Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/01/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Some of you who know me know that I work a lot in Africa. In the past it was Zimbabwe, Tanzania and South Africa. Now it is Malawi. I met a man, Phillip Tambala: http://dlridings.se/blog/2007/12/12/a-little-report-from-malawi/ After the initial reaction of "oh-no-not-another-beggar", I realized I was dealing with a special man. He was industrious, focused (on his family) and generous. Besides his own immediate family, he took on many orphans. I don't give away money. That's useless. I do things. We had our little projects. A house, crops, things like that. http://dlridings.se/blog/2008/02/14/bought-a-roof-on-my-lunch-break/ Phillip died a couple (now few if a couple is more than two) of months ago. Malaria. Basically, that meant his family would probably starve to death. I'm now a farmer. Ask me about the hideous prices of fertilizer that is required in order to make gene manipulated corn to grow, and I can tell you. I finance about 12 acres of corn (and beans). If any of you get a chance, that is the way to help. Things are looking good and if it keeps up (the rains have come), there will be enough of a harvest to feed the family the whole year with a surplus that can be sold to finance next year's crop. I'm going back in a couple of weeks and am taking prints with me. Here's a sample. http://dlridings.se/lightroom/tambala/index.html Political: those of you who know me know that I would never praise George W. Bush, a catastrophe for the world, without reason. But locally, in Africa, he has been a blessing. Not a blessing in disguise, but an outright, full-fledged blessing. I hope Obama can at least hold the course, a difficult task in its own. When it comes to US politics in Africa, Bush is a hard act to follow. Now ... just waiting for that little fever top from the yellow fever vaccination and I'm off. Daniel