Does My Head Look Big in This?

If you've been following my blog over the past couple months, you may have noticed I've been on a young adult literature kick.

Because of my interest in travel and other cultures, the books I've been gravitating to stick to these themes. I've also been able to read through them more quickly as they are often shorter than adult novels.

But that's not to say they don't tackle heavy ideas. For example, I just finished reading a book called Does My Head Look Big in This written by Randa Abdel-Fatta.

The book takes place in suburban Melbourne (the author is Australian) and is about a high school gal dealing with some critical identity issues. Even though she is Australian, she is also Palestinian and Muslim. She attends a hoity-toity private school with a strict uniform policy and she has recently decided that she wants to wear a hijab, or head-scarf.

Will she be able to manage all the typical social pressures any normal high school girl must deal with while also managing the stereotypes and questions that come with the hijab? You'll have to read the book to find out.

This is Abdel-Fatta's first book, and I could kind of tell. Sometimes the main character got too preachy and high-strung. However, that wouldn't stop me from recommending it to a teen reader.

It does offer an interesting cultural perspective. The United States isn't the only country in the world where people deal with hyphenated ethnic labels, and this book clearly illustrates that. Plus, even for me, an adult reader, it was interesting to encounter the thoughts and feelings that a Muslim woman might go through in decided whether or not to don the hijab.

The Closest I'll Get to Barak Obama

This might be the closest I'll ever get to Barak Obama.

In July I interviewed a man named Bud Philbrook who works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. My finished article about him was finally published a couple weeks ago in Hamline Magazine, the alumni magazine for Hamline University.

Philbrook earned his law degree from Hamline and is currently serving the Obama Administration as the deputy under secretary for farm and foreign agricultural services.

His title is a mouthful which means, in his own words, that his job is "to promote United States agricultural exports and to help fight world hunger."

Philbrook was nominated for his position because he has a wealth of experience dealing with global cultures and developing nations. Twenty-five years ago, he and his wife founded an organization called Global Volunteers.

While it's currently a popular choice for travelers to spend their vacations volunteering, Global Volunteers was at the forefront of this trend.

During our interview, Philbrook spent a lot of time talking about the injustice of malnutrition when it comes to children. Children who are not properly nourished, no matter where they live, don't usually do well in school.

In my opinion, one of the most striking things he said in the course of our interview was this:

"Children who don't do well in school don't grow up to be Mozart, Mandela or Confucius because their brains aren't fully developed. They can't recognize their God-given potential and because of that they can't help improve the human condition."

If you'd like to read the whole article, you can see it here:

Mr. Philbrook Goes to Washington

Photo from Hamline Magazine.

Save a Village in Malawi

Do you eat Cheerios? Or any of the other gazillion products put out by General Mills?

If so, you might be interested in the company's Malawi mission. General Mills has set aside $500,000 to be donated amongst ten different villages in the African nation of Malawi through a program called Join My Village.

You can help determine how quickly money gets released. Go to the web site, create a log in name and then read about the various villages and projects going on there.

You take a quiz about Malawi and every time you answer a question, you "unlock" part of the $500,000 General Mills has set aside for its donation.

It's an interactive, feel-good way to learn more about a Malawi and get some resources heading into the country without ever having to break open your own account.

Shelter for Life

One of the things I like most about my work as a freelance writer is that the job itself is constantly expanding my horizons.

Every time I sit down to interview someone for an upcoming article, I learn something new.

The other thing that happens is that I develop a supreme respect for the person with whom I'm speaking.

People are so cool and if you give them the time and space to open up, and you listen -- this being the most important I think -- they will tell you things that are amazing.

I met Rand Olson back in January when I interviewed him about the nonprofit he runs called Shelter for Life, which builds homes, schools, sewage systems, water pumps and more in some of the most impoverished, desolate and destroyed parts of the world.

For days afterward, I was in awe. This man had done so many interesting things, seen such fascinating parts of the world, knew so much about so many wide-ranging subjects that I had a hard time wrapping my arms around his life.

My article about Shelter for Life was just released the other day. You can see it here:

Doing Good Across the Globe

Kiva Feels Good

I can't believe people are already gearing up for the holidays.

It really does seem like Christmas just happened not so long ago. And now it's about to happen all over again? Yikes!

It occurred to me that I had an unused gift certificate lingering still from Christmas '07. One of my girlfriends gave me a credit through Kiva, a nonprofit organization that sponsors micro-finance projects all over the world.

People from developing countries apply for loans to help them start up their business projects. Through the Kiva web site you can contribute part of the requested money (or all of the requested money) to help get these people started.

After spending half an hour online reading through several loan requests in various countries, I decided to use my Kiva gift certificate to help fund a small group of women in Vietnam looking to start a livestock business.

The process was easy, paperless and feel-good.

If you're already starting to think about holiday gifts, consider Kiva, especially if you're shopping for a hard-to-please traveler.

As I sorted through the all the loan requests on the Kiva site, I found myself narrowing the list by searching for countries where I have personally seen the need.

Free Rice for Everyone!

Somehow, between all the Internet surfing I do and all the people I interview, I ended up at this totally awesome web site: Free Rice.

Before you follow the link, be sure to read this warning: Free Rice is addictive.

Here's why. You go there and a series of vocabulary words begins cycling on the screen. You are asked to click on the correct definition. If you get the answer right, grains of rice are donated to a hunger program somewhere in the world.

The more vocabulary words you know, the more bowls of rice you fill. The more time you spend on the site quizzing your vocabulary smarts, the more hungry people you feed.

The site is run by the World Food Programme and is supported by advertisers.

Check it out. As I said, it's addictive, but at least you're doing good.

How many addictions can boast that?!

This Year's Favorite Gift to Give

This holiday season, my favorite gift to give was something I found online: BaZura luggage tags.

The luggage tags are made in the Philippines from recycled juice boxes.

School children collect the empty juice boxes and sell them to a woman-owned cooperative that reuses them to produce handbags, tote bags, luggage tags and a bunch of other nifty stuff. The finished products are fairly traded.

What a cool way to keep bulky stuff out of landfills, teach the concept of recycling and help women in a developing country avoid sweat shops in favor of entrepreneurship.

Not to mention the fact that in a world flooded with black suitcases, everyone needs a quick and easy way to spot the exact one that is theirs.

Mmm Bop Grows Up and Gives Back

I really should read the Sunday paper on Sunday. When I don't, I miss out on good stuff. Like this:

Hanson - that teeny bopper boy band of three blond-haired brothers from the 1990s - was in Minneapolis yesterday and performing at First Avenue.

FIRST AVENUE!!!

If you're not a Twin Cities person, this might not mean anything to you. Let me fill me you in. First Avenue is where Prince got his start. It's the setting for the movie Purple Rain. The building occupies a downtown Minneapolis corner and is painted pitch black -- inside and out.

The outside walls are studded with silver stars boasting the names of musicians that have played there, names like U2, the Ramones, Soul Aslymn and Cake. The interior walls, again, are black. The focus is not the decor, which is quite lacking, but the stage.

It's hardly the sort of place where a one-hit-wonder boy band makes a come back. Or is it?

Turns out the Hanson brothers have grown up. So have their politics. And so has their music.

The brothers had been spending time in Africa, doing philanthropic deeds, and decided to record a song with a South African child choir.

Proceeds from the download of the resulting song, Great Divide, support relief work in Africa. Check out the video...

Need Magazine: Ideas for Giving

It's snowing here in the Twin Cities and this morning I wrapped myself up in a thick blanket with a pot of coffee and the newest issue of Need Magazine, which is published right here in Minneapolis.

If you've never heard of Need Magazine, that's because it's quite new. It's only been around for a year. Its tagline sums up its mission quite well: "We're not out to save the world, but to tell the stories of those who are."

As a traveler, I'm drawn to the magazine because many of its articles are about far away places.

As a reader, I've found I appreciate the layout -- lots of white space, nice color photographs and good writing.

In this issue there is an article about several nonprofit organizations that do good in various parts of the world. I learned about Nothing but Nets, a group that buys and distributes mosquito nets in Africa to help prevent the spread of malaria. Just $10 buys and ships one net.

There is also a nice profile about a man named Jorge Chojolan, an indigenous Mayan man who overcame poverty and started The Miguel Angel Asturias Academy, a school for 200 children in Xela, Guatemala's second largest city.

And if you're still on the hunt for a unique holiday gift for a traveler you know, I think a subscription to Need would be a great idea.

Sustainable Shea Butter

A couple months ago, I interviewed a man named Olowo-n’djo Tchala. Olowo-n'djo was born and raised in Togo, a west African nation. He lives in Washington state now and runs a nonprofit organization called Alaffia.

Alaffia imports unrefined shea butter from Togo to the United States. Here in the U.S, the unrefined shea is made into beauty products.

Alaffia returns its revenue to Togo and the community that makes the shea butter. As the son of a shea-butter-producer, Olowo-n'djo grew up watching his mom work long, long, long hours for little, little, little pay.

For example, Olowo-n'djo told me that it takes about 20 hours to make 1 kilogram of shea butter. That 1 kilogram earns just $1 on the traditional global market. Of course, Alaffia is trying to change that.

If you're interested, you can always pop on over and read my article about sustainable shea butter practices.

* photos © Alaffia