the port city where most of the cases are concentrated, “We’ve got two hospitalswith hundreds of paralyzed people and many dead,” Dr. Bruce Aylward, the W.H.O.’s director of global polio eradication, said in an interview from Geneva. “And a couple of things about this outbreak are different and deeply disturbing.”

Polio normally strikes young boys and girls equally, killing no more than 20 percent of those it paralyzes; death ensues when paralysis moves up the spine to the nerves that control the breathing muscles. In Pointe Noire, 85 percent of the cases are in teenagers and adults, most victims are male, and the death rate is much higher.

Eight killed by epidemic akin to polio in the Republic of Congo

 

Every time I hear POLIO, I think of these two young boys that I saw recently in a Congolese village.  They are the only two children not standing erect. They were stricken and crippled by polio.  Also, they were too poor and did not have access to braces.  So they crawl around in the dirt and dust.  BUT, they were lucky!  They were alive!!

Health officials said "There is a serious outbreak of polio in the Republic of Congo:120 cases of acute flaccid paralysis (a syndrome related to polio) and eight deaths."  I heard the story last week at a Rotary District 6560 meeting.  Our Polio contact just mentioned southern Congo was the site.  I thought it was about my Congo (the Democratic Republic of the Congo) instead of the other Congo (the smaller and northern neighbor, the Republic of Congo).

IRIN Africa | CONGO: Eight killed by epidemic akin to polio | Congo | Health & Nutrition.

An epidemic akin to polio, which has raged for nearly two weeks in the main commercial city in southern Congo, Pointe-Noire, has already killed eight, and several dozen cases have been reported, say health officials.

"Patients admitted to hospitals have flu-like symptoms. They are also presenting with paralysis starting in the lower limbs which spreads to the upper limbs, "said Director-General of Health Alexis Elira Dockekias.

"This epidemic is related to the recent polio outbreak. The only difference is that this time the disease affects adolescents and adults, unlike polio which affects mainly the young and children," he said, adding that those affected by the epidemic are aged 15-45.

He called on the public "not to panic but to observe strict hygiene measures: boiling drinking water; washing vegetables properly; and cooking cassava [the staple food] thoroughly."

Drip Irrigation Doesn't Work Without A Solar Pump and Water

It's time to try drip irrigation AGAIN.  But this time, it will be different.  In 2006, we tried to implement a drip irrigation system at the girls school in Bulape.  A year later, we found out it is was not fully successful.  The reason we discovered, the girls didn't want to carry water for an hour to feed the drip irrigation system.

The water needs to be provided to the drip irrigation system.  A solar pump and water well is the answer.  Here's proof in the video below.

 

Powering the Fight Against Hunger from Solar Electric Light Fund on Vimeo.