America, I am coming home!

Thursday, October 18th

Dear Friends and Family,

This has been an amazing trip!

Kumbo, Cameroon is a beautiful and welcoming mountain town.

I hope you have enjoyed my little notes about life in the mountains and in Africa.

Some of you have mentioned that a few of my stories did not reach your door. Just continue to let me know and I will re-mail them to you once I am home. At that time I will also post video and photos online.

I appreciate all your kind letters and inspired ideas.

If I can, I will write once more before making the journey back to the USA.

See you real soon.

Best Wishes,

Blair

It's Africa Calling, Act 8 Paints and Smells … Helping Africa Move Forward

Africa Act 8 Paints and Smells … Helping Africa Move Forward

October 17th, 2007

Dear Friends and Family, its Africa calling…

It is time. It is time to help Africa move forward.

Paints and Smells

I found this story in my archives – writers never throw anything away. It was taken from a lecture I gave in 1995. I call the story, “Paints and Smells” – it is the story of a young girl asking Swami Rama about the proper method of performing charitable services; I was in attendance at this lecture at the Himalayan Institute of Glenview, Illinois.

Once there was a fifteen year old girl who went to hear Swami Rama lecture. At the end, he asked for questions and she raised her hand, “Sir, can you teach me how to do charity? I would like to know how to do it.” The instructor was pleasantly surprised and pleased with her question. He asked, “this is very good, what would you like to do?”
She said, next year, I want to give fifteen dollars a month to charity. He said this is very good, what is your problem? She said, I'm afraid I won't do it right. How do you do charity right? After looking at her for a long time, he asked, “how much do you spend on paints and smells?”
At first the question was puzzling, then her mother gave her a hint – paints and smells probably means ‘perfume and cosmetics.’ She got the hint. “I spend about twenty-five or thirty dollars a month.”
He said, “okay, here's what you do. When you go back home, you only spend ten or fifteen dollars on paints and smells, and the other money you give to charities, but no one must know that you are giving any money to charity. When your friends come to you and say, how come you're not wearing all the paint. You must say something else, like, I just forgot. You don't say, well I'm giving money to charity because I'm great. You tell them something else so that the giving is secret. Maybe you then can't go bowling as much or can't eat as much pizza because you give to charity, you don't say why, you must keep it to yourself. It's nobody's business. That's how to give to charity.”

I sit here in Kumbo. I am surrounded by folks who have dedicated their life to charitable service. Their greatest accomplishments remain hidden. They have no interest in name, fame or fortune. Their sole interest is helping this culture re-emerge and re-engage with the modern world. It is time.

It is time to help Africa move forward. Invisible forces of nature have brought you and I together. We have silently been charged with helping those who at this time cannot help themselves. To the highest possible level of help, we must help them now. It is time.

Thanks for your help.

from Kumbo,

Blair

It's Africa Calling, Act 7 Children One and All

... this was the hardest letter to write

Africa Act 7 Children One and All

October 15th, 2007

Dear Friends and Family, its Africa calling…

People are dying here. Over 3000 children die everyday from malaria alone. Jeffrey Sacks in The End of Poverty declares that 20,000 people in Africa die each day. Malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis, dysentery are the top culprits.

The biggest killer, malaria, is also the easiest one to stop. It is also the biggest killer of children and infants.

In the 1970’s, my sister taught me one of my favorite folk songs. It was written by Rod McKuen and recorded by Mary Travers on her album, Mary. The song is Children One and All.

As I meet the dying children, this song haunts me everyday here in Africa. Please read a few lines with me…

Children One And All by Rod McKuen

Some of us live in big white houses, some of us live in small.
Some of our names are written on blackboards, some are written on walls.
Some of our daddies work in factories, some of them stand in line.
Some of our daddies buy us marbles, some of them just buy wine.

But at night you can’t tell Sunday suits from tattered overalls.
Then we’re only children, children one and all.

Some of us take our lunch in boxes, some in paper sacks.
Some of us kids join in the laughter, some hear it at our backs.
Some of our mothers sew fine linen, some can’t sew a stitch.
Some of our mothers dress up poorly, some of them dress up rich.

But at night you can’t tell party dresses from hand-me-downs too small.
Then we’re only children, children one and all….

Some of us grow up tall and handsome, some of us grow up plain.
Some of us own the world in ransom, some of us just our name.
Some of our people die in mis’ry, some of them die in peace.
Some of our people die for nothing, but dying doesn’t cease.

And at night you can’t tell fancy coffins from boxes in the hall.
Then we’re only children, children one and all.


In Kumbo, you can’t tell the healthy children from the dying ones at first. There is no malaria here in the mountains. It is their travel to the lower lands and the lands of stagnant waters where the mosquitoes infect them. They return home with fever and joint pain slowly settling in, as the malaria spreads in their blood. Unable to afford medicine, death comes.

My Number One project, duty and mission is to end malaria by creating huge farms of Artemisia (an herb) that will prevent and cure malaria. We can harvest the crop every 3 months due to the great environment of the mountains of Kumbo. In three years or less, we can eradicate malaria from the entire continent of Africa. Saving millions and millions of lives.

It is possible. It is practical. It is essential.

But I can’t do it without your help…without your money.
How can I convince you that your momentary loss of money for new carpets, cars, toys and trips is worthwhile? You will survive. But without your help, these kids won’t survive.

Also, your donations will create a sustainable cure. It is not a bottomless pit. Once the Artemisia farms and the processing plants are up and running, then this will become a profitable, sustainable African success story.

I am asking you to help these children.

There is nobility in this call, and there will be sacrifice in your action as you dedicate a portion of your time and resources to helping save the children of Africa.

Thank you,

Blair

It's Africa Calling, Act Six

October 14, 2007

Dear Friends and Family, its Africa calling…

Act Six – Going from migrant to vibrant

Yesterday, October 13th, was the Grand Opening of the Himalayan Institute Cameroon community center. We are officially here!!

The soccer stadium was the site of this huge event. The Lord Mayor of Kumbo, the Governor – represented by the Supervising District Officer, the Fons (tribal kings) – represented by the tribal councils and the entire citizenship of Kumbo has welcomed us into their community. Panditji was declared a citizen of Kumbo by the Lord Mayor and given the keys to the city.

The City Council Band played and the people cheered! Then over 300 of our closest friends in the community came to our center for lunch. We have no idea how many people we fed; we stopped counting at 300. It was a huge vegetarian banquet with countless types of cuisine and beverages. I am sure it was the first introduction to vegetarian food for 99% of our guests. They loved it and came back for more!

The food seemed to be multiplying on its own. So we opened our gates and welcomed every passerby to come in and dine. They piled their plates higher than you can imagine. The food ended only after everyone (everyone!) was fed.

It was a great day. We are here to stay.

In April 2008, I hope you will come join me in Kumbo for our next huge feast and celebration. I will save a spot for you!

Update your passport now,

Blair

Rotary Club in Kumbo

October 12, 2007

Dear Friends and Family, its Africa calling…

Yesterday I was the guest speaker at the Kumbo Rotary Club meeting.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so today I will be photogenic.

Life is a lifetime of learning every day, I do hope you will join me in April 2008 in Kumbo. Write me for details of this huge event.

More soon.

Your fellow Rotarian,

Blair

It's Africa Calling, Act Five: I am a migrant worker

October 10, 2007

Dear Friends, its Africa calling…

Act Five -- from soil to soul

It has been fun to share with you my adventures and reflections in Africa. My role here varies from tourist to doctor to city planner. Our meetings with the Lord Mayor, his Excellency the SDO, and the Fons (Kings) of the Nso and Bambalang Kingdoms have been wonderful. But in truth, I am just a migrant worker -- a foreigner who has come to help till the soil.

On a morning walk, Panditji was talking about my migrant work, “Blair, this work is vital for everyone. Massive cross-continent tree plantations can stop the Sahara desert from moving south and swallowing up all of Africa. It will cool the planet and bring biofuels that can bridge the gap, while new technology is being developed to further lower our energy consumption. How beautifully it will solve so many problems arising from petro-politics. The soil feeds the soul – it is a fact.”

Coming to Kumbo this year has allowed me to see the world from vantages I never knew. Market linkage, soil regeneration, cultural preservation and renewal, trade not aid, global warming – these terms are becoming part of my thinking process and inner evolution.

If I really want to help those who I claim to love and those who I have never met, then I must create this bridge between the soil and the soul in my own heart. If the soil can no longer feed us healthy food, how can we nourish our brains and bodies. Poor nutrition eventually equates to poor mental and physical health.

I must go from migrant to vibrant! Join me!

Love,


Blair

It's Africa Calling, Act Four

October 8, 2007 – later that same night

Dear Friends, its Africa calling…

Act Four

While we were at the library, Panditji was talking to the Lord Mayor about other solutions that helped India solve the brain drain problem. After years of software engineers migrating to Silicon Valley of California, India reversed this trend with offering foreign direct investment (FDI) opportunities. Instituting friendly rules and laws that are attractive to wise investors and businesses, the FDI transformed Bangalore into today’s home for the brilliant minds of software engineers. This same program for foreign direct investments is available in Cameroon.

Many American and European investors seem to overlook African nations and miss the ‘fortune potential’ ready to be mined and made. In a matter of weeks, a huge opportunity will be birthed to this community and to friends looking to be investors. It is a farm for energy.

When Mr. Diesel invented the diesel engine, it was not designed to run on petroleum based oils. The original diesel engines used peanut oil as a source. Today, peanut oils and sesame oils are called “biodiesel” fuels. But in truth, peanut oil is the real and the original ‘diesel fuel.’ Imagine going to a farm to fill up the fuel tank on your Mercedes. It is a glimpse of the future.

The School of Energy Farming
Under the leadership of the Himalayan Institute, the School of Energy Farming will establish a training center and demonstration farm in the outskirts of Kumbo. All of Africa can come here to learn the modern dynamics of soil preservation and regeneration.

Africa has no need for chemical fertilizers and other aberrant enticements from the West and yet, every village is being gifted with these toxins at local farmer markets. The water tables and wildlife will eventually be foiled by these corporations, but it is not too late.

Worse yet are the Trojan horses of genetically modified seeds that will grow for only one season. When such seeds cross-pollinate with local gardens and farms; the yearly continuity of the food chain will be choked to death. Seeds will need to be purchased again every year for nothing will return spontaneously come Spring.

Mr. Boniface taught me well. He is a local master herbalist who received advanced training from a herbalist/physician who came each year from Germany. This published authority on herbal medicine provided Mr. Boniface with seeds for Artemisia – a plant that can single handedly wipe out malaria in the sick. Malaria kills 3000 kids every day in Africa; malaria is the biggest killer in Africa, much more than AIDS.

His artemisia grew well until… well, this year, when he told me that the German doctor gave him funny seeds. Sure enough, this year’s seeds were genetically altered. His teacher had created interest and business opportunity for our guy to grow herbs to cure Africa and now he has the guts to give him seeds that will only grow for one season. In time, such seeds could destroy the whole ecology of Artemisia. Mr. Boniface threw them away. The Trojan horse was dead upon arrival. Thank God!

The Himalayan Institute will build a school staffed by our PhD’s in agriculture – they arrive tomorrow. They will teach and inspire a marriage of ancient Vedic farming with the speed of modern farm implements. Powered by home grown biodiesel fuels – peanuts and sesame seed oils – our equipment and techniques will diminish the time for implementation of soil prepping, seeding and harvesting.

Africa can fuel Africa and Africa can feed Africa. The current 60 - 70% waste of unused food crops will come to an end. No more food rotting on fields and road sides. No more outrageous fees for petroleum that leaves the farmer idle. No more ancient plows that make the smallest acreage a huge time-consuming task.

The best biodiesel sources are seeds from long lasting trees – the Pongamia pinnata and Jatropha trees. Their livelihood is multilayered – providing soil retention, drought resistance with their deep roots, seeds for fuel, shade for people and animals, and wind blocks for open lands. These trees will also provide room for cover crops and companion crops to be grown in the same soil.

Energy farming’s greatest strength will be tree plantations that will reverse global warming and end our dependence on petroleum based fuels from people and places that threaten us all.

Site development of the demonstration farm is drawn and school enrollment is soon to begin. We have done it in India for years, now Africa can step up to the plate. Food and fuel will soon be here.

Our projects in Africa span from soil to soul. Energy farming will offer employment to thousands of farmers and nation-wide benefits for millions of people. Forty-five thousand villagers are currently doing energy farming in central India from programs inspired by the Himalayan Institute. They have planted over 20 million trees. That is a lot of shade.

Love is a tree that helps us all,

Blair

It's Africa Calling, Act Three

October 8, 2007 – evening

Dear Friends, its Africa calling…

Act Three

I have so much to tell you that I went back to the typewriter tonight. The Sports Academy kids really gave me pause. There are moments when the pain-mingled joy of being here makes me stop and go silent.

“Those kids (the young athletes) will never ever forget your gifts” -- Roland kept repeating this phrase over and over. Unknown to me, the Highlights for Children magazine in Honesdale, PA, sent three boxes of books and magazines to us in Kumbo. The Himalayan Institute staff gave them as gifts to the athletes during the Summer Awards Ceremony at the Sports Academy. “There are no books here for poor children, they will never ever forget your gifts!” – it was Roland again. He is the federal judge of the high court; I believe him.

Stella, his wife and a third grade teacher, choruses in: “All my children at my elementary school need books. They love to read and we have no books in this town.”

Books … does anyone here remember that I am an author? A bookless land is unacceptable to those of us who spend years writing books.

Enter Stage Right, Act Three now begins.
The scene is in a large unfurnished concrete bunker that I am told is the library.

Brain Drain to Brain Gain -- A Perfect Proving Ground
A few days ago, the mayor personally took us to the Kumbo public library. With two/thirds of the building abandoned and unfinished, it is filled with very few books but an awesome amount of possibility. My eyes quickly laid down carpet, paint and furniture over the concrete grayness. I imagined a huge media resource center and hundreds of patrons filling the two-story building. My dream sequence was short lived.

Everyone knows that library books offer adventure, fantasy, insight and solutions. It is impossible to know how many lives are changed by the resources and programs at fully functioning libraries. However, this library was clearly calling for help, I snapped photos that will quickly tell the story. I will show them to you later.

Every African village and country suffers from the brain drain of talented youth fleeing to first world countries that offer the rewards that everyone here yearns for. Standing beside a wall of empty unused book shelves, it became clear to me how the Dewey decimal system can help make dreams come true on local soil. A living library and community center can stop the brain drain of the adults and youth in Africa. Modern knowledge, working systems and global connections can turn Kumbo into a Brain Gain scenario.

My dear friend and expert interior designer, Chelsea, immediately created a blueprint of the two story building. The lower entrance level will become transformed into a cultural center of local and national history, a gift shop and the children’s library. The upper floor will house the adult library and computer internet division, along with private meeting rooms and two rooms for overnight guests.

We need books.

I will write more later.

Love from Kumbo,

Blair

It's Africa Calling, Act Two

October 7, 2007

Dear Friends, its Africa calling…

Act Two

Missing all of my friends in Dallas was tolerable for me until yesterday…

Yesterday, Dallas was on my mind big time. Roland, the President of the High Court (the Chief Justice), invited us to visit his Sports Academy. Four of us went to meet with him and seven of his staff. In a room built for a few, we all huddled together surrounded by trophies, photo albums and passionate possibilities.

We met Roland and his wife, Stella, at our open house in July. Stella is a 3rd grade school teacher and a student of the Himalayan Institute’s Sacred Link Jewelry program. A delightful woman exuding warmth and inner strength from an unending smile.

After all the introductions to his staff, we settled down to listen. Slowly the stories began. To keep kids out of the court system, this husband and wife team have built the most famous sports academy in Cameroon. Rescuing talented kids from dire situations, they have 10 child athletes living with them and their 5 boys.

Concentrated attention from exuberant adults and coaches, hundreds of young people are gaining self-confidence and team building skills by leaps and bounds. Their long distance runners are tops in the nation and have taken top places in both the boy and girl divisions of marathons in Dallas. Dallas? Yes. And they are coming back to Dallas for the Dallas White Rock Marathon on December 9th, 2007 (http://www.runtherock.com/). I hope to be with them.

Funding for the Sports Academy comes from begging and blessings. Their children come from all over Cameroon. Soccer, long distance marathons and basketball are their sports. We toured the ‘gymnasium’ -- a 10 x 14 foot concrete room filled with broken equipment including a Nordic track rowing machine and a small treadmill that could not withstand 10 hours of daily use.

The Himalayan Institute Cameroon will assess ways to assist the Sports Academy with fund raising for equipment and scholarships for the children. An excellent connection is already possible thanks to Barb and Chinook at Tsada Yoga of Dallas. They introduced us to Gallo Fall of the Dallas Mavericks just 2 weeks ago. Dean Fearing and the Ritz Carlton Hotel gave us a grand meeting space and now I am meeting Kumbo kids (athletes) who are perfect for Gallo’s Basketball without Borders program. We seem to be making marriages like these everyday – hands and hopes reaching across the ocean.

Their star female athlete is an eighteen year old girl, Wirgo Immaculate Tari, who runs like the wind. You will meet her during her return to the Dallas. She won second place in the Big D Texas 43K Marathon in 2002. Since the age of 12 she earned her way through life by sewing. Last year she won races but no money. Angry and jealous, her sibling sold her sewing machines when she left town for the next race. Fearing for her safety, she now lives with Roland and Stella. She has a tailor shop in their family compound where she sews and teaches sewing to several adult women whom she employs. She runs in the morning, sews in the afternoon and goes to school at night. She hopes to quickly advance to join her peers in high school by next summer.

She is one of the 10 children living with Roland’s family. Every child has an amazing and gut-wrenching story. I am in Africa, but sometimes I feel I am in the company of angels uplifting the lost children. It gets very hard to type… very hard to type.

Love you all,


Blair

It's Africa Calling, Act One

October 6, 2007

Dear Friends, its Africa calling…

Greetings from Kumbo, Cameroon!

The first week has now flown by! I am living in a beautiful mountain valley guest house surrounded by rainforest, terraced plots of green and a bustling town of 90,000. The town appears small due to the mountainous divisions of ridges and rolling meadows offering a cozy refuge to the residents by tucking them away in glens of green. You will love it!

These people, this land, still has soul. There is community and communion – everyone greets each passerby on the street and taxis flood the streets with aid and fellowship. My first taxi ride started as a solo experience, but within 100 yards we had acquired seven more passengers, one of them was a goat. Shared rides and shared fares. I wonder how much the goat paid.

Today Matthew auditioned singers for our open house at the stadium. Our students in the Sacred Link Jewelry program joined in on the chorus, “We welcome you in the name of the Lord…” As if cued in by the stage manager, the audition filled with many ‘extras’ singing and dancing in the chorus … including myself and Panditji. For a few minutes, the classroom was transformed into a Broadway theater with a full-scale musical production now on stage. There is a spirit here that seduces us all into caring and sharing.

It is very easy to be here. Food is plentiful and English is the mother tongue. Kumbo’s infrastructure is intact – educationally, politically and socially. Previously, this culture was a victim of economics and exploitation by outsiders leaving many buildings, roads and projects remain unfinished. When a culture has grown dependent on grants and gifts, the concept of earning and inventing is almost absent.

Vocational training, market linkage and opportunity will quickly chase away these ghosts of the past. Rich in resources and poor in options, Kumbo is the ideal place to build a model of self sufficiency and sustainability for all of Africa. The Himalayan Institute Cameroon will change the future of this country.

I will write more soon. Let’s consider this Act One.

Love,

Blair