Two Big Boosts for Berga!

Wow! We just got TWO big boosts for Berga!

The first one was in the mail when I came home from a trip to the United Nations in New York. A small envelope held a big surprise. It was a check for $100 for the Berga project from two close friends of my parents. Mom and Dad had gotten to talking with them about my losing weight to raise money for the needy community in the Berga wetlands of Ethiopia. They showed them this Losing Pounds for Berga website and it prompted them to send a check AND pledge $2 per pound for weight lost beyond the 21 pounds I had already lost at that time.

One line in their hand-written note struck a chord. “This is just the kind of thing we like to support – people helping people without a lot of hullabaloo and hierarchy.” They definitely took the right message from the website. That is definitely my approach!

And here is a preview of the second big boost for Berga that shows even modest efforts can make a big difference. I got an email this week from Geremew Selassie, the head of the Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society. He sent photos of the community receiving the boxes of school supplies and the 66 sheets of corrugated steel the community decided to buy with the money we raised before starting this weight loss effort. The photos showing the progression of the new classrooms being built is moving. It is deeply satisfying to see the resources we gave turn into something so practical for people in such need. Stay tuned for the next post!

Lawnmowers, Funnel Cakes, and Ferris Wheels

It was Labor Day weekend here in the United States and in my current home town, Greenbelt, this holiday is a big deal. Taking inspiration from FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt, the town was built with little machinery as a works project in the 1930s. It has a strong workers, left-leaning ethic in town of cooperatives. We don’t quite sing the International (I’ve done that in Norway actually on May Day), but something just short of it.

Part of celebrating Labor Day in Greenbelt is the annual four day festival, the 54^th annual this year. Rides, games, entertainment and all sorts of local community groups with stalls selling used books (my daughters’ elementary school), t-shirts (my son’s nursery school), and especially food. None of the food is good for you. None. Period. But boy do those Democratic Party funnel cakes taste great with powdered sugar.

We were down at the festival each day (it is only two blocks from the house) to volunteer and to play. The ferris wheel offers an incomparable view of our wooded neighborhood. Couple that with a skewers party we held at our house for friends and co-workers and it adds up to a rough week for dieting. So the needle hasn’t moved much or if so, slightly in the wrong direction. So I have not adjusted the pounds total this week.

Finally, the title of this post includes lawnmowers. Old fashioned reel lawnmowers to be exact. It has nothing to do with Berga or my weight loss efforts, but I witnessed a brilliant Labor Day parade show that could ONLY occur in Old Greenbelt. The Greenbelt Reel Lawnmower Society Precision Drill Team performed and was captured on video in what is what they call an instant classic. I wanted to share it here.