Virginia the Blogger, admittedly distracted lately (Papa is doing much better now, thanks for your prayers!), is back on the Blogging Beat with a regularly scheduled Wednesday Photograph: today it’s ‘GOING GREEN !!’ : )
“The trees are God’s great alphabet: with them He writes in shining green across the world His thoughts serene.” Leonora Speyer
grace, peace & Heavenly Paintbrushes (busy, busy*)
Virginia : )
*Going Green!!
Virginia the Blogger has been a bit distracted with Various Challenges the past few weeks. Papa was Really Sick last weekend (my Mama & I thought the Pearly Gates were Very Close) but after Lots of Prayer & Lots of Help in the Hospital this week, Papa is oh-so-much-better & back at home, thanks (big, BIG THANKS) be to God! I, however, am Very Tired after a week of Hospital All-Nighters (tain’t no spring chicken no more, no more : ) but wanted to post this something written for my Mama a few years ago… so grateful to God for the gift of her life & her love & her joyful Mothering that continues as she zooms around in her wheelchair, a little rickety moving her 90 frail pounds about, but still overflowing with So Much love from an inner spring filled from Above…
The Mystery of Magnificent Motherhood
On Mothers Day we celebrate the mystery of Motherhood. From the outside, Motherhood doesn’t seem so mysterious but just simply the mastering of responsibilities and physical tasks. Responsibilities that include raising children to know right and wrong, not to hurt themselves, to study, and to grow from turbulent twos through the terrifying teens into functioning adults. Physical tasks involve delivering babies (washing them, carrying them, helping them walk) cooking, cleaning…
These, admittedly, amount to a great deal of work.
Magnificent Motherhood, however, is a mystery that involves more than just responsibilities and tasks. To understand this mystery, special qualities are required:
v Magnificent Motherhood is SACRIFICE.
Selflessly sacrificing (all the time) & the last piece of chocolate cake.
v Magnificent Motherhood is JOY.
Joy even when illness strikes, the pots overflow, & we act unruly..
v Magnificent Motherhood is BEAUTY.
Beauty seen in us (even with pimples) & nurtured in our surroundings.
v Magnificent Motherhood is GENEROSITY.
Generously sharing special gifts, checks, and Mr. Madison’s fudge.
v Magnificent Motherhood is MUSIC.
Music composed in a heart overflowing with the joy of Jesus.
v Magnificent Motherhood is ACTION.
Hugging us, holding our hands, and helping us through each crisis.
v Magnificent Motherhood is PRAYER.
Unceasing prayer – faithful communion with God (often on our behalf.)
v Magnificent Motherhood is FAITHFULNESS.
Faithfulness to God (1st), and 56 years (!) with the Fabulous Fossil.
v Magnificent Motherhood is LOVE.
Love shared from an inner spring that never diminishes…
It’s actually very simple.
The Mystery of Magnificent Motherhood is
MY MOTHER.
(Virginia Francis Johnson Woodward)
With love & appreciation from her daughter,
(Virginia Lea Woodward)
grace, peace & Magnificent Mothers
Virginia : )
P.S. HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!
“I must set my face to the wind and scatter my handful of seeds. It is no big thing to scatter seeds, but I must have the courage to keep on facing the wind.” (Arab proverb)
“Don’t assume that simply because the water is calm that there are no crocodiles in it.” (Malayan proverb)
grace, peace & friday wisdom
Virginia : )
yes, i realize that it’s actually Thursday & that World Malaria Day was Last Week, but this disease is so very serious it should be Highlighted Often. (A Note from Virginia: my blogging schedule last week was upside-downed by Health Challenges – my Papa has been sick & then several Kidney Stones in residence chez Virginia decided to party on their way out FOR THREE WHOLE DAYS. Painiful eviction parties : (
So, back where we left off….. MALARIA…
Malaria can be prevented with ITNs (insecticide treated nets) used at night when the mosquitoes that cause malaria come out searching for meals (our human blood) … Educating families & communities in the use of Bed Nets is critically important.
It’s also critically important to educate communities about the symptoms of malaria so children will make it to the clinic for diagnosis & treatment before it’s too late (so many children die because they don’t make it there in time..) This skit demonstrates the symptoms & consequences for not seeking treatment: the death of a child.
Blood screening is an important part of malaria diagnosis – having the right equipment & trained technicians as this qualified young lady in Kagera…
Educating communities it’s advantageous to use local performance groups who communicate in the local language & understand the cultural context like this troupe in Singida who are demonstrating how to treat a net …
Using local dancing (it seems everywhere you go in Africa, the folks like to dance!) sometimes the performance groups galvanize visiting dignitaries into the action (like Beatrice Minja, the Executive Director of the Tanzanian National Malaria Movement, who is pictured here : )
At the end of the day, it’s all about Healthy Moms & Healthy Children…
(this is one of my favorite photos taken in TZ – note the Kitenge label: ‘made in Tanzania’ so appropriate for this happy mom in Morogoro… : )
grace, peace & Wednesday Photographs
Virginia
25 April is World Malaria Day… and we should care, because?
A MILLION CHILDREN DIE EACH YEAR FROM THIS PREVENTABLE DISEASE (and lots of adults) & MILLIONS OF PEOPLE GET REALLY SICK.
Since many of these folks live in sub-Saharan Africa, Malaria compounds an already challenging context of Health-Related Issues & The Economy. Go figure that if half your country has malaria at some point during the year Productivity Will Be Low.
I knew a little something about malaria before moving to Tanzania (taking Larium for a year of Safe-Water globetrotting definitely weirded me into a Strong Dislike of the disease…) Given my four year job commitment I decided that Larium-induced weirdness was Not An Option, therefore i purchased the suggested Bed Net & went into Late-Nite Mosquito Alert Mode – splat, splat on the way to the bathroom: DIE MOSQUITOES DIE.
In the first few months while trying to learn the HIV/AIDS context i traveled to Kagera for a few weeks to meet with our 600+ community volunteers there, community representatives, women’s groups, AIDS patients (part of my responsibilities included representing our programs to the Tanzanian government, MOH, bilateral & multilateral stakeholders in Dar es Salaam. It made So Much Sense that our National Office was located in Arusha NINE hours away from Tanzania’s Big City!)
Meeting with all these community groups to understand their concerns & priorities (“when you think of your children late at night, what keeps you awake?”…) time & again Malaria came into the dialogue. I spoke with one lady who lost FOUR children to the disease.
Heart-breaking to see her tears & hear her fears for her other children.
At that time in Tanzania – where malaria in many districts is ‘endemic,’ ie, you can catch it all year around – 70,000 children died each year from the disease. Thankfully that number has decreased, but it’s still just a number until a child you love dies.
After 3 miscarriages my vibrant assistant, Joylline, had a beautiful baby girl, Hope, who became the darling of our Dar division. At 18 months Hope died from malaria & pneumonia. A crushing death…as is the death of each and every child who dies from this disease.
After that Kagera visit I went back to Dar galvanized to Do Something More about Malaria & began strong-arming our Programs Division to highlight this issue. We already wove simple malaria prevention into our long-term community development projects & had several special child-health programs that did extraordinary community health at the village level… but More Was Needed so we galvanized special projects from the Australian & New Zealand governments & UNICEF & more…
Then with CARE Tanzania we co-founded TaNAAM (the Tanzanian NGO Alliance Against Malaria) with a cross section of NGOs, pharmaceuticals, & major Malaria players to coordinate national activities…
Then with CARE TZ we launched into the TNVS (an Insecticide treated net voucher scheme) doing medical training, social marketing & BCC campaigns (Behavior Change Communications) in every district of Tanzania. Using Best Practices from smaller projects in the project design, our newly hired Program Manager thought we were on crack as the new teams took the project to scale which required 8 teams simultaneously moving in several districts at a time! …but during evaluation visits ‘twas So Exciting to see local performance groups communicating in local languages, tribal dances & skits demonstrating bed net prevention, diagnosis & treatment – in many of these places nets had never been available, but that’s why this disease takes Lots Of Folks to make a difference.
(Net manufacturers, distribution network builders, social marketing, health professionals, government health infrastructure, pharmaceuticals – all working together…)
My colleagues in Arusha began calling me the “Malaria Queen” since our Dar Division opened our doors to host this project (in close coordination with Programs) & since our Marketing Team designed the media campaigns, logos, events et all & since their humble director (moi) backstopped the whole Promotion half (including the rural BCC teams) of the Very Large grant from the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB & Malaria.
All this time, using my bed net & toting one along for extensive rural travel (our National Director, George, insisted each director visit every region at least once a year – since we supported 126 projects in 12 regions that meant i traveled half of every month, mostly to Very Rural Areas & to our refugee programs in Kigoma…) I managed to avoid Malaria until…traveling to Uganda for a regional conference. I asked the guest house desk clerk for a net, but he said ‘you don’t need one here.’ Waking up at 3:00AM with mosquitoes all over the wall & bites all over my arm, needless to say the next night i insisted…
2 weeks later in Arusha for Very Important International meetings, my temperature skyrocketed to 104 & my joints screamed with prickly pain. Did I mention being on crutches at the time? (click here to read more about that..) that’s when i met malaria, up close & personal.
During this episode I learned the African lesson of ‘Being With’ – my LT colleagues (all African) came to visit me (this after being up all night with my hair sticking out every which way feeling Very Lousy)…but this is the African Way.
(When baby Hope was in the hospital I sent flowers & sent needed supplies as I didn’t want to intrude… until I noticed our Team Members eying me askance… finally one blurted out, “Madam you MUST VISIT, Joylline will think you Don’t Care…” yikes. I got it & visited Right Away… then became first in line at every funeral, wedding, engagement because I DID care & that is What You Do in Africa. You show up. You share the pain, you share the joy. It’s that ‘being with’ thing. Sometimes facing death or illness or Tough Times can be uncomfortable, but what I loved about the African Way – you realize you are Not Alone as the pain is shared across family, friends & the community.)
This is enough for today, since I’ve been sidetracked a bit (& must go make dinner!)
On this World Malaria Day, read up about the disease – buying a $10 net for a family Really Saves Lives. Our project proved it as so many others around the world. Thank God the mortality numbers are going down, but there are Still Too Many Deaths. (Part II will have to cover the treatment side of this battle: when mothers understand symptoms & take their children In Time to clinics for the proper medicine pray God we won’t find a mother who lost four children to the disease!)
grace, peace & malaria, malaria
Virginia : )
You know how you find New Music & play it Over & Over?? well, a few weeks ago my brother downloaded John Adorney’s Waiting for the Moon for our Kitchen Playlist, but I have moved it all around the house to Hear More Often.
yes, yes, i love U2 & my “Upbeat” playlist with Get Moving Grooves takes up most of the iTouch (there’s also “Almost Upbeat” to get Moderately Moving in the Groove Mode – since Annie Lennox makes her home there, this is played lots!) Blasting fav Upbeat (& Almost Upbeat) tunes to Get Going in the morning works (& ‘tis also Strategic to counter that Cutting Down Caffeine thing…)
But sometimes reflective music is needed like chamomile tea for our souls.
Age creep? maybe. The slam dancing music of my younger days can Still Be Fun (on the rare occasion), but too often it just sounds like Noise. Very. Loud. Noise. As life loaded on stress (like working in War Zones dodging bullets, landmines, disease & such) my Violent Femmes dancing days decreased much. Instead Enya, Secret Garden, Libera & Karl Jenkin’s global Adiemus music snuck into my personal always-play-airways…
Back to John Adorney’s BRILLIANTLY BEAUTIFUL music… instrumental with some singing, reflective yet not melancholy (as a long-time groupie of George Winston & David Lanz, I so appreciate their music that delves in & out of The Melancholy, but when stressed an undercurrent of Happier Notes does indeed assist that Lifting Spirits endeavor!)
On Waiting for the Moon, my favorite “in Bloom” song does just that… while Daya Rawat’s moving vocals on ‘Mavoh Mavoh’ & ‘The River’s Secret’ weave a Middle Eastern/African element into the melody.
So i played this over & over until Sunday when my brother acquired John Adorney’s Trees of Gold compilation in honor of Earth Day (that may have been Just A Coincidence, but How Appropriate for this Tree Lover to groove out on Earth Day to music about TREES?? : )
wow. it’s still too early to tell which compilation I like better (but there’s this nifty iTouch feature to select “Artist” then “All Songs” & BOTH COMPILATIONS can be enjoyed Over & Over & Over again.)
The ‘Trees of Gold’ title track with Daya Rawat’s lovely Middle Eastern themed vocals is my Current Favorite (although the jury is still out with methinks Many More Plays to be enjoyed!) but then ‘Yillow’ takes us to Africa with vocals from Marcel Adjibi & is also Really Good. The whole compilation is Really Good. No, make that GREAT.
Who is this John Adorney? Check out his website. No wonder his music is So Inspirational – he’s also a trained Therapist who uses Music Therapy to help traumatized women. Cool Guy. Inspirational life & inspirational music – not just for Earth Day but every day as a reflective tonic for the soul.
Thank you, John Adorney, for the gift of your music that has brought fragrant roses of spirit into the rubble of challenging days.
grace, peace & inspirational music (…about TREES!)
Virginia : )
On Earth Day we celebrate our planet – Earth – our natural resources, the Creator’s Heavenly paintbrush so busy building beauty all around us, and yes, The Trees..
I have never exactly hugged a tree, but i really REALLY like trees of all shapes & sizes. Hugging a Tree sounds like a Good Idea (i am ironically allergic to trees, so it has to be a Careful Hug : )
Back to The Earth… for all you faith-filled folks out there, we have this gift (our planet) from God, our Creator, Who made a big gamble putting us In Charge as stewards.
In some places we have been good stewards in conservation of Amazing Natural Resources (the Grand Canyon, Muir Woods, Yellowstone, Appalachia…) but in other places we have failed … miserably.
Pollution fills our rivers & our skies. Greed has leveled Beauty (strip mining, strip malls – ok, so I shop in these same malls, but do we really need so many?) Water sources have dried up…
Then there’s Global Warming. yeah, yeah – lots of hoopla on that one, but for real Something Must Be Done as our planet sickens from holes in the atmosphere.
…. and TREES ARE DYING.
Back to the Faith- related (it is Sunday, afterall!) .. Many Commercially Minded Faith-filled folks look askance at leftie Tree Huggers & point to Progress & Jobs to justify the desecration of our Planet. Although daily livelihood IS important, we ARE stewards with Responsibilities to look after Creation’s resources surrounding us.
Look around… can you not Be Moved by our Creator’s handiwork? Trees so magnificent, seas so blue, hills so high, grass so green, flowers so SO beauteous in shades unseen…
Yes, I am thankful to God on this Earth Day for our planet & challenged to Do More to conserve responsibly.
Let’s be about it, people. Our planet needs Our Help.
Think Green. Go Green. BE GREEN!
grace, peace & Tree Huggers (United for Change)
Virginia : )
p.s. if you’re looking for a good movie on this Earth Day evening, a few years ago my brother dragged me to see the remake of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” – a Truly Terrible movie but appropriate for today. (I got him back with the epic long flick “Australia” …)
Avatar is probably a better pick – when it came out we saw it on New Year’s Eve, which somehow seemed an appropriate way to launch into the New Year. A truly Beautiful Film… & beautiful experience of … well, beautiful creation-ish entities. Ok, so it’s on another planet, but make the connection & look around our planet Earth to see our Heavenly Creator’s paintbrushes busy in the natural beauty around us, beneath us (ever been scuba diving around coral reefs?) & above us…
Happy Earth Day everyone!!!
