In one of the villages in the Philippines the children prepared an art show for our group. We had requested the children do some art and sent materials beforehand but were surprised and what we found.

One of the artist Mary Ann was an exceptional painter. What makes it more amazing is that she lives in a 10x10 home with no electricity, no water, and a dirt floor. She and her father make $2.50/wk to support their family and she goes to school.

I brought back most of the art the children created to share with people in the US. I've digitized some so that I can share on the web. I've posted Mary Ann's work in several art groups on the net and told her story.

Any comments I've promised to forward to Mary Ann. Obviously she does not have a computer so I will forward them to my contact in the Philippines who can then take the comments to Mary Ann in her village. We'll see what happens...

You can view the art I've posted on Flickr and leave a comment if you like...
Mary Ann on Flickr

It seems like since my return from the Philippines the violence in the region has only increased. As I put together articles for Winning the Hearts and Minds, I come across new violence almost daily.

The one that captured the medias attention the most was the hijacking of a busload of children in Manila. The man had a grenade on board and ironically was demanding better quality of life for impoverished children. The event ended with the man surrendering.
Guardian

Further to the north was the disappearance of US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell. She was missing for several days as she went hiking to the famed rice terraces of Batad. She was found in a shallow grave on April 18. Foul play is suspected in her death and Philippine authorities are currently working on the case.
Peace Corps Press Release

On the island I visited, Sulu, several groups have instigated violence. A group related to the MNLF attacked an AFP base on the island. The MNLF denounced the group but several soldiers and civilians were hurt. The Abu Sayyaf also carried out killings on several road workers and fishermen they were holding hostage.
Manila Times

Many of us Americans do not understand and question the violence across the globe but all we have to do is look in our own backyard and find we have the same problems...Virgina Tech.

Date Recorded: March 2007
Location: Dumpsite Antipolo Philippines
Description: 7 minute documentary on a village in the Antipolo city dump. Antipolo is a city in the Philippines with a population of 500,000. The film shows conditions in the dumpsite and how Mission Love Seeds is providing services to the village.

Watch Video

Resources:
earlb.com

Today I was doing some research on Africa and turned to Google Earth for tracking down various locations. As I spun the Earth around,(what power huh?), I noticed new icons on the African continent. They were little red and yellow flames as well as tents.

The icons were locations mapping the crisis in Darfur. This caught my interest.

Digging a little deeper I learned Google has worked with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Amnesty International, Doctors without Borders, individual photographers and various other organizations to map and document the ongoing crisis. In fact today, April 10, was the first day this data-set was made available.

Children in the camps are encouraged to confront their psychological scars. The clay figures depict an attack by Janjaweed.

Google's position is to use technology as a catalyst for education and action. With some 200 million Google Earth users this is sure to raise awareness.

The maps show individual villages that have been damaged or destroyed and tells the extent of the damage such as: "Kubar, Status-destroyed, 75 or 80 structures destroyed". You can then zoom down to see the actual what's left of the village.

There are also displacement maps showing the refugee camps and number of refugees in each camp. One such camp named Mornei has over 60,000 refugees. I zoomed down and thousands of little white tents began to appear on the African landscape. You can only imagine each tent holding a family of families that came from one of the villages with a little flame icon. How far did they walk? Who lived or died along the way? Where are the icons showing the people that committed these crimes!

The ability to witness such inhumanities with a click of a mouse from anywhere in the world is powerful. In a way it almost seems an injustice to sit and view such a thing from afar. And... the very people we are looking down upon have never even seen a computer. The question then becomes, "Why are we the one's on the viewing end?"

Why are we different? Was it the luck of the draw?

The last question is. "What are we going to do about it?"

The tool is in front of you. Many of us have watched pro athletes participating in the game. Most of us are on the "viewing" end. Using technology, maybe just a computer, you can jump into the game and become a player, and truly make a difference. Learn, participate and take action.

You've heard me rave about Google and their applications. I think project this rates near the top of the list, at least mine, as far as using technology to generate awareness. Kudos Google and partners...

Facts:
Some 400,000 people killed
Over 2 million displaced
Over 3.5 million requiring International Aid
(source - savingdarfur.org)

Resources:
Download Google Earth
savedarfur.org
Darfur background
CNN article
UNICEF Darfur
darfurgenocide.org
Wikipedia - Darfur Conflict
Wikipedia - Darfur
Wikipedia - Janjaweed
disclaimer: Links above are external to my site and are provided for information purposes.

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Earl B
earlb.com

Today's post will be a bit different...

I was driving down Old Scenic 98 in Destin, FL (see map below). The road runs along the beach and you have about 150ft of beach before you hit the Gulf of Mexico. Needless to say this is a popular tourist area especially now with many spring-breakers in town.

Woody sits in his box for the night

While driving I noticed a seagull hobbling along side the road. It's wing was broken and it was running in an out of traffic. As I drove down to turn around I made some calls and found a wildlife emergency person, Lisa M. who lives in the area.

I left a voice-mail with Lisa and began to track down the bird. We found the bird again in the middle of the road dodging cars. A young man herded it to the side of the road where he was able to catch it.

We proceeded to my truck's "goodies box" and came up with a small box and duct tape. So Woody went calmly into the box and into my truck. My two boys who love animals were of course excited about rescuing the gull.

The young man told me he saw some kids on the beach abusing the bird earlier. Though most spring breakers are pretty calm in this area, we do get some who are complete a**es.

If that was the case the bird was probably already injured from a car or hitting a beach fishing line in flight. I don't know how the bird made it to the street as there is a dune and fence in front of the road.

During that time Lisa returned my call and said she would accept the bird. So in the morning after a quick "show and tell" at school I will transport Woody to Niceville to begin his recovery.

We formally gave "Woody" his name tonight before bed. As I get more updates on Woody I will post them here. Thanks to the young gentlemen who helped capture the bird.

EB

Notes:
From what I have read Woody is a Laughing Gull which is very common along the Gulf coast.
Laughing Gull - Wikipedia
MAP - Where Woody was caught - Google Maps