My posting has dropped to all-time lows, mainly because I have been swamped at work. In a few more days it should be smooth sailing til the end of the year. However, while I've been busy, I still have found time to:
1) Have Thanksgiving dinner at the American club. About 200 people attended, and they did a good job of importing all the favorites (though nothing beats our family's stuffing). Although we sat with friends and had a good time, I vastly preferred hosting our own Thanksgiving for ~15 people in Belgium last year, so I've resolved to try to repeat that here next year. That will mean finding a local poultry farmer, paying him to kill the turkey, and then plucking it ourselves, but I think its worth a shot!
2) Attend the Mille Collines Road Rally. There were 17 entrants, and we are friends with two of the co-pilots. The race went from Kigali to the NW part of Rwanda (volcano/gorilla region). The cars were fast and loud (except for the two Belgian entrants driving Peugeots!) and the track was scary! Cliffs on one side, freefall to a river on the other. Local kids turned out in droves to watch the cars zoom by, and were really into it. The best part was going to the pit stop and seeing the drivers make tons of repairs in the 15 min of allotted time, while being surrounded by throngs of children. We took a break to drive up to the Virunga Lodge - a chichi eco-lodge that costs 800 dollars a night (and really isn't worth that much!) but does have the most stunning views I've seen in Rwanda: a 360 degree panorama of volcanoes and lakes.
3) Start decorating the house. I commissioned a huge painting (6 feet by 3 feet) from a local artist, and it should be ready next week- really hoping it turns out nice. We have bought some local cow dung art for the walls, started painting the rooms, etc, had a carpented build some furniture...all to be shown off to the 3 guests we have coming for Christmas, where we'll do the full tour of the country - cannot wait!
It's a bit strange to be in the holiday season in such warm weather - first time I've been sunburned in December! Hope you are all well
Friday, December 7, 2007
Lightning Round Part 2
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5 comments:
Plucking a turkey!? Eeeewwwww! You didn't get sunburned in December in Uruguay? Or maybe that was January. I do seem to remember a sunburn, or maybe I'm getting mixed up with the time a waitress in Philly asked you whether you'd looked in the mirror that day because you were so sunburned.
Ahhh, Punta! Yes, I think technically that was January but I'd already forgotten. Nicolas, Emily, Pablo etc are all going back this New Years...perhaps we should plan a reunion for New Years 09?
Good call on the waitress too...my skin is worthless!
Hello Garron,
I chanced upon this blog from one of your postings on the Wharton website. The overview of the work you do with OTF Group sounds fascinating. If you have a chance can you discuss in more detail what you do on a daily basis. I am in the process of applying to business school and am extremely interested in a career, similar to what you are currently doing.
Tori
you can get turkeys on the road to gitarama ... you know, that bend in the road with the big (well multi-stand) fruit market? the last big bend before you enter kigali if you're driving from gitarama? anyway, there used to be a guy selling turkeys (and other random animals) on the road there... a friend of ours bought one, plucked it and cooked it for thanksgiving dinner... the poor thing spent so much time with it that she felt like she had bonded with the bird and couldn't eat it :( everyone else enjoyed tremendously though!!
The charity 'Raising Malawi' (PR firm) founded by Madonna AND TWO OTHERS over three years ago held fund raisers for over two years before finally getting registered as a non-profit. In other words, Madonna and the others were free to squander the lion's share of that funding any way they saw fit for those first two years. She also pleaded with her fans worldwide for donations along the way. In the meantime, she toured the world to promote her latest CD and raked in another $280,000,000 gross in just over 12 months. To date, the basic financial info for 'Rasing Malawi' still hasn't been posted on the website or anywhere else. The 'progress' page only tells of the collective works by over 20 seperate charities. Each of which have their own sources of funding and may have recieved some sort of promotion or support from 'Raising Malawi' in order to be considered 'partners'. But no indication is made how much of their funding came from 'Raising Malawi' or how much of their progress if any could be directly attributed to 'Raising Malawi'. The fans/donors have no clue how many millions of dollars were raised in that first two years, no clue how much Madonna herself chipped in, and no clue how the money was spent before they finally registered as a non-profit. No clue what fraction of funding or works listed on that 'progress' page could be directly attributed to 'Raising Malawi'. Nothing to go on but the vague word of Madonna. The vague and very misleading word of Madonna. For example: She states in her latest promotional video that she will match any contributions made to her charity (PR firm) "dollar for dollar". However, there is a disclaimer posted on the website for 'Raising Malawi' that Madonna's total contribution will not exceed $100,000. Thats not per donation. Thats a maximum of $100,000 TOTAL. Less than a single days pay for Madonna. Also much less then she will surely rake in by promoting her own CDs, DVDs, and 'for profit' merchandise through this massive worldwide publicity stunt. So I called the office of 'Raising Malawi' in an attempt to verify some sort of efficient financial operation (310) 867-2881 or (888) 72-DONOR). These details are ALWAYS made available by legitimate charities to their potential donors. But not in this case. I got nothing but recorded messages and hangups. So I did some research on my own. 'Rasing Malawi' still hasn't been given any kind of rating by ANY independent charity watchdog like Charitywatch.org. The vast overwhelming majority of 'celebrity' foundations never are. In general, they are inneficient and riddled with corruption. Like the promotion of CDs, world tours, commercial websites, entire lines of jewelry (not just the single piece from which proceeds are donated), and high end fashion retail flagship stores. Celebrity foundations are also notorious for squandering much of their funding on private jet rides and super high end accomodations for their managers, PR crews, and celebrity figure heads. Its legal even for a nonprofit but not noble or efficient by any stretch of the imagination. In general, 'celebrity' foundations are a twisted inefficient mutant of charity, self-promotion, exotic travel, and PR crap. Still, they compete for funding with more efficient legitimate charities who do more work with less money. The celebrity figure heads often disregard the primary donors, co-founders, and managers, take personal credit for any collective work done, and seek maximum publicity shortly before or after the release of their own commercial projects. Its a sham. So if its not rated, then don't support it. Instead, support a top rated charity like any of those given high ratings at Charitywatch.org.
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