Un projet beau et tellement utile que l´on se doit d´accomplir

"A project so beautiful and useful it must be completed."

Project Raising Malawi to be continued. It's my new year's resolution to hit my goal once and for all.

Measure of success: By 12/25/09 I will have raised $101K for the orphans and vulnerable children of Malawi.

If you want to help, don't forget, you can order Kristen Ashburn's companion photobook to the documentary, "I Am Because We Are." It costs $50. Kristen is donating her portion ($25/book) to Raising Malawi. If I somehow put it on your radar and you end up buying one, please let me know so I can count it towards my goal.

https://www.powerhousebooks.com/IAmBecauseWeAre/

End of year note from Exec Director at Raising Malawi

Dear Friends,

In the spirit of the season of sharing, I wish you Happy Holidays from Raising Malawi.

I believe that there is no greater evidence of the existence of miracles than in the hard work and selfless dedication of our partners, donors, staff and volunteers who give so much to Malawi ’s most vulnerable. Of course, we receive the greater gift in return: the gratitude of a Malawian mother, the smile on the face of an empowered child, the real possibility of peace and prosperity in the developing world. These are the things to be cherished.

2008 has been a remarkable year for our organization and for the children we serve, and we are already working to make 2009 even more successful. Here is a summary of some of the projects we undertook these past twelve months.

Spreading the message: Raising awareness.

The year got off to a glittering start in 2008 when Raising Malawi co-founder Madonna and luxury goods maker Gucci co-hosted A Night to Benefit Raising Malawi & UNICEF in New York City . The A-list event, held on the North Lawn of the United Nations, raised a significant amount of money and brought the work of Raising Malawi to worldwide attention. This evening inspired Raising Malawi volunteers to stage their own benefit events in Toronto, Los Angeles, Denver and Miami.

A newly expanded and redesigned Raising Malawi website went live in early 2008, bringing more information, videos, and regularly updated blog entries to the online community. Now our volunteers and donors can take immediate action on behalf of Malawi ’s children simply by visiting www.raisingmalawi.org.


April saw the world premiere of I AM BECAUSE WE ARE at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City . This gripping documentary film, written and produced by Madonna (who co-founded Raising Malawi along with Michael Berg) and directed by Nathan Rissman, chronicles the plight of Malawi ’s children and profiles Raising Malawi’s beneficiaries and partners. Before the year is out, I AM BECAUSE WE ARE will have been screened at festivals in Cannes, Paris, Traverse City, Santo Domingo and the Netherlands, and made its television broadcast debut on The Sundance Channel on the twentieth anniversary of World AIDS Day.

A stunning companion volume to the acclaimed documentary is currently available for pre-order from powerHouse books. I Am Because We Are features riveting images by award-winning photojournalist Kristen Ashburn that provide an intimate look at the lives of eight Malawian children featured in the film. The book includes a foreword by Madonna, a statement from Ashburn, excerpts from interviews with Malawian children, their biographies, and extended captions. Proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated directly to Raising Malawi.

Immediate Needs: Nourishing body and soul.

Recognizing that orphans and other vulnerable children constitute one of the biggest social challenges confronting Malawi as a nation, Raising Malawi launched a community-based support project with the Network of Organizations working with Vulnerable and Orphaned Children (NOVOC) in February, 2006. NOVOC is a non-government umbrella organization which exists to promote, facilitate and empower individuals and organizations involved with the care of vulnerable children. With financial contributions from Raising Malawi, and the support of Malawi ’s Ministry of Gender and Child Welfare, NOVOC is successfully improving the delivery of psycho-social support, advocacy, community development, medical care, education scholarships and food services for up to 1,750 community based child care centres.

For the past three years, Raising Malawi has worked with one of Malawi ’s most respected community-based organizations, Consol Homes, to bring daily meals, targeted medical care, education scholarships, and clean water to vulnerable kids through 106 community-based child care centres.

In 2007, the Raising Malawi-Consol Homes Orphan Care Centre opened its doors to over 4,000 children in the village of Namitete . In August of this year, the Orphan Care Centre became a recipient of the 2008 International Red Ribbon Award. The award is presented by the United Nations Development Program at the International AIDS Conference to celebrate outstanding grassroots initiatives and community-based organizations working to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS. In addition to meeting the basic needs of vulnerable children, the Raising Malawi-Consol Homes Orphan Care Center has also provided vocational skills training to countless adults from the surrounding area.

In rural Africa , where water-borne illness still runs rampant, clean water is very much a matter of life and death. By partnering with organizations like the Joyce Banda Foundation and introducing innovative tools like Q-drum, Raising Malawi is helping to bring clean water to over 50,000 people this year alone, and will do the same for many more in 2009.

We continue to support Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, its pediatric surgical unit, and to Malawi ’s sole pediatric surgeon, Dr. Eric Borgstein. In a country where infectious disease gets the most attention, there is little funding allocated to the treatment of birth defects, childhood cancers, trauma and burns. By partnering with Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital , Raising Malawi enabled Dr. Borgstein to perform 500 surgical procedures on 450 children in a single year, and helped to fund annual salaries, teaching programs, and anesthesia and x-ray machines.

We also partnered with Harvard School of Dental Medicine to offer basic preventative dental care, including examinations, x-rays, teeth cleaning, extractions, and toothbrush instruction for hundreds of children at Raising Malawi’s partner sites. Following the success of these interventions, Raising Malawi and Harvard College of Dental Medicine have co-created and launched the first Oral Health Development Program in Malawi. This program, managed in partnership with the Dental Department at Mchinji Government District Hospital has served thousands of children and caregivers, and will continue to do so in 2009.

Women and Children First: Transforming Malawi ’s future.

Among our most exciting and ambitious projects to date is the forthcoming Raising Malawi Academy for Girls. This all-girls secondary school, designed to empower Malawi ’s daughters to become their personal best, is founded on the principle that educating girls today empowers the women of tomorrow; and empowering women means improving the lives of generations to come. The Academy’s comprehensive curriculum is being carefully tailored to the unique needs of its future students, and its very structure, designed by studioMDA, will be a collaborative effort using sustainable technologies that integrate and benefit the school’s local environment. We are now on target for a 2009 groundbreaking and plan to welcome our inaugural class, selected from the poorest and most promising of Malawi ’s young women, in just two years. In addition, plans to create an all-girls’ secondary school in Zomba have been announced.

Three years ago, Raising Malawi partnered with Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Millennium Promise in the Malawian village of Gumulira , where 6,700 people live in extreme poverty and every day is a struggle to survive. Villagers there are suffering from malnutrition, a lack of clean water and bed-nets; and little access to schools or to medical clinics. Raising Malawi continues to invest in Millennium Promise’s community-led initiatives to benefit the health, education, food production, access to clean water and essential infrastructure for the impoverished villagers of Gumulira. In late 2008, Gumulira villagers broke ground on a primary school that will serve and educate some of the most impoverished children in Malawi.

Raising Malawi ’s continued dedication to gender equity led us to partner with Somebody Cares. This remarkable organization helps women to open and manage their own bank accounts, and provides assistance with school fees, books, and uniforms for their children. Raising Malawi helped to improve the lives of 820 Malawian widows through a program that turns basic skills into profitable businesses in knitting, sewing and crocheting, baking and gardening, and soap and bead making. Raising Malawi also funded a very important new project by sending ten women from Malawi to a rape crisis counselor training week at rape crisis training in South Africa.

SFK-Malawi continues to make tremendous strides in providing children and teens with the tools for positive transformation. In less than two years, thousands of kids in Malawi ’s villages, schools, orphanages, and detention centers, have learned to take responsibility for their own futures by living their lives with kindness and human dignity. SFK’s remarkable programs have been praised by parents, teachers, and non-government organizations; while Malawi’s Ministry of Education has called for the expansion of SFK throughout the country. In June, the Executive Director of Home of Hope Orphanage had a powerful idea. Having seen the positive effects of the SFK program on the orphanage’s children, Lucy Chipeta thought that caregivers could benefit from classes as well. Home of Hope now provides more than 600 infants and children with food, clothing, shelter, and primary education. In addition to bringing SFK to both children and adults at Home of Hope, Raising Malawi is providing financial support for the overall operation of Home of Hope and has undertaken the rehabilitation of the orphanage, including construction of new facilities to address the pressing needs of a vulnerable population.

Our SFK-Malawi Sponsorship Program, a special project dedicated to providing direct psycho-social assistance to children in need, continued its work in 2008. Throughout the year, the Sponsorship Program provided urgent interventions for children orphaned by AIDS, suffering from extreme poverty, and victimized by genital mutilation and other abuses.

Thanks to our partnership with KINDLE Orphan Care, we have provided critical services to nearly 700 children in thirty-five villages through twenty separate youth and counseling groups. The focus of KINDLE’s work is on providing health and nutrition, education, spiritual and social programming, and community development for orphans and their caregivers. Raising Malawi has contributed financial support that enabled construction of KINDLE’s Katawa Health Clinic, which is providing medical services to over 10,000 people.

With support from Raising Malawi, child services have continued at Crisis Nursery in Lilongwe . Every year Crisis Nursery welcomes infants and young children who have been abandoned, and provides nutritious meals, safe housing, and ongoing medical care.

Volunteers: Making a difference.

Volunteers from all walks of life (from college students in Israel to doctors in New Jersey ) were inspired to travel to Malawi to assist our community-based program partners. To help facilitate this important volunteer work, Raising Malawi announced a partnership with World Camp Inc., a non-profit organization committed to empowering children in impoverished communities through education. World Camp provides opportunities for volunteers to teach HIV/AIDS prevention, nutrition, gender equality, environmental awareness and human rights to underserved children in Malawi. World Camp supports the mission of Raising Malawi and is dedicated to developing unique volunteer positions for Raising Malawi supporters.

Raising Malawi volunteer Dr. Murray Treiser made two self-managed trips to Malawi in February and October of 2008, during which he braved snakes, torrential rains, and a near-deadly auto accident to treat more than twelve thousand grateful patients. “Doctor Murray,” as he is affectionately known, treated many preventable illnesses in the most blighted areas of urban and rural Malawi. His daily reports from Malawi were heartbreaking and uplifting, and served to remind us all of both the remarkable strides being made every day, and the tremendous amount of work still to be done.

Our Home-based Volunteer Program encourages all supporters to join us in our mission to improve the lives of Malawi’s children. Bianca Gomez and Amy Saumell, two students at the University of Florida in Gainesville and members of the Pre-Med National American Medical Student Association, initiated a student-led project aimed at providing critical medical supplies for our community-based partners in Malawi; famed fashion illustrator, Jeffrey Fulvimari, took his love of design to the next level by volunteering his time to create customized stationery for the Raising Malawi pen-pal program, which currently engages hundreds of children attending Polytechnic School (K-12) in the United States with orphaned children living at Home of Hope orphanage; and thanks to the creative vision and hard work of Michael Welch in San Francisco, Raising Malawi was able to provide much-needed antiretroviral HIV medication to AIDS programs associated with Kamuzu Central Hospital. These are just a few of the ways volunteers have contributed to the lives of Malawi’s children. In 2009, we will launch an exciting new viral volunteer campaign to help support and expand our programs.

Ubuntu: Partners in ending poverty.

We at Raising Malawi understand that our success relies on the expertise of our partners around the world. In 2008, we were pleased to continue our relationship with David Reifman, esq. (senior partner at DLA Piper). Since 2006, David and DLA Piper devoted significant time to pro-bono efforts for Raising Malawi, focusing on issues of real estate development, including land use and urban planning, facilities sitting, property acquisition, public/private financing transactions, infrastructure improvements, and community and economic development.

In May, we had the privilege of welcoming studioMDA as a pro-bono partner. studioMDA will manage the design of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, using the latest technology and design methods to benefit the developing world and provide innovative opportunities for sustainability.

In August, SalesForce (a leader in Customer Relationship Management solutions) named Raising Malawi as a pro-bono client, offering its expertise in the areas of volunteer management and donor relations. This new relationship honors our commitment to providing our dedicated supporters with consistent, reliable care.

As Raising Malawi approaches the groundbreaking of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, we are pleased to announce that in October, 2008, Ogilvy & Mather joined Raising Malawi’s growing list of pro-bono partners. Ogilvy & Mather, one of the world’s leading advertising, marketing, and public relations agencies has committed to creating the marketing and advertising campaigns of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls.

Our presence on popular social networking websites have attracted the attention of industry leaders, Facebook and Myspace. In 2009, Raising Malawi will work hand-in-hand with the non-profit sectors of these sites, Facebook Causes and Myspace Impact, to create innovative communication and fundraising tools for our volunteers. Facebook and Myspace continue to reshape the ways in which people communicate and receive information. With these new relationships, Raising Malawi will reach the largest number of people in the most cost-effective way.

Going Global: The future is now.

In April, I had the privilege of representing Raising Malawi at the Unite for Sight 5th Annual International Health Conference at Yale University. The conference brought together some of the worlds brightest minds, including Raising Malawi champions Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Dr. Jim Yong Kim, to discuss public health, medicine, social entrepreneurship, nonprofits and philanthropy in the developing world.

In September, Raising Malawi took part in the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting in New York. The Clinton Global Initiative gathers a diverse group of the world's most distinguished leaders from government, business, and civil society to examine today's most pressing global challenges and transform that awareness into tangible action. In addition, Raising Malawi was included in the CGI Exchange, during which we were able to interface with ninety-nine other forward-thinking NGO's.

Raising Malawi was also invited to the first annual meeting of our partner organization, Professor Jeffrey Sachs’ Millennium Promise. The event’s guest of honor was none other than the President of Malawi, Mr. Bingu wa Mutharika. He spoke about the Millennium Development Goals for Malawi and praised the success of the Millennium Villages, including Raising Malawi’s ambitious project at Gumulira.

Zikomo means ‘Thank you’ in Chichewa.


It is not an easy time for our planet. Violence and chaos still threaten our largest cities and tiniest villages. Children still suffer from hunger, mothers despair, and people die everyday from easily preventable diseases. Our work is not nearly complete.

But in the midst of all the chaos, we take a moment for quiet gratitude.

We give thanks to our partner organizations, our dedicated volunteers and generous donors, and most of all to the children of Malawi who teach us so much about gratitude, resilience, and hope. During this holiday season we wish them, and the entire world, a joyous and peaceful New Year.

We thank you for your continued support of Raising Malawi.

Sincerely,

Philippe van den Bossche

Listen up all you Weho bitches . . .

I'm about four days away from missing my goal for another year. I wanted to raise $101K for Raising Malawi (orphans and vulnerable children) by Christmas. As of today, I've raised a running total of $48,872.68. I won't stop till I hit $101K. Just wish I'd get there already.

The most recent $100 came a few minutes ago from fellow Raising Malawi fund raiser, hell raiser, roof raiser Franceso Rafael Rengifo. We've never met, but I know him from an online world. He's my Facebook friend. He connected with me thru my blog, if I remember correctly.

Today, he wrote a Facebook note to say he's "saying no to lazy" and, while he is generally very good about not being lazy, he recognizes the need to "step up (his) fame" if he is to "beat Madonna at her own game."

Ah, yes. The ol' "get famous so you can save the orphans and then save the world" game. I know it well. Franceso is a self-professed Aquarian. Being Aquarius myself, I get the grand ambition. And I think it's a good thing to push to your highest potential, whatever that may be.

I think for all of us, though, the real test will come after you reach your goal(s). Will you be able to detach your identity from your success? If your goal is really to end poverty or to save orphans, then the moment that happens, can you let yourself be forgotten? Completely lost and overlooked in the movement? Will you be able to kill off your own ego - the one that builds itself on the journey?

Maybe that means you have to give up the dance with Madonna. Could you do it? Maybe you need to delete your blog. Get rid of your story. Could you do it? Could you accept and even welcome that your only reward will be the very low profile of elevating to a higher consciousness? If so, the world will truly benefit by the energy you put in because there is no other agenda for it. That, in my opinion, is an authentic use of energy.

Where is your energy going?

How does your ego stack up? How does mine?

I have no answers. I just love the inquiry.

And are egos really so bad, anyway? I think we need our egos to push us forward. We're always so worried about "bad ego" so we can go off and stoke our authentic selves. But you know, I've never met a living soul without an ego. Wearing dumpy clothes and sitting on a mountaintop, means jack. Some of the biggest egos hide in spirituality. The idea is to die before you die. Find a way to die to your ego without your ego telling you how....because then it will build in its own strategy to survive.

That's the test of ego, I think.

Francesco and I just had an IM exchange, and it came up, which is what inspired me to write this. Meet Francesco:

9:07am FRANCESCO

Julia, I just donated 100 bucks towards your goal but I did not say it was towards your goal.

dope! I should not have told you that. Oh stupid Ego

9:09am JULIA

you did?!! thank you! i will add to total. doesn't matter if you indicated....i keep tally.

9:09am FRANCESCO
I wanted to tell you cause I forgot to write it in the form we fill out at the centre for donation

9:09am JULIA
good ego

9:09am FRANCESCO
lol

9:09am JULIA
thanks so much!

9:09am FRANCESCO
I am going to try to hit up the fam for cash and see what we can drum up. how long are you in London?

9:09am JULIA
great! i'm here thru 1/7

9:11am FRANCESCO
ok, I'll see what I can do for you
those bitches in weho better start pulling out their wallets next weekend

9:12am JULIA
it's what WE can do together for the orphans, of course. and yes, get the bitches

can i post this exchange on my blog? it's funny.

9:13am FRANCESCO
thanks yeah

Thank you, Franceso! No doubt in my mind you are a bit whacked, but also a loving and generous soul. Hope my ego didn't stroke your ego too much. But all the same, keep up the good work!

I Am Because We Are (How You Can Help)

Madonna's brilliant documentary about Malawi is playing on the Sundance Channel this month. The last viewing will be Wednesday, 12/17. Please watch!

ROLL THE CREDITS

I just so happened to be in Malawi when Madonna was making this documentary. I met the film's director Nathan Rissman and his associate Grant James. I hung out with the cameramen Johnnie-Martin White and Kevin Brown. I met Kristen Ashburn who was there shooting photography for the companion book to the film. I got to hear so many amazing stories over dinner after they got back from filming.

Nathan introduced me to some of the children you'll see in the film. I met the handsome, positive Fanizo. This is his village.

That's Fanizo on the left next to my friend Delia, who I also met on this trip. She was an instructor trainer for SFK - Spirituality for Kids. SFK teaches taking responsibility for your life. For every cause, there is an effect. To every problem, there is a solution. You will learn more about SFK in this documentary.

Fanizo was orphaned and living with his grandmother. Nathan told me that Fanizo dreamed of going to school to better himself, but couldn't afford it. Through his own determination and some of the training he got in SFK, he was able to make his dream a reality. He studied extremely hard and secured a sponsor for his tuition (OK, it's Madonna) and is now going to the very prestigious Kamuzu Academy for boys.

NOTE: Madonna is opening an Academy for Girls now. More about that soon.

Also in this film, I met Reverend Chepeta, who founded and runs the ever-expanding Home of Hope orphanage. Those of you who participated in my last fundraiser contributed directly to this orphanage. $13,490, to be exact.

It was at the Home of Hope that I met the sweetest little girl. Nathan told me her name was Wezi. I was so happy to see her again in this film! I didn't know her story till now - that she was living with AIDs, the disease that killed her family. Seems everyone at that orphanage carries a heavy load. And, inexplicably, they are able to smile under the weight.

NO COINCIDENCES

All this is so cool to me because before my visit, I had no idea Madonna was making a movie let alone that I would meet all of these interesting people on my trip.

I was there because I wanted to get involved with a charity that was working to end extreme poverty. That's how I learned about Raising Malawi. I was 100% ignorant on all of it, so I set off to Malawi (second poorest country in the world) to educate myself. I knew that Philippe van den Bossche (charity director), who I'd briefly met once before, was planning to be down there in late January of 2006. I found out where he was staying and I showed up on my own. Looking back, I'm not sure where I got the balls to do that. But I'm glad I did.

I'm a zillion times smarter now on the challenges we face and the solution that is possible to actually accomplish this grand goal to raise a country. I'm also starting to wake up to my role in the whole thing. Was it really a coincidence that I showed up when all these other forces had come together for the same greater good?

I AM BECAUSE WE ARE

The title is derived from the concept of “Ubuntu,” an idea in African spirituality that all of humanity is connected, that we cannot be ourselves without community, that an individual’s well-being is dependent upon the well-being of others.

Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Dr. Paul Farmer, Bishop Desmond Tutu, President Bill Clinton, Madonna and many others drive this idea home in the documentary. It means there is someone in Malawi who is part of me. Someone in the UK who is part of me. We are all in this together. We have a common fate. Not an us versus them fate. We're all interconnected. We are all responsible for one another. We need one another to be all they can be so that each of us can be all we can be. We're living in a world where we have a choice: Change. Or die. We can solve these problems together and find a path to peace.

In the documentary, there is a story about a young boy named Luka. Strangers give him money to go buy paraffin (kerosene, i believe). They tell him he can keep the change. When he heads off toward the field, they chase him and pin him down. They cut off his genitals, which they can sell to a witch doctor for a good bounty. With it, a witch doctor will make a potion for health. It's gruesome and hard to watch. It's not a cultural choice. We would not let this stuff go on in our culture. Psychos kidnap our children here and we hunt them and prosecute.

Here's where you and me come in. I'm not suggesting for a moment that we need to go into other countries and impose our views and laws. Just recognize that where there is no education for the people, a country can quickly become compromised by superstitions and black magic. People want to find a way out of their problems. They will consider all possible options.

These practices are destined to continue if we don't educate and find self-sustaining ways to bring commerce to people living in extreme poverty. Have you read Three Cups of Tea? No one was investing in schools for the children of Afghanistan. By the world's lack of involvement, we left that job up to the Taliban. We did that. By not getting involved to help. Imagine growing up in a place where your sole focus is finding your next meal and staying warm or dry or just alive. If there is no school to go to and no teacher to teach you and show you a way out, a way up, there is no future for you. Now imagine money starts coming into your neighborhood. Schools and training camps go up. You go to those schools. And you learn. In this case, you learn about Islamic fundamentalism. No one else showed up.

We did that. We turned a blind eye on the burden of extreme poverty and let jihadist training camps masquerading as schools go up in a the most unstable part of the world. In fact, we promoted it by not stepping in to help. That's all of our doing. Jeffrey Sachs says in his book, "The End of Poverty", if you want to end terrorism, you must end poverty first. It's a vicious cycle.

There are ways that each of us can contribute by supporting basic education, vocational training, and health care.

But the first thing we have to do is learn about these problems.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please watch this documentary. Educate yourself. Put some energy (that translates as time and/or money) into ending extreme poverty. Kristen Ashburn's companion book to the documentary is available for purchase. Click here to pre-order I Am Because We Are. Keep it in front of you. And don't look away.

It's on all of our radar now.

I Am Raising Malawi!

An important message from Madonna

It's happening. Raising Malawi and Madonna are building a leadership academy for girls in Malawi. It's a secondary school (grades 7 thru 12) that aims to give girls who are serious about bettering themselves the chance to make their dreams come true. The curriculum will include medicine, business, educator training and law. Graduates will be among the best and brightest in the world.

The idea is that girls (like boys) will have a fair shot at becoming leaders in their own communities. It's a known fact that when you educate and empower a girl, she will bring her leadership and learning back to benefit her community. And in so doing, communities get transformed. This is happening the world over, one girl at a time. We must invest in girls!

I love this video by the Nike Foundation. It sets up the issue nicely.



Raising Malawi is working with some of the foremost experts in the world to create a model for education that can be replicated in other impoverished countries. That's where we come in -- you, me, us. It's going to take all of our energy. This way, we all own a piece and it doesn't rely on any one individual or organization (an impossible feat for something of this magnitude).

Here is a message from Madonna urging you to get involved.



Click here or go to http://www.raisingmalawi.org/rm_girlsacademy.php

Newsweek ran a great article recently that further explains the importance of educating girls. Sadly, girls represent the majority of children out of school. In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, only one out of five girls gets any education at all. If we really aim to raise a country and break the chains of poverty, then the answer is to educate the next generation of young women. Let's make the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls the model for how that needs to get done.

And BTW, while the core mission of the school is to empower girls, it's also designed to be totally sustainable. Raising Malawi is consulting with experts on how to use wind, solar, local resources for energy (e.g., the nuts from the trees!), etc.

There's a big trend in the world right now called "leap frogging". It's where we're able to do profoundly innovative things in less-developed countries that are not weighed down by existing infrastructures. You see this a lot in India, for example, who's skipping over CDMA/land lines like we built in the US - all the ugly eyesores of wires connecting home to home. India is now in a position to 'leap frog' wire lines into the next gen of innovation - digital/mobile. Now, the U.S. is playing catch-up.

Similarly, the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls can introduce new innovations the rest of the world will want to model. It's as exciting as it is ironic. Like it says in the Tao, "All things turn to their opposite." Now is the time for Malawi. Perhaps someday, one of these future leaders will come up with a bailout package that makes sense for America.

Battle ground state swings 'Obma'

Student Name: Nathaly Ponce
Teacher Name: Mrs. Rivera
Student Age: 9
School: Quakertown Elementary
Artwork Title: Vote for Obma

Good to see my donation to Pennsylvania schools made a difference. The kid can't spell, but at least we got 21 electoral votes!

Go to DonorsChoose.org to help students get even smarter.

My American Dream Monologue

I went out for a long run today and listened to a couple episodes of, "This American Life." It made me think about my own story. I wrote this for a class at The Pit (improv in NYC). I never got to perform it because I transferred to LA right about that time. It goes like this:

I'm from the south side of Chicago. The rich smarties from the north side coin it the wrong side of the tracks. They make assumptions about you before you even open your mouth. It's hard to get too pissed off about it because a lot of them would be right. We didn't go on family vacations. We ate a lot of canned food. We wore hand-me down clothes. We got the belt when we were bad, which was pretty much all the time.

Where I come from, The American Dream is to do better than your parents. Make more money. Get a better education. Buy a bigger house. Drive a better car. And then get married and have kids and be just like them. Only better.

My parents set the bar nice and low for me. For one, I was conceived in a cornfield off the side of a highway. My mom had me when she was 18 and then my brother at 19. So, as long as I didn't get married or pregnant before 18, I was well on my way.

Also to my advantage, my parents didn't go to college. So, here too, all I had to do was show up and graduate. That part was actually kind of tricky for financial reasons. For one, my parents decided to move to Atlanta when I was a senior. They all of a sudden decided Chicago is way too cold and announced one day, "we're moving south." I was like, "but, I'm a senior in high school". It didn't matter. They were on a mission to find a better life. And it didn't include me, which was cool.

I moved in with one of the families I babysat for and worked at the local K-Mart, squirreling away every dollar I could so I could afford to go to college. My dad drilled it in my head -- you need an education for any doors to open.

He presented me and my brother David with the typical lower-middle-class college plan called, "Join the Army." David joined, thinking it would be an easy two years. But then war broke out in the gulf and he got sent to Kuwait. He was a frontline tanker, although he says he spent most of his days in the desert burning shit. Literally, that was his job -- he was the shit burner for the whole platoon. That really wasn't my style, so I found another way to put myself through school - working two jobs and cheating and stealing as much as I could get away with.

I started out at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in Dekalb, where Cindy Crawford is from. That may be the only interesting thing about Dekalb. I didn't last there very long because I ran out of money. I dropped out three times over the next five years. But I was unstoppable. I moved in with my grandparents for free room and board and burned the candle on both ends and the middle until I could finally collect my degree from University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

And then, doors did open. I got a good job in the city (Chi-town), which afforded me just enough to buy a federally subsidized house over the border in Indiana.

All the pieces had come together. My life was nearly perfectly complete. All I needed now was a man.

And then I got the ring. A $40 gold band from the K-Mart jewelry department. I was so touched, because this blue light special epitomized the dream. It told the world, yes, we're broke, but our love is real and will prevail over all.

Scott picked me up from work one Wednesday and stopped off in Grant Park on the way home. He was so nervous. He proposed to me there through a poem he had written on notebook paper. I stopped him midway through and questioned, "this whole thing isn't going to rhyme is it?" He looked up from bended knee, with his big brown eyes and shaky hands and slowly nodded. It was dreadful. But sweet. I let him continue. And then I said yes.

Besides, it was time. We had dated since forever. I was to marry Scott, the fat kid from grammar school.

Well, he wasn't fat anymore. He was more, the balding guy from the finance department. But still very lovable, and more importantly, very much in love with me. Whatever I wanted to do, he wanted to do. Whatever I liked, he liked. If I was mad, he was mad on my behalf. When I was successful at something, he was proud. It was like having two of me around. I loved our conversations. And as luck would have it, they were mostly about me.

So, at 25, I would become the world's most beautiful bride. The Lockport Township High School Prom prince and princess would marry and bring their 8-year courtship to a close in true storybook fashion.

I took out a loan against my 401K for a down payment on a castle in Dyer, Indiana. And no fairy tale wedding would be complete without a horse-drawn carriage. It was to bring me and my dad to the ceremony and later ride me and my prince off into the sunset.

I invited 300 people and planned every little detail down to the chicken dance.

I had seven bridesmaids, each representing a chakra. I got all the details from a Shirley MacLaine meditation and workout video. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Each color has an energy that coincidentally corresponded to each of my friend's dominant personality traits. And, if you blend all those colors together you get 'white', which would be me -- a blinding beam of Light.

So, here we were. My big day. I fast-tracked the American Dream. I had arrived. I was already light-years better than my parents, and in just minutes I would become a whole, complete person. A married woman.

But all those shots of Jaegermeister on the ride up with my dad in the carriage had my head spinning. This was no longer just any adventure. I was about to turn a chapter I didn't know the first thing about called, "the rest of my life." And yes. I was scared.

It was a beautiful wedding from what I can tell from the pictures. I looked so happy climbing those steps to the castle. I even lost my shoe on my walk up the aisle. And that was not planned! Actually, it was because my dad kept stepping on my dress. My Uncle Ronny caught it all on video, with some rather disturbing commentary and close-ups about how great my boobs looked.

I took my vows. Actually, I kind of slurred my vows, "With this wing, I thee wed."

You think they'd let me annul it on that alone. Everyone called me Elmer Fudd afterwards. It's gotta tell you something.

Not long after, we had to go through that emotionally exhausting, painful process of getting divorced. I take full responsibility for making such a mess of things. People don't get divorced in the American Dream. I never considered it! And Scott was actually pretty pissed off about it too.

But in my defense, I didn't really have any role models growing up. My mom, I guess. But she scared me a little. You get within two feet of her and she would find a reason to wipe your face with the stink rag from the sink. Naturally, I avoided her. Instead, I lived in story. I played understudy for nearly two decades to Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel and You-Name-Her Damsel waiting to be saved by Prince Charming.

It wasn't till we got back from our honeymoon that I stared to rub some of the dream out of my eyes. What have I done?! I was living in Hammond Indiana with my new husband, two cats and 80 year old neighbors who lived in a pink house. Scott mowed the lawn. I did the laundry. Scott finished the basement. I made tofu lasagna casseroles.

Was this the 'happily ever after' they promised? This sucked! I was trapped in suburbia and I knew I would surely die if I didn't get out fast.

A lot of people disowned me. Which is fine, because they couldn't have really known me in the first place. How could they? I didn't even know me.

But that was 15 years ago. Life makes more sense to me now. They say that happens when you hit 40. Oprah says it all the time. I think it's true. And I think it's because everything up to this point starts to stop making sense.

But if I knew that as a kid, I wouldn't want to read that story. It feels sad. A little lost. Kind of hopeless.

So what if the American Dream is part fairy tale? We all live in some fantasy. Mine just happened to include castles and fortune, true love and romantic destiny. I believe we're all following a yellow brick road of sorts. Who is the Wizard of OZ, really? Half the fun is figuring that out for yourself.

Because once you do, you're free to dream a dream that's really yours.

Barbie Cake Face Plant (for Orphans)

Yesterday was Minnie's birthday. A few of us from work came out to celebrate with her. Above from left to right is Renee, Me, Minnie and Evelyn.

Minnie left us to greet her other guests. The rest of us were standing around admiring this beautifully decorated doll cake. One of her guests made it herself with extraordinary attention to each and every icing scallop.

JR (Minnie's brother) turns to me and asks me to name my price to take a huge bite out of it.

Ed, Evelyn's date (and fellow Chicago south-sider), suggests I dive on it and start throwing wild arm punches into it.

I am actually willing to do both, provided the price is right. I say, "$500."

JR looks at me, slowly processing our exchange and tentatively repeats, "five-hundred?"

Renee jumps in, "she'll do it for $400!"

I shoot Renee the evil eye and say, "I'll do it for $500 for charity."

JR asks, "which charity?"

Renee and I say simultaneously, "Raising Malawi."

JR says, "Done."

So now I'm super happy about the donation but also very aware that I am about to throw my face into a stranger's beautiful buttercream Barbie centerpiece.

Renee takes my camera and starts to videotape. Listen to her egging me on! "Do it, Julia! Just do it!" And then JR comes by to let me know the time has come. It's now or never. BTW, look at the beginning of this clip - Ed swinging his arms like a madman. Thank God he wasn't the one ponying up!

It had to be done. Here it is:





Here's me and JR immediately after my cake dive. I'm glad it's blurry. I'm pretty sure I still had frosting up my nose.

As soon as JR completes his end of the bargain (he promises he will), the new total raised to date will be:

$48,272.68 + 500.00 + $48,772.68.

Thank you, JR! Disturbed as you are, you're a good guy. I haven't laughed like that in a long time.

And word to the wise, never dare a Polack from the South Side of Chicago.

To the Alices Who Make My Life a Wonderland

"October is here now but it was much pleasanter at home," thought poor Alice, "when one wasn't always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit hole---and yet---and yet---it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life, isn't it?"

I can tell you this fundraising thing is a lot of work and not always much fun. But I know it's making a difference and I thank you all so much for helping to make that difference possible. This last campaign for the Home of Hope orphanage raised $3,390 plus matching donor/spot for $10,100 =$13,490! Specific thanks to:

1. Miranda Soffian - $100
2. David Duncan - $101
3. Donna Bellamy - $125
4. Alisa Starke - $150
5. Lee Ann Sierecki - $100
6. Donna Weiss - $10
7. Leah Reynolds - $100
8. Renee Rotkopf - $100
9. Sharon McNulty - $250
10. Jonathan Avigdori -$100
11. Lourdes Mestre - $101
12. Jason Singer - $50
13. Steve Centrillo - $101
14. Christine Haskins - $101
15. Sandra Borgonovo - $101
16. Anonymous Couple - $1,800

ADDITIONAL DONATIONS TO DATE: $2,002

TOTAL RAISED FROM THIS CAMPAIGN: $3,390

PLUS A CASH ADVANCE FROM MY MATCHING DONOR!
I'm being spotted the remaining $6,710 (for a total donation of $10,100), on my promise to meet my goal to raise $101,000.

Which brings the amount raised to date up by $12,102 ($2,002 + $10,100) for a
GRAND TOTAL of $48,272.68

ALICE: Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is -- oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!

The next fundraiser(s) has to bring it home. I'm thinking 'singles mixer' in NYC (or multi-city, somehow). I'm working with some friends now to pull together an awesome party you won't want to miss.