This is an organization affiliated with Lutheran churches and medical missions around the world. There are many opportunities to help improve the state of health around the world. This is an opportunity that might be attractive to my readers because you can knit bandages! Yes, you can use your hobby, OK compulsion or obsession for some of you, for a good cause. Please check it out.
From the Global Health Ministies web page:
Why does it take a rock star to bring attention to issues like this? (Linked from Reuters) WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The world’s richest countries are falling short on pledges made last year to provide Africa with life-saving AIDS drugs, expanded trade and increased aid, said rocker-activist Bono.
Bono and fellow Irish rocker Bob Geldof have used their fame to fuel a campaign for Africa, organizing concerts last year to press leaders of rich countries at a meeting in Scotland to wipe out poverty.
“They started out to climb an Everest but over the past year they got lost at base camp,” Bono told Reuters in an interview after the release of a report by his lobby group Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa group, or DATA.
I do not know why I am posting this but I will. I went to SC to visit my Grandmother last week before her surgery. I knew the prognosis was not great so that made the trip all the more important. I was able to see her for a couple days before the surgery and the day of the surgery. She survived the surgery but it was very hard for her. I had to return to my family but my Father stayed with her. She died on Sunday and was burried yesterday. I was really happy to be able to see her so soon before she died.
This is the progress to date on the next sweater I am making. I am taking the plunge and trying an adult sweater for the next one. If you look below a couple days you will see more about the book I am taking the pattern from. It is Ann Budd’s book of sweater pattern tables.
Also in this picyou can see my knitting bag. I know there are as many knitting bag solutions as there are knitters but this suits me fine. I used an old book bag for a while and that was OK but I kept losing things in the bottom and more importantly stuff in the bag kept snagging my project in progress. So I picked up this bag at Michael’s. It is a knitting bag made by Eagle. I like it alot and it is well travelled. I also like it because it looks alot like a regular backpack but it is designed for knitting and our tools. I did get stopped and asked in an airport if I was a drummer because I left the tops of a couple wooden needles sticking out and the person assumed they were drum sticks!
Pathologies of Power: health, human rights, and the new war on the poor. By Paul Farmer.
This was a very difficult book to read. No not because of poor grammar or convoluted sentences but because Farmer clearly points out the social injustices that exist in our world. Because he points out the suffering of the poor and why they the lowest social classes are powerless to change their own plight. Because he illustrates the poor health conditions and highlights how they might be improved. If only we cared more.
Part one of this work is titles “bearing witness” and Farmer does just that. He reviews what is going on in Haiti in terms of health and access to healthcare and the misuse of power to maintain repression. He illustrates the policies of the United States and Cuba regarding AIDS and the role of quarantine in today’s society; and how those actions afect those who have the disease and others around them. He talks about the Zapatista revolt and why they felt they had to take action simply to survive. He talks about tuberculosis in Russian prisons and why superbugs are being inadvertantly developed. All are illustrated with personal tales and are quite moving. The point that repeatedly came to my mind as I read it was – does this really have to happen. What can be done to correct the selfish misuse of power?
Part two of the book is “One physician’s perspective on human rights.” There are many thoughts raised here by Farmer about issues of cost economics and libration theology. He makes a jarring critique of our current healthcare system and the factors driving it. We are asked to rethink our core beliefs and consider what is ethical and just. Is it right that we, through our own actions, governments and policies maintain the current policies think of money rather than people. To improve public health he argues that we need to improve or correct our social systems and Truly believe that human rights means equal rights.
I will be honest and admit that I was upset at the view of the world illustrated here. But I do not know what to do about it. I feel that I will have a better understanding as I read more about it and talk to more people individually about how inequities of power have affected them and their access to healthcare. And I HAVE been motivated by this book to learn more and take action where I see that it is the right thing to do. Maybe my reaction is not what the author wants but he has seriously impacted my thoughts about healthcare in the world and how my actions can make a difference.
My second baby sweater. It is the same pattern as the last one, even the same yarn, but this one has little star buttons. I made it for the practice; it will go into the present pile to be used at a later date. My wife gets presents ahead of time and keeps them to pull out when we need them. Saves a lot of last minute stress. We also have a pile of things for last minute birthday invites for the kids. This one is memorable for being made on flights and sitting in hospitals waiting.
Due to famility reasons I had to make an unexpected trip to SC. While here we had a few minutes of time to ourselves and we took a quick trip to Boone Hall Planation. It is a very interesting place with a lot of history. The slave houses were amazing and the information about life in the south as amazing. Here are a few pics:
The house
The Lane of Oaks
Slave houses
I understand that movies were made here too including North and South. All-in-all a wonderful place to visit.
(Baby sweater #2 underway I still have the button pannel and the arms to complete. )
I am travelling to South Carolina unexpectedly and I was hoping that I would have the opportunity that I needed to quickly finish the current baby sweater so I can get on to the baby alpaca yarn. I arrived at the airport and found my gate and then realized that the car alarm key was not in my pocket. Panicked I searched everywhere I had been in the airport but did not find it. I called my wife to tell her the bad news but she had news too. She had found it in a pile of laundy I had set aside. I felt better and more stupid at the same time.
Today I think I will be vititing my grandmother in the hospital so I may have more time to knit. I will also be seeing my father. I have not seen him for quite some time so that will be a nice thing to do on Fathers Day.
Oh me oh my! This is a swatch for a sweater that I am going to try and I am knitting it with Plymouth baby alpaca grande yarn. This will be my fist time knitting with real yarn. Not that the reast is not real but this is silky soft and a real pleasure to knit with. I feel a great urge to finish my current project so that i can pick up the new sweater;m I might even set the current work aside. I could not wait, I had to make a swatch. The swatch is supposed to tell me if my gauge is right ( and it is) but what it did was heighten my desire to knit. I am so very excited to start this new project. I am going to use the Interweave knits “Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns” by Ann Budd I hope not to get too lost because this book looks like a great resource.
For those of you who not not know it, it is a book of a few basic sweaters broken out into charts. You can then customize each sweater into many different gauges sizes styles of ribbing neckbands etc. It looks a bit intimidating I admit, but if you work your way through it you will not need another pattern book. Wait did I say that? You need LOTS of pattern books but the rest are for the pure pleasure of viewing and owning.
I was with my kids in the library library last night and saw this book:
I loved it. It is a story about a child who has sheep, sheers them, dies the wool spins and weaves it. The story is very simple. You know what is happening but it is a wonderfully comforting and serene story. Most compelling is the beauty of the illustrations. I fell into the pictures and relished absorbing each part of the imagery. On the Amazon site you can see some of the illustrations but I would recommend that you go to your local library and take a look at this excellent work.
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