In Search of the Human Spirit

In America, we take things like public libraries for granted. Don’t have enough money to buy a book? Get out your library card and borrow one from your nearest library.

In many parts of the world, their are no local public libraries. People may never see books because they can’t afford one and there’s nowhere nearby to borrow one from. The Camel Book Drive hopes to bring books to parts of Kenya where they are not readily available.

The project was started by authors who wanted to fill the void. The project is now open to anyone who wants to donate. Books can be chosen from a list at Amazon.com. They accept books in English and Swahili. When they arrive and are sorted, they then are loaded onto camel mobile library and taken to whatever area is served.

A few thousand books have been donated since the project began. Every book sent is a gift. You can learn more about the project from theCamel Book Drive blog.

You’ve got a tree in your yard. It bears fruit. You eat as much as you can and then you get to the point where you hope you never have to eat anymore. What a waste!

That’s what Natasha Boissier thought as she walked her neighborhood. She saw front yard littered with splattered fruit. Perfectly good fruit that folks were tired of. Fruit that rotted on limbs because no one picked it.

Bossier formed North Berkeley Harvest to solve the problem. Her group picks all that unwanted fruit. Then they donate it to homesless shelters, food banks, after school programs, and so forth. She has an agreement with the Chez Panisse Foundation, so some of the fruit ends up in school lunch programs.

A couple of weeks ago, Bossier set out with some volunteers. In just a couple of hours they collected about 150 pounds of fruit.

The group works mainly in the Oakland, Berkeley, and Contra Costa County. They provide a service to homeowners who don’t have the time or inclinations to pick fruit, they keep the sidewalks clean of the unwanted messes, and they feed the poor. Just a couple of days a month but awhole lot of good gets done.

Did you know that St. Patrick’s Day fell on the 15th this year? The Catholic Church determines when this holy day falls. Because Easter is early this year, Holy Week and St. Patrick’s Day have collided. Holy Monday happens to be March 17th this year. Such festivities as St. Patrick’s Day are not allowed during Holy Week, so the day was moved back.

Some cities observed the holiday on Saturday. But, I’m taking no chances. I don’t want to get pinched, so I wore green both days

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Don’t forget to wear your green!

Climate change is a big issue these days. You may feel powerless to affect change. Project BudBurst wants to get you involved.

The national program is designed to get backyard gardeners in on collection research about native plants. The object is to have members nationwide who will record information about the trees and flowering plants in their region. The information collected will be used to note how changes in climate are affecting local environments.

The project was started in 2007. Information collected was entered into a database. Now they are ready for year two. Do you want to join the Project BudBurst community?

Here’s the link for more information: Project BudBurst

This is really incredible! A pregnant woman gave birth prematurely in a bathroom on a train in India. Indian trains toilets empty directly on the tracks and the baby went right through the toilet and out onto the tracks! The mother passed out after delivery. When she recovered, she informed family who were also on the train what happened. Two hours later, the baby girl was found on the tracks and just fine.

Here’s the story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080228/od_nm/india_toilet_dc;_ylt=Avxx50DioK0OQ3rRd.Awczus0NUE