A quote from Nelson Mandela

A quote that has been on my mind this week:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we consciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Invisible children update

Just watched a moving 30 minute movie which is a follow up of the invisible children movie released a few years ago. It follows the efforts of people and leaders all over, trying to free thousands of child soldiers in Uganda. Its a genuine project that is gaining momentum and hearts around the world. Click below to watch the movie and follow it:

This is worth a mention

“It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger.” -Bono

Where are the 1st worlds' priorities these days? I know this quote may sound simplistic and the Wall Street bailout will also help thousands of families from losing a bunch of money but it still rings true...

medals for the kiwis

I must say I got a bit of a suprise this morning when I looked at the medals per capita table in the NZ Herald. NZ is ranked 2nd behind Slovenia! Now, I'm guessing Slovenia is one of those countries to rake them in with some tiny gymnast girls that look half their age but thats still impressive for Slovenia. We have 9 medals all up at this stage and a few more prospectives...

I will be watching the last days of the Olympics from the living room of my parents in the Netherlands. Be expecting plenty photos of my travels to follow here.

Peace out.

Dictator Hunter

I went out tonight with a friend and watched a couple of Human Rights Festival Films. As a pleasant surprise following the films there was a panel discussion with an Auckland Uni lecturer in Human Rights and a promiment engineer originally from Mali. The film was amateur in terms of the camera work and narrative but the story itself (in doco style) is intriguing... about a man committed to bringing justice to the former Chad dictator: Hissène Habré. This guy was responsible for the torturing and death of thousands of his own people and has been living in a removed paradise amongst his riches in Senegal. As a result of the main characters efforts this dictator is to be tried and hopefully, despite all the political obstacles an example will be made of him so that other sick dictators get the message! Click here to see the Dictator Hunter synopsis and book tickets. Unfortunately there's no trailer to preview.

I have huge respect for a man such as this lawyer, who can give so many years of his life to bring about justice and to fight for those who only have quiet voices in the international scheme of things.

Stop Cluster BOMBS

There's not a whole lot more to say than stop them! They indiscriminately destroy the lives of civilians and should be banned everywhere for ever. There's a good NZ site with a bit of education about their use and the NZ cluster munitions coalition. Click here to have a look.

Pancakes

It's morning. I've just cooked myself some of my best pancakes yet, I put cinnamon in the mixture as my special ingredient... adds a bit of spice. sorry i had to :o

As part of my morning routine I've been catching up on the world news on http://news.bbc.co.uk/. I'm disheartened to read about the Zimbabwe protest that got ugly, the opposition leader has been beaten up by the national police, what a champion. He came out saying

"For the struggle, I think it's an inspiration to everyone. There is no freedom without struggle, and there is no freedom without sacrifice"

What an insane time we live in, some countries seem to have gained enormous rights for their citizens and others are still living in a time of political and humanitarian oppression. I'm going to keep my eye on Zimbabwe and see how this develops. I hope and pray that their freedom will be won.
Back to my coffee. I'm drinking gotta love it