Happy Boxing Day!

You know how some people get the blues at Christmas? I get the blues at Christmas. First, I get irritated. That feeling usually lingers a few weeks. Then I blow up at someone. Then I get sad.

I think it's because Christmas is a time of failure for me.

I usually push through it OK. And people don't seem to clue in on what's going on inside of me. It's the same thing that made my grandma turn to Jim Beam. And my mom turn into, uhm, my mom.

But not me, no sir. I'm a product of transformation. So I'm a believer in it. And I'm still holding out for a Christmas miracle.

I've been trying to reset Christmas for myself for years. It doesn't have to be a bad time. I can learn to enjoy it like everyone else. Only I never do.

A lot of my trouble has to do with 'the gift'. Giving the perfect gift. It needs to communicate the degree of my love. It's hard to gauge that for people you actually love. Can you ever find a gift to embody that?

Trust me, you can't. I know that. I was trained the hard way. Through failure. Constant failure. Gifts I put a lot of time into ... and love into, or so I thought. But they all seemed to fall short. They were opened, reacted to positively..."oh, this is a nice thought", then negatively, "but I am sure I can get something better" and then they were returned. Or balked at. Or thrown on the stove and set fire. Or torn up in my face. Or wrestled to the ground in a string of lights and pine needles. Ugh. The insanity.

That's my Christmas past. And I hate it. And, unfortunately, whoever I am dating today tends to get the worst gift ever, if I remember to get anything at all. My brother does the same thing. It's a conditioned thing. You get conditioned to 'not care' to protect a heart that cares too much.

So, I am trying with all my heart to transform that drama into something positive. I want to give to someone who would love to receive my gift. I want to give to a child. An orphan. A thousand orphans.

I look at Madonna or Angelia or Mia Farrow. I see in some way we are orphans, parents alive or not. That is our plight. To give what we didn't get. To provide what we needed, not merely wanted. And it's not about 'things' and 'stuff' and 'gifts'.

I didn't get it this year. I didn't transform Christmas into a time of miracles. But I am starting to see where I get stuck.

I won't stop my quest to raise $101K for the AIDs orphans of Malawi. But I may fail in my goal to do so by Christmas '07.

And that's OK.

There's always next year.

Dear Julia,

This year has been an exciting one for Millennium Promise, filled with great advances in the Millennium Villages, new innovative partnerships, and a great deal of progress made on our mission of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa by 2015. I'm pleased to reach out to you, as one of our key supporters, to update you on our achievements to date and the critical challenges we face moving forward.

YEAR END HIGHLIGHTS

Millennium Promise is currently working with a population of approximately 400,000 people in 80 Millennium Villages across 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In our first year, we saw vast increases in crop production, increased access to health care and improved water sources, successful launches of school feeding programs, and new educational facilities built and opened. Now that the program is entering its second year, our focus will broaden to include more expansive health interventions, improved roads and infrastructure and developing business enterprise.

Education

In partnership with Building with Books, 10 new schools have been constructed in the Tiby Millennium Village Cluster in Mali, with plans to build an additional 32 schools in Mali and Senegal next year.

Infrastructure

Internet connectivity was recently established in the Ruhiira Millennium Village Cluster in Uganda. The first e-mail was sent on November 22, 2007 using a low power computer (18 watts instead of the 170 watts for normal computers). Internet access was made available despite the challenge of mountains and a 31 km distance. A 30 meter tower was built on the highest point in Ruhiira to provide internet access to 6 health units, 3 schools, a community store, and a grain store.

Health

The distribution of hundreds of thousands of bed nets and the donation of anti-malarial medications are reducing malaria infections, one of the leading causes of preventable death in Africa.

Business Development

On September 21, 2007, Millennium Promise and Lehman Brothers sponsored the Tanzania Investment Conference, which focused on bringing private sector investors together with Tanzanian officials for an open dialogue on investment opportunities in the East African nation. The conference was attended by more than 130 business and government leaders, including the President of Tanzania, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete.The country's history of political and macro-economic stability, market access, geographical location and diverse opportunities have the potential to make Tanzania a region of great interest to prospective investors and business partners.

CONTINUE THE FIGHT TO END EXTREME POVERTY

As we enter 2008, we are eager to continue the forward momentum created by our tremendous successes in 2007, as well as leverage these successes to mobilize even greater resources and expand our impact on extreme poverty across Africa. I hope that you will join us again by supporting our primary activities going into 2008, which include:

Putting new infrastructure projects in place to increase access to markets and the surrounding communities for members of village communities;

Growing existing relationships with national governments and systems, particularly in the health and education sectors;

Focusing on innovative solutions to the challenges associated with agricultural sustainability and business development over the long term;

Improving our infrastructure to deliver critical interventions in the most efficient and effective manner possible across all 14 sites.

I remain truly grateful for your support this year and hope that you will consider a donation to Millennium Promise to expand our critical work in the year to come. This year was just the beginning of an incredible transformation in villages across Africa; thank you for your partnership in making this change possible.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey S. Flug

Chief Executive Officer

Ending Famine in Malawi

Anyone catch this article in the New York Times this week? (12/2/07)

Malawi is making a comeback. We sent fertilizer, and what do you know? The people of Malawi are no longer starving, they are actually exporting food! After the 2005 harvest, the worst in a decade, Malawi's newly-elected president led the way to reinstating and deepening fertilizer subsidies despite a skeptical reception from the United States and Britain.


Here're some more pictures to tell the story:

Women in the Dezda district of Malawi pounding corn to make nsima, the thick cornmeal porridge that is the national staple. Malawi's government ignored experts and supplied heavy fertilizer subsidies to farmers, contributing to record-breaking corn harvests.


The Malawian countryside, with lands plowed and read for planting to begin. Farmers explained Malawi's extraordinary turnaround - one with broad implications for hunger-fighting methods across Africa - with one word: fertilizer.

Community leaders attended a workshop to learn how to use fertilizer on their maize crops. This year, Malawi is selling more corn to the United Nations World Food Program than any other country in southern Africa and is exporting hundreds of thousands of tons of corn to Zimbabwe.


A woman planting maize seeds in her field in Zomba. Malawi's successful use of fertilizer subsidies is contributing to a broader reappraisal of the crucial role of agriculture in alleviating poverty in Africa.


Chief Zaudeni Mapila addressed villagers during a fertilizer coupon meeting. Last year, roughly half the country's farming families received coupons that entitled them to buy two 110-pound bags of fertilizer, enough to nourish an acre of land.
Workers loaded fertilizer bags onto trucks for distribution. Malawi, a nation that has perennially extended a begging bowl to the world, is instead feeding its hungry neighbors.

A grain storage building was constructed in Malawi. The country's successful use of fertilizer subsidies is contributing to a broader reappraisal of the pivotal importance of public investments in the basics of a farm economy: fertilizer, improved seed, farmer education, credit and agricultural research.
Lontiya Samuel removing corn kernels from the cob in her maize storeroom. As a recipient of the government fertilizer subsidies, she managed to increase her crop yield.

I'd like to end by saying one thing. While the consequences of poverty are enormous....the source of wars and terrorism, the solution is so simple if we lend our fellow man a hand up. Not to is ignorant. I used to be ignorant. I'm less so now.

Miracle Making with Charity

Kabbalistically, we’re in one of the most powerful times for creating miracles. That doesn’t mean that miracles are supposed to happen now. It means now is the time to make them happen. So for the next few days, we’ll explore techniques for miracle making, which you can find explained in greater detail in my book “God Does Not Create Miracles, You Do”.

Take notes...

Charity, by definition, is an action of giving or donation to those in need. Charity, within Kabbalah, is also the stuff that changes destiny. Giving, whether of your time, money, effort, wisdom, or possessions is a powerful way to turn on the Light. The more difficult the action of sharing — in other words, the greater the stretch — the greater the revelation of Light and therefore, the greater the miracle.

Be charitable today. But instead of doing it because of this email, do it because you want to awaken the energy of miracles in your life for the entire year.

Manhattan Apartment: Rent for Charity

Cha-ching. Another donation to Raising Malawi -

I rented my studio in NYC out during the month of October for a charitable donation to Raising Malawi.

I opened it to a friend of a best friend, so I couldn't ask for rent. But I love this idea of asking for charity. My friend and "tenant" Rose from Vancouver donated $1,000 Canadian in gratitude for the stay (which is what these days? $7,000? :) OK, more like $1,080). She told me the place worked out great.

I plan to do this more, so, if you need a place to stay in NY and you want to do some good in the world, save your money on hotels and crash at my place. It's 325 E 77th St -- btwn 1st and 2nd. It's furnished, with cable and wireless.

Do it for the orphans. Write your check to Raising Malawi and get a tax write-off to boot!

Trip to Tuscany in 2000

OK, this video has nothing to do with Raising Malawi. Or anything really. But my friend just uploaded it to MySpace and I don't know where else to keep the code. So, here goes. There were 16 of us who voyaged to Tuscany in 2000. I found out about the trip at the last possible second and glommed on, like I always do when it comes to travel. I met most of these folks down there, but we had such a great time.

Soooo much great wine. I'm pretty sure I was posing for the opening shot passed out on the stairs. But it certainly captures the sentiment.

Anyway....It took you long enough to post this, Alisa.... (wink), but many thanks for the :59 reminder of an extraordinary trip!

Trailer for Tuscany 2K

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Christmas Goal: The Day Is Near

I've had a busy year. Is it possible to progress and regress at the same time? I think that's what happened to me.



Progression:

- I made an even bigger financial commitment to help the orphans of Malawi
- I went to Malawi to confirm the funds we are sending are truly making a difference
- I came up with sooooo many great fundraising ideas for 2007

Regression:

- I implemented soooo few great fundraising ideas in 2007
- I stopped believing I could meet my goal
- I started focussing more on my new LA life -- my new job, my new car, my new apartment, my my my -- than on helping orphans who don't have access to clean water or school or health care or food or clothes or books or or or.

I'm not going to beat myself up about it. But I am quietly amazed at how I could so easily put the faces of the desperate children I met so far in the back of my mind.

I have less than a month to go. I'll post a Raising Malawi update tomorrow.

After I get my laundry done and house cleaned and presents bought and bills paid and nails done and workout in and and and ... stay tuned.