Wandering Thoughts

2010-08-01T16:06:00.002Z

welp....Wandering Thoughts has come to its end - i stopped blogging because i wanted to practice that whole Jesus sentiment of being quick to listen and slow to speak..well I'm over that now ;) and want to start speaking again - so if you want to hear it, I'll be over at michaelkingsley.tumblr.com . Talking about my new life in N. Ireland.

2009-04-22T21:05:00.002Z

Okay, so tell me what you think.

Here's a list of the books that I keep wanting to read but never have time to as a medic (or should I make that a very slow reading medic).

I'm looking to get advice as to which i should read first, if you've read one and it wasn't that good so I can axe it from the list, or if there's books I REALLY need to add.

In no particular order:

1. The politics of Jesus by John Yoder

2. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman

3. Christi-Anarchy by Dave Andrews

4. The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

5. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

6. Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere

7. Technopoly: the surrender of culture to technology by Neil Postman

8. The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul

Alright those are just the ones that spring to mind again and again, there's others of course that i want to read but these are the ones that seem to stick in my mind. Any suggestions? Thoughts? Help me out here, I'll probably only read one or two by the end of the year (if I'm REALLY doing well that is).

Thanks.

Sunday 09-07-06 On the train to Rome from Siena

2009-03-15T01:11:00.002Z

On the train to Rome... well actually to Chuisi - the countryside here is golden yellow and actually quite beautiful. The hill top towns we pass by are really well preserved. (.........) I really loved Siena. I'm so glad we stopped there. Thank God we were able to have that time there. It was so beautiful and not as tourist crazy as Florence. I wish I could have sat at the window of our room looking out onto the street for hours and hours. Towns like that are so romantic and sensual to me. I wonder why... I guess it evokes images from an imaginary past, or maybe because it shows how the city is organic, not centrally/mathematically planned with roads narrowing and winding, merging and diverging. Maybe it's the close proximity of things to each other. Rome will be good I hope but of course it will be a lot more manic than Siena. The world cup should be cool there, though.

Monday 10-07-2006 3:00 p.m. - Rome
So today was it, we went to the Vatican. The lines were long but they went quickly. St. Peter's was enormous. Very Majestic. Almost moved me to awe, but I'm too desensitized to that stuff, that type of art. At the very back behind the altar and above St. Peter's throne, was a piece that did move me to worship, but the rays of light -in gold- seemed a little too dull compared to what's deserving of our God. the line for the Sistine Chapel was even longer. They brought us through so many other rooms and chambers before actually seeing the chapel that you're really tired when you actually get to see it. Saw Raphael's "School of Athens" if I hadn't known it was famous, I probably would have skipped it over like most of the others. The facial expressions + clean style don't move me because they don't feel true to emotion. what did move me were the many pieces of modern art immediately before the sistine chapel but I had to consider the others I was with + how tired we all were/are so we didn't stop to ponder. The sistine chapel was a bit strange. There were so many people there was well as many security guards. Every few moments they would loudly Shhh! us and tell us to be quiet. A warning few took seriously. A very loud announcement came over speakers reminding us of the same + not to use any kind of photography - this warning came in 4 languages and definitively disturbed my peace.

Walking out I see the many street hawkers. They're lucky I guess, at least they have some capital. we passed by some car window washers. They really must have nothing, but they're not begging, wow. I was thinking today, the vatican is not the centre of the church today, if it ever was. Philip Jenkins has observed it right but Christ let us know long before. His kingdom is not of this earth, with palaces, gold + silver, prestigious art, his kingdom turns that on its head. I wonder if Benedict knows that?

The whole stem cell/science thing

2009-03-11T00:29:00.004Z

Who am I to comment on US policy, but I will comment on US news coverage. I've been reading a few articles covering the decision of Barack Obama to overturn the decision that George W. Bush made to ban public funding of embryonic stem cell research. I really don't know what I think about embryonic stem cell research in general, it's a lot more gray I think than some would want to admit, but I also think it's a debate that's a bit past its time as the most promising stem cell research today doesn't come from embryos but from people's own cells. Anyway, that's not my point....

My point is the false dichotomy that reporters seem to be making between Religion and Science. They say that this decision brings science back to the White House.

One such article was by Roger Simon at Politico.com (my favourite american political news source at the moment)

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19802.html

"President Barack Obama did a lot more than lift the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research Monday. He came to the startling conclusion that scientific research should be based on science."

What does the phrase "scientific research should be based on science" mean? Scientific research should of course be scientific, but research is always subject to outside demands. Funding (it needs someone who is interested in the question being studied). Politics (it must be politically seen as advantageous if it's to receive public funding) Ethics (all reputable scientific endeavors must undergo ethical questioning before beginning the project and even attaining grants). Bush (who I can't believe I'm defending) I believe, didn't argue against the liklihood that experimenting with embryonic stem cells, will eventually give rise to effective treatments for terrible illnesses. His argument was (agree or not) that these embryos had human rights and created an ethical issue that would be difficult for many tax payers to see their money going to. (probably a bad argument given that public money already goes to abortive procedures...so perhaps a bit inconsistent). But nonetheless, this was his point. It wasn't an issue of science verses ethics. It's an issue of one groups ethical arguments vs another group's ethical arguments.

Simon also writes:
"Some centuries ago, they didn’t like Galileo saying the Earth revolved around the sun, and they got him to recant (and spend the rest of his life under house arrest). That wasn’t good for science, but it was just fine for the Inquisition."

Again, this is an unfair comparison. The church in this instance was arguing with Galileo's results. That's not happening here. People aren't against embryo testing just because they don't think it would work, and they wouldn't change their views if proven concretely that this is the case. They form their view from ethical values that determine human embryos are human beings. This is a philosophical and theological question, and therefore does not lend itself to exploration through the scientific method (even though certain findings such as: the ability of an embryo to split into twins, or the mapping of the genetic make-up of an embryo, and other chracteristics, can inform the debate, they cannot come up with an answer to the question.)

-Writing this I just heard a commentator on CNN say that "we should consider issues of religion, ethics, politics, but that at the end, science must come first...." what does that even mean? I guess in this sense they just mean the process of discovery. But how can a process, or methodology, of discovery control itself, without things like ethics. Science, itself, is an amoral undertaking. It's how the information discovered is used, or the techniques that one uses for that discovery.

For instance, if the issue was, (as they did in several countries in the 20th century) using those who have learning difficulties or who are prisoners to perform medical experiments on would people say "well, science must come first". The processes were often scientific, and even some knowledge we have about drugs I learn about in medical school comes to us from unethical experiments performed in Nazi Germany (it was a bit surprising finding that out). But obviously we would have ethical concerns, and we would recognise that perhaps there should be some boundaries to scientific endeavours.

It's really easy though to confuse people today. Scientific process cannot comment on ethical issues as such. Science can and must be used to help humanity (this is the basis of all medicine), and the ethical basis for using stem cell research for good. But saying, that science must come first before ethics, is REALLY an unwise statement. It's the type of statement that could cover many wrongs (as it has in the past).

Okay, that's enough of a rant for now. I should go to bed.

Missing Person

2009-03-08T01:25:00.002Z

I just wanted to put this up just for a chance in a million. This is a woman who is the wife of a pastor of Elim Church in County Navan. Please pray that she would be found and kept safe.

A few pics from our weekend away in Romsey

2009-03-03T02:01:00.002Z

This is pretty much what we did for most of the weekend. And I think that's a good thing.

Having another tense match of Perudo...one day I will beat Steve Jones...but not any time soon.

It's great having kids around, that's definitely something you miss about student life. Kids are especially cool though pretending to drive Con's quad bike.

The saturday walk was definitely one of the highlights...

Although there was the occasional local you had to run away from...thanks for the action pic Tom!

Classic Article from the Irish Times. Worth the read.

2009-02-19T00:19:00.001Z

ONE FROM THE ARCHIVE/JANUARY 30TH, 2001: RUGBY PEOPLE. Can’t live with them. Can’t shoot them. Mainly can’t live with them. Can’t afford to live with them. Haven’t the bloodlines to live with them. Haven’t the patience to live with them. Haven’t the language skills to live with them. Haven’t the desire even. Rugby people have always been college scarves and jutting jaws and silly songs I don’t know the words of.

C-A-N-N-O-T live with them...

read on at:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2009/0218/1224241330694.html?via=mr

Image of the Weekend!

2009-02-14T19:49:00.003Z

"Sloppy Joe, meet Krispy Kreme. I promise, you’ll be great friends."

I saw this on a friend's tweet. Wow. If I'm honest I think I would try it if offered (cause I can't lie that I'm intrigued...) but if you're looking for a way to gain a stone or two in a week, this would be your diet. I am impressed at the concept though. So wrong but it is functional and logical.

http://peculiarfare.wordpress.com/2008/11/06/sloppy-joe-slop-slop-sloppy-joe/

Favourite Image of The Week

2009-02-12T00:06:00.002Z

I want a big version of this to hang in my room. This map is based on population size. The bigger a country's population the bigger its size on the map.It definitely gives some perspective. It's mostly India and China. Maybe it would be good to keep this on the wall if we ever struggle with delusions of our own self-importance in the world.

2009-02-11T23:59:00.001Z

Just to update. Phil Rizk has been released safe to his family. For more info go to www.freephiliprizk.org.

2009-02-09T21:58:00.003Z

Hey Everyone,
I just wanted to do something and try and raise awareness about a situation regarding someone I went to Wheaton with. I don't know Phil well but he's a friend of many of my friends, and is someone who has great respect for the work he does.

After graduating from Wheaton Phil (who's half Egyptian half German) went to work for a British Aid agency in Gaza for several years. He's now currently undertaking a graduate degree in Middle Eastern Studies at American University Cairo. He's continued to be a peace activist and advocate for palistinian people and has been one of the first people to help facilitate medical supplies going into Gaza after the recent conflict there. He writes a blog at www.tabulagaza.com about what's happening in Gaza.

At a recent event, a peaceful march for solidarity with the palistinian people he was abducted by Egyptian secret police. They have refused to give any information as to the whereabouts or why he is being held.

Please pray for his safety and quick release.

Here's some links for more info about his story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7878067.stm

http://blog.sojo.net/2009/02/09/free-philip-rizk-gods-politics-blogger-arrested-by-egyptian-secret-police/

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/09/news/ML-Egypt-Activist-Detained.php

2009-01-20T19:05:00.002Z

Last weekend I managed to watch the film "Blood Diamonds" twice. Once I was watching by myself with the directors commentary on (really interesting insights to the film that way) and the second time I watched it with some friends who hadn't seen it before (I had to stop myself from saying every few minutes..."oh this is how they filmed that scene" "those roads are rubber, and those mountains in the background are CG"). If you haven't seen it it's a film about the Diamond trade and how the illegal diamond trade in Sierra Leone fulled the conflict that has so violently damaged that country and the millions of people there. One of the gruesome practices performed by the militias there would be to cut off people's hands to show their power and keep people in fear. One of the poignant lines spoken by the lead woman, an American journalist trying to uncover the facts and bring this to light, was this:

"People back home wouldn't buy a diamond if they knew it cost someone their hand"

We had a discussion afterwards, where we discussed if that's really true? I feel more so these days that we've just come the accept (myself included) that our products have come at the suffering of those far away from here, but that's just a fact of life and there's nothing we can do about it.

Case in point. The above picture is from the DR Congo, it's of Rwandan militas in the eastern part of the DRC where, as it was with diamonds, militias and armies have been fighting over the trade of the rich mineral resources in the area. We have been told so many times that our cheap electronics, our ipods, and mobile phones can only be made through using these materials. We know that this trade has been fuelling violence leading to the deaths of over 3 million people in the past 10 years. But we have seemed to accept it as the inevitable perhaps "collateral damage" of technological 'progress'.

HERE's a link to the most recent BBC article that alludes to this, along with other complexities involved. It's somewhere in the back pages.

To see some GOOD news happening in the region, check out the work of one of my favourite organisations, Congo Initiative, which some of my friends are involved in helping to run: Congo Initiative

2009-01-16T13:07:00.002Z

As someone who has had the blessing (although it doesn't always feel that way) of needing to fly in airplanes on a frequent basis (let's just say I owe the world a few trees), the picture above serves as a bolt of hope, and completely made my day. The amount of times I'd seen those animated videos of what will happen if the plane needs to land on water, and people piling out onto wings and magical rafts that come from the doors, never once thinking that it was even remotely possible.

Ah New York, what a crazy place to live.

Obama the political genius and Sanjay Gupta

2009-01-09T20:01:00.005Z

I'm just enjoying watching almost-President Obama do his political maneuvering. He's so great at it. Remember this is the guy who was rated the Senate's most liberal senator (or at least close). This guy struck fear in the hearts of many a conservative (probably for good reason). But the people he's been upsetting most lately seem to be democrats, and liberal democrats at that. Obama is completely changing his image (although i doubt his substance). This guy's a genius.

First it was his more centrist cabinet choices, then all the angry blogs about him asking the Christian pastor Rick Warren to give a prayer at his inauguration (bizarre for a country which is supposed to separate church and state -perhaps i'm more of a mennonite in that), and now this latest one which interests me because it's medically related.

I've been reading about Obama's possible appointment of one of People Magazine's 'Sexiest Men of 2003' (that's wikipedia knowledge, not my own...honest), Sanjay Gupta as new Surgeon General of the United States. Surgeon General as far as I can understand is pretty much mainly just a figurehead anyway, and the person who the public see as the most authoritative person when it comes to health matters, which is handy because Gupta is widely known in the US for being CNN's Health Correspondent, and for writing a widely read column on health matters. He briefly worked in the Whitehouse as a fellow under Hillary Clinton during the days of the failed attempts at reforming health care policy.

Anyway, the reason this is a massive political win for Obama, is that again, all the press about his appointment is from left-wing democrats complaining that this guy had a big argument with Michael Moore for his film Sicko. Now, i didn't realise this fact about Gupta, and I doubt most people do. But now people who are even semi-interested in Gupta will know this. For conservatives this will put their hearts at ease; anyone who disagrees with Moore gains points in their books. So that will put the emotional fear element to rest, but actually Gupta's views are to reform health care in the US, much in line with Obama's plan, and as Obama's Surgeon General it'll be his job to try and convince the nation that it's a good idea. So who better than to get someone who most in the nation regularly welcome into their homes and go to for medical advice.

Obama (or at least someone on his team) is a political genius.

Massive Job Losses

2009-01-09T19:52:00.004Z

This is another reason why I love Ireland. In few other countries in a newspaper article about a manufacturing plant closing would you get such a gracious, thoughtful perspective in relation to seeing such a painful event unfold.

I just read this in the Independent

"The dread day has arrived and the worst rumours are proved true. Although the job losses had been heavily signalled, nothing really prepares us for the realisation that the work is going and with it the salaries, the security, the mortgages, the immediate future.

People are saying that it's ironic that we trained the Poles who will now take 'our' jobs.

But you can't help but notice that many of senior Dell managers interviewed all day on the radio had a distinctly American twang to their Irish accents.

Who trained them? Whose jobs did Limerick take back in 1990 and keep for the last 17 years? What did they think in Texas when Michael said he was setting up in Ireland and giving 'their' jobs to us?

So perhaps this is part of that natural economic cycle that the economists are always talking about where manufacturing invariably flows to the locations with the lowest costs? We'll have lots of time to think about the answers for the next couple of years."

Gaza day 11

2009-01-06T17:29:00.004Z

Let me just say that to start this off that I know of no solution to the ongoing problems in the middle east, and that there are two sides to the story. This CBS interview with a Norwegian doctor working in a hospital in Gaza was sent to me by one of my housemates who said it almost brought him to tears. I think people everywhere, and hopefully those who desire to emulate the radical way of Christ, need to mourn this and speak out against war in all its material forms.

These people have nowhere to run. I can't (and don't want to) imagine what that's like.

Bizzare Image of the week

2008-12-07T01:00:00.003Z

Well, 2 weeks left till I get a break for Christmas. I've now finished a 6 week psychiatry attachment, 5 week pediatric attachment, 1 week general practice (and an extra 11 week longitudinal GP placement every wednesday afternoon for the past 11 weeks.) On monday I start a 12 week internal medicine placement which includes 4 weeks Respiratory, 4 weeks Gastroenterology and 4 weeks of elderly care medicine (with a 1 of palliative care included). I'm looking forward to it, but really loved my time in paediatrics and General Practice.

But thankfully my life is not just about medicine these days (although it constantly feels like that). I've been trying to include more creative non-science things in my life recently just so my sould gets a reboot now and then. I've been at a few gigs recently which have been cool. One was of a friend of friend named Luke Leighfield, who's someone kinda like a young british Ben Folds. Any singer-song-writing-piano-playing-person is alright by me. So that was cool.

I guess the oddest thing I've been too recently was a night called Slava's Snow Show. Which was a production put on in Southampton's main theatre and we were able to get massively discounted student tickets, but basically it's this Russian clown show, but so much more than that. Poignant, funny, weird, life changeing perhaps....not sure.

Here's a you tube video

Been a couple times to the Talking Heads (a local pub) open mic night....it's a semi-artsy pub and they normally have bands play and comedy nights and such, but this open mic night can draw all sorts. A 25 piece ukelele orchestra (which I've just missed 2 weeks in a row), a scarily good guy who sings quite disturbed songs about people who've hurt him or who he wants to hurt, just through singing and using a loop machine of prerecorded sounds. A random old guy who spounts the same political rant each week to drum beats on his casio keyboard. And then the normal man and his acoustic guitar acts and a few other mixes. Each does two songs and it's pretty cool, a nice change from medicine life.

And even better, in light of the credit crunch, and having a pretty powerful talk on money at church, I tried to see if I could get a cheap drink from the bar. I asked if there was any drink in any size that I could get for less than a pound and he said no. So Tom and I decided to split a half-pint of I think Hoegaarden (but now I'm not sure), to give us a quarter pint each, for a mere 70p a head. We were trying to split the half between two glasses and it was taken quite a while when the bar man took both glasses away and filled them up for us! It was AMAZING, I think now I can understand just a little bit of how the people around Jesus must have felt when started out with rather sad few fish and loaves and came away with a feast. What a feeling!

Congo Update

2008-11-01T15:27:00.002Z

I don't know if anyone reads my blog anymore (except for of course my faithful grandparents), but I just wanted to update people about myself and some other things.

As probably most or some of you know the Democratic Republic of Congo is a country that's been on my heart since I was a teenager and saw a series of documentaries on television about both the unbelievable beauty of the country and life of the people there, as well as the years of devastating conflict going on there. Since then I've had the privilege of meeting several people from that country and getting the know the situation there a little bit better. Recently, however after a short time of relative peace, there has been increased violence in the East. I have to say that I really don't know exactly what's going on (I'm really bad with keeping up with things these days), but the BBC reports that at the moment that over 250,000 people have been displaced from their homes and are on the run. Please pray for this country, which has seen so much harm over the years.

If you're interested in learning more about Congo and a group of Congolese christians who have an amazing vision of helping rebuild their country in the long term, go have a look at the website of Congo Initiative.

.....in personal news.....I've finished psychiatry (which I actually really enjoyed) and have spent the past week on a paediatric attachment. I'm loving it! I had my first on-call last night, and for once actually felt somewhat helpful....they were really busy and could use all the hand they could find. It's really sad to see the little kids, but I've been really surprised at how brave and well they tend to cope with their situations. Anyway, I've got 1 of 2 big essays for this year due on wednesday, and in typical Kingsley style I've left it to the last minute, but it'll get done. Anyway, that's pretty much it for now. So I'll leave it there and get back to work.

need to update..

2008-09-29T22:05:00.002Z

Hey everyone,

So I realise I'm getting pretty bad at updating this yet again. School has hit hard this year. I'm in the middle of my first attachment which is psychiatry. I'm finding it really interesting, but also hard going. There's a lot to learn, and well, it's also pretty hard in other ways cause I find mental illness really sad, it must be so hard to not be able to trust your mind, or to have something which no one else can understand. There's a lot of examples of people doing really well though, and I've met some patients and former patients who have given me real hope for people, but yeah, this past week has been hard. I'm looking forward to a more medical attachment, although I'm sure my next attachment will come with many challenges of its own, it's paediatrics.

But all in all life is going well. I'm back going to the worlds greatest house group, so that's a good thing. I'm constantly blown away at the depths of creativity, maturity and wisdom of the people in that group. I start spanish lessons in a week, and hopefully this year will be able to be involved in working one on one with refugees in the southampton area through a local group called CLEAR. That, and I'll be starting a part-time job soon (as soon as I can schedule the required training at a time when it doesn't conflict with something else I have to do). I'm also using saturdays to study for the USMLE. So yeah, if it seems like my life is too busy and I'm overcommitted, well, I probably am. But it's just for a year or two more, so that's good.

Anyway, that's a minute quick update for those of you who are wondering if I'm still keeping my head above water, I am....for the moment anyway ;)

G.K. Chesterton on our man Francis of Assisi

2008-09-19T23:54:00.001Z

“What gave him extraordinary personal power was this; that from the Pope to the beggar, from the Sultan of Syria in his pavilion to the ragged robbers crawling out of the wood, there was never a man who looked into those brown burning eyes without being absolutely certain that Francis Bernardone was really interested in him, in his own inner individual life from the cradle to the grave; that he himself was being valued and taken seriously, and not merely added to the spoils of some social policy of names in some clerical document. He treated the whole mob of men as a mob of kings."

2008-09-13T23:21:00.002Z

Wow, it's people like this guy that give us a reason to be hopeful.

Click HERE to watch a video about a guy that spends his days just helping people...

Donald Miller Prays at the DNC

2008-09-07T16:22:00.002Z

Well, I'm pretty slow, and although for some reason (probably the issue of addiction in my life) I watched almost the entire "enthralling" Democratic National Convention a couple of weeks ago, I somehow missed that the great author of books like "Blue like Jazz" and "Searching for God knows What" said a prayer on stage during the convention. I just watched it on youtube, and was saddened. The word 'tool' comes to mind, or being 'co-opted'. I know others will hail this as a great sign of the beginnings of the release of the strangle-hold that the Republican Party has held over the American Christian church, but why trade one master for another? Besides the fact that I don't think Christianity should allow itself to be so easily co-opted by any political party, and although I agreed with most of the prayer/speech, there was one statement in of his that truly did upset me. He said,

"Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.

A lot of people don't like us but that's because they don't know the heart of the average American."

What?!? are you serious? Even if the average american has a humble and hospitable heart (and many do- my entire life I've been the recipient of incredible self-sacrificing generousity from literally hundreds of Americans) that's not the reason why many in the world don't like the political entity of the USA. And this statement belittles the experiences many who have suffered at the hands of either exploitative corporations or misplaced and mismanaged military (and often the combination of the two). I'm not the best qualified person to talk about patriotism or the 'christianity of a nation' (although Greg Boyd I hear has some good things to say about the topic), but what I do find myself agreeing with is what I read in a recent blog post by Jim Wallis, that the slogan of one of the big front runners in the presidential campaign "Country First" is not a statement followers of Christ can sign up to. It's not an option for us.

Conference!

2008-08-19T14:51:00.002Z

Well, I'm sure some of you know that a little over a week ago I was in Hungary....why Hungary literally a few days after finding my feet back in England from Phnom Penh? Well, my brother was leading a conference for GEM-Ks and he was short staff, the theme of the conference was being taken from a book that I had just read, and I was still unemployed, so it worked out that I was able to go. And I'm so thankfull that I did, it was such a great week!

So this was probably my, I don't know, 7th conference....I went I think 5 times as a teenager, and once as a leader 4 years ago literally on the way back from spending the summer in Jordan.

If you want to read more about the week go to another leader's Michaela's blog. She has a much more in-depth summary of what went on.

Here's some thoughts of mine that I wrote a couple of days after coming back that is perhaps an example of some of the things we were discussing through the week.

----

Wednesday 13-08-08

East Waterloo Train Station, London

-So at conference we were using the book J4P as a basis for our discussions. Analisa brought up the point about our conflicting values of justice and thrift. We've been taught so well to buy good deals, when things are on sale, or at discount stores, so that we don't spend more than we should. But then when we were talking about how often these low prices don't capture the entire cost of their production and often feed our system of oppression and hyper-consumption then we find that we have a system where our values are in conflict.

I was thinking about thrift. I truly believe in this value, I buy many of my clothes and possessions cheaply at 2nd hand shops or discount stores. I never buy things at full price it's just not in my nature. But does this thrift have a purpose? I think it was John Wesley who said, "Earn a lot, spend a little, give generously" (or something like that). We've got perhaps the first two down. But I really think that at least personally, my thrift only enables me to consume more, rather than give sacrificially. The money gets spent, I just make it go farther. So in this instance is my thriftyness really of any value anyway? What is it's kingdom purpose or is this just a relic of calvanistic culture that has been passed on divorced from it's original intentions?

-----

Is our system of cheap prices for everything from alarm clocks, coffee, t-shirts and throw-away cups at fast food restaurants really capturing the cost of producing them? Or are we actually relying on a system of exploitation (exploiting cheap labour, exploiting the environment) just to feed our consumption? If we read the section of the bible where the prophets are putting into words God's anger for the stuff that his people are doing, exploitation is one of the biggies. But is it too ingrained in our system for us to truly break out of it?

And a few more....again, Thanks Sarah for your pictures...

2008-07-28T13:05:00.002Z

This is Tearom, relaxing on Om Heurn's bed in the middle of the day.
This was when a few of us went out on the riverfront for my birthday it was a really good time.
Okay, so when I arrived Om Heurn told me to save a particular date because I was going to a wedding on that day. I thought that would be fun. It was apparently for a neighbour, but I didn't know him. So when the day arrived, I suddenly realised that when Om Heurn was saying I was going, she meant only me. Well, as 'comfortable' as I was navigating new cultural situations with my unbelivably fluent Khmai (that's a joke)... I communicated to Om Heurn that although I was grateful to be invited to the wedding I was really not happy going alone, so she managed to convince Serey her neice who lives with us to go with me. Which was a real help, because she helped to interpret some of the faux pas that I was making. Such as when I was drinking beer with the men at the table, when we knocked glasses I was supposed to make sure my glass was lower than theirs because they were older than me, and I was also supposed to hold the glass with two hands..... stuff I had completely forgotten about. So yeah, I was happy someone else was there with me. Oh yeah, and Om Heurn ended up making fun of me because I was wearing this shirt (wich she had given me the time before!) because it made me look like an old man.....I can't win with her ;)

Okay! time for a few pictures...from Sarah's Camera....still can't get mine up yet...

2008-07-28T12:43:00.002Z

This is a picture of most of the people who I live with. I took the family on a day out during my last saturday as a thankyou to them. We went to Wat Phnom which is a beautiful temple on a hill in the centre of Phnom Penh. After this we walked around town a bit and then I brought them out to dinner at what was the teenagers choice: 'Lucky 7' which is a western style Cambodian burger joint. The prices there are cheap for western standards, but pretty ridiculous for Cambodians, 2 dollars for a meal?! So they don't normally get to go somewhere like that. It was a really fun day.
(alright lets do names: back row Left - Right: Tearom and Mesa, Next Row L-R: Theara, Serey, Serey's Nephew-Arat, Me, Bong Arun, Om Heurn, Om Srai, Front Row L-R: Mai Mai and Sunti)
This is a picture of Bong Wat, Me and Mesa. Bong Wat is a great guy who lives in the community and is currently in Bible School. He helps to pastor a new and small struggling church outside the city but is back here on evenings and sunday afternoons.
I just thought I'd give you that familiar image of rooftops over the community. I think it's actually quite beautiful, even if all those tin roofs mean boiling hot interiors....and loud rainy nights ;)
I went along one day to TASK's annual picnic for the people living with HIV in its programmes. IT's a really fun day and we went up to visit some temples north of the city, which were beautiful and on top of a pretty large hill (notice a pattern yet?) we all had lunch together and played some fun games before returning home. This was the point when we were listening to an encouraging message from one of the HIV/Aids home-care volunteers.
And yes, this is a rare picture of me doing my laundry. Theara, my roommate is seriously one of the most servant hearted people you'll ever meet. So, during my 5 weeks there I was only able to do my laundry twice, as he would always beat me to it. I tried to return the favour and do his, but somehow I get the feeling that he doesn't think I know how to do it right....ah well.

Final Update From Cambodia

2008-07-23T01:51:00.002Z

Hey Everyone,
Well, it's pretty sad to admit how close I am to leaving. It's wednesday morning here, and my flight back to England leaves Friday morning. I've gotta admit I've been waking up the past few mornings depressed. But, by the middle of the day my spirits are usually lifted again, because the family I'm living with here, and the staff that I get to hang out with are all pretty cool people.

I really don't want to leave, although I know I've got to go back and finish up these last two years of medicine. In some ways being here has really encouraged me to keep studying. There have been so many times where I just wish I had more confidence with knowing how to deal with people's complaints. When people have infected wounds (happens pretty much everyday in my community) I'm prettymuch at a loss of what to do for them more than helping people know how to clean the wounds, use antiseptic creams or drops, but when it comes to antibiotics, although if pushed I could probably tell you the mechanisms of how some of them work, I wouldn't really be able to tell you much about which one to use when.

One of the teenagers in my community Odom comes from a pretty hard background. His dad left his mom and him and his siblings at an early age, when his mom got sick. The room that his family now rents isn't really big enough for all of them, so Odom tends to rotate sleeping at our house, or at the church (which is just at the end of the alleyway). They don't have always enough food to eat, so others in the community often call him to eat with them if they see him about. He was over at our house last night, and showed us his foot. He's been working on a construction site and got a pretty deep cut from a nail. Not good. His foot is pretty infected, and really is not pretty. He's been to a local pharmacist who is giving him something for it (not exactly sure what), but I also wasn't really sure what to give him or tell him yet. This is why there are so many people advocating for basic first aid training to come early in our medical training......anyway.....it's frustrating not to be able to do anything for him at the moment, except give him some antiseptic cream, and some instruction on washing and cleaning the wound.

I'm sorry I haven't been able to post any pictures of the trip yet. I've either lost or didn't bring the cord that connects my camera up to the computer, so I'll try and get some up when I'm back in England.

God's been teaching me a lot here, about myself, Cambodia, and his Kingdom. During my time here I've been reading a book recommended by one of the servants people here called "Jesus for President". It's been a really good read (despite the cheesey title). It's really just about how often us Christians and the church have forgotten that the way God works among us, and his social order are so completely different from the ways that things normally happen in our world. I've been reminded not to put my trust in education or economies, in systems of world power, but rather to trust the servant king who was born homeless and lead a non-violent revolution to defeat hate and captivity. I think too often I seek to change things through power and money, but forget that it's impossible to change a broken system using the ways of that system. If you haven't read the book yet, I'd encourage you to do it. I think Shane is speaking something which so many of us need to hear right now.

Anyway, as always seems to happen when you're thrown into a situation that's so different from your own, these past few weeks I have really seen my inadequacies. But I've also been constantly reminded, that it's throught my weak parts, through the things that I know I can't do by myself, that God often works to bless others. It's crazy and messed up, but seems to continue to be true.

Okay there's loads more that I could talk about, but that will have to wait for individual emails or conversations when I see you next time. I'll leave you with just this, a few things to think about and pray for for Cambodia in the next few days.

1) You may have seen on the news that there are huge tensions between Cambodia and Thailand right now, over a border dispute that is years and years old. A lot of people are talking about war and although that seems to me incredibly unlikely, it's causing even more fear for many people. So pray that peace would restored to people's hearts and lives and that a non-violent acceptable solution would be found by the two countries.

2) There's also the national election occuring on Sunday. This by itself brings a lot of fear, and there have been many threats of violent retaliation if the govrning party doesn't win again. People are very fed up and don't like the current system, but also feel incredibly trapped. Pray that whatever happens, that there will not be violence and that whoever wins, will learn to have compassion on the poor of Cambodia and seek less their own interests and more the interests of those they are supposed to be serving.

3) And just a personal request, please pray that my travels go well, that I'll remain healthy my last few days here, and that I'll be able to make all the goodbyes well. Pray also that when I get back to England I won't be too depressed and will be able to find work quickly. Thanks again.

Michael

Another Rainy Hour in Cambodia

2008-07-08T09:57:00.004Z

I'm again (once again) escaping to an internet cafe during a dounpour after a meeting I had near the Russian Market (Psaar Toul Tom Poung- for those of you who know Phnom Penh).

I can't believe that I've now just reached the mid point of my time here, it seems to be flying by far too quickly. I've been really encouraged though over the last week with some really useful meetings for my project and already talking to people here who can see the value of the work I'm doing so that really helps to keep me motivated.

I've been struck more this time about the larger picture issues facing Cambodia. Injustice is a massive problem. Many of the prisons are full of those who are inocent, but too poor to buy themselves out. When they are inside, if their families can't provide for them, they face terrible cramped conditions and malnutrition. Another issue is that so many are facing evictions in the countryside where their land is being sold from underneath them with little if any compensation. The land is mainly going to many foreign companies and individuals who are playing the speculation game. You hear from some of these farmers that they would rather die now than lose their land, because by taking their land you kill them slowly. Many totalitarian ways remain outside the city of Phnom Penh, and in many places you need to receive the permission of your village chief to have any sort of gathering, or if you wish to leave the area for any reason you also require permission from the authorities. I can't imagine living like that.

I was trying to imagine what it would be like as a struggling rural farmer to lose your land. As a suburban guy for my whole life, that sort of life-style is so removed from me, but I wonder if it wouldn't be akin to something like this, let me know what you think:

For a poor farmer, all he has ever done is farm the land. They know land and they know their crops. They know especially the land and crops that grow in their area. They might not be able to read, or might not have any other 'marketable skills,' but the land has sustained them. I think of me, I've never owned any land, and I think helping my mother when I was forced to in the back garden doesn't really count as farming. But what economically sustains or will sustain me are my education and my experiences. The fact that I've been to university, already ups the possible pay that I might get, further training as a doctor will undoubtedly provide financially for a time for me and my family in the future. So perhaps evicting a farmer from his land might be a little bit like someone wiping my mind of my education.

Perhaps, if you feel in a similar boat as me, think of what it would be like to wake up tomorrow morning and not be able to read, or not remember how to work a computer, speak technical words in your language, write a report. What would it be like to not know how to put together your thoughts in a logical order on a piece of paper in a way that other people can understand? Of course I don't know, but I imagine if it might be a little bit like that- taking away the capital that a farmer has (his land) and the capital that you have (your education). How scary would it be to live in constant fear that all you know about life and how to provide for your loved ones could be ripped away from you at a moments notice.
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We are confronted by massive issues here and as I got around and meet many different organisations working here in Phnom Penh, I see even larger parts of the jigsaw that all fit together. We had a meeting for the Servants workers today, and a friend shared a passage that she has been dwelling on recently. It's in Luke and it's the story of the goats and the lambs. There's a whole lot of stories that Jesus tells leading up to this one that helps shed even more light on this, but to keep it brief I'll just focus on this part. What are the reasons why God seperates the goats from the lambs? Was it that their churches were too small, was it that their worship music wasn't moving enough, was it that their youth programmes weren't big enough and didn't run smoothly enough (not saying that all these things aren't worthwhile perhaps) but those aren't the reasons god separates these two groups. In the story, the goats are separated because they didn't invite the stranger into their home (I probably have never really done this), they didn't clothe the naked (I have never done this), they didn't visit or take care of the prisoner (I have only very rarely done this), and they didn't feed the hungry. Okay so it's not about these exact activities per se but we get the picture.

This story is immediately preceeded by the story of the Talents. I know a lot of us feel like, 'what on earth can I do?'I was struck today, that perhaps the one in the story who was given just one talent may have felt that same way, and so he was afraid to even use that one talent. I so often feel COMPLETELY INEPT, especially when I come across people with stories and situations that are so foreign to me. I feel completely unable to do anything.

But why is it..... that when I truly believe that the way God works is to use the weakest things in the world, the things and people that the world believes are useless and inept, I don't apply that to myself? Perhaps God wants to use me in my UNBELIEVABLE ineptness; this lazy, overweight, uncoordinated, not very street-smart, suburban man to make a difference. I just need to be open to it, give up the fear- and let him.

2008-06-22T08:20:00.002Z

Hello from Cambodia!
I wanted to let anyone who's checking my blog know that I got here safe and sound. Things have changed here greatly over the past few years. There's much building going on and a lot more cars on the road and even some places people are taking notice of traffic lights! How things have changed. On the other hand there have been a lot of changes for the worse. In many ways, like in the West, the rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer. The price of living has skyrocketed and those who were finding it hard are finding it even harder before. Land prices are risen by 400% which of course means that less people can afford to have their own land, and so face eviction at the whim of big land ownders or the government.

Things have changed in my family as well. It's great to see how my siblings at home have grown up into intelligent talented young men and women. A couple of them can speak a lot more english now than before so I'm having fun helping them practice. I'm also really thankful that in many ways I've been able to remember much of my cambodian language too. It's still not where it was before, but I'm able to have conversations with people so that's all that matters really. I'm hopefull that it will continue to come back.

I was told the other day more about the project I'm going to be doing while I'm here. Servants/TASK the organisation I work with here is undergoing a great time of transition and really is looking to the future and how the organisation and it's activities might change. Part of that means figuring out who else is in the city helping the urban poor and what they do and where, and then figuring out what gaps aren't being met. So that's my job, I'm going to be meeting with the different NGOs here that work with the Urban poor and find out exactly what communities they work in, what services they are trying to provide, and what they believe the biggest unmet needs are. I think this is something that I can actually help with, as I know how to get around, and it frees up the long-term workers here from having to waste their time waiting for meetings that might or might not happen and such. It also gives me a chance to see more of the bigger picture of what is happening with the urban poor in phnom penh. It's going to be a frustrating job, and I'm sure it won't be finished in the month that I'm here, but I'm hoping to make a good start on it, so that someone else can finish off where I stopped. So if you're the praying type, please pray that I'll be able to get good contacts and get some good info for Servants as they plan for the future.

Alright, that's it for now, I'll try and post more soon,
Michael

2008-06-10T23:18:00.002Z

Okay, so yeah, too many pictures of me on the blog, so here's one of my favourite from Banksy who is one of my favourite artists. It's entitled "the elephant in the lounge" and was a live piece on display in L.A. for a week I think...

2008-06-10T23:13:00.002Z

Alright, so yeah, that long hair would have been pretty hot in Cambodia, and probably increased my chances of failing my OSCEs (oh how I love the establishment nature of the medical profession!). So one of my tasks for today was getting the apparently much needed haircut.....so I thought I'd show it off online.

1 Week Left!

2008-06-10T12:26:00.006Z

Ahem....alright, the picture above is a piece of work that I thought somewhat accurately symbolizes my current inner feelings (I guess it could also be interpreted as me about to eat a giant invisible sandwich but I'll let the viewer decide). 1 week from today I will be on a plane heading towards Phnom Penh! Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed money to help me to go and to support the work of the Cambodian community health organisation TASK that I am going to be working with. So far we've received enough support so that we can give a donation of over 600 US dollars to their work! Depending on where you're coming from that may either sound like a lot or a little but at the moment with the global economic crisis, and the skyrocekting food prices in Cambodia, it will help a lot. The average monthly salary of a full-time TASK employee is in the range of about 120-140 dollars a month so this obviously will mean a lot to their work and hopefully will help them be able to spend money to provide the most basic of needs (food, shelter, medication) for some of the most vulnerable in Phnom Penh.

Although I'm really excited about going back to Phnom Penh, there's a whole lot to do before I go. I've got a final exam on Thursday (it's an OSCE - Objective Structured Clinical Exam) where they set up patients in several different rooms and stations, and you have about an hour and a half to rotate through and spend about 8 minutes with each patient and perform an assigned examination, take a history, or interpret some results of tests. In a way, it's actually kinda fun, but also can be pretty scary (for both student and patient I imagine!). Anyway, that's on thursday so I'm spending the next couple of days preparing for that. Then, as soon as that's over, I'm moving all my stuff from my current house into a new one, and then wrapping up everything I need to do here before I leave on Tuesday! One final thing that I'm trying to organise at the moment is a job for when I get back from Cambodia. I've planned on only going to Cambodia for 5 weeks this summer as I really need to spend some time earning money to try and subsidize all the expenses that come up during the year. I'll probably end up trying to do some temp work, but it would be really nice if something became confirmed before I leave, cause it would take that concern off my mind. So if you're thinking of ways to pray for me at the moment, that would be a good one.

Alright, well I guess that's it for now, I'll try and post once again before I leave. Thanks again for your continued prayers, emails and support.

The Latest soon to be Illegal Aliens...

2008-06-01T23:18:00.002Z

Hi everyone, well I know I've been slow on the blogging front these days, (my big exams are on tuesday), but I thought I would share this with anyone who happened to check my blog. If you pray, we could really use your prayers at the moment because my brother and sister-in-law (and of course my nephew and niece pictured above) have been refused residency in Ireland and are now being told to leave by August. NOT GOOD! They're going to fight it of course, but we'll need a lot of people praying that they'll be looked upon with favour by those who make the big decisions.

It's hard for me to believe that my brother who has lived in Ireland longer than me, and who missed being born there by only 2 years could be any less entitled to live there than me. And also my neice who was born in Dublin at the same hospital I was (She's not entitled to automatic citizenship because of a recent unfortunate change in the law). Anyway, it makes me angry and upset, but I'm praying and hoping that their appeal will be heard and that they'll not only be allowed to stay, but be given permanent residency like my parents were recently awarded. Anyway, if you can spare a minute please pray for them. I know they really would appreciate all the support they can get.

2008-05-09T15:09:00.002Z

Well, I'm enjoying the unvelievable weather we've been having in Southampton, by sitting in the dark recesses of the library, studying for the exams coming up in a few weeks. The weather is great though and really does a lot to lift my spirits. I was made for warm weather.

I've been feeling guilty that I haven't had a lot of time to look into what's happening in Burma (Myanmar) at the moment. There has been a cyclone which has killed a government estimated 25,000 people but local organisations on the ground reckon the toll could rise to over 100,000. This is absolutely huge! Just think with all the civil unrest in Burma this past year and then the massively high prices of Rice, this really couldn't have come at much of a worse time. The government is also not helping the situation by rejecting offers of foreign aid.

Please pray that the Burmese government would think of its people and would let in aid from the outside and aid workers to help organise and distribute the relief. I read a report today that only about 10% of those needing help have been reached so far by organisations already in Burma, so much more help from the outside is needed. If you're thinking of giving I'd reccommend tearfund as a good place to start, as they tend to work with local partners on the ground (www.tearfund.org).

Some other news which seems to be going unnoticed by some news outlets is the current situation in Lebanon. In recent days they have witnessed the biggest civil unrest since the civil war, and gunmen from Hezzbolah have taken over parts of the capital and have silened much of the pro-government media. Please pray for peace there.

In personal news, I'm eagerly awaiting to have these end-of-year exams over with --unlike those in America, the main important medical exams here (the 'Intermediates') take place after the third year rather than the second as in the US, so these exams won't be as intesne as my american friends are going through at the moment, but still I need to pass so that I don't have to cancel my trip to Cambodia in order to take the Resits.....that would not be good-. I'm really looking forward to being in Cambodia soon. I'm thankfull for all of those who have said they are praying for me and who have sent financial support. It's been a huge blessing and encouragment.

Car gets 100 miles per gallon in Wheaton

2008-04-25T22:44:00.002Z

I found this clip online and was interested to see if this car was for real, I was pretty surprised when I realised I knew one of the inventors in the clip. Chris Ewert was a floor-mate of mine on 2-East in Fischer at Wheaton College. Anyway, it sort of blows the mind to wonder why companies haven't done this already? i'll try and not be yoo cynical.... have a look though.

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=84623

It always hits the poor the hardest....

2008-04-22T16:24:00.003Z

So I've been thinking over the past few months as we hear constant consumer news reports show that the price of basic food is gradually going up all over the place. More recently we've been seeing reports of the price of rice skyrocketing across the world. All this comes at a bad time economically when many western countries are looking at the prospect of recession and the value of global reserves (mainly held in USD) is rapidly declining. Whenever these types of situations occur it always hits the poor the hardest.

I just got this report in the most recent Servants Newsletter:

Cambodia: The inflation of rice prices (up to a $1 a kilo) has caused great suffering for the poor leading to chronic hunger and illness. The TASK AIDS homecare project has been forced to stop providing rice to patients and their families because the budget has run out. At the very time that those who are most vulnerable and least able to earn money are suffering servants is unable to help. Please pray urgently for this situation or contact one of the servants offices if you feel you can help in any other way.

Rice is a basic necessity of life in Cambodia. If people have no rice, they have nothing else to eat. This is an extremely difficult problem and those who are poor, displaced, and ill often have no social support in place to get them through it. It's even sadder to hear the double burden that now the agencies who had been providing food support (such as TASK's AIDS home care programme) have been forced to stop providing it because of lack of resources.

An encouraging thought from our Mother Theresa

2008-04-06T20:49:00.002Z

This was read out at Church this morning and really encouraged me. I'm reading a book at the moment which is a published account of Mother Theresa's personal correspondance and journals. She is such an inspiring woman, who had a very deep relationship with God and a knowledge of his love for us. This piece is said to have been written on the wall of her room, and is adapted from a similar piece by Kent Kieth.

Do it Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical
and self- centred.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some
false friends and some true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness
they may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough.
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis,
it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway!

Resurrected Blog...Cambodia bound...

2008-04-06T20:14:00.003Z

Well, I decided many months ago now for several reasons to give Blogging a break. But I've decided, in the spirit of the recently passed Easter, to bring it back to life, if just for a little while. The main reason is that this summer, at the end of June, I will be heading back to Cambodia to work with Servants for 5 weeks (God willing), and I thought I'd bring back the blog so that people can hear about the trip and can pray for me if they desire to do so.

I've got just over 2 months of holiday this summer, and it is really the last time I'll have to be able to travel to Cambodia before my training eats up my holidays in constant rotations. I'm excited about the trip, and will be working again with the Teen Drug Users project (TDU) set up by TASK the local Cambodian NGO that Servants began over a decade ago. Addictive drug use has exploded in Cambodia over the past 5-10 years. Reports say that 50% of Cambodian urban youth are regular users of the destructive class of drugs Methamphetamines, locally known as Yama. Many children who live in the slum communities and on the streets of Phnom Penh, get through the day through sniffing glue. There are suprisingly few Charities or NGO's working with these kids and teens to help the find a better, healthier and more hopeful path in life. The government does not have any true drug rehabilitation programme, but rather a single reserved room in its youth prison as its main response to this overwhelming issue.

When I was in Cambodia before, I worked with TASK's TDU project in its begining stages. I did research into the beliefs and behaviours of these youth to see why and how they used these substances. Now I've got an opportunity to go back and help see how the programme is doing and how it can be improved. It can seem like such an overwhelming problem, especially as it's all intertwined with other huge problems such as the breakdown of social support, lack of opportunity, and great poverty. Please pray for wisdom at how to proceed with the TDU project, and how to best reach and help these kids.

One of the communities where the TDU works

Paul Farmer...an interesting article...

2007-11-05T00:10:00.000Z

Many of you will know that the man Paul Farmer is somewhat of a hero for me (in the medical world). An anthropologist and doctor who spends half the year working from a clinic in rural Haiti, and part of the year working in Harvard, teaching in their medical school. He has been a voice for international health justice and helped get the WHO to support more just system of TB treatment. He also began the international medical development organisation Partners in Health. This is a small excerpt from an article he wrote for the University of Notre Dame magazine. Click HERE to read the full article.

If we fail to act
by Paul Farmer, M.D.

As a physician who has battled infectious diseases in Haiti, Rwanda and elsewhere, I know we are in the midst of a staggering wave of killing, one that brings to question all notions of moral values. The numbers alone are telling. Even if we consider only the big three infectious killers -- AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria -- we are faced with tens of millions of preventable deaths slated to occur during our lifetimes. A recent document from the United Nations suggests, for example, that more than 80 million Africans might die from AIDS alone by 2025. A similar toll will be taken, on that continent, by tuberculosis and malaria. Adding other infectious killers to the list, the butcher's bill totals hundreds of millions of deaths over the next few decades.

Have these numbers lost their ability to shock or even move us? What are the human values in question when we hear, and fail to react to, the news that each day thousands die of these maladies unattended? Where, amid all these numbers, is the human face of suffering? What values might guide our response to such suffering?

These are rhetorical questions, but not ones without answers. Much can be done to avert these deaths. Allow me to offer the example of Joseph, a patient of mine. On the afternoon of March 17, 2003, four men appeared at the public clinic in Lascahobas, a town in central Haiti, bearing a makeshift stretcher. On the stretcher lay a young man, eyes closed and seemingly unaware of the five-mile journey he had just taken. After the four-hour trip, the men placed their neighbor on an examination table. The physician tried to interview him, but Joseph was stuporous, so his brother recounted the dying man's story.

PhotoJoseph, 26 years old, had been sick for months. His illness had started with intermittent fevers, followed by a cough, weight loss, weakness and diarrhea. His family, too poor, they thought, to take him to a hospital, brought Joseph to a traditional healer. Joseph would later explain: "My father sold nearly all that he had -- our crops, our land and our livestock -- to pay the healer, but I kept getting worse. My family barely had enough to eat, but they sold everything to try to save me." Joseph was bed-bound two months after the onset of his symptoms. As he later recalled, "My mother, who was caring for me, was taking care of skin and bones."

Faced with what they saw as Joseph's imminent death, his family purchased a coffin. Several days later, a community-health worker employed by Partners In Health, a charity I helped to found, visited their hut. The health worker recognized the signs of tuberculosis and HIV and suspected the barely responsive Joseph might have one or both of these diseases. Hearing that their son might have one last chance for survival, Joseph's parents pleaded with their neighbors to help carry him to the clinic, since he was too sick to travel on a donkey and too poor to afford a ride in a vehicle.

Joseph was indeed diagnosed with advanced AIDS and disseminated tuberculosis. He was hospitalized and treated with both antiretrovirals and antituberculous medications. Joseph told his physicians, "I'm dead already, and these medications can't save me."

Despite his doubts, Joseph dutifully took the drugs. Several weeks later he was able to walk. His fevers subsided, and his appetite returned. After discharge from the hospital, he received what is termed "directly observed therapy" for both AIDS and tuberculosis, and was visited each day by a neighbor.

Joseph now speaks in front of large audiences about his experience. "When I was sick," he has said, "I couldn't farm the land, I couldn't get up to use the latrine; I couldn't even walk. Now I can do any sort of work. I can walk to the clinic just like anyone else. I care as much about my medications as I do about myself. There may be other illnesses that can break you, but AIDS isn't one of them. If you take these pills this disease doesn't have to break you."

What sort of human values might be necessary to save a young man's life? Compassion, pity, mercy, solidarity and empathy come immediately to mind. Thinking about Joseph's experience, and so many others, leads me to reflect on injunctions, first heard as a child instructed to read the Gospel according to Matthew, about "the corporal works of mercy." I'm sure I didn't pay much attention then. But three decades later, these injunctions -- feed the hungry; give drink to the thirsty; clothe the naked; shelter the homeless; visit the sick; visit the prisoners; bury the dead -- strike me as worthy goals for those seeking guidance in diminishing suffering, whether due to disease or to violence. As important for a doctor concerned about the right to health care, the corporal works of mercy are a reminder of the radical nature of the values necessary to promote basic human rights. We need the tools of our trade -- in this case, laboratory tests, medicines, health care workers -- to save lives. But we also must have hope and imagination to make sure proper medical care, a corporal work, reaches the destitute sick.....

...Human rights and corporal works of mercy

For millennia now, philosophers and theorists have sought to understand why violence occurs and why we fail each other in the face of unnecessary suffering. Anthropology and other social disciplines have also grappled with these questions. Such reflection takes on urgency in many of the places in which I've worked. In Haiti, Rwanda and even Boston, service to the destitute sick reveals the sharp limitations of what can be done to allay misery without a broad understanding of why some people have so little while others enjoy a peculiarly modern surfeit. Without a right to health care, for example, modern medicine and public health become commodities to be bought and sold. Such arrangements will never suffice if our goal is to relieve premature morbidity and mortality -- the primary obligation, surely, of a physician.

I have seen the utility, but also the limitations, of a human-rights model. Conventional human-rights frameworks, only a couple of centuries old, have focused on civil and political rights, and human rights advocates may point with pride to certain victories. But defeats are as common, and they're more glaring now than ever.

A young Haitian man lies dying of AIDS, but without a right to antiretroviral therapy, what hope is there for his survival? What hope is there if he obtains the necessary medications but has nothing to eat? Writing from rural Rwanda, or from Haiti, leads me to reflect on the corporal works of mercy. As I've confessed, I didn't pay much attention before. But I now know that these injunctions -- again, feed the hungry; give drink to the thirsty; clothe the naked; shelter the homeless; visit the sick; visit the prisoners; bury the dead -- strike me as worthy goals for those seeking guidance in diminishing suffering, whether due to disease or to violence.

There are spiritual works of mercy, as well -- reconciliation, forgiveness, comforting the afflicted, and praying for the living and the dead, to name a few. Cynics might argue, in the inelegant language of our day, that these are not readily "operationalized." These debates will go on, no doubt, indefinitely. But in the 21st century we cannot argue honestly that it is impossible to develop effective strategies for works of mercy. If we fail to link new human rights understandings to a broader movement for social justice, we will have no shortage of dead to bury. In that case, perhaps that is the only corporal work of mercy we will deserve to claim as our own.

2007-10-31T19:30:00.000Z

Toilet conference opens in Delhi
By Sanjoy Majumder
BBC News, Delhi

A World Toilet Summit has opened in the Indian capital, Delhi, with more than 40 countries taking part.

The four-day meeting will examine solutions and technologies that can be used to provide a basic need for nearly half the world's population.

According to estimates, 2.6bn people around the world lack access to a hygienic toilet.

The United Nations hopes to halve this figure by 2015 as part of its millennium development goals.

In India alone, more than 700 million people have no access to toilets which have proper waste disposal systems.

'Familiar sight'

"It is as important an issue as anything," says Bindeshwar Pathak of Sulabh International, an NGO that promotes the use of low-cost toilets in India and is joint organiser of the summit.

"It is mostly the Asian, African and Latin American countries that lack basic sanitation. So that's what we will be discussing at the summit," he adds.

It is a sight familiar to anyone travelling around India by train.

Early morning, many Indian villagers head to the nearest railway track and squat by its side relieving themselves.

Others use their fields, the forests or any piece of open land that they can find.

Women are particular badly off - they either have to head out before dawn or in the night when it is relatively more private, but it means they are vulnerable to disease or even sexual assault.

The UN wants to remedy the situation by 2025.

But the problem is that it is quite expensive for most countries in the developing world to set up western-style toilets and sewage systems.

But there are alternatives.

Anita Jha, vice-president of Sulabh International explains, "We have several models of traditional Indian-style squat toilets. These range in cost from 700 to 3,000 rupees ($18 - $75) and also use very little water."

"That makes them very useful in countries with a water scarcity problem," she says.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7070494.stm

Published: 2007/10/31 07:17:29 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Saturday midnight update.....a non-philisophical post

2007-10-20T23:48:00.000Z

(So I guess before I start, I'd just want to encourage anyone who reads this to keep thinking and praying about Burma, and keeping what's happening there in your conversations with others. The people who are working towards freedom desperately need international opinion to be with them.)

So today, as with most saturdays, I used the morning to catch up on the sleep that i'd missed during the previous week. This enables me to sleep only 4-5 hours a night mon-friday, and has pretty much been the system I've used for the past 5 years now....it's probably not the healthiest but it works.

After getting up and helping (just a little bit) to clean up the house and my room, I decided to get on my bike and find a garden centre. I'd been given directions by Dave from my church and I'd got them mixed up the saturday before, so this time, I was a bit more confident (armed with even more specific directions). I found a great big one at the top of this extremely large hill about 20 minutes cycle from my house. I'd been so focused on getting there that I really hadn't put too much thought into how I'd get what I bought back. I bought bulbs to grow garlic and onions (trying to experiment a little with this growing your own food stuff) but then also had to buy compost and a big enough pot to plant them in. The smallest and cheapest bag of compost they had was 25L, which in case you don't know....is REALLY FLIPPIN HEAVY!!! especially when you've got to carry it on your back on a 20 minute cycle ahead of you.

Not only that but I had to balance this 2 foot wide, 1.5 foot deep pot on the bar...let's just say I must have looked quite the sight (my friend Emma commented that just seeing me cycle in the first place would have been quite the sight enough.....thanks Emma). But I did make it back although slightly dripping in sweat and was glowing with pride as I arrived back to my house. My housemates obviously didn't recognize the enormity of my achievement as they didn't all stream out of their rooms to applaud me when I got home, as I was thinking they should ;)

Anyway, planting day will be tomorrow, so I'll let you know how that goes...I've been reliably informed that it's almost impossible to mess up growing the varieties of veg that i've chosen, so I'll take that as a challenge.

Tonight, the big event was the England v. South Africa final of the Rugby World Cup. I wasn't really interested in the match itself, but I thought it's a good excuse to hang out with people, and when England started falling behind by an ever increasing amount close to the end I actually felt a soft spot for them and could cheer them on. I didn't escape the night though without having loads of abuse about the Irish referee thrown my way. In all fairness he did make a lot of dodgy calls and missed a couple key ones as well. At one point, when the ref missed what seemed like an obvious foul on England, my friend asked sharply "why didn't the ref see that?" I said, "It's probably something to do with 500 years of occupation". Couldn't resist.

Anyway, it was a good day overall. School has been hard in some ways to get back into the swing of things. We're doing our Neurology course at the moment, which is really interesting, but also pretty challenging for being just back from the summer. We've had "Stroke" week, "Spinal Cord Injury" week and coming up this week will be "Multiple Sclerosis" week (we learn about a lot more than just those conditions, but the idea is that those topics give a broad and clinical context to what we're learning).

2007-10-12T19:17:00.000Z

So did anybody else have a little chuckle when they heard about today's announcement of Al Gore's new Nobel Peace Prize? I have to say, this is more than a little disappointing. Not that I don't believe that the issues his recent campaign cause of Climate change isn't extremely important, it'll probably end up being one of the most important issues in my lifetime, but Al Gore? It's no where near April, so I don't think this is a joke...

Let's take a brief look at some other Nobel Laureates, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Mother Theresa, Aung San Suu Kyi, Muhamad Yunus.....Al Gore? I guess my problem is more that Gore hasn't been at his current gig very long. The others on the long list of laureates seem to have been committed to their causes for quite some time, often giving the majority of their lives, if not giving the ultimate sacrifice. Gore stopped being Vice-President 6 years ago, and he wasn't championing Climate Change much back then. Even Jimmy Carter, another recipient, had to work in Humanitarian work (in health charities, and Habitat for Humanity as well as others) for 20 years before being awarded his.

Most of the Laureates are true peacemakers, people who are required to sacrifice, to make unpopular decisions, decisions which put their careers and often their lives on the line. What has Al Gore had to give up? Has he championed his cause so much that he has given up his mansions to live in smaller more eficient more environmentally friendly settings? Has his life become harder in any way? Politically he has only strengthened his position, in what many of his critics think of being a far too "calculated" way (although I'm not THAT cynical..but close). Why not award the prize to someone in greenpeace who has given their lives to this cause before it became popular? or even to a leading scientist who is championing the search for evidence in the face of skeptics? Why give it to a politician who has given far too ambiguous an answer to whether he'll run for president or not? Why give it to some guy who was just behind a documentary? I'm sure Al Gore is a great guy and great politician in many ways, but this was just the wrong choice.

If Al Gore were to make clear that he doesn't have personal political ambitions as the motivation for his work, and if he was to truly reach out to the political right, to help them understand and put aside other differences. If he would make sacrifices and risk his reputation with his usual constituency, then maybe he could be in the running, cause this would be what a peace maker should do, right? Instead, he has gone about his work producing more controversy, and less peace....sorry, but someone made a huge mistake here.

Burma Petition, worth your time.....

2007-10-07T22:45:00.000Z

These guys are close to reaching 1 million signatories for their petition. Once they get 1 million they will be taking out advertisements in major newspapers, trying to perhaps shame the Chinese government into accountability, sign up and help them out if you have a second.

Stand with the Burmese Protesters
After decades of military dictatorship, the people of Burma are rising – and they need our help. Marches begun by monks and nuns snowballed, bringing hundreds of thousands to the streets. Now the crackdown has begun, but the protests are spreading...

When the Burmese last marched in 1988, the military massacred thousands. If the world stands up and supports their struggle, this time they could win. We're in a race against time-- targeting the dictatorship's main backer China in a global advertising campaign, delivering the petition to the UN secretary-general and sending the Burmese our support via radio--

To Chinese President Hu Jintao and the UN Security Council:

We stand alongside the citizens of Burma in their peaceful protests. We urge you to oppose a violent crackdown on the demonstrators, and to support genuine reconciliation and democracy in Burma. We pledge to hold you accountable for any further bloodshed.

Click HERE for Petition.

2007-10-03T16:46:00.000Z

I'm here now safe and sound in England. I got here two days ago and spent today in the first of a two-day conference on Law and Ethics in medicine. An interesting subject, but I have to say they really could have put forward the ideas in a more interesting and engaging way, they did try though, and perhaps it's just that this is our first day back from summer, so it is a bit hard to sit and concentrate through a 9-5 lecture day.

I just saw that a friend of mine posted this on her facebook. It's really interesting so I thought I'd post it to pass it on.

Click on the link below from the New York times. It's a selection of quotes that a human rights worker has put together from Iranian Blogs which all discuss the Iranian president's recent speech at an American university. It's quite interesting to see the diversity of opinions, especially considering iranian blogs are highly regulated and people suffer intimidation (and worse) for putting up politically divergent posts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/opinion/30parker.html?ex=1348804800&en=08865f976f371cfc&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Latest News From Myanmar/Burma

2007-09-28T13:20:00.000Z

The following is an excerpt from an email written by an NGO worker in Myanmar/Burma this past week.

From Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)

Dear Friends

It is with a heavy, crying heart that I write you from Yangon, Myanmar
(formerly Burma). (Don't worry about myself: I am fine and safe.)

I have just listened to CNN (which we can still receive here - emailing
is now difficult; I hope I'll manage to send this later on tonight)
showing the bloody response of the junta government to crack-down on
peaceful protesters.

Apparently, on Sunday, almost 100,000 people - lead by monks - were on a
protest rally. On Tuesday, the crackdown started. Even though the
government
killed about 3000 protesters during the crisis in 1988, the people
decided that they will not follow Monday's order of the government to
stop protesting. The non-violent protests of determined and courageous
people continued. On Wednesday, the government's response became more
violent (from the part of the soldiers and police) and today things have
apparently become worse. Several or even many people were killed,
hundreds wounded or/and arrested. All the Buddhist monasteries here are
now being watched over by the Army - the monks are effectively being
locked inside.

The protests started when the government stopped subsidies on fuel which
caused a massive increase in fuel prices (quadruple or even five times I
have been told). Food prices rose as a consequence. For instance, one kg
of rice cost Kyat 500.- in August. Now 1 kg of rice cost Kyat 650.-. One
chicken egg now costs Kyat 100, up from Kyat 25.- last month.
A factory worker earns around Kyat 20'000.- a month. He needs about Kyat
10'000.- per month for rice only (for rice for himself only, not
including his family). In other words, many, many, many people are
starving these days.

A colleague who lives here told me today that these days many
children are being fed rice water only, since the families have run out
of rice and money. Of course, during these days of violence, finding
food is even more difficult. Starvation is increasingly become a fact
here.

Yesterday we were in the new Government capital, a new-born city with
huge beautiful roads (with almost no cars on them) and large buildings
where the various ministries of the government are housed. The government continues to pour in millions of dollars to expand the new capital. The main reason for having a new capital is to be more secure against popular protests that are always strongest in Yangon (formerly Rangoon). The dictatorship junta is extremely rich. They lord over a country that is considered to belong to the three most corrupt and most
oppressive countries in the world.

2007-09-27T01:43:00.000Z

I'm leaving for southampton next monday, so things are really starting to speed up here at home. We had a small birthday dinner for my mom tonight, it was good to have the whole immediate family together even if everyone was exhausted like we were.

I passed my drivers theory test today, got one question wrong (I don't know which one, they didn't tell me), but I was happy with that, so I should have my provisional soon enough then.

I've been thinking about loads of things recently, Burma and everything happening there has been on my mind a lot, I listened to a podcast from a conference in which a guy from the simple way community and another guy from camden house were discussing a Christian Ecology in Seattle Pacific University (if you want to listen to it, go to Itunes store and search for "shane claiborne" it's the only free thing that comes up. It's been making me think about the implications of the gospel in challenging the consumeristic nature of our society which is in a quiet marriage with our capitalism. I don't know what the answers are economically, but I know, as the two speakers tried to say, that although the problem is a societal one, it begins with a personal problem, greed and the desire for growth, to consume ever more. It inspires me to want to learn more about community gardening and growing our own food and other supplies.....and/or living on seasonal fruit and vegetables grown locally (not that I eat much fruit). I'm still not sure what I think the answer is. In a rapidly urbanizing world, can we really all grow our own food? With population growth increasing at a phenomenal rate is that sustainable? I really believe that the current system is broken, but I also believe that God can "redeem the city". I'm constantly struck at how in the Christian metanarrative, the opening image is one of a garden while the closing one is of a city, it seems to be the progression of human civilisation, but the city at the end, is a place of justice and dynamic peace, much unlike the cities that we know today.

I'm still thinking, and not acting nearly as much as I should.

2007-09-04T22:06:00.000Z

It's been a hard and long week, and i'm happy to be at home.

Friends who are gone...

2007-08-29T01:45:00.000Z

I'm writing this from a house in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was in Chicago for the past few days and came out here to visit Benjamin (my roommate from college, and Sam, who did the HNGR programme with me). Yesterday (and I can't believe it was only yesterday), I received a phone call as I was touring around with Sam and Benjamin which informed me that another friend of ours had committed suicide the night before. This was hard news to take. I knew this friend wasn't doing well, and had tried to take his life before, but i wasn't expecting this now. This has hit me after learning of the death, again through suicide, of another of my friend's at the begining of summer. I can't explain why these things happened. And I don't think I need to, but it's still hard. Both these guys were great people, who made me laugh and forced me to think harder about certain things. I've changed my plane ticket to fly home to Dublin a little later so that I can stay here and be here for the funeral service. Please pray for comfort for his family, who have been through hell these past few months I'm sure, and for all his friends who loved him so much, who he left behind.

Ironically, I guess, but the email I received giving me the news I put in the post below about Angola and Bishop came from this friend.

i'm alive and well

2007-08-22T07:01:00.000Z

I'm alive and much has happened since I’ve last posted, and I won't try and cover it all.

Recently I received an email from a friend that has really lifted my spirits. Some of you may know that I spent time in Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, LA. If you've seen my wallet, I bought it from an inmate there who made it in his free time.
I spent a week there during spring break my 2nd year of wheaton, and then went back for several days during mid-term break the autumn of that year. Both times were incredible experiences for me. When you enter this prison, in many ways you feel that you are entering a monastery rather than a prison. The prison is currently renowned for its rehabilitation of inmates and also surprisingly and what made me want to visit the prison in the first place is that the christian community among many of the inmates there is vibrant and growing. There is even a full-time seminary on the premises (not run by government funds of course) that inmates can attend (as one of different educational options). I went as part of a group from wheaton who went under the chaplaincy office. Many people I told that I was going assumed that we were going to "minister" to the inmates there, but this was far from the truth, we were going there to spend time with brothers of ours (it's an all male prison) and most of us felt as we were "ministered" to by the men there.

What we found there was truly indescribable. I've rarely seen such christian community, men serving each other and showing each other such care. It's by no means a perfect community, and has many of its own problems with personalities, prison politics and the like, but there is an undeniable work of God going on there among these men. Many of these men are the worst of the worst criminals and have no hope of ever leaving Angola. I'd previously believed that men only "found God" in prison to try and show good behaviour before they appear before parole boards, but many of these men didn't think focus on leaving too much and were desiring how to seek out and serve god there in the prison community.

Angola is partly so incredible because of it's past. It did not used to be such a shining example. It was known as one of America's deadliest and bloodiest prisons. Many people were killed while inside, often brutally. One man who lived through that time is a Man now referred to as "Bishop Tanniehil". This man of God, experienced Angola in its dark days and now in its lighter times. He is one of those old southern speakers, with a deep Louisiana accent that I must admit was often incomprehensible to me. I've rarely seen someone light up a room the way he does. He is now well into his golden years and is recognised both by inmates, guards and wardens as a man of great standing. When he preaches everyone (guards and all) listen and respond.

The email I received was a press release received by a friend who was on those trips with me. This is what it said:

"The Bishop was "Met at the Gate"!

On Tuesday, August 14th, Eugene "Bishop" Tanniehill was pardoned by the Governer of Louisiana, released from Angola Prison, and met at the gate by Terry VanDerAa and Pastor Bert DeJong. After serving 47 years of a life sentence, the Bishop is the latest to receive a warm welcome by "the Church outside the prison walls" through the Meet Me at the Gate® program.

Terry brought the Bishop to the Koinonia House® National Ministries office and together they had what Manny Mill called "the biggest ALELUYA ever!"

Manny Mill is director of Koinonia House Ministries which assists former inmates in the crazy, and extremely challenging transition from prison life to life on the outside.

As strange as all this may sound to many, and i must admit Angola is an odd place, this is some of the best news i've heard recently. If there's ever a man deserving of a pardon it's this man, although most of us never expected the governor to approve this (he has been denied countless times), this is a huge answer to many people's prayers. I'm sure Bishop Tanniehill would appreciate your prayers for him in this time as he's moving out into the "real world" where he hasn't walked in 47 years.

Life goes on...

2007-07-04T02:50:00.000Z

Well not to say that Dan Chen doesn't still rock my world, but I guess it's about time to put up a new post. I'm writing this from my Aunt and Uncle's house in Ventura, California. I had my surgery last Thursday and all things considered it went well. There's a long process of healing to go, but the pain is managable and i've been taking it easy. It's nice to not have too many responsibilities.

You may have noticed that the past month or two i've had a picture of a journalist at the side of my blog. This was Alan Johnston who has now been released by a terrorist group holding him in the Gaza strip. This is great news.

I'm now looking for a job, but it's hard to imagine anyone hiring me here in california as i'm only here for 7 weeks, but who knows i may strike it lucky.

Its interesting being back in America. My mother has come with me, although she leaves in a little over a week. She's been back and forth to Amercia several times over the past year, and she and I have been talking about how difficult it can be to concurrently live your life in 2 countries (3 in my case). It's strange feeling somewhat at home in 3 very different places on the earth. It forces you to develop 3 different personalities. Maybe that will help me relate to patients when i'm doing my psychiatry rotations, who knows. I do know that going through this surgery will definitely help me empathise with people going through what surgeons consider 'minor' surgery.

Anyway, i'm alive, all is well. I passed my first year exams which is a huge relief, but i've realised more being here just how little i know. My uncle teaches Anatomy and Physiology at a local highschool and he keeps asking me questions and casually quizing me, it's embarassing how little i know. So that's one of my plans for this summer, learn all of anatomy. Plan 2, watch as many episodes of House as possible (already finished series 1). Thanks for those of you who sent birthday cards and facebook posts. It means a lot.

Dan Chen Rocks My World!

2007-05-26T18:48:00.000Z

Hey I just wanted to give a plug for my ex-floor-mate's website www.chennergy.com . Dan is living and working in chicago and has a passion for working with the homeless. He does photography to "pay the bills", but his talent is crazy. Even his wedding photos are pieces of art. You should definitely check out his portfolio online.....quality stuff. It's guys like Dan and Banksy (who i mentioned in a previous post) who are restoring a respect and passion for art in my life.

-for a personal update-

I had my last day of classes yesterday, and now it's a study week before our first two exams, then another week off and then our clinical exam. One cool thing coming up in the next week though, is that Stina Kielsmeier a friend from Wheaton, who's been studying for a year in Cairo, doing a masters in refugee studies (or migration..?) is flying through London and has a killer 16 hour layover, and so hopefully, flights and everything going to plan, I'm going to meet up with her next friday and hang out in london till her next flight. It'll be cool to hear all about her experiences, and to get a break from studying. I still can't believe this will only be my 2nd trip to london since moving here....not cool, but with 30 pound return tickets for only an hour train journey....i can't go up there every weekend like I had imagined i would....ah well, I should enjoy the chances I do get though.

Day of Fasting for Darfur

2007-05-15T16:54:00.000Z

A friend of mine, Devin Goulding, has organised today as a day of fasting and prayer for the people targeted in the genocide of hundreds of thousands in Darfur, Sudan. I'm sorry I'm posting this late, but please take a minute to pray for the people of Darfur. And take a second to look at one of the websites below on how to get more involved in trying to seek an end to this.

Below is an email that devin sent out last night:

To read more about Sudan and the genocide in Darfur go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/africa/2004/sudan/default.stm

Breakfast
Read: Isaiah 58
Ponder: How might I be able to make today’s fast more than just a day without food? How can I live the rest of my life as a “fast” for the poor, oppressed, and hungry of the world?

The following statement was written by a human rights activist from Darfur who is also a native of Darfur. She risked her life on several occasions to help further the work of NGOs, to attempt to seek justice for women and children victims in the conflict and to raise awareness in the international community of what is happening. While currently seeking asylum in the United States, she continues to be a voice for the suffering people of her homeland.
For more information on an organization that she is currently assisting, go to www.darfurrehab.org

Since the year of 2003, the Sudanese government and its para-miltias of Janjaweed have launched its scorch-earth policy of genocide in Darfur; brutally attacking innocent civilians and completely destroying villages and looting their properties. The massive killing has resulted in over 400,000 deaths and 2.7 million people have been displaced. Among IDPOs and refugees, 80% are women and children. An unrecorded number of women have been raped and raping continues by the Janjaweed and government forces. Gang rape and cruel acts of violence against civilians, especially women and children, happens everyday.
The UN has described this as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world ever since the beginning of the conflict. There have been many UN resolutions, but nothing has been implemented! Therefore we are urging the international community to assert pressure on the Sudanese government to accept peacekeeping forces to put an end to the suffering of our people in Darfur, as well urging the security council to issue a new resolution with Chapter 7, ensuring protection of civilians without permission of the government of Sudan.
We are also appealing to the United States government to exert pressure on Sudan and countries who opposing any tough measures against Sudan.

All the best
and God bless all

Pray:
-For God’s strength for yourself and the others fasting today
-That God would speak to you about what action he might be calling you to
-For peace in the Darfur region and protection for those that call Darfur home
-For the woman who wrote the statement and her requests

Lunch
Read: Habakkuk
Ponder: Do I cry out about injustice that I see like Habakkuk did? When I hear about Darfur and other similar situations is my response to move on with life, call out to God, change the way I live, or something else?

Pray:
-That the international community might begin to act in ways that bring justice to the region of Darfur
-For healing for all the women who have been raped, children who have witnessed it, and that it would stop
-That God would move in the hearts and minds of those in power in Sudan to change their ways

Dinner
Divest from Sudan:
http://www.sudandivestment.org/home.asp
Take the time to pull out your investment documents and enter in the stocks, mutual funds, etc. that you are investing at this website. If any of your investments are tied up in money that flows to Sudan it will let you know and you can call your investment firm and move that money to a different investment.

Pray:
-That China would use it’s political power to pressure Sudan to stop the genocide
-For peace in the region of Darfur, Chad, and Central African Republic.
-That food, water, and medical supplies would be able to get to those who need them

Two more websites for information on Darfur and what you can do about it.
http://www.darfurgenocide.org/
http://savedarfur.org/

I had to steal this Kierkegaard quote from my brother's blog

2007-05-13T12:42:00.000Z

"Christendom is an effort of the human race to go back to walking on all fours, to get rid of Christianity, to do it knavishly under the pretext that this is Christianity, claiming that it is Christianity perfected.

The Christianity of Christendom...takes away from Christianity the offense, the paradox, etc., and instead of that introduces probability, the plainly comprehensible. That is, it transforms Christianity into something entirely different from what it is in the New Testament, yea, into exactly the opposite; and this is the Christianity of Christendom, of us men.

In the Christianity of Christendom the Cross has become something like the child's hobby-horse and trumpet."
- Kierkegaard, "The Instant" 5, 2-3

May is here and the heat is Gone!

2007-05-01T18:31:00.000Z

So I noticed something tonight, something was unusual as I sat here working on my computer....the difference was that my arm wasn't burning. Due to the random way my room is set up (with built-in unmovable furniture) I would usually spend the evening trying not to rest my arm on the burning hot radiator as I typed. Thankfully, it's May 1st and they've finally turned the heating off (I'm sure i'll be complaining of the cold soon enough...it's always the way).

This week on the course our learning has been structured around the topic of Anaemia. Who knew there were so many different types and causes for it, and how serious it can be.... interesting stuff, although I can't really see myself being a haematologist. At least I can take one residency field off the list. (My latest thought of residency, doing a combined 5-year programme leading to certification in both Family Practice and Emergency Medicine).....I hate the way I'm so enamoured by the future, it's a real vice. I've been this way all my life, when I was 9 and wanted to be an 'animal trainer for the movies' I had already researched the career path and knew which university I wanted to go to (Moorpark College by the way).

Today brought the reality of the importance of the 'hear and now' to life. We had our mock OSCE exams. OSCEs are Objective Structured Clinical Exams, that basically are clinical practicals. They test us on everything from communication skills, establishing rapport, to ascertaining diagnosis, skills like taking blood pressure or doing a cardiac examination, or even teaching someone how to use their inhaler properly for Asthma. They're nerve racking enough. I had difficulty getting this woman's blood pressure reading because I was so stressed that all I could hear in the ear-piece of the stethoscope was the sound of my own pulse racing inside my head. The practice was good though, and I think it has made me more prepared for our exams (just 4 weeks away now...).

Summer is here, essays are done, the end is in sight, and life is good.

just taking a break from an essay.....just one break...honest

2007-04-29T13:55:00.000Z

So I'm in the middle of an essay on the myeloproliferative disorder polycythemia vera (it's absolutely fascinating....I had to pull myself away to write this)....when I took a break and went over to the CNN website. I like the CNN website cause it lets you watch video clips for free.... and since I'm without TV at the moment, it's a welcome distraction (also I've been on a YouTube fast since lent so that hasn't been an option- otherwise i'd never get anything done).

Anyway, one of the "most popular videos" was a story about how several churches across America are giving sanctuary to undocumented immigrants. It's interesting. How do you feel about it? The woman who they profile is a mexican immigrant whose young son was born in America and is a US citizen. She has received a deportation order. She isn't hiding where she is and forwarded her new church address to the immigration authorities, but now she is permanently living in a church with her son, and trying to campaign for legalization of undocumented workers. Part of me, the part who looks at the human situation, loves the story. This is what the Christian church is meant to do, following from the many biblical commands to take care of the alien among you, to give them justice. It's good to see that the church is participating in civil disobedience because it helps to remind people that the church's positions should never be coopted by the political state in which it finds itself.

There's the other side of me too though, the big picture side, that knows this is not a permanent solution, this is temporary relief to a few, from a massive issue. It highlights yet again that the US based church needs to committ itself to helping alleviate poverty in the countries surrounding it, so that people don't feel they have to become uprooted, leave the families, countries and lands that they know and love, and make often dangerous journey's in search of hope, often a false hope. Anyway, I'd appreciate your views if you have any.

It's sort of interesting to compare this situation with a similar one in Dublin last summer where 41 Afghan assylum seekers held themselves up in St. Patrick's Cathedral demanding that the government look at their cases. In this case, it was more the traditional model of sanctuary that the Afghans were using, the church leaders hadn't encouraged them to do this, but protected them none the less and tried to seek for a swift and peaceful resolution. In the American situation, church leaders are actively inviting people into this. This seems like more of a living church model than the traditional because it is active, reaches out to others, like Christ did for us.

Here's the link to the video:

http://www.cnn.com/video/partners/clickability/index.html?url=/video/us/2007/04/28/acosta.immigrant.sanctuary.cnn

Vineyard weekend away....

2007-04-24T18:35:00.000Z

I had a great time away this past saturday and sunday with the good people of Southampton Vineyard whose community I've joined since moving here. It was a good time of getting to know new people I hadn't met and getting the know the few I had better. It was also good to get out of Southampton (even though we were only half an hour away).

click on the link below to see more pictures of the weekend
http://soton.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015152&l=557b8&id=187702307

Cambodia on the mind....

2007-04-19T22:40:00.000Z

So for some reason or another, God has really been putting Cambodia on my mind recently. Over the past few weeks I received a couple good emails from friends in my community updating me on their lives and the lives of my friends and host family in Phnom Penh. It's been Khmer New Year recently and i know it's a time of great joy and celebration for the entire country, one of the celebrations people look forward to throughout the year.

Craig, who was my mentor with Servants while I was there, was in Cambodia with his family recently to help with the orientation of some new Servants workers, attend Servant's 25 year anniversary in Thailand, and oversee some work with an organization he began in called Big Brothers and Sisters of Cambodia, where young adults from Cambodian churches take on a child orphaned by AIDS as their little sibling and bring them on outings and help mentor them as they grow. One of my good friends and my host mother's niece Serey, is now helping to run the organization. Craig sent me an email with some updated pictures of my community there. It's brought back a lot of memories.

Some great news is that Teara my roommate in Cambodia, and his sister Sunti, (both who lost their parents to AIDS) have now taken on their own "little brothers and sisters" to help share some of the love that they've received with others. It's amazing to see them wanting to give life to others after they've had so much taken from themselves, they're both a constant example to me.

It's been great to email Cambodian friends (one great thing about globalisation), and keep in some sort of contact. I still don't know when and if God will bring me back there. I'm planning on doing a medical elective next summer for a month or so, and am trying to see if God would have me go back to Cambodia, to continue relationships and learning, and gain some valuable medical experience, or if God's calling me somehwere else.....I don't know, but i know he'll make it clearer and that i don't need to know just now.... Anyway, I could ramble on and on about Cambodia, so i won't.

Here's some pictures that Craig sent me:

This is a picture of the big brothers and sisters group in my community, in our church. It's so great seeing all these youth from the community, supporting these AIDS orphans, also from our community. Serey, is second from the left in the back row. Teara, is 2nd from the right in the the row just in front of the back row, beside the girl in the green shirt.

This is just outside my house. That's Craig and his wife Nay with their daughter Micah in hand. Sunti is sitting beside them and then Heurn, my host mother is the one standing (wearing a great Calvin and Hobbes T-shirt).

This is Teara sitting on the bench in front of Vi, our next door neightbour,'s house. He's sitting with Vi's mother, who i only know as Yeay (grandmother). Yeay is one of those people who will just make you feel amazing spending a few minutes with her. She was probably one of the most welcoming people in the community to me when I was first in Cambodia, and struggling to learn the language, her patience at my poor grammar and lack of vocab and willingness to have a conversation, were huge blessings to me. It's good to see she's still doing well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!!!

2007-04-16T20:28:00.000Z

This post is dedicated to my wonderful Grandmother, Francis Kingsley.

Today my grandmother turns 80 years old! I wish I could be there to be with her and my grandpa but it wasn't meant to be this year. My dad is an only child, which makes my brother and I the only "official" grandkids (although they have many "adopted" grandkids who they have shown huge love and generosity to over the years), so it's harder that my dad and I can't be there for the occasion. However, my mother, brother and Hailey are able to be there and I'm sure they will be celebrating in style.

Even though my brother and I grew up thousands of miles away from my dad's parents we were blessed by them being able to spend huge chunks of time with us in Dublin, they would often come over and spend 2 months around christmas time with us, which means many of my childhood friends on the road got to know them as well.

Grandma is a very special woman, who loves God and people, and continues to share that love with others being very involved with her community and church in California. Both she and my Grandfather have been huge examples and encouragements to me all through my life. I really thank God for them.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Shooting in Virginia

2007-04-16T20:07:00.000Z

Wow, it's shocking to hear the news of those brutal killings in Virginia Tech. How can these things happen?

Back at School

2007-04-15T23:58:00.000Z

Happy Khmer New Year!

I'm back in Southampton now since last Tuesday, I came back early to try and get some work done, but although I was able to finish some things I found it difficult to do as much as I'd hoped. It's okay now that friends are back on campus, it's always nice to have human contact. Also my mood has much improved from the depression of last week especially now that the weather has turned out so good. I feel as if i'm in Southern California, weather wise.

I was able to spend 2 weeks away from southampton. The first I spent in a small town called Bormio in Northern Italy (if you ever catch me saying I've had a hard life, please shoot me). It was such a good time to be with my parents, matt and hailey and the kids. I love my nephew and niece so much. Eoin is so cool, and has started calling me a combination of Uncle and Michael which comes out as "Mongol." I'll take it though, cause he's so cute. And Moia, still only 8 months old, but is absolutely gorgeous, and for some reason she likes me ( i.e. i can usually get her to stop crying).

I then spent a week at home, and probably one of the highlights was being able to meet up with loads of school friends who I haven't seen in years on my last night there. Well done Emma for organizing that.

Over break I was getting caught up on the news, and saw a CNN report of a woman interviewing students at Baghdad's main university. Over a hundred of their professors have been assassinated in recent months and car bombs going off on campus are a daily occurrence. Each day when these students get up for school they know they could easily be killed (targeted for trying to get an education) or that they could return home to dead or wounded family members. Yet they still press on. The courage of these students and the determination to get an education so that they can make things better for their families and their country was truly inspiring. How little I appreciate the security that I enjoy everyday, and how 'easy' it is for me to go about my studies.

I wonder what my generation in the West would be like under such circumstances. We're a generation that on the whole has known nothing but peace and prosperity. "Normal" life for us means being in "control" of our destinies and having "rights." This is actually abnormal life, most people do not have it this way. I wonder how we'd do. Would we react the same as those interviewed iraqi students, or would we have given up long ago? I wonder if some day we'll be forced to find out?

Easter thoughts....

2007-03-25T12:52:00.000Z

Today at church, we were reflecting on 200 years since the end of the trans-atlantic slave trade. So one of the things we did, was look at slavery today, and how most of us benefit from it.

Especially as we're coming up to Easter, I thought it was poignant that my pastor decided to do a presentation on the chocolate industry and slavery. An estimated 15,000 Malian children work as slaves on Ivorian cocoa plantations. Cote D'Ivoire supplies 43% of the world cocoa to the main chocolate producers in Europe and America. Chances are the chocolate that you will eat this Easter, much of it will have been at the cost of forced labour and beating of children.

I'm sure this isn't shocking to most people as this made big news back in 2001. Then there was supposed to have been a voluntary code set up by the Chocolate manufacturers to ensure that child slavery was ended on cocoa farms by 2005. Sadly this hasn't been met. Here's a excerpt from the american Global Exchange (fair trade) website:

"In 2001, this unacceptable practice caught the attention of the media and the government, and the American public began to voice their abhorrence of the use of child slave labor in the production of one of their most beloved treats: chocolate. In response, the US chocolate industry agreed (via the Harken-Engel Protocol) to voluntarily take steps to end child slavery on cocoa farms by July of 2005.

Unfortunately, this deadline has now passed, and the chocolate industry has failed to comply with the terms of this agreement. As a result, Global Exchange is spearheading a campaign that will provide an opportunity for communities nationwide to voice their concerns about the chocolate industry's abuse of children's rights."

This is still an important issue! In the words of one Malian child slave, "Tell your children that they have bought something that I suffered to make. When they are eating chocolate they are eating my flesh." (this quote come s from Stop the Traffik.org)

Okay, so is there anything we can do about it? Pray, that's a good start. When you see easter eggs for sale in the shops (or chocolate bunnies if you're in america) stop and pray.

But there's more that we can also do, sometimes I think we use prayer as a way to take away personal responsibility, I know I do, but there is a lot that we can actually do.

Antislavery.org doesn't recommend boycotts of buying chocolate, as this often does more harm than good, hurting already poor farmers who don't use slaves, and encouraging more farmers to use slave labour as the demand for their goods (and their income) falls.

Instead they recommend supporting fair and ethical trade initiatives. Although I don't think Fair Trade is a viable long term solution, as it is too controlled in terms of market forces, for the moment it seems a good way to guarantee, and encourage fair working conditions. If the world was free and equal, then free trade would be the way to go, but without common respect for human rights (and general love of neighbour), free trade leads to exploitative practices with increasingly lower wages and higher profits. Buying Fair Trade on the other hand, guarantees good fair wages for those who have produced and sees them through times of market fluctuation. Although the fair trade component of Cote d'Ivoire's cocoa production makes up only 1.3% of the market it is growing. The more larger producers see the rise of Fair Trade chocolate sales the more they will be be compelled to look at their own buying practices in order to retain their share of the market.

Other than that we can support Ethical Trade Initiatives, by encouraging your family to sit down this easter and write a letter to one of the chocolate producers, encouraging them to increase their efforts to guarantee just labour practices. (I've put a few addresses at the end but local ones shouldn't be too hard to find.)

On Easter we choose to celebrate the crux of our faith, there is victory over death and the destructive pattern that we are part of in this world will not prevail. Let's continue to try and live that way now, and in God's power (through Christ's ressurection) we know that it's possible.

Addresses:
Corporate Affairs Manager
Nestlé UK Ltd.
St. George's House
Croydon
Surrey
CR9 1NR

External Relations Department
Mars Confectionery
Dundee Road
Slough
SL1 4TS

Terry's Suchard/ Kraft Foods
Consumer Care
St. George's house
Bayshill Road
Cheltenham
GL50 3AE

Consumer Relations Department
Cadbury Ltd.
PO Box 12
Bournville
Birmingham
B30 2LU

Bored of essays already....

2007-03-19T17:41:00.000Z

One of the funniest articles I've read recently was today in a link from the Drudge Report.
It's entitled "Global Warming: Moving Towards Metrosexuals" (click here to read it).

Basically the author feels outraged that methane produced by cattle is being targetted by Global Warming activists. He feels this is part of the "liberal" attack on all things masculine as this would mean we now want to criminalize eating charcoal-grilled Steak. Here's an excerpt or two:

"So now, steaks and hamburgers are classified as instruments of destruction, along with large vehicles, lawn mowers, and charcoal grills. It can't be much longer before cowboy movies, cigars and hockey are held to be enemies of the earth as well."

"This has got to be the most blatant assault on guyhood since ABC moved Coach to the same night as Roseanne, and turned Hayden Fox into Phil Donahue. It's a wonder that liberals don't cut to the chase, by simply claiming that global warming is caused by testosterone. Then, they could make public school nurses siphon the offending fluid from the boys during health class."

He may have a point.... I'm always up for a good conspiracy theory. But besides from being well written polemic, it does raise some interesting points about this guys view of "guyhood". What's sadder and probably more an affront to masculinity (rather than global warming activists) is the fact that the manhood this guy is holding on to has been completely emasculated. His paradigm of masculinity has no substance, no balls.

Basically manhood in our day and age boils down to believing what the ads tell you to. Men have yet to recover from years of feminist ideological domination and so hold strongly on to whatever images they can. This means the XL-Whopper at Burger King, or bigger fuel-guzzling engines (with "Like a rock" playing in the background), pure aggression from the 6-nations or March Madness (although even basketball is a bit iffy cause women do that too...right?) American Football...that's a man's sport. I love that the author described other affronts on masculinity in terms of moving TV programmes around. Isn't the fact that most Western men spend their evenings sitting in front of the TV more the affront to manhood? Testosterone can't do much when we're sitting on our asses.

Basically, we've lost the battle already. We've got no concept of any sort of healthy manhood, so we play into two feminist imposed expectations and roles: 1) man as uni-dimensional brute aggressor, or 2) man as metro-sexual image conscious wanna-be sex-icon (when in history were so many guys so concerned about having rock-hard abs?)... i guess there should be a third category often seen in media and real life....3) man as completely apathetic self-absorbed couch-potato/internet junkie....(i've got a lot of this in me).

Something to think about....not saying that the feminists (do you like my stereotyping...and I do mean "ALL" feminists) were wrong, they've done well. And most were probably ignorant at the effect they were having at emasculating society. But since us men put up no fight of our own, maybe it's our own fault.

2007-03-17T17:46:00.000Z

Happy St. Patricks Day to everyone! I'm still sadly in England for the moment, needing to do some essays before I can officially enjoy the easter holidays, but I'll arrive back in Dublin a week from Monday.

Just an update... the course is going well enough. Some weeks I feel like i'm getting a handle on things and other weeks (usually) I feel like I'm just keeping from drowning. I know that's how you're supposed to feel in medical school, but it does keep the stress level a bit high. Anyway, the summer is looking ever more in sight, meaning both exams and freedom. Dreading the exams, but the freedom is seeming to diminish my fears.

We've just finished our 4 week Respiritaory course and our 4 week Cardiovascular course. We had a random week on gerontology and now when we come back from the holidays we'll be studying the Locomotor System. Fun stuff.....in a way. Anyway, that's my life for now. I'll post again soon when there is something worthwhile to say, or (more likely) when I get bored of writing my essays.

Congrats!

2007-03-14T19:59:00.000Z

So we've finally done it! After years of maintaining peer pressure, the government ensuring that there's nothing better to do, and a healthy dose of advertising by Diageo...we've finally secured the top spot of the EU's most binge-drinking nation.

Aparently 34% of Irish people replied in a survey that they binge drink (more than 5 drinks in 1 sitting- hardly "binge drinking" if you ask me) regularly. We beat Finland with 27% and the UK with 24%. Not bad. Well done to all those involved in making this such a success.

addendum

2007-03-04T00:52:00.000Z

addendum: I realize in my last post, I refer to Arafat's trademark scarf as the Palestinian headscarf. This is not strictly the case. Although the black and white scarf in this pattern is mostly associated with the Palestinian people (both still in Palestine or refugees throughout the Arab world and beyond) the scarf is also presently in use in other Arab countries.

A day of thoughts....

2007-03-03T23:32:00.000Z

So today was one of those days that was full of thoughts. This morning I spent at a global health conference put on by MEDSIN which is the global health awareness group in most UK medical schols. We had a couple good speakers and a couple so-so speakers. But as my dad is famous for saying about conferences he goes to, I mainly went to see if there were people I could collaberate with and learn from (i.e. networking). And to my delight I think I did find some. There's a project in the work that is seeking to form partnerships between UK medical schools and Medical schools in the Global South, and that's something that I really want to get behind, so watch this space.

Okay so one of the things that I've been wanting to rant about recently, actually since I got to the UK, is the way that our global society has comodified things that used to hold meaning, and made them into commercialized symbols of chic fashion. An example of this that I've noticed especially since I came to the UK was the Palestinian Hatta or Keffiyeh (as seen on Mr. Yasser Arafat to the right). It would be an odd day in southampton to walk around and not see this scarf being worn by at least 3 or 4 fashionable young women. I recently asked two of my coursemates who also wear this scarf (well one actually wears a sylized hat made from the same colours and pattern) what they thought about the whole palestinian situation. They both revealed that they were not wearing them out of political motivation, or a human rights statement. One of the them didn't even know it had any palestinian meaning. The other told me her scarf was her mother's from the 70s when she used to campaign.

I don't have a problem really with the people who wear it without knowing its deeper significance or really caring, but it just saddens me that our society is so set up that may symbols quickly lose any meaning. People wear Che Guevara t-shirts without knowing who he was or what he did (or if they acutally would agree with him). I don't know, it's also evident in how some people wear religious jewelry (although this is meaningful for many people). I just wonder if any symbols can last anymore? Or if our society cares about anything more than the lates fashions and looking good?

African-Carribean Cultural Night:

I went to the African-Carribean cultural night tonight. It's put on by the African-Caribean Christian Fellowship here in Uni of Southampton. It was an interesting night. I managed to convince 3 friends that it would be a good event to go to and give support to. The first half of the night was a bit strange and I think especially uncomforable for my friends. The night was advertised as a night to celebrate African and Carribean culture, but the second half of the 1st half they had this all-white southampton teenage "urban dance" troup. They did a few songs including Michael Jackson's thriller (in full zombie gear, quite freaky). They were very intense, and sort of were a complete change from the hearfelt and genuine acts shown before (such as a medley of Amazing grace to celebrate 200 years of emancipation). I felt very uncomfortable during this group, we weren't really told why they were performing and they're intensity was really weird. This was just too much for my friends who sadly left after the inter-mission...although I couldn't really blame them.

The second half was much better thouh, it was full of drama, singing, poetry, dancing and even a fashion show (not to mention free food at the end...good stuff). The drama and poetry dealt with issues of diaspora life such as the brain drain, longing to return home, the homeland longing for its children to come back. There was drama about elders and poetry about things I wish I could understand. But mostly it was celebratory. The president of the ACCF, a medic, got up towards the end to explain why there was need of such night. She talked of how the vast majority of things we hear in the media about Africa and Africans are negative and how if you ask people what the first things they think of when you say Africa, the response you get is usually war, famine, AIDS. She said that although these are part of the story they are not the things that she thinks of. She mentioned so many wonderful memories, sounds, smells and people. She was a really elegant and gifted speaker and I thought her talk was maybe the best part of the night.

Anyway, I wish my friends could have known what was coming in the 2nd half cause it may have convinced them to stay, but honestly I probably would have left in the first half as well if I hadn't told myself that I would stay because of the 7 pound cost of the ticket for the night. I'm glad i did though, it very much made me miss being in circles of people with a wide diversity of life experience, with open expectations and understandings of what's important in life.

Ireland 43 - England 13....yeah that feels good.

2007-02-27T15:09:00.001Z

So with the result of this past Saturday, last week's defeat against France drops into obscure distant memory amidst loud choruses of "Fields of Athenry"....

After having been scolded by my flat-mate Siobhan (from Belfast) because I haven't yet been to O'Neill's Pub in Winchester, I decided that's where I'd go to see the big match. It worked out well cause I'd just spend the day working on a course-mate of mine's house that he's rebuilding (he lives in Winchester). I had been lead to believe by Siobhan that there would be loads of Irish there for the match, and although I rarely have been to Irish pubs while abroad I though if there ever was an occasion to be with other Irish people for a match, this was it.

The days leading up to the match, people kept asking me "what's the big deal about Croke Park?" If I'm stuck for time I'll usually just remind people that the last time there was such a big British contingency present in the stadium was a day now known as "bloody Sunday." If you've seen the film Michael Collins you'll remember this portrayed in the scene where the British tanks break into the middle of the pitch and open fire on the players and crowd.

It's even more than that though isn't it. Even for myself, someone who's barely picked up a hurley except for in P.E., never been to a GAA match let alone in Croke park, and a child of immigrants, there was an odd tension in me at the thought of hearing "God Save the Queen" sung there. Croke Park and the GAA which owns it is a remaining symbol of Irish independence. The GAA didn't used to allow its members to play other "foreign" sports such as football and rugby, so there were many mixed emotions leading up to this Ireland - England rugby match. I seriously thank God, for everyone's sake, that Ireland won.

When I walked into O'Neill's pub, I was sadly dissapointed, yet not terribly surprised. It was jam packed with England supporters drinking Guinness. There was a small Irish group, dressed in green and crowded in a corner. We did break into a few choruses, and managed to make the best of a greatly diminished atmosphere, but there was really nothing that could wipe the smiles of our faces that night. I have to say, isn't it slightly ironic that a foreign-English sport, that used to be outlawed by the GAA is now the only international sport that we play where it represents a united Ireland? I love it.

Mary is Dead

2007-02-23T00:23:00.000Z

I got the word from Benjamin a couple of days ago that our long enduring and faithful friend, Mary, my old jeep, has finally given in and passed. It's a sad thing losing one's first car. When I left her to Benjamin I didn't feel that I was losing her because she was in such good care and I knew that I would be able to see her if I ever wanted to. I got regular updates on how she was running and sort of felt that she was still here with me sometimes. However, this time it's more permamanet. In fairness Mary has done us well, many people well. She was already second hand when she first came into my sister-in-law, hailey's, hands, and then on marriage became my brother's posession also. She got passed down to me and I passed her on to Benjamin.

If you're wondering about the name, well you'd have had to seen this ad (click here to watch then press PLAY AD). It's a Mr. Kipling's Mince Pie ad, but you really have to see it to understand. Joeseph keep's screaming "Come on Mary!" and basically that's what I had to yell at my jeep every morning to get her to start, and she always did.

I've had many a good memory in that car. A 4 day road trip with my dad, pulling a giant trailer of my brother and hailey's stuff before starting my first year of university. My first time skidding off the road when driving in snow. Lifts for good friends who were car-less. Late night runs to Los Burritos....mid-day runs to Los Burritos.......morning runs to Los Burritos......good times.

According to Benjamin she had 210,473 miles on her when she died, not bad. On a more serious note though, Mary deciding to give up at this point now leaves Benjamin without a car to drive to his new job in the subarbs of Minneapolis. His job is really car-dependent, so this is quite a big deal. Please pray that somehow he'd be able to find a replacement, cause he really can't afford to be without this job at the moment. I'm sure he'd appreciate it.

........spot the memories......

2007-02-11T18:11:00.000Z

So, since most of you haven't got the chance to see my room....being that not too many people have come to visit me so far.....I thought I'd share with you the one shelf of stuff that I seem to take everywhere with me no matter where I'm living. It gets added to all the time, and is about the only colour to be found anywhere in my room....so let me take you through some of the pieces (wow this sounds cheesy, which it is....but who cares).

I've got sort of two rules when I get "souvenirs" from places i get either stuff that is just for normal common use in the place i'm visiting (such as bottles or signs..) which will remind me of the life I had somewhere or I get something that I can use later on (like a t-shirt or bracelet) that will remind me of where I've been after i'm gone whenever i wear it.

Probably the oldest thing up there in my list of memories is the mini-"Animal" the rowdy drummer Muppet which was randomly given to me one day by Rob Browne a good friend and ex-youth leader of mine........that's been to Chicago, Cambodia and back with me now to England....

moving on we got probably the next things are the diet coke and pepsi cans....these are going to make me BIG MONEY in the future (REALLY....) as they are still full cans of the dark stuff that went out of date before the turn of the millennium...that's how old they are....i have no reason what first compelled me to keep them back when I was a teenager but for some reason i still have them and well, don't quite want to give them up....

Next we got that familiar sign in the background with Iarnrod Eireann plastered on to it. This was a gift from Aprile Kavanagh....you know you've got a good friend when they'll steal for you.

Next the Egyptian bookmark was a gift from Jessica Hoffmeier who lead a bible study group for some of us students in Chicago. She'd done a degree in Near Eastern studies and was doing a masters in Archaeology (I think but probably wrong) as well. Let's just say that we got seriously in depth and she would spend time translating each passage fresh for us each week....that's commitment.

Directly to the right of the bookmark and under the pepsi bottle you can kind of see what looks like a glass eggcup. This I got at the famous restaurant Ed Debevics in Chicago...a restaurant where the staff are meant to be rude to you (don't ask me why). Anyway apparently this was the "world's smallest Sunday" and it came with a free glass holder. It was the only thing I could afford on the menu so that's what I got. It was from our first "big-sibs" outing to chicago during orientation to Wheaton....such a long time ago.

The silver Jameson flask was a gift from my brother for being in his wedding....hasn't gotten much use, but I'm sure that will change someday.

Next comes a bunch of stuff from my time in Jordan. All the glass bottles are all in arabic and the bracelets would get us some respect and friendly looks when we wore them around Amman.
That's where the money is from too.

There's a couple of other things my "70's" style sunglasses hanging at the back reminding me of California where I got them in a thrift shop.....The card at the side written to me by two friends from different parts of the world who ended up living almost next to each other (Laura Robinson, a friend from Ireland and Megan Hamilton, a friend from Wheaton).

There's the cambodia stuff, the Angkor beer shirt (made into wall hanging...it was a little too big...given to me by friends in Cambodia), the key chain my brother Teara gave to me, and the chopsticks I bought in the market (now inside the Pepsi or should I say "bebsi" bottle).

Then we got lastly but not least my "save the whales belt buckle" that my brother got me for graduation cause I'm "into social justice stuff.." and then the Chinese money envelope that a Chinese student who goes by the name of Daphne gave to me for helping her, carry her bags from the bus stop to her room back in September...I didn't see her again until December when she stopped by to give me my gift...completely unexpected.....

So there you have it (if you've lasted...this has been one of my more boring posts), most of my life fits onto a shelf.....crazy stuff...

Ireland 17- France 20

2007-02-11T17:46:00.000Z

I just finished watching the Ireland v. France 6 nations match....what a game. It was probably one of the best, most tense matches I'd ever seen which just added to the feel of the experience with the first ever Rugby match played in Croke Park. You'd have loved us to win it in the end, but it wasn't meant to be. The French try in the last minute was too much too late in the game for Ireland to do anything about it....at least it was one for the memory.

2007-02-09T17:53:00.000Z

I've just finished reading one of the most disturbing articles I've read in a long time. It's about a Kenyan tour-company which has started offering tours of Kibera, known as the African continent's largest slum.

'"People are getting tired of the Maasai Mara and wildlife. No one is enlightening us about other issues. So I've come up with a new thing -- slum tours," enthused James Asudi, general manager of Kenyan-based Victoria Safaris.'

This just seems sick to me. It does to other people too.

"What is this fascination with Kibera among people who do not know what real poverty means?" asked the Daily Nation, a Kenyan Newspaper.

'"They see us like puppets, they want to come and take pictures, have a little walk, tell their friends they've been to the worst slum in Africa," said car-wash worker David Kabala. "But nothing changes for us. If someone comes, let him do something for us. Or if they really want to know how we think and feel, come and spend a night, or walk round when it's pouring with rain here and the paths are like rivers."'

"Visits by tourists, which reached a crescendo during the recent anti-capitalist World Social Forum in Nairobi, were testing the local hospitality culture to the limit."

I think this last quote from the article sums up just how wrong this whole thing is.
"Kibera is the rave spot in Kenya," wrote one columnist sarcastically. "For where else can one see it all in one simple stop?The AIDS victims dying slowly on a cold, cardboard bed. The breastless teenager. ... Plastic-eating goats fighting small children ... and -- ah yes -- the famous 'shit-rolls-downhill-flying-toilets'. It is unbeatable."

This is what happens when all that comes up in western media when 'Africa' is mentioned is poverty, injustice, and war. These are the thing people now most commonly associate with Africa, because of constant repitition. Not to deny that these things exist, they do, but Africa is so much more than that. The peoples on this continent, (where I have never had the opportunity to travel to but only to know people who come from there) have vibrant lives and cultures and form the oldest societies on earth, not to mention the unbelievable richness and beauty of the continent geographically. I'm not in anyway qualified to talk about this subject. But slum tourism is rediculous, and I think all too common. Might "short term projects" also be guilty of this?

If you want to read the entire article for yourself click HERE.

Isle of Wig-ut (Wight).

2007-02-04T19:15:00.000Z

So I've got this thing about pronouncing silent letter g's in words....for example I like to pronounce Tallaght as Tall-a-gut....and so with the Isle of Wight so close at hand, it's no exception. Granted, as you all know, i'm weird.

So a group of us from the BM4 medicine programme decided to go on a day trip to Wig-ut yesterday. Good times were had by all. Honestly though, I'm not exactly sure why the place is so popular. We spent the time and money to go over there and what did we do, well one group went shopping, another group went to watch rugby in a pub and yet another (that was the group I was in) decided to take a walk down the beach. It's strange though, I don't know why but somehow in my mind I felt I had an image of white sandy beaches and maybe a palm tree or two (just with how everyone always goes on about how idylic the Isle of Wig-ut is). What we found was just a normal rocky beach, and a sleepy town named Cowes, about the size of Blackrock, or maybe a little smaller.

Anyway, it's always the people that make the experience and we all had a good laugh. Ended up going out for a curry at night, which was an ordeal in itself, after somehow being verbally assaulted by two customers sitting near us (making us fear for our lives at provoking the wrath of the islanders), then after having the restaurant charge us almost 55 pounds more than they should have....David Rees and I, the more sober ones of the group, were able to argue them back down to what we were meant to pay. Anyway, let's just say there are plenty of stories and memories from the short day. I'll want to go back to Cowes and the Isle of Wig-ut someday, but I'll be okay if that's not for a while to come.

Meeting up at the Highfield bus stop. It's a beautiful day Rebecca (on right) using the occasion to sport her most trendy sunglasses. That's P on the Left.

Arriving into Cowes.

David and Kath.

Not a bad ending to a good day. (Kath, Pete and Tim).

Wheaton meets Southampton...

2007-02-04T18:54:00.000Z

So I've been lucky enough to have a familiar face come visit me last weekend. Blake Sawicky who I knew during my Wheaton days, is studying for his masters in Marine Archaeology at UCL in London (a very good archaeology school). Anyway, last semester I had the chance to visit him for a weekend so this year, Blake has been able to spend a little time down here with me.....since Southampton is well...not exactly the tourist centre of the world, we did what I do with all the people who come visit me...i.e. go to Winchester. Winchester is full of all the history and architecture that you'd want to see, being the first capital of England and having one of the most well known Cathedrals.

Anyway, it's always good to have a familiar face around and some good conversation. Here's a few pics of our couple of days toegether.

This is blake. We're in the crypt of Winchester Cathedral where there's this suprising and reflective statue. We're lucky because it's been quite a while since the crypt has flooded enough to where the water relfects the light in the enitre room. When you're there it's really peaceful. I'm definitely going back.

Here's a better view.

This is the High Street, it was a bit random to come across a Native American busking group...but...yeah...what can you say.

Blake's dad has been telling him he needs to take more pictures of himself, when I offered to take one of him, he said he has to take them like this.....okay.....

A blog that needs to be visited..

2007-01-31T00:40:00.000Z

Hey everyone, sorry this has to be short and sweet. I'll do a longer update later. But I've just been over at my friend Chika's blog and I need to recommend it here. Her last few posts are really insightful, well written thoughts, that everyone could benefit from. So I'll put the link up here.

http://www.xanga.com/africansun06

Barack Obama

2007-01-22T18:19:00.002Z

So I don't know if you've been keeping track of the American presidential campaign (I hope you're not because there are much better uses of your time....I however seem to be addicted to anything political.....). I don't know about you but i think if you asked most people in the US today, they'd probably rather have a new election tomorrow than spend another 2 years with the current administration. As it seems about time for a democratic president, and with now real strong republican candidates appearing (at this still early stage) attention has been given strongly to two people, Hillary Rodham-Clinton and Barack Obama. Hillary (recognizable by simply her first name in many parts of the world) is a known quantity, which from what I read, is a good quality to have in US politics. People seem to be much more likely to vote for someone if they don't feel like they're going to be surprised by their actions. Obama on the other hand, is not very well known. However those of us who have lived in Illinois, do know him. I remember when he was running for the US Senate while I was at Wheaton. There was such a buzz around this charasmatic man. At that time I did a little bit of research on him and his biography was enough for me to set him apart in my mind. He was born to a Kenyan father and White American mother (from Kansas). His parents divorced when he was 2 and then his mother remarried an Indonesian man and the whole family moved to Indonesia, where Obama spent some of his childhood, before moving back to Kansas to be raised by his grandparents. In other words he was a Third Culture Kid (the type of youth that my brother and his wife work with).

Anyway, I've been reading more and more about him, and truly does seem a different sort of politician. Some of the comments he makes, cut through the intensely polarised, black and white understandings that are all too common in the US 2-party system and he is a politician that embraces that most issues are a lot more grey and require compromises along with difficult, unpopular decisions.

Anyway, I think this short video about his background and what even got him to this point is quite informative and worth a quick look.
http://www.barackobama.com/video/about.php

At the end of his speech on the video his rhetoric shows him to be a different type of leader, one perhaps who would be able to lead a now post-modern, pluralistic nation.

Why Western governments' foreign + economic policy matters....

2007-01-21T15:02:00.000Z

I got this from the charity OXFAM's website.

Access to medicines

Life-saving drugs under threat in Thailand

Thailand's national HIV and AIDS treatment programme has succeeded in providing cheap drugs to 90 per cent of the people who need them.

However, the US push for a Free Trade Agreement with Thailand threatens the future of the treatment programme by enforcing stricter patent rules. This could increase the price of new and improved AIDS drugs by as much as 90 per cent, costing the Thai government up to $3.2 billion and putting thousands of lives at risk.

For Solada, the availability of affordable medicines is a matter of life or death. She is 43-years-old and HIV-positive. She is currently receiving medicine through the government treatment programme. She lives with her husband who is a casual labourer, and her 16-year-old son. Sewing bags for a living, she is the family's main breadwinner. "When I first learnt I was HIV-positive I couldn't accept it," she says. "But now, because of the treatment I receive, I feel alive. I'm born again."

Experts say that about five per cent of drug recipients each year develop resistance, as the HIV virus mutates. When this happens, new and improved drugs are required. These medicines are expensive as they are patented by international drug companies. The current prices charged by companies for these drugs ($6,782) are more than ten times the cost of cheaper copies currently provided by the government ($482). If the US and pharmaceutical companies get their way, life-saving drugs will be priced out of the reach of Thailand’s poor people.

Isra is a 34-year-old dried seafood retailer living with HIV. Without support from Oxfam, he would be unable to pay for his HIV treatment, which costs twice what he earns per month. "I want drug companies to make drugs affordable," he says. "The new drugs are expensive. I think they should also be part of the government programme, as people on my income can't afford to buy them. I get depressed and stressed when I think of it. I have no choice, I want to survive. I need these drugs."

Source:
The economics of effective AIDS treatment: evaluating policy options for Thailand (World Bank; 2006), by Ana Revenga , Mead Over , Wiwat Peerapatanapokin , Sombat Thanprasertsuk , Emiko Masaki , Viroj Tangcharoensathien , Julian Gold.

Global drug company, Novartis, must stop denying India the right to produce cheaper medicines for poor people worldwide!

Climate Change.....are critics sane?

2007-01-20T15:04:00.000Z

So probably like most people, I'm one of those who tries to do my bit for the environment, but probably could make a lot more of an effort. I try to recycle, not take too many uneccesary car journeys (easy when you don't own a car) and the like. I definitely believe that human activity overall impacts the environment more for bad than good, and that we really should be doing more to reduce our carbon emissions and live in more of a harmony with what's left of nature.

(A quick side-note, I remember once when Janet, a Dr. with Servants Cambodia, took me out on a trip to the countryside where she helps do a TB clinic. When we got there, I felt as if I was in paradise, and wondered to myself if this was the first time I had ever breathed "pure" air. It was so untouched by pollution).

So anyway, I was reading on Drudge Report which I use as my source for a right-wing perspective in news (I like to get a wide spectrum of news sources to try and then formulate my own opinion), and found this article written in the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal. Written by Richard Lindzen, a professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT, the article discusses the politics of climatology and what he sees as the silencing of anyone who dissents on the topic. It is interesting reading, and I don't know enough about the author, or the context in which he is writing to really know what to think of it, but it does make me think. Basically what he says is that the jury is still truly out on how and even if man's activities on earth are causing a global rise in average temperature.

This is basically his main point: "Global temperature has risen about a degree since the late 19th century; levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have increased by about 30% over the same period; and CO2 should contribute to future warming. These claims are true. However, what the public fails to grasp is that the claims neither constitute support for alarm nor establish man's responsibility for the small amount of warming that has occurred."

Anyway, I find it interesting. I'm the type of person that likes for dissension to be free. The second we start silencing opposing voices we threaten scientific progress and the accountability that comes with having people research debated and questioned. We wouldn't stand for a government without having an opposition, we also shouldn't be content to have a scientific community where dissension, no matter how small the voices, are squashed out of political and monetary concerns (on both sides).

Have a read of the article for yourself here....it's only about a page long. http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008220

I think that whatever happens to be the cause of rising global temperatures, we still have good reason to quench our carbon emissions, and burn less fossil fuels which cause mass polution and bad air quality. Humans are here as caretakers of the environment, nature was not made FOR us, but rather for our maker, therefore we must stop acting like we were the only things made, and stop treating the rest of the world as there for our exploitation.

Matt's Visit

2007-01-20T14:35:00.000Z

So there are nicer things about living closer to home. My brother was in England on a business trip and so he was able to stop by for a night and stay with me and see where I live. I took him up to Winchester on Friday night (cause in fairness it's a lot nicer than Southampton), and we had a drink at the Wykeham Arms (a famous pub that's become sort of our local as med students when we're at the Winchester campus). Then we went out for dinner at ASK pizza and pasta, on the high street, which was really nice.

Today, Saturday, we slept in a bit (i.e. till 10) and then headed into southampton so that matt could see it, could buy some prezzies for his kids, and then we headed for lunch at "Cowherds" a really nice pub/restaurant in Southampton. I had toad-in-the-hole it was pretty amazing food (thanks matt for taking me out by the way).

That little paper cut out is a miniature version of a school child who goes to school in Indianapolis, Indiana. A friend of mine who is a teacher made a project where each kid made a miniature version of themselves and they sent them around the world, to different people to see what experiences they get up to, so I've been trying to have her with me at the ready....still there's not too many exciting things that happen to me here.
I thought I probably needed a picture of my brother, just to prove to people that he actually came. It was good having him. I hope he comes back, and next time can bring Hailey, Eoin and Moia along as well.

Books that deserve my attention but probably won't get it...

2007-01-07T21:33:00.000Z

Well, I made it back to southampton alright. It's pouring down rain here, but I'm just thankful to be back and finally done with travelling for the moment.

I've decided to put off editing on the essays i need to do in order to list a few books that I'm really wanting to read but that this medical school thing combined with the fact that i'm a really slow reader, are making impossible.

These aren't in order by the way.....

1) The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good by William Easterly (2006)

A rigorous study of the overall failure of the attempts of the North to transplant its institutions on the South and propel economic, social and political development.

2) Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth

-I've started this one, and it's good, really interesting. I'm finding myself having to look up a lot of the hindi/samskrit terminology he uses, but i'm finding his ideas fascinating....i'm only 20 pages in though, so it's still slow going, and i'm guessing i won't get to read anymore till easter.

3) Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell

-I want to read it partly for reasons of being conversant when it's brought up in conversation, but also partly to know what this book that i keep recomending to people really has to say....slightly worried.

4) From Wild Man to Wise Man: Reflections on Male Spirituality by Richard Rohr and Joseph Martos

-it's a topic that always interests me, almost because the term "Male Spirituality" can sometimes in our society be seen as an oxymoron. I also have a deep respect for Richard Rohr, partly be recomendation, partly from listening to him speak and partly from the work I read by him on the Enneagram.

5) Is the Reformation Over?: An Evangelical Assessment of Contemporary Roman Catholicism

-although I'm not sure I like the title of this book, cause the question itself almost sounds triumphalist to me.... i am deeply intrigued by the idea. There is so much that I see as good in the Catholic tradition, especially among the religious orders. There is so much history and depth of understanding in the traditions of spiritual direction, that I have many times thought about conversion. There is still however, in my mind, some things which keep me from doing this. I believe this book, by one of the worlds most reknowned scholar of modern christianity would greatly increase my understanding.

These are some of the first that come to mind. I'm also open to any suggestions if you have any that you think would be good for me to get a hold of.

I'm still alive...for now...

2007-01-06T01:01:00.000Z

Sorry I've been out of posting for a while, I've been doing my Christmas tour of America and didn't seem to get much of a chance to sit down and ponder. I had a good time in California with relatives, my other mission for my time there was to do my shopping that i've been needing to do for a good 3 years, (and hopefully will last me for a good 3 years more). So now, my shoes are not falling apart, my jumper doesn't have a huge giant hole in the sleeve, and i have more than one pair of trousers besides jeans (sort of a necessity in med school..).

The nebraska wedding was great. John and James (two of my ex-floormates) were kind enough to give Benjamin and I a lift from Lincoln Nebraska to Chicago....it would have been only a 6-7 hour trip had we not woken up to a blizzard. As we were on the motorway still inside Nebraska a car infront of us slammed on it's breaks, we we're only going 40 miles per hour, as the snow and ice was thick, but as John swerved to avoid the car in front of us our car lost traction and we skidded accross four lanes of the road. Because for some reason or another God wanted at least one of us in that car to still be alive, our car missed all the other traffic and skidded into the muddy median between the two sides of the road. Again, by the mercy of God, we were able to push the car out of the deep, and covered with mud, were able to get back on our way. When we walked into a McDonalds to get some breakfast and to see if the storm would get any better, the woman behind the cash register burst out laughing....we did look pretty funny, one of us had a huge chunk of Mud on his forhead that he hadn't seen to clean off.....anyway...the rest of the trip to chicago was pretty uneventful....although we did have some good times dancing in the back seat.....okay so it was only me who was dancing.....

Chicago: it really felt like going home. It felt so good to be in a place that I had spent 4 years getting to know, with people who in some ways know me better than family. It was great to stay with Matt and Ryan, who I had been in a prayer group with four 2 years, Sam, also part of that group, was there with us for 2 nights as well. Sunday night was a good time just to catch up with everyone as we saw in the new year, and then on monday, as we all eventually woke up, we headed over to "Father Paul's" house for Kenyan Chai, and ended up having dinner there too. When I was part of the HNGR programme, during the integration/consolodation part of the programme, we had a class every wednesday night during my last semester at Wheaton. After that class each week Dr. Robinson (whom we all seem to lovingly call Father Paul) would invite us all over to his house just for discussion, mentoring and 'most importantly' Chai (usually made for us by his wife Margie). It was a really good time for me, and was especially good to discuss the whole emotional/personal side of how HNGR affected us than was really appropriate in the classroom. The HNGR programme really has the capacity to mess you up....in a good way that is, it literally turns your world upside down. Anyway, on monday we talked a lot about our lives now, how we were trying (to more or less success...less in my case) to live out the values and things that we learned during HNGR. Our conversation ranged from gossip about who was dating who, to the effect of online media (such as blogging) on society and internationally, to God and the restoration of the world from all the mess that we're in. It was seriously a great time. Dr. Robinson encouraged us all to see Blood Diamond so we all decided to see it then that night. YOU NEED TO SEE THAT FILM. It's not something that will make you feel good, actually it will probably make you feel sick, but it is important to see because the exact same things are still going on today, not just with the diamond trade but also with other resources like the coltan in our mobile phones found in Democratic Republic of Congo. Maybe with more awareness, something can be done....maybe.

Anyway, it was great being in Chicago, and although I felt so at home, and was overjoyed to see such close and valued friends, i got a sense of peace that right now I am where I'm meant to be, in Southampton. So Sunday, I'll be on my way, back to Glen Eyre Hall and the Bolderwood campus to rejoin the long trudge towards qualification. Let's just hope I haven't forgotten everything over the break.

THE Event of Last Year!

2007-01-06T00:49:00.000Z

Mark and Dana's wedding was good times. I was really honoured to be a part of it. I can think of very few couples who i've thought were more suited for each other than Mark and Dana. Their love and mutual commitment to God was inspiring and they definitely displayed through their wedding ceremony that the most important part of their relationship was their commitment to God and what his purposes are for them as a couple. It'll be interesting to see where they end up in a few years.

Dana is awesome. What more can I say?

(Left to Right) 'Pulitzer prize nominated' Dakarai Aarons (star journalist for the Memphis paper "Commercial Appeal"), Benjamin Washam (my former roommate and the guy who keeps me on the straight and narrow), Steve Coddington (Mark's brother and best man), and then Me, now a good 10 lbs heavier, thanks to my 3 weeks in America.

Why vegitarians can hate animals too...

2006-12-11T00:43:00.000Z

So I found this article in the Indipendent (from drugereport.com) that talke about how a UN report says that the world 1.5 billion cattle are responsible (either directly or indirectly) for more environment damaging emmissions than all forms of transportation (car, plane, ship) combined.

It serves as a pretty good example for why some of my friends are vegetearians. They aren't motivated necessarily by some extra love of the cute and cuddely, but more for a love of the earth and for proper uses of resources. I think they have a case. So I'm slowly trying to reduce my dependence on meat. I'm not an "all or nothing" type of guy, and I generally think the best policy is "everything in moderation" but I think we could all do with decreasing our dependence on meat for protein. I'm aiming for trying to have only two meat meals a week, I'm not there yet, but it's an aim...and on the upside it's healthier anyway.

Here's the article:

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2062484.ece

Just a side note...

2006-12-10T01:58:00.000Z

I always find it difficult in this blog between posting my philisophical wonderings, convictions and dreams, but then also my day to day going ons as a socially active med student. The transition from one post to the next isn't usually smooth and often may seem in tension with one another. I guess that's the stuff of life though, the so many different speheres that we live in, so many different world views, practices and happenings. So I think I'll keep putting it all in, even if it doesn't fit just right.

Just a couple pics from our christmas ball...

2006-12-10T01:41:00.000Z

So last weekend was our course's first annual Christmas ball. It was a 4 course meal with wine and champagne on arrival. Quite a fancy affair apparently (good thing I had brought my thrift-store tux with me....although I've been chided by Tim -in the bottom picture- for not calling a tux a "dinner jacket"....heaven forbid). It was a good time to get together with the entire year and just have some fun, the two years ahead of us in the graduate course were also there, so that was good too. Anyway, here's just a couple of the more decent shots that were taken during the night.

So this shot was probably my favourite of most of all the pics i've seen of the night. It shows reality, Emma Brandish, (dubbed the unofficial social secretary of our course) in the middle with her posee of guys around her, each one ready to do her bidding, just as she'd like it.

This is most of my year towards the end of the night, I actually think we look pretty good considering the litres of sweat that has come off of us, and the litres of alcohol that have gone into us. It was a good times though, definitely had my "bonding" time with coursemates now.

Tim and I on the coach ride back to campus. There ended up being two after-parties.... I decided to skip both so that i could get up in time to do work the next morning (didn't happen though, despite my best intentions). I found out however from Doug and Netty that the first after-party they decided to go to, everyone had fallen asleep within 15 minutes of getting back, so they left and phoned the other party to see how it was going. The people there said they were all just sitting around drinking cups of tea. Dissapointed and disheartened Doug and Netty decided they too would just go to home bed then. Wow, we must be getting older.

CROSS-ATLANTIC SOCIAL JUSTICE CHRISTIANITY

2006-11-26T16:29:00.000Z

(So, being back home for the week was great. I really enjoyed it and got almost no work done, so I'm really going to have to lose my social butterfly mentality and get some work done these last 3 weeks before Christmas. By the way my brother is still in hospital, healing extremely slowly, and pretty much would do anything to get out of there, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers. )

So I've only been in the U.K. for a little over 2 months now but there's something that I've been noticing, and even though I'm not here that long yet, I still want to begin commenting on it.

Over the past 4 years when I was studying at Wheaton, I found myself involved with Christians who had a particular understanding of what Jesus' message was all about, it was my interaction with these people, communities, and ideas, along with God's incredible grace that kept me from throwing away my faith altogether. There's lots of ways people use to describe these Christians; some involve big theological definitions, some other terms are more derogatory, but the one (which I still don't like, but which I think most people understand) is basically these were "social justice" christians or maybe a better one is "wholistic" Christians. These people were trying to understand and live out the message of Jesus which involves both word and deed, basically speaking love and showing love.

Anyway, naturally being in a new place I've been trying to connect myself with these types of christians here, and I have found some really good groups of people. It's interesting though, but I'm finding that although these people hold sort of the same understanding of Christianity as my friends back at Wheaton did, their approach and ideals are quite a bit different. And I think that's a really good thing, the more i look into it the more i think we have to learn from one another.

Christians I've met in the UK are passionately concerned with structural, societal and environmental justice. They campaign for issues such as Fair Trade, and buying Organic food. They advocate what people call "Ethical" living. What I've come to understand by that term is that it means, trying to live a life where your purchases were produced fairly and safely, where you're day to day life has as little negative impact on the environment as possible and where even the money in your bank account savings is not being invested in unethical activities (such as the arms-trade).

These Christians wouldn't wear Gap (probably close to a sin), or buy "super cheap" things (at places like Primark- like a K-Mart), because if something is super cheap it has most likely exploited someone.

There is the understanding here that if you spend just that bit extra you are ensuring justice for the person you've bought it from (of course it's not that simple, but that's the general gist).

Churches hold Fair Trade Sales, and at my church a woman sells ecologically friendly cleaning supplies everyweek at the back by the information table. The last church I visited had successfully campaigned to have Southampton become a Fair Trade city.

In America however, although SJ christians are aware of these issues(Fair Trade, organic, non-GM modified food) they are not the focus, and usually less effort is put into them (I think i'd make an exception for Shane Claiborne though...who makes his own clothes). More effort/intention goes into the personal and relational side of justice issues. More common issues such as: where you live (whether in the subarbs - a seemingly cardinal sin- or in shafted areas -i.e. 'where Jesus would live......'), Racial Reconciliation, Who you spend you're time with, and Learning not Teaching become primary.

The mantra of some of the American SJ christians might be as Viv Grigg said (I think quoting someone else) "Earn as much as you can, Spend as little as you can and Give generously." People frequent the shops that UK SJ christians would think sinful, they buy the super cheap foods, they buy the super cheap clothes (well in fairness few clothes are bought at all, holes are a matter of spiritual maturity wherever you go). But they do this for the greater value of "identifying" with others, with the outcast and the shafted. The way of life is rather called "Simple Living" on that side of the pond.

I have to admit I'm not here long enough to even begin trying to understand UK multi-ethnic relations, from what little i've talked to people, I keep getting different opinions, and all I can tell so far is that the situation here is VASTLY different from the US and also from Ireland, who untill recently had never seen any sort of economic immigrants from other parts of the world. So with that in mind I won't even venture to see the Church deals with "racial-reconciliation" if that phrase even makes sense here.

Anyway, my point is that we need to learn from each other as we all have potential pitfalls. We need to be acutely aware of how we (wherever we are in the world) are part of intertwined webs of connection that mean what I buy in my local Tesco has an effect on someone living in Peru, or Spain. And that the clothes I wear, may be the handywork of exploited children and other economic slaves. Taking care of the environment is not an "add-on" for Christian faith, but is central to Christain doctrine from the very begining..... (try to answer the question of "what humans were originally meant to do?" without thinking about this).

At the same time, we must never forget that what is just as important is how we live our lives locally. As Shane Claiborne puts it (the poor don't need your money, they need your time, your relationship -). If we truly believe that the roots of "poverty" come from broken, perverted, and misused relationships, then it is only through relationship that "poverty" will be alieviated.

One of the quotes on my facebook page is by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, "It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start." That quote always cuts me deep..... how can I so be concerned about others far away when I treat my family so badly?

Our living out Christ's love must both be local and global, as we in a globalized world are very much connected to both levels. However, we must remember that one thing that separates Christian social action from it's secular or governmental cousins is that if something is Christian (i.e. following the example of Christ) it must be necessarily personal and relational for this is how Christ shows himself to us.

Homecoming

2006-11-16T16:19:00.000Z

I've got the chance to go home this next week, which I'm really looking forward to, especially since I'm spending all of Chrsitmas in America, and won't have much time at home then. It's called reading week, so i'll need to be doing a good amount of work as well, but it will just be good to get to go home. My mother is leaving for America with Hailey and the kids on Wednesday, this will be a chance for Hailey to show off the kids to the relatives who haven't seen Moia yet, and will be a welcome break for my mother to see her family. They arrive just in time for American Thanksgiving, so I'm sure they're all looking forward to that.

My brother's still in hospital, and they were told that if they had waited another day to bring him in they would have had to amputate! He's doing okay, but his body is going through a battering with all the medication and anti-biotics that he's on, and who likes being in hospital this much? Hopefully he'll be out in a few days (just in time to have his wife and kids leave...ah well....great timing right?).

Still, I'm really looking forward to the week. If any of you are around and want to meet up let me know.

Film night, life expectancy...and depravity

2006-11-15T23:29:00.000Z

So I had fun tonight. Back when I was at wheaton, during my Sophmore year, we had a few months where every week (or so) we would have "trippy movie night." Where a few of us would get together and watch a movie that you definitely had to be awake to understand... American History X, Magnolia, Adaptation, were some to name a few of the ones we saw. Here at Southampton it seems that trend is reviving slightly. A couple weeks ago I organized for a group of us to see the South African film Tsotsi, and then tonight a few of us went to see the Palestinian film Paradise Now.

It's a film i'd seen before, but was still powerfull. The part I enjoy most about seeing a film is often the conversation afterwards. Getting what other people thought of the film and the themes and issues they pull out of it, makes it so that it feels like you've seen 3 or 4 different films for the price and time of 1. Tonight i was definitely moved by what a friend of mine thought of the film and how she related to some of the characters personally (I won't go more into that though for privacy's sake), but it really did give me a perspective on the film, which I hadn't seen before, which i probably wouldn't have seen because of my background. Again that film just brings back how complex, difficult, heart wrenching, terrible, injust, peaceful, violent and current, the situation in the Middle East is. If this film does one positive thing, it's that it forces the viewer to accept these terrorists as humans, it deletes the option of demonisation, and that has to be a good thing.

In other news, this week we've been studying obesity. This morning we had a symposium, or a series of short lectures on obesity and public health issues, and I found it fascinating, as well as challenging. In an off handed comment of one of the presenters, he said that even in Britian the health inequalites can be very different from different populations. He said that if you are born in some parts of Glasgow, you're life expectancy is only 50, while if you're born in parts of Devon, you're life expectancy (male) is in the late 70s. How can that huge of a difference exist in such a small country where its free, equal, health system is known around the world? It's amazing to me how much we as a society have failed eachother. We have divided ourselves regionally, by class, and by background. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but we've split the village up, and only some of the kids, living in the right areas, get the village's attention and guidance and opportunities it seems. This is just the case of inequality in Britain, one of the richest countries in the world. Compare us to Cambodia, Sierra Leone, India's or Kenya's mega slums.... Our global village seems to do an even worse job at this.

I get this far in the post, and I realize, I don't know what else to say. I hate writing posts like this, and i do it too often.... what's the point? We all know the world is a messed up place, just as much here in Southampton as it is in Bolivia or DRC. Why is it messed up? It's cause I'm messed up and you're messed up. The Christian doctrine of human depravity seems to me to be one of the religion's strongest arguments (along side the understanding that the depravity was not the original design or intent nor the end point of the human narrative). We talked today in class a bit about why leaving market forces to themselves in issues such as self-regulation of the advertising industry won't work for maintaining good public health policy, since advertisers, like most human agents, will naturally work from the values of greed and profit, rather than looking out for the public at large. This is why we still have coercive junk-food advertising aimed at children, the most vulnerable of our society.

I know total depravity is probably not that popular of an idea. And it's true, most of us aren't murderers, compulsive liers, or extorionists, but what we are is probably something worse, apathetic. We don't care that we are part of global systems that are designed to keep our countries richer and others poorer. We don't care that the clothes we buy were often made in horrendous conditions, or that the coltan in our mobile phones is part of what fueled the war in DRC where more than 3 million people died in the last 5 years. This subtle side of our depravity is perhaps worse than the easily identifiable and visible sides, and probably the hardest part to change.

A necessary read...just think of Haggard's Kids...

2006-11-13T00:51:00.000Z

Hey, I just stumbled across this post on Andrew Jones's blog. He shares some of his past story and really puts this whole situation into a light that I needed to see. It's powerful, and such a reminder of what shame can do to an individual and a family. If you get a chance pray for Ted Haggards wife and kids, and I guess even for him too, although that seems a bit harder.

Here's the link to the post.

He's in pain and he's my brother...

2006-11-08T22:06:00.000Z

Hey everyone, I heard news from my Dad today (by way of text message) that my brother, Matt, was taken into Accident and Emergency at St. Vincents Hospital today and wasn't doing well. It all started last week when my brother went in for a "routine" procedure to deal with some ingrown toenails... I know not nice. Anyway, they had to remove the nail, and subsequently the wound has got really badly infected (if you want to know more about the background to this, and see a REALLY unseemly picture then click here for Matt's Blog).

Anyway, he's been a bit up and down with pain and feeling sick, but today got really bad and his surgeon recomended that they take him right away into the A&E, so now Matt is in a bed at Vincent's with a severe case of cellulitis and probably not having much fun. Please include Matt in your prayers (if you normally pray and even if you don't...it can't hurt), I know he'd really appreciate it.

Another Momentous Day...

2006-10-28T01:12:00.000Z

So today (okay truly it was yesterday, but does it matter?), I finished reading the book Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. Why did I read it? Cause I felt like it was required reading for those of us in "post-evangelicalism." And in a way it is. It's funny talking to people who have strong ideologies (about whatever), and instead of normal small talk about what do you like to do, people tend to ask "have you read this book, or what do you think of this author." We really do relate to each other by a shared "discourse" which has shaped us and our understanding of reality. This isn't just Christians (or emmergent type people) who do this but lots of other people too. I've met people in Southampton, who we keep asking each other if we've read something, or seen a particular thoughtful film or whatever, and finally find something of common ground... it's mad how good it feels when you find someone likes the same text that you do.... it binds you together in a unique way.... i don't know what it is.

Blue Like Jazz was good. Not life changing, but it did make me think- not a paradigm shift- I feel that we're probably in similar paradigms, but none the less, I feel that the way he put things, was fresh and made me reflect. I guess the next book in the similar genre I need to read is Velvet Elvis, right? I dunno if I will, we'll have to see, even though I'm sure it's good, and am sure I agree with everything he says even before I've flipped open a page.

The hard part about reading these types of books and thinking these types of things about christianity, is that we feel we've found something that others don't have... and whenever you feel like that arrogance is hard to fight off. I struggle with feeling "enlightened" compared to other evangelicals, even though I know, that this isn't true and that there truly is "nothing new under the sun." I was just thinking the other day as I was talking with god and using all my social theory jargin, that God must be bemused by all of us who think we are having new ideas about faith, but truly just changing our vocabulary.... or maybe there really is something new about it.

A small example of this ..... I found myself praying the other day somthing like this "Lord you know how my habitus is messed up and has brought me to this place, cut me with your discourse and shape my understandings of reality in the way you'd want to" nothing's new about that, but that was naturally how my spirit wanted to state things, it's how they made sense to me.

I wish I could relate to other Christians, but I guess that's the catch. In truth, I wish other Christians could relate to me. So many are happy to just devote their lives to their worship services and after church coffee, seminars, cell groups, Christian Unions. The problem lies in that I used to be just like that and relate to that, but I got burnt out very early. I don't want to go back to that place (although sometimes I truly am tempted), but I'm also tempted to think other Christians should come to where I am, but I'm sure that wouldn't be a good thing either. I just keep needing to worry about God transforming me and pray that he would do the same for others I guess.

Again, I'm going to finish here, because it's half two in the morning, I'm a bit wired and am probably not making much sense...

Peace on you all.

A "Momentous" Day...

2006-10-23T20:45:00.000Z

So today 2 things happened important for my future life as a doctor (inshahlah).

1. I officially became a member of the British Medical Association They even gave me a membership card..... don't necessarily know how I feel belonging to a "professional" organization like that....

2. I purchased my first Stethoscope.- again something about that even doesn't sit well with me, I think it's too much a symbol of power....or something....

So yeah, I've always had issues to the "position" side of becoming a doctor. I don't like wearing a tie, and I don't like being called by a title. Is it necessary? I'm trying to keep an open mind, to learn from people who've been doing this thing longer than I've been around, but at the same time, avoid unnecessary indoctrination. How much detachment is necessary? How much "professional" demeanor? I know those can be useful things..... but then again, are they just symbols of power and position trying to reinforce the fallacy that the doctor is special in some way more than just having a particular education and vocation? I'm having to deal with things, lets just say the anti establishment side of me doesn't like being part of the establishment too much....

So, at least I had one good piece of news in this whole regard. I won't have to wear a white coat, at least while I'm working in Britain. They've been identified as an infection control risk (i.e. they don't get washed as much as they should and are floppy anyway, so not good at keeping clean). That's one age old symbol of the old ways that's gone at least.

2006-10-18T22:56:00.000Z

Quotes of the day:

"Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy."

"We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. . . We must recover the sense of the majesty of the creation and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it."

-Wendell Berry

So we spent most of the afternoon today watching videos of women giving birth. I should just take this moment to thank you once again Mom for what you did those 22 years ago.

Something you don't want to hear when you're trying to push during your delivery: "you've just had a grade 3 tear".....trust me.

What we actually do....

2006-10-14T19:33:00.000Z

I think i'm really going to enjoy the relaxed informal atmosphere of this course. The teaching team are pretty much all still excited about teaching this course (this is only it's 3rd year) and work really well together. Let me try and explain how an average week is goign to go for me.

Monday morning at 9:00 we meet in "facilitated graduate groups" of about 9 people to be presented with and discuss this weeks topic (i.e. pregnancy) and learning outcomes (what we need to learn about it by the end of the week).... we then go about trying to decide together how best to learn those outcomes. Monday afternoon we go out on G.P. Visits, in groups of 4 to the same G.P. for the Semester, where we will meet patients (who have agreed to come in) who are good examples of the case we are studying. Here we will also learn clinical skills of history taking and examination.

Tuesday, we go to Winchester Hospital, and are taught more by the teaching team there, through lectures, having patients come in, visiting patients in wards, practicing clinical skills such as veinipuncture, examination techniques and other sorts of things.....,

Wednesday there are "optional lectures" i.e. lectures to focus our learning such as anatomy, immunology, pharmacology, and loads of other words that end in "ology". Wednesday afternoon we have a dissection room tutorial (but we are free to use the room and the "specimens" any time during the week).

Thursday morning is again optional lectures (I'm guessing I'm going to attend all of these as I don't have a Phd in BioChemistry of Physiology like many of my classmates). And then Thursday afternoons is independent study with optional post-mortem demonstrations.

Friday, is a shortened day, at 11:00 we meet again in our "facilitated graduate groups" and discuss what we've learned and then in the afternoon we have a plenary session with an expert in the field we've been studying.

And that's a typical week. Basically the idea of the course is that the early clinical experience and the constant attention to the same issue, will enable us to learn a lot more effectively than just having disjointed lectures. We'll have to see how that all works out though.

1 Week down...

2006-10-14T19:13:00.000Z

So I've officially been through my first week of Medical School. At least they haven't kicked me out yet, which is a good sign. Like most other first years here in Southampton I've also officially been given "Freshers Flu" which isn't the most fun thing in the world but should be gone in a few days.

I'm begining to realize how much work is going to be involved and so I'm going to have to stop going out as much as I have been, (my budget is going to thank me for that). That said, I have been meeting some really interesting people here and so is always a good thing, I still hate being at the stage of such "superficial" relationships with everyone, small talk isn't my strong point....but that's not something you can or should rush.

That said though, it's really nice to have an old friend from home here too. Emma Caffrey-Osvald, who I went to St. Andrews with is studying medicine here too, she's in her 4 year but is intercalating to do a bachelors of science before she goes and finishes her final 2 years. She had me over to dinner in her house on Wednesday and we just talked about mutual friends and life for really long time, it was great. It's really good to have a familiar face, even if she has seen me at some quite 'memorable' times (....i.e. she's been addressing emails to me as "King Herod"...... don't ask..).

Southampton Mid Week 1-

2006-10-10T22:25:00.000Z

So, it's post time again. I'm not sure whether this post will be and update or something deep....probably something deep, I'll do an update some other time...not much all that interesting to tell has happened anyway.

Whenever I enter into a new place I'm full of emotions. Each time is also quite different, yet some things remain the same. I've done transition a good bit now, so I sort of know what to expect. I know not to despair now about not having "deep" friends yet cause that will come in due course, I'm learning to be open, to love. To not befriend people seeking friendship, but to befriend people to show them love, and friendship comes if it comes. Anyway..... i won't go on about all that.

What I really want to post about is that I've been cleaning up the desktop on my computer (trying to get the old beast to run faster) and found this. What follows are a segment taken from a relfection I wrote during the first few days after being back from Cambodia, as I was going through intense but rapid culture shock and adjustment. I started this after sitting down to play the piano for the first time in 6-months. I couldn't do it. Who in my community could afford a piano.....it was sort of the straw that broke the camels back.....

"My fingerst cry out,
Don't make me touch the keys, the sound of my expression is stolen
Don't make me touch the keys, the words that I'm writing come with a cost to a broken mother who has sold her child.
As I rise to take up my gold plated, wireless cross, complete with cushioned carrying straps and made from a new alloy that retains strength but eliminates weight, I'm struck.

As I look at the one month's salary hanging on the wall, or the shirts I forgot I had.

I've cut myself off from humanity and called it life. I have thought I had something important to give."

I know that sounds really melodramatic, and it is... I was going through some rough emotions....but it was really how I felt. And I wish I could still feel that way right now, but it's too far removed. When God looks at humanity, he sees us richest 10% of the world who have freedom to do what we want when we want, to buy what we want "guzzling and gulping" the finest, cleanest food and drink. He does see us, but only after, and in the context of, the mass of humanity who are for one reason or another the shafted of our world. Those for whom life is physically, emotionally, and spiritually demanding, all the time. For the couple days that I was just recently back from Cambodia, that at least was the context of how I saw my western life....

But even though I'd like to give us all a big guilt trip about being wealthy or educated (or heaven forbid both), I don't think God works that way (as much as I feel he should). I think he rather move us with this knowledge to seek justice or what people refer to as "Shalom" -that dynamic giving of each other, restoration of all relationships between humans, and between humans and the rest of creation. How difficult it is for the rich to live in this way (Jesus said it), but he said it is possible. How do we start, or continue? (1st things first....it's not about the money....that's really secondary Michael...so stop bringing it up too much). There's two (not-so-easy) steps....

1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength (and any other category your society includes....i.e. maybe your liver too or your psychie)

2) Love your neighbour as yourself.

The key.... you can't do one without the other. I'm stopping now.....cause I wouldn't have read this far.

Coventry Cathedral

2006-10-01T22:22:00.000Z

For those who do not know, Coventry Cathedral is quite an amazing place. I'd visited there many years ago when I was either 8 or 11, and I still remember it quite vividly. The Cathedral is quite famous because of it's efforts of reconciliation. In 1940 the cathedral was completely demolished by bombing during the World War. The leader of the cathedral at that time quite publicly declared not to seek any revenge but rather reconciliation with Britains enemies at the time. Over the years the cathedral has become home to the International Centre for Reconciliation which has strong links to Wheaton and has been involved in trying to broker many important peace deals around the world, and also to the Community of the Cross of Nails, which is one of many christian communities accross the world trying to actively promote peace and reconciliation in their communitites.

It's powerful to go the the cathedral (pobably only if you're inthe right mood though, which I was) and ponder the history and the power of Christ's work of reconciliation. When you stand there you see so vividly the empty shell that remains of the old church building and the vibrant new building built adjacent to it, with the cross, joining the two buildings together. I stood inside the new building and looked at the stained glass wall, in contemporary style, it was one of the most moving pieces of church art that I've ever seen, displaying the glory of good, the light made it look as if the wall was made of water and was moving in front of you, it was crazy, and drew you to worship.

Anyway, above are a couple pictures I took.

A couple of days in Coventry with some servants

2006-10-01T22:04:00.000Z

So I've known for a while that Craig and Nay Greenfield (who served as my mentors and adopted me into their family in Cambodia) were going to be in England this Autumn. And it just so worked out that last this past weekend Craig was begining to lead a 2 week orientation for new workers with Servants, 3 of whom are leaving soon to live and work in Calcutta, India. They said I could join them for the weekend so these past 2 days, I took the train up north a little more than 2 hours away to Coventry where the International Administrator for SERVANTS, Helen, and her family live. It was a great time of seeing both old and new faces, and again focusing our hearts and minds on God's unquenching heart for the poor. It was good for my sould especially as I'm in a new place, to be with these christians, and refocusing myself to the lives that God has called us to, to live his kingdom, to seek justice and reconciliation of all relationships (shalom).

Along with the great spiritual side of things, on Saturday night I got in a great game of Settlers of Kattan with Craig and Jenny on the great board that Craig made and which we'd used many times in his slum house in Cambodia....good memories.

Here's a copule pictures from my trip....

Sitting (left to right): Sylvia (Swiss), Kate (English, raised in India), Jenny (US American), Thomas (Swiss), Ashleen (originally from California but now living in Switzerland married to Thomas), Craig (New Zealander -and has lived everywhere else) then on the floor is Helen (who is English). Sylvia, Kate and Jenny are all heading soon (within the next couple of months to India to work with the existing Servants workers in Calcutta.

We had our meetings in the church centre of Holy Trinity Coventry, which had a beautiful building and was adjacent to the famous Coventry Cathedral. Above is a picture out from the dining room and in the near distance you can see the new part of Coventry Cathedral. Below is on the left side of the picture is the church centre we met in, quite nice I have to admit.

Okay a couple quick pictures..

2006-09-28T13:22:00.000Z

I'm running out the door to go buy some quick essentials (if I can find them.... I'm not exactly sure where to go in England to buy things like hangers.....I'll figure it out i guess)... but here's a couple pictures to give you an idea of things that i see here.... as in where I live.

This is the view out my window. I'm in old terrace which overlooks NEW terrace. They look very nice, ours don't (I'll post a picture later).

This is my room (still not un packed, hence the need for hangers).... it's about 11ft by 12 ft so it's not too small, in the right top corner of the room there's a small sink and mirror that you can't see, so that's handy.... anyway.. I need to run cause the day's getting away from me, will post more interesting pictures later. If I see anything that's more interesting that is......

Okay finally here...

2006-09-27T17:33:00.000Z

So for the past month and a half or so I've been receiving a flood of emails from people asking about how medical school is going and what it's like living in England. Well, today is the first day I can even attempt to form an answer. I arrived in Southampton yesterday at about 10:30 am. This is actually quite early, cause I'm attending the international induction, I didn't have to, but thought it would be good to catch my bearings and get used to the place before class begins. So as most of my Wheaotn pre-med friends have already been through at least 1 month if not 2 of medical school I am still yet to officially start....but "all in it's good time" as they say. I'm sure I'll be missing the days of not having class and things to study soon enough. I'm living in university halls, yet it doesn't seem much like the dorm life I knew at wheaton. I'm in a converted terraced house where there are 10 single rooms with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities. It seems much like a normal small house, but with not living room and where everyone locks their bedroom doors.

In some ways I feel like a bit of a fraud attending international induction, several other international students have already said they thought I was English, and it is true I don't have as much of the language barrier. but all the same, I do feel very alien here, I don't know anyone, have never been here before, and there's all usual differences of figuring out public transport, new currency, new prices, and the like... Southampton seems to be a very different place from Dublin. So far the city seems diverse enough, a bit more than the wheaton area and it's diverse in a different sense from dublin, as most non ethnically english people that you'd meet were born and raised here, where in Dublin that's still a rarity. Still, it's very non urban, the university is in the subarban sprawl of a not very large city, so we'll see how I like after I've been here longer.

So all things considered I'm doing well. Next week when all the new UK students arrive is called Freshers week and will be quite crazy. Induction here has been very different from orientation at Wheaton, mainly I think just cause of the size of the student population. The student body is over 20,000 for the university, and in just the international induction there's over 750 students, which doesn't help in making friends, cause chances are if you meet someone you won't meet them again. I'm waiting for term time to start when I can meet my entering class of 45 people in the Graduate Medicine programme, that's a much more managable group.

Alright, I'll try and post some pictures later.

2006-09-17T20:40:00.000Z

Okay, random quote of the day, I literally heard it less than a minute ago on the psalters myspace website... it's "when people learn to love each other, capitalism won't be possible and marxism won't be necessary"...... i have a love hate relationship with phrases like that, they're too 'cute' but speak what need to be said.....

So today is an international day of action on the Darfur crisis. I admit I did nothing special today for Darfur, I deleted most of the Darfur junk emails in my inbox without even opening them today... I was reminded again that today was special to try and raise attention about Darfur, when on the radio I heard the director of GOAL (an Irish Aid Agency) in Sudan calling for unilateral military action to take place immediately and to be lead by the USA and Britain. He said they should bypass the UN as China and Russia will most likely never agree to sending UN troops without Khartoom's permission.... it just hit me.... the futility of all our efforts, yet again. We place our responsibility for humanity's well being in the hands of impersonal super-powers and yet take little meaningful action ourselves. Thinking of what he called for (I wish i could remember the GOAL man's name), brought loads of thoughts to my head, like "how could he be calling for unilateral action when the US and Britain have been condemned so much recently FOR their unilateral action in Iraq? Then I thought of the alternative, present, right-now, reality, I would want someone to help protect me and my family from genocide by my own government. My Christian faith would lead me to pacifism, but like so many things in my faith, it only works if I'm willing to go completely. Pacifism only works if pacifists are willing to join victims and offer themselves as the biblical "living sacrifices" in the modern-day tradition of Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. I'm not there, maybe I would be if I was physically there, if I had to choose, but it's too easy to sit here in a nice big comfortable house, well full from that pizza and ice cream I just ate, and dream of escaping the nets of a comfortable life. Christianity doesn't do well with comfort, just like it doesn't do well with power. It makes a little more sense how Jesus talked about just how unbelievably difficult it is for a rich man to live out his kingdom...

.......but there I go again making Darfur about me, I've learned something very simple in my life of travelling from place to place.... in the many times that something happens where I can't be there to help make it right (not like I could do anything about Darfur even if I was there except probably make things worse), prayer is something I can do. It's something God has given us so that we can act on the hearts he has given us for the world....it doesn't relinquish our responsibility for physical efforts to relieve the suffering (although it probably does give us stamina and focus for it), but it helps ward off the despair that I'm so prone to when I think of the world how it is. Let's just pray, and pray that we would pray more, because I probably will be thinking about it tonight, but it won't be on the radio again tomorrow to remind us.

I'm finally accepted.....

2006-08-23T21:27:00.000Z

So these are apparently the type of students I will be joining at SOTON (I guess that's some sort of short hand for the University of Southampton...don't ask me). Today I got an email from UCAS to say that my offer and requirements have been officially confirmed, which means I technically and officially and in spirit have a place in Medicine at SOTON this Autumn. Although I knew that I would meet the requirements of the offer, they couldn't confirm my place until they had done a criminal background check (don't know how I passed that) and declared me physically fit (i.e. most importantly I don't have the dreaded hepatitis B). So today they were able finally to confirm this. So I'm going. Now all I have to do is go, study, pass some exams and ....oh yeah, pay for it all...... sounds pretty "easy" right?

In other news my cousin Liz is leaving early tomorrow (thursday) morning to go back to America and figure out what she's going to do with her life. This finally ends a summer of non-stop travel accross most of western Europe. Pray for her that God will let her know what it is that God has for her in this life. Stuff much more complicated when you haven't a clue what you want/are supposed to do.