 I found at OpenSecrets.org that the top nine — only nine — contributors to the Super PAC Restore Our Future turned over $11 million to the Republican party. And This Week (May 25, 2012) reported, “President Obama raised nearly $15 million in one night at a fund-raiser last week at the Los Angeles home of actor George Clooney.” With all the talk by politicians about “American values,” I find the money contributed to financing campaigns obscene.
What did I do yesterday? I decorated a money jar and Carl cut a hole in the top for people to drop coins to benefit Dig This Well! next Sunday at the church’s ice cream social and our Social & Environmental Justice mini-expo. So far, friends and church members have contributed $2,249.47 and I thank contributors much. My friends and family are, like us, middle-class educators, government workers, retired, etc. and they have given generously. It’s the very wealthy who donate huge amounts to campaigns I wonder about. Hey, guys, do you donate to charitable causes? How about a few dollars for tiny but very worthy projects like Dig This Well?
Bob Perry, in Houston, can you hear me? If you gave $3,000,000 to a political party, could you send me a teeny little (to you) $2,000 so we can start digging?
Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, I don’t know what Newt Gingrich did with the $18 million your family gave him, but I could sure use what to you is just a measly $100,000 to get those latrines in. Think of it, Mr. & Mrs. Adelson–you could provide sanitation, and with it a better chance for good health for 1000 men, women, and, especially, children in Oltorotua. Of course, you would receive in return only a feeling of doing good, of demonstrating what American values should be.
Does anyone out there reading this have an “in” with someone really wealthy, someone who wants to change the picture the world is receiving of “American values”?
Last Friday and Saturday Carl and I enjoyed attending his 50th reunion from what is now Eastern University, in St. David’s, on the mainline from Philadelphia. The commencement speakers were Dr. Michael Johnson and his wife Kay Johnson, who have lived and worked in Kenya. Each of them gave an inspiring and gripping talk, which included their work on both sides of the Atlantic. From the commencement program:
“They have helped provide water and agricultural projects for thousands of families in Kenya, and helped place dozens of children into adoptive homes there. The Johnsons have helped promote and sustain training programs for African doctors pursuing post-graduate training in Africa.”
I talked for a few minutes with Kay at the luncheon after graduation and she is a charming woman, definitely driven to serve those who need help in both Philadelphia and Nairobi. She told me they received help from the West Chester Rotary Club in building wells in Kenya. How ironic that we traveled to Philadelphia and met a couple digging wells not too far from Kenya’s Mara! What an inspiring life they have made for themselves! I hope some of the graduates feel challenged to help the world as the Johnsons have.
 Yesterday was Mother’s Day in the U.S. Today I received the following e-mail from Jackson:
“Today it is World Mother’s day.
Any celebrations in the US? I am writing this in honour of you as my MENTOR MUM.
Thank you!!
==Love, Jackson.”
I am very proud of him and my three daughters, Hope, Bonnie, and Jean. (Hope sent me the pictured flowers. Bonnie tried to phone but I was in church. Unfortunately, Jean texted me yesterday with promise of lunch soon but that she had a stomach flu and couldn’t get out of bed to eat the dinner her own family made or even to phone—I hope she feels better today.)
Please forward, tweet, add to your blog, or put on Facebook. (Double click for full size.)
Friend Wendie Old just sent me an e-mail that said this weekend we will see the biggest moon of the year. I am not a star-gazer as our friends John and Meg Menke are, with those round dome telescopes in their backyard (very cool, however; see photo below), but it is fascinating that the same huge moon I see will also be shining over my friends in Kenya. Seven hours earlier but same brilliant ball! From the space.com website:
“The moon will officially become full Saturday (May 5) at 11:35 p.m. EDT. And because this month’s full moon coincides with the moon’s perigee — its closest approach to Earth — it will also be the year’s biggest.”
We really are one world in so many ways. I wish I were in the Mara, with a clear sky to view Saturday’s moonshine! Jackson e-mailed that heavy rains have made everything green and lush. ”It is all green, wet and muddy.” On a night with a huge moon, standing in a huge savannah with no electricity to get in the way of a clear sky—well, I’m guessing the view will be spectacular.
Thanks to friend Clare Crawford-Mason who pointed me to a great article by Ruth Marcus in the April 19 Opinions blog of the Washington Post. She talks about how Matt Damon got involved in the issue of water equity in Africa:
“Damon became hooked on the issue during a visit to Zambia in 2006. He was in a rural village, walking with a 14-year-old girl to collect water a mile away. As far as that sounds, the relatively short trip was possible only because of a new well that had been drilled nearby — shortening the time consumed by the daily water haul and enabling the teenager to spend time studying to fulfill her dream of becoming a nurse.
“’I was thunderstruck,’ Damon recalled. ‘Her whole life would literally revolve around collecting water for the day. It was changed by a single well.’”
Two facts from the article:
● Women spend 200 million hours a day collecting water.
● More people have access to a cellphone than have a toilet.
Thought for today: If you can easily turn on a faucet to get water, consider what not having access to clean, pure water is like.
I received a quick response from Kari Snyder. Dr. Bartlett is lucky to have such an efficient, competent person as Kari, but I was disappointed in what Mr. Schultz told her.
Mrs. Bowman-Kruhm,
I spoke with Mr. Schultz, the congressional liaison at the State Department in DC, and he informed me that Jackson Liaram was denied a visitor’s visa twice on 3-6-12 and 4-12-12 under section 214(b). I’ve included the USCIS statute on 214(b), but Mr. Schultz told me frankly that Jackson needs to provide much more information on his end before applying again. The letters from your rotary club are going to help once the Embassy in Kenya has deemed from the evidence provided that he will, without a doubt return to Kenya after his trip.
He is welcome to apply again, but needs to provide employment records, proof of investments in his life in Kenya, both monetary and relationship wise.
Please let me know if you have questions regarding any of this information; I’d be happy to expound on it.
Kari Snyder – District Assistant
Congressman Roscoe G. Bartlett
Jackson did supply a letter from his employer but providing monetary information is a little more difficult. Hmmm. He is a Maasai and anyone who knows anything about their culture knows that their money is invested in cattle. Would photos of his cattle be acceptable or does Mr. Schultz expect him to take the actual animals as proof? More seriously, Steve King sent the signed letter from the District Rotary officers directly to the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. In other words, the consular had an original that clearly could not have been tampered with or copied. Steve provided specific dates Jackson would stay in Frederick and Leonardtown and we both wrote that Jackson has a wife and three children in Oltorotua, Kenya.
The State Dept. has a horrific job to screen out applicants who are terrorists or plan to slip into the country and stay. All I ask is a fair interview process. There is no checklist that I can find on the Visa Services website that explains exactly what is needed in the way of documentation. Since the material on their website is written at a post-college graduate reading level (shades of my life as a reading specialist), I think the State Dept. should review and revise their information. Not everyone who wants to visit the U.S. is a lawyer. Little wonder even our staunch friends in developing countries are losing faith in America.
Since Jackson Liaram will not be visiting us this month, I am sadly canceling the scheduled events. Jackson was turned down for a visa a second time. He received a message of 214(b), which means he did not convince the consular that his visit was going to be temporary. I find this amazing because officers of the Rotary Clubs who have contributed to the well and I wrote strong letters requesting he be granted a visa, specifically naming the dates he would be with us in the U.S. and that he would definitely return to Kenya because he has a wife and three children at Oltorotua. However, Jackson said the person who “interviewed” him did not indicate he had read those letters but simply told him he didn’t think Jackson had a job or funds to visit U.S. or would be returning to Kenya. Jackson responded that he has worked as a safari guide for eight years and friends in the U.S. would cover costs, as the letters say, but the visa was still denied. I do wonder about our State Dept. if Jackson’s treatment is representative of their work. As he described his interview in a brief text message, it was more like trying to buy a bus ticket than an “interview.”
Because each application costs $200, Carl and I feel, unless we get a member of congress to intervene, there is no point in applying again. We talked to Roscoe Bartlett’s congressional’s liaison last Thurs., but she has not got back to us. I am also working on material to send to MD Senator Barbara Mikulski. Since Jackson can take leave from his job only between April 15 and June 1, I see little hope for his coming this year.
Thanks to District 7620 Rotary clubs and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick and other friends for planning special events that would have made his trip special. Jackson, Carl, and I are very disappointed, as you can imagine.
Jackson was turned down for a U.S. visa in March despite having the paperwork we thought was needed. He re-applied and Steve King worked hard to send the U.S. Embassy a very strong support letter signed by members of the district Rotary clubs supporting the well/sanitation project. Jackson and I arranged that he would text me immediately after his 6:15 a.m. interview on Thursday at the Embassy. Since Nairobi is seven hours ahead of us, that would be 11:15 Eastern Daylight Time Wednesday night. I finished reading My Maasai Life: From Suburbia to Savannah, by Robin Wiszowaty — a great read about how a young woman with teen angst spends a year in a Maasai village and matures while falling in love with Kenya and the Maasai. I turned out the light after remarking to Carl that Jackson would just be starting his interview and I expected to soon be awakened by my phone telling me I have a text message. I awoke about 1 a.m. and wondered why the phone was eerily quiet and drifted back to sleep. When I awoke about 3 a.m. I checked my e-mail, just in case he had e-mailed instead of texting. Nothing. Now I was worried.
Continue reading Bad Day Yesterday but Hopeful about Tomorrow!
Steve King e-mailed me that Mike Hammond, Treasurer of the Rotary Club of Prince Frederick, MD, called to report that his club approved funding and is joining our project. That makes four clubs in District 7620: Lexington Park, Leonardtown, and Prince Frederick in southern Maryland and Fredericktowne in mid-Maryland.
Thanks so very much Prince Frederick!
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So— How do I donate? • Write a check to UUCF.
• You must write “Dig This Well” in FOR line at bottom of check.
• Include your name or indicate anonymous donation (name but not am't. will go into post).
• Mail check to: Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick, 4880 Elmer Derr Rd., Frederick, MD 21703.
• For contribution of $20 or more, you will receive a packet of 5 notecards.
(Complete directions: Sept. 25, 2011 post)
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I found at OpenSecrets.org that the top nine — only nine — contributors to the Super PAC Restore Our Future turned over $11 million to the Republican party. And This Week (May 25, 2012) reported, “President Obama raised nearly $15 million in one night at a fund-raiser last week at the Los Angeles home of actor George Clooney.” With all the talk by politicians about “American values,” I find the money contributed to financing campaigns obscene.
