WORLD TOILET DAY- It's about a big issue that's neglected

Let's admit it, we all go to the bathroom, if we didn't there is something wrong with us and that could eventually kill us. Yet, who wants to talk about toilets? Who wants to sit and discuss the amount of human feces that is floating in the Ganges River, the amount of human waste that goes uncollected and leads diseases and ruining our environment? Well, apparently people are talking and have been talking for sometime. Places like Australia, that are developed, but are running into a need to recycle water from the toilet to have water to drink, are making heads turn. Yet working at world toilet organization has been a great way for me to make myself almost closer to Toilets than I had EVER expected.

NOVEMBER 19th is World Toilet Day, the founding of our organization, and a day we hope to unite sanitation organizations in spreading the word that better toilets that are ergonomic are necessary, that there are 2.5 billion (the number keeps changing, but its more than 2 billion) people are still lacking toilets, and that there is a huge need to address this issue NOW rather than suffer the issues of the middle ages due to improper sanitation causing mass spread of diseases and fouling our environment.

Maybe you don't care about the need of toilets for others because you have a great toilet and well you could care less who is deprived of things on this planet. Well, do you care about clean water? Do you care about fresh air? Do you care about having a healthy life? Do you care about not smelling dung on the streets? Well, then you unintentionally care about toilets too because the lack of having proper sanitation systems, the lack of toilets in all parts of the world is leading to dirty water, diseases that are spreading and also not to mention the stench.

I'm one person, still learning about the different ways that places are going to celebrate this day, but I must admit it is exciting to think that I might have informed someone to think a bit more about the importance of toilets. The issue is not just lack of toilets, but people seeing that they are important to attain, in a world of mobile phones and trendy shoes, there are peole who have phones but lack sanitation systems to their homes. Let's make toilets matter.

5 THINGS YOU CAN DO ON WORLD TOILET DAY:

1. JOIN the cause on Facebook: Toilets for the Poor
2. BLOG about the cause November 19th, and write an article why we all deserve better
3. PROMOTE the day by putting your instant messenger or Facebook status as: TODAY IS WORLD TOILET DAY
4. SHARE the message; Click here for the full text version to cut and paste as an email to friends/people in your network
5. CREATE an event in your school or city. Add your event for World Toilet Day on our website by emailing nora@worldtoilet.org

** Lastly if you can't do any of these, but you have $5 to spare, then please DONATE to

http://www.worldtoilet.org/donateform.asp

Yangon, Myanamar: Shopping, Temples, and Kind People

two people having a romantic view of the lake

Architectural Remnants from the colonial period

The people of Myanmar who still seem to be referred to as as Burmese, even though the name of the country is Myanmar or Burma, depending on whom you ask, are kind and hospitable.

I ended up in Burma (my preferred name for the country because I am too lazy to program myself to call it Myanmar) to visit my father who has been living there for a lump some of my life.

I wasn't planning to end up being in Burma for a week, but I also wasn't planning to stop planning and wing things as much as I have in the time since I returned from Madagascar. I have no clue what will happen next week, or where I will end up, but I'm open to it all..

Bagan, Myanmar: The land of Pagodas

August was Great, now on to September

I basically haven't written about my three months in the states at all! As soon as I returned home, so much happened.

After a whopping one week of living in Los Angeles, I got convinced my Ashley to drive up to San Francisco, and ended up staying. I knew I couldn't live with her for long, especially considering I tended to do all sorts of things that she found "rude". Yet, I am sure we all have friends that are a bit more anal than others.

So, I got to San Francisco around the last week of June, and I was super broke. After looking for jobs, I ended up deciding to work at Starbucks! The entire time in Madagascar I rarely got sick, but my crazy shifts at the lovely coffee shop got me delirious and pretty worn out fast. I had to get out, so I knew that the option was a new career and maybe a new location too...

Well that was pretty much most of July, July was spent working at Starbucks, living in a sublet that I got lucky to find where I faced the panhandle, (photos to come soon), and actually also doing a week of sightseeing in SF with Arnolt, a lovely Belgian guy I met in LA during my short LA life.

The times of July really made me prepared to say yes to the move for the end of August. August started off with a solar eclipse, and that led me to wake up and cease the first weekend, I bailed on my last week at starbucks, mainly because I was damn ill, and ended up going to a party with Bonnie where I met a nice guy named Rob. For a girl that rarely tends to date, this was probably an epic moment..

Rob and I dated for pretty much the entire month of August, and I learned a lot about that being open means also being open to the kind nature of American men too! I guess there can be love with American men for me after all (although the past would say otherwise@). Anyway, nothing is closed off in that story, as life is still an open book.

I ended up going to the conference (www.worldwaterweek.com) in Sweden, and came back to spend time bonding with friends.

The 3rd of September, all things packed, lots of hugs and a week of bonding and staying wtih Cris, led me to Singapore. I took a flight and now I am sitting writing you this from the hotel where I am staying called Standard Hotel.

The future? It's open, THe present is nice, and the past is definitely one that makes me smile..
So it is September, and I guess my life has changed a lot since Madagascar, but it seems to be getting better and closer to my future career (knock on wood).

Madagascar to Los Angeles.. Survival to Need

It is a bit of a technology and material over kill. I went from a land of few things needed, few things wanted, and a land of simplicity to a place of A LOT. My car died a week after my arrival home, as I waited for a rental, I decided to go for a walk, it was while walking on the massively broad street sidewalks, I realized how much I loved the beauty of nature, and although it is interesting, the palce is very different.

The time here is full of more tv watching, job searching, reading, walking, smiling and in many ways there are plants and jokes that I feel remind me of my time in Madagascar..

In many ways it is strange to be searching for a job while trying to figure out what to do in the coming years too. I feel a lot more aware of who I am, but also a bit like I am still thinking of how horrible the lives of many people are in the states, maybe TV is not a good idea to watch in the states.

The goal is to still finish my endemic species coloring book, get a job that keeps me motivated towards grad school, and also keep practicing French! About love, well, I am happy to have good friends, and I am sure if I am true to myself more, and I try to be open to things, then I will find connections that lead to more than friendship too.

Life is interesting, as I get older, the more I realize how many routes there truly are to happiness, maybe the one thing I really liked about being in Madagascar was that I started to realize it is best to not plan, to not fear going beyond your physical abilities in exercise, and to appreciate the little things because they are a source of laughter and happiness..

here are some funny photos with my friends Emmanuelle and the newly wed Katrina..
The desire was to put up 2 other photos of all of us in the bush, but somehow the download didn't work and im using wifi, so shall edit the photos later!

Presentation Jitters

Tomorrow I am doing my first presentations to 8th grade students about my time in Madagascar and providing information about the reasons they should read more about WWF and the organization's conservation throughout the world. After being in the bush and things being slow, it is a bit tough to fully process how fast things are starting to move, but I am excited nevertheless to share my findings and to hear questions that kids have who are curious about the biodiversity of this amazing island.

Yet, a part of me is nervous and I found myself for a second wondering if I could be confident enough to stand in front of a class of 8 grade students. At times I feel the children of today are harder to please in the states than maybe even the adults. This isn't Africa, where if I was to put together a powerpoint, most of them would be just amazed to be looking at a screen where colorful photos of plants and animals were being shown. I feel there are so many species of plants and animals that I would love to learn more about and explain to others as Madagascar really has such an exotic collection of species. I thought about even the types of "silicates" in this area and thought about getting my old geology, geography and ecology books out so that I might be able to explain better how so many species became isolated on this island, and the various adaptations of the species that reside in Madagascar. I tried to find an interactive thing showing how the plates broke apart, and how the continents shifted and the way that Madagascar separated from India and headed towards Africa, but then I felt that it would make my presentation a bit too complicated. Part of me is unsure what kids learn about in 8th grade as it has been very long since I have even entered a middle school class in the states. Maybe this will be a good way to test my presentation and teacher skills!

Last night I decided to buy a website, one which I shall dedicate to putting all the information I hope to gather over the next months regarding the endemic species of this planet. Hopefully I will be able to share with others the rare plants and animals I have seen and who knows might see in the future travels to Madagascar. It's odd, but I have become a doer, sadly this is going to play a huge role in the decrease of entries in my blog, as most of me desires to share information about my time in Madagascar through visuals and conversations that occur in person. I still like to write, but most my time is spent right now reading up and trying to keep in my head the information that I gathered while I was in my trip in Madagascar.

I hope to create a report that outlines the various projects of WWF in the Toliar region of Madgascar, and also provides people with information about the many marine and land reserves that are being implemented thanks to the collaboration of ANGAP and WWF. Unfortunately, I still do not feel that there is a real answer to fully do conservation that is able to be long term in this area due to the poverty of the people making survival a key reason for slash and burn of the land. Plus, I feel that the current president of Madagascar has been slowly opening the country to too many foreigners who are trying to use the land to build hotels and other resorts which solely cater to outsiders. The fate of the people of the south has and still rests with the numerous officials who take the government offices, but are predominately from Antananarivo (the capital). Thus, the officials do not rarely care for the needs of the locals of the areas where they control the policies and tend to act for the benefit of the growth of the capital rather than the needs of the villages and their occupants. This is an old tale, a tale that is prevalent in most areas of the world, especially many parts of Africa. The large amounts of precious minerals on this island has also attracted a lot of miners, while local miners cannot use any sort of heavy machinery, the foreign mining companies are allowed to dig with any sort of machinery they desire; the resources are not being extracted for the growth of the country's' economy. The next few years will show a move towards Madagascar getting even more lost in the clouds of policies that are only working for the economic gains of a few while keeping most of the country in poverty. There is a huge promotion of Family Planning and English in the country, none of which truly seem to be what the people need nor want. The education system tends to lack analytical skill teaching, as most are farmers, hunters, fisherman, and teachers in the village. The job market is small, and the education is poor, with illiteracy being high, and the literacy rate not adding to much but memorization skills. I felt that people were being taught English just so that the South African miners and those who did not speak English were able to be understood in the country, not for the actual economic and social benefit of the people themselves.

Maybe the story of Madagascar is much like most countries where rich resources are being guarded for the benefit of external companies and people. Yet, the country is still enchanting, with lizards on hotel floors, geckos wandering everywhere, chameleons that can be heard at times but not seen, and a large growing population that has many people who are aware of the medicinal purposes of the different endemic plants in their region. A lot of the issues in this region are due to the lack of sanitation and environmental education that is actually understood by the people. Although I visited a school where the entire book was dedicated to teaching the children in malagasy and French about washing hands, and the environment, no one seemed to comprehend this well in the village. Why is that? A lot of the children go to school as they receive free food, but many are not able to go as they must work in the fields. Of the children that go to school, many still cannot read, and also there doesn't seem any sort of effort to use the information in the books to change their habits. While the books talk about using latrines, washing hands, and not bathing in the river, the village had only one latrine (for us) and one for the teachers, and the children tend to wander around rarely using soap to wash their hands before eating or after going to the toilet behind the large masses of cactii.

Peace Brings Creativity

While I was in the bush at times I would think about all sorts of things and my imagination would run wild. At times I think about writing stories about my life, but making them into stories that are fun to read for people of all ages.