Created a Congo Helping Hands' Page on Facebook

Social media, that is, connecting to people electronically on the "networks" required in this new age. Meeting face-to-face is ideal but not practical because it is time consuming and expensive. Also, it is great for staying connected.

Congo Helping Hands enters the social media world of Facebook.

Woody Collins
President, Congo Helping Hands, Inc
facebook: http://profile.to/woodycollins/

Visiting With a Friend and Eating Jambalaya

It was a good day for Jambalaya and catching up with a friend. Today's weather was misty and windy with the temperature falling. Yats on College was perfect.

I met with Greg who selected for last year's Rotary District 6560 Outbound Group Study Exchange (GSE) to the countries of Kenya and Ethiopia (in Africa). Greg was interested in Africa before on the trip. Now he is really interested in making a difference somewhere in Africa.

Greg gave me a book, Facing the Congo -- A Modern-Day Journey into the Heart of Darkness, by Jeffrey Tayler. It is story of a seasoned traveler and journalist's trip to re-trace Stanely trip down the Congo River.

Greg decided to join the Carmel Rotary Club. It was exciting news to find another passionate person for Rotary's work in Africa.

How You can Save a Life in 15 minutes

1. Spend 11 minutes the following video.
2. Take 2 minutes and decide what is appropriate for you to do.
3. Take the final 2 minutes and spread the word and start your action.




Condition: Critical Feature:

"Hundreds of thousands of people are on the run, fleeing a war raging in eastern Congo in the provinces of North and South Kivu. They are frightened. Many are sick or wounded. Others have been harassed or raped, or have had everything they own stolen.

For more than a decade, several armed groups and the army have been fighting each other in the Kivus. The violence has made it impossible for people to lead normal lives. Life isn’t just hard in the Kivus: this region is in critical condition. And things aren’t getting any better. The destiny of everyone in this region of Congo is shaped by the war. The story of their struggle to survive needs to be told.

Condition: Critical will be regularly updated by MSF over the coming year with new eyewitness accounts, photos and video of people living through the crisis in eastern Congo."

Visiting with the Rotary Club of Topeka - Online

Sierra Leone ranks 177th of 177 countries listed by the lastest UN Human Development Index. The speaker at today's meeting spoke about experiences in Sierra Leone. It takes courage to step out of your comfort zone.

Congo (DR Congo) ranks 168th. It is bad there, so I can imagine Sierra Leone.

Woody Collins
blog: http://www.EndingExtremePoverty.org
facebook: http://profile.to/woodycollins/

Apologizing for Waking up James after Midnight

I got the following email from James this morning. "Bishop and I would both prefer text messages a little earlier please. Midnight to 1 AM a little late to be hearing that tell tale beep ;-) Of course we always get up and answer because we know it's the lovable Woody. James"

James is an American living in Kananga, DR Congo. This part of Congo is 6 hours ahead of the US east coast. I had to apologize for sending him a text message at shortly after 6 pm in the US. Therefore, he received in just after midnight.

I should have waited until morning here (afternoon in Congo) to send my urgent text message. I was responding to their request for another friend's telephone number.

Below, James at work in his computer training center at the Catholic High School in Kananga.

When it rains, the students move to first floor

The roof above the second floor is leaking. That's why, these students have to share their classroom with older students from the second floor.

In Congo, it is the rainy season. Therefore, it rains quite frequently. So, the roof leaks quite frequently. And the classes are combined quite frequently, so that students are kept dry.

That's what life is like the Elementary School 1 and Elementary School 2 of the Gare School. The school 1 meets in the morning and school 2 meets in the afternoon.

Where is the Gare School located? It is located downtown just off of the main boulevard (June 30th) in the capital city of Kinshasa.

Oh, I forgot to say, there are two rainy seasons in Congo.

Finding enough money to fix the roof was the topic of discussion for my second meeting of the day.

Tom, I am glad the UN Secretary General stood you up!

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon was justified in skipping his appointment last week with the Rotary International's Board of Directors. The Secretary General was traveling to Africa (Kenya and Congo) to mediate peace between fighting rebels backed Rwanda and government troops of DR Congo.

Tom Branum, a RI Director and member of my Rotary Club (Indianapolis Northeast), relied this story to me today. Therefore, I apologized to Tom on behalf of the 250,000 displaced people in eastern Congo because of this latest conflict. Also, I gave a "Happy Buck" in honor of the UN Secretary General.

visit http://www.EndingExtremePoverty.org for furthur details.