Lisa Speaks Out: Make a Difference, Helping women, children, mothers in need around the world aid projects,

In her own words...

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 10:56:00 -0400

My name is Selinah Amagove Sambuli

I was born on the 9^{th .}November 1991 in Nairobi, Kenya.

However, my parents come from a place called Jeptoroli Village, Gisambai sub location, Hamisi District in Western Kenya.

We are of mixed tribe, my grandfather is of the Kalenjin tribe but my grandmother a Luhya. We cannot speak the two languages of our parents because we were born and raised in Nairobi. My 4 siblings and I communicate in Kiswahili and English.

I went to Maasai Girls High school for my first year, we call that here form one. In Nairobi we do not usually live at home when we attend high school. Here I was often sick because of contaminated borehole water so my parents decided to transfer me to Lockwood Girls High School in Nakuru. I studied at Lockwood for 3 years and did my first exam in the year 2009. I sat for my final set of exams last year and attained the following grades;

English B, Kiswahili B-, Christian Religious Education C+, Geography C, Physics D+, Chemistry D+, Biology C, Maths D and this brought a mean grade of C.

Because of my success with grades and my contribution to school life I was accepted at Uganda Christian University http://www.ucu.ac.ug/ in the batchelor of mass communications program. I want to be a journalist. There are many reasons why I have chosen this course and this university. [More]

The Power of One

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:51:00 -0400

I understand religion or at least organized religion as a means to help us ‘explain’ things. It gives us strength when things are tough, hope when we seem powerless and calm when we are most afraid. Religion has a place in most people’s lives. Yet in the end if we do not believe that we can make a difference, if our vote counts, if our words have meaning, then we are in very real danger for doing nothing. We would forget the power of one in addition to the power of many.

As with the case of religion, I do not necessarily need the structure and formality of educational institutions which, it might be argued, sometimes encourage us to question less as opposed to the converse. Rather I believe in teaching the next generation to think. To really think is to examine multiple worldviews, why they are created and what meaning they give to ourselves, our society and our planet. Putting it all together represents real thought. [More]

On regret...

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:51:00 -0400

“If only I could live my life again and do the right thing this time. To my shame, I heeded the advice of my companions to do nothing. They said that no hospital or refuge would accept the child, who obviously had been abandoned by his mother to join the army of street children in the city. I stepped around him and continued on my way.”

(James Bartleman remarking on a 1968 encounter on the streets of Bogata, Colombia in Out of Muskoka, 2002)

A couple of nights ago I was visiting a friend and, unable to sleep, read Mr. Bartleman’s moving memoir. Because I had recently had conversations around motivation in charity work and taking care of others, one paragraph stuck. In the morning I pulled the book back off the shelf, rifled through and copied down the words quoted above. I considered more deeply the concepts of, among others, right/wrong, good/bad, goals, vision and sacrifice. [More]

New Website for Cheryl's

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:37:00 -0400

A new website for Cheryl's Children's Home and Learning Centre is slowly coming along. Comments/suggestions would be appreciated in order to supply information that people will most be interested in. Many thanks. lisa

Cheryl's Update

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:16:00 -0400

Silent for while, I know. But silence is ok when there is not a lot to say.

I am working on a website for Cheryls as their’s has been lost…ideas abound in Kenya but technology and credible webhosting companies do not. It is just easier to do in Canada...most things are easier. Hopefully I will have a ‘new and improved’ website up and running for them in the very near future.

With the help of kindred spirits there is a connection in the works…letter writing between students of an area school in Brockville, Ontario and those at Cheryl’s learning centre. This is in keeping with the ethos ( I say not mission) of this website. It is to open new doors for women, kindred men and children, to open up spaces for them to think in different ways and to be able to write these thoughts and share them with others who might ‘seem’ to be so different…

Guest Blogger - Welcome to Canada?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:03:00 -0400

I was sent this from a friend who was disturbed by the words used and sentiments conveyed by the Government of Canada that serve to perpetuate our tendency to ‘other.’ This tendency to be unable/unwilling to view the world through the lens of another happens with all groups of people so it is incumbent upon leadership in all societies, those with the power to make a difference, to have courage and move away from the prejudice and the marginalization that we so easily embrace to ‘protect’ ourselves. To Kill a Mockingbird is #13 on the Martel inspired Prime Minister’s reading list. Perhaps a few minutes a day could be set aside during question period for some quiet reading so that our leadership might reflect upon that which is already known.

Welcome to Canada? By Margaret Opazo-Baer

I read with dismay your editorial (Friday, November 13, The Ottawa Citizen) praising the Conservatives’ new Citizenship Guide. In particular, you lauded the reference to a multiculturalism that rejects “barbaric cultural practices such as honour killing” and other forms of violence against women. Such a statement implies that immigrants are in some special way responsible for such violence.

Statistics consistently and clearly show that there is no difference in the rates of family violence between people born in Canada and immigrants, or between rich and poor. [More]

Health - Creating a Concept

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:56:00 -0400

Somewhere on this website I must have mentioned that I am in the business of health – or that I ‘care’ both in an active and passive sense. I ‘care’ that people have equitable and equal access to health care, I ‘care’ that people consider what health means to them and I ‘care’ that they are motivated to lobby for and demand of their society that which is necessary to live full lives. I am also compelled to care. To give care. It is not just my job, it is my privilege. Yet deciding what ‘health’ means is a difficult task. In keeping with the philosophy of this website, I don’t actually have to decide. I choose to create it. Health is not a science which when performed right can be achieved but rather a way of going through the world – of learning, of becoming and always becoming something new. [More]

We don't always know the other side...

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:59:00 -0400

Pornography of the Virtual

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:05:00 -0400

Last evening my daughter asked me a question taken from the book she had on her lap. “Is it the road that chooses us or do we choose the road?” I answered that I suppose it is neither…or both. But in the end a road cannot really choose. We are responsible for our public highways.

Uhmmm…. So what am I ‘doing’ or ‘thinking’ now...

I, like so many others, have been lured by the excitement, the immediacy, the ‘comfort’ that comes with email, text messaging and social networking. I have meaning because someone is there to confirm at any moment that I am and I do. And I am part of a community. I might get a brief comment, a thumbs up for my thoughts or simply be ignored; acknowledgements easily made in front of a screen, with no real commitment, little thought and no active engagement. It is, I suppose, a social network but without giving of ourselves, can we really claim to be social beings? Or are we becoming virtual, a generation of ‘almosts.’ [More]

Education ? Not Just Books

Fri, 29 May 2009 08:51:00 -0400

This week I have been helping out Cheryl’s Children’s Home with a proposal to build a high school. This high school will be their home, so delivering formal education for these kids is something different. Based on the notion that education is not just what we get at school but all that is offered to us and modeled for us, this high school is to be set in a village atmosphere. For the orphaned and abandoned of Nairobi to grow up knowing that they are part of something that is good, something vibrant and a place where they can have hope, they need a family and a community. It is hoped that Cheryl's Village will be that.

Karibu Sana to the Nairobi Chapel

Fri, 29 May 2009 08:39:00 -0400

Last Sunday I went to church…the Nairobi Chapel. I went early and got a seat near the door, always ready for a quick escape if necessary. This was not the sort of church that I have been exposed to in the past as this ‘chapel’ was in fact a huge tent which housed well over 3000 plastic chairs all neatly lined up and filled to capacity with local people dressed and polished in their Sunday best. A hip band encouraged those congregated to sing loud and to dance. People were encouraged to move about, greet their neighbours and praise their God in any way that their body told them to. No formal prayers, no ritual services…just an experience of selfhood, community and oneness with something greater than oneself. [More]

What Really Divides Us?

Fri, 29 May 2009 08:32:00 -0400

During the last couple of days I have heard much about tribes in Kenya…about who is on whose side and who will win out in the end. Today I spoke with a friend from the west who reminded me that as I travel through ‘foreign’ lands and cultures I must never forget who I am and where I come from; my identity I assume. Of course there is no danger in that as if I forget, someone will soon remind me. But I wonder ‘Why?’ Why should anyone remember where he or she comes from when it seems the purpose is more to divide us than to keep us together? Surely I know where I was born and the cultural milieu in which I was raised but does that limit me to a certain way of knowing? Am I then bound by what I am ‘allowed’ to know? Do I impose that limitation on others around the planet? [More]

More on Love ? but not from an expert

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:54:00 -0400

Playing for Change - One Love

Yesterday I spoke with a friend of mine of over 40 years and this morning as I reread my last blog I realized that on an individual level, I am privileged to have many ‘great’ (but many unknown, unpublished and possessing no travel budget) women in my life and this is perhaps why I felt so deeply when Gaby indicated that there was something lacking in our global aid efforts and great ‘help’ organizations. Gaby called it love. [More]

Ça manque d?amour

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:27:00 -0400

There are people all over the world who change it not because they try to but because they simply do what they know needs to be done. They may have a plan but the theories come later.

Not long ago I met Gaby, an energetic, fearless, keenly aware woman possessing an indefatigable spirit. As she recounted stories of war, of children and of hope she looked in to me with clear, intense eyes. And as she has undoubtedly touched so many others in her 86 years she left her indelible mark. When pressed for an opinion on the G20 summit, globalization and the era of mass communication Gaby paused then said simply, ‘Ça manque d’amour.’ [More]

Madonna, Adoption and Opinion

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:26:00 -0400

A couple of days ago I read a BBC article about Madonna and her wish to adopt a child from Malawi which quoted Dominic Nutt of ‘Save the Children.’ According to Mr. Nutt, "Children should not be taken abroad to be looked after, but should be cared for in their own environment by their own community, ideally by their own family, particularly their extended family." He maintains that it is better to help the community take care of itself. While there might be no greater advocate for care by the community (as opposed to in the community) I question if he has the authority to make such claims. Is not any child better off where it is loved and nurtured, fed and given education? Does extended family automatically love its children and if not, can we force it to? What if circumstances are such that the community does not have the capacity or chooses not to care for the child? What is wrong if we provide only one with something different? Isn’t that the whole point of adoption?? If we as adults continue to divide our children based on where they were born or the colour of their skin, then we continue to doom societies to the failures of the past; societies where some cultures, some colours, some genders are more privileged than others. The statement that it is wrong to give one child a different life and not a million others would only be credible if Mr. Nutt banned adoption period…there will always be a needy child left behind. [More]