Om

Calming my mind at Yoga Source a few times a week pre-Africa...

Fill your bowl to the brim, and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife, and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security, and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people's approval, and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step back... the only path to serenity.
- Lao-Tzu

Thursday Inspiration...

32 days pre-departure, I found myself walking through my neighbourhood with my mp3 player listening to Pimsleur's Swahili 1... repeating the phrases to myself aloud, giving the landscaping teams good reason to think I'm completely crazy. I find it hilarious that the first phrases they teach you are "I don't understand Swahili" (Sifahamu kiswahili) and "Do you speak English?" (Unasema kiingereza?). Not necessarily the most encouraging sequence of vocabulary lessons, but I can imagine I'll be grateful for those default phrases once I arrive on the ground in Tanzania and realize I'm wildly unprepared and desperate for someone who can give me directions/advice in English!

On my way home, I stopped by my Opa & Oma's house to visit & show off my skills and the conversation turned to my Oma's trip to Malawi in the 1990s to visit my aunt and uncle, who were living there at the time. She started telling me a story about how the three of them travelled out to a relatively remote village where my aunt & uncle's housekeeper was from... night was falling quickly and the road wasn't very clear, so the housekeeper and my aunt went back to escort my uncle into the village (he had sprained his ankle and was on crutches), leaving my Oma in the village alone for about an hour. She recalls that the villagers had told them that this was only the second time that anyone remembered Caucasian people visiting their community. Soon enough, she found herself sitting in a chair with a large group of children sitting at her feet and adults close by.

"They were all just looking at me," she said... "I thought to myself, now what am I going to do?".

"So," she said, "I just started speaking to them in English. Look at the moon! THE MOON! MOON! Now, chitongo? (referring to their ethnic group, hoping they'd tell her their word for moon) ... but they didn't really get it. So, I started singing to them:

"Le soleil a rendez-vous avec la lune,
Mais la lune n'est pas là et le soleil l'attend
Ici-bas souvent chacun pour sa chacune
Chacun doit en faire autant
La lune est là, la lune est là
La lune est là, mais le soleil ne la voit pas... now, chitongo!"

My aunt and uncle arrived at the village to find all of the villagers in song with my little dutch Oma sitting on a chair in the middle of the crowd. That's the kind of Africa I want to experience... here's hoping I have some of the same strength and ingenuity of my amazing family.

Convocation Trip to UWO

Last Thursday and Friday I found myself back on the Western campus for my convocation ceremony. It's incredible how quickly I've realized how much I'll miss UWO... four of the very best years of my life! Great to see everyone and spend a night celebrating the end of one life chapter and the beginning of many new ones. Luckily, I was able to organize my trip back to London to include multiple meetings with Dr. Reid (my trip supervisor), Jon, Alison and Ruben (the Dutch medical student who will be living with us in Mwanza, who was coincidentally in North America for the week), and a stop by the travel agency to confirm flight bookings.

As of Tuesday, our flight will be official... departing August 6th from Toronto, travelling to Mwanza via London (Heathrow) and Nairobi, arriving in Tanzania on August 8th. Time for an official countdown to begin (51 days...)!

Meaghan, Ruben & Alison!

Tanzania On Tap

This past Saturday, I hosted "Tanzania On Tap" at The Wheat King Bar & Grill in Newmarket with the help of a dedicated group of friends & family. The evening was a great success... the venue worked out perfectly, the band (The Rileys) received rave reviews, and raffle winners went home with a big haul of prizes. The event raised approximately $2200 for the project, which was above and beyond my expectations... thank you SO MUCH to everyone who assisted.

Committee girls! Caitlin, me, Krystal and Steph... missing Kathy and Sarah!

The Rileys and our emcee, Nick!

Adam and Justin working the raffle table

Alison and I! ... almost time for Africa!

Cait, Steph, Al, me, Brent, Chas, Jay and Mandy

One World, One People, One IBM - Diversity Gala 2007

When my father mentioned casually over dinner that Stephen Lewis was the keynote speaker at the 2007 IBM Diversity Gala, he probably didn't anticipate that I'd respond with such fervor. As I explained to many people tonight, Stephen Lewis is my rock star... and I've certainly established myself as a devoted groupie (if politico-humanitarians can have groupies).

The gala's theme "One World, One People, One IBM" was touched on by the senior IBMers who spoke to kick off the evening's festivities, celebrating the pervasive diversity exhibited by the company and the open-door policy of our nation. Throughout the evening, the 800 guests were entertained by Arabesque, African, and Brazilian dance troupes, a performance by Sofonda (a drag queen with an entourage of backup dancers), and various musicians.

The African Dance Ensemble (ADE).

"Sofonda" and her backup dancers on screen.

The Rio Samba Divas.

Early in the evening my dad and I decided to be aggressive and go shmooze with the speakers (most of whom are close colleagues of his) at the head table... "coincidentally" we ended up talking to Mr. Lewis and his companion for the evening, Aissatou Diajhate, who works with the Stephen Lewis Foundation and promises to provide me with a number of NGO contacts in Tanzania. I have already met Mr. Lewis in person once before, but during my first meeting I was determined to be "classy" and not ask for a picture to be taken. Now that I had been given a second opportunity to speak with him, I decided to throw class out the window and asked him for a photo - he informed me that he had come out to the event specifically to "take a picture with Meaghan".... obviously, I should have known (just kidding)! ... we spoke at length about the project and my plans for my time in Africa, and he informed my dad that as a father, he should be reassured that Tanzania is one of the safest and most stable African countries to live in. Thank goodness for Stephen Lewis, always knowing exactly what to say! He further explained that Julius Nyerere (who was the country's prime minister from 1961 to 1985) celebrated the unification of citizens as "Tanzanians", creating an environment where different ethnicities were brought together as a collective group working towards the bettering of their nation. I find it interesting and encouraging that this policy parallels Canada's views on immigration and diversity so closely. I appreciated the opportunity to let Mr. Lewis know (again, and again) what an inspiration he has been to me. His speech, as usual, was fantastic - by far the most eloquent man I have ever met - and I was glad that my family and Adam were able to hear him speak & get a little perspective on what is motivating me to travel to Africa!

SL speaking... I decided not to pull a paparazzi move and settled for a pic of the screen.

Overall a great evening - so good to catch up with some of my favourite IBMers & spend some quality time with some of my favourite men (& my mom)!

The Horgan siblings

Adam & I.

Coming Soon: Tanzania On Tap

On Saturday, June 9th, Western Heads East and The Wheat King Bar and Grill are presenting "Tanzania On Tap", an evening benefit supporting the fight against the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. Tickets are being sold for $10, and all funds raised will go directly to support the Western Heads East project on the ground in Tanzania.

I'm so looking forward to this event... it's going to be a fun summer celebration for a great cause! The Rileys are headlining the entertainment for the evening with their unique style of acoustic-funk-rock -- check out their material on their MySpace page. The evening will also feature a huge raffle for various items from local organizations.

Tickets are selling fast and the venue has limited capacity, so please contact me via Facebook/email if you want to reserve a spot on the guest list! Looking forward to seeing you out on the 9th!

The Summer Begins: A Recap of the Year and Future Plans

It's finally summer! After what has been a whirlwind of a year, I'm able to look back on my progress (with a degree in hand!) and look forward to new challenges and opportunities.

To recap: ... last April I applied to travel as a volunteer intern with Western Heads East (WHE). WHE was established in 2004 as a collaborative effort between several different UWO staff/faculty groups after Bob Gough (Director of Housing) was inspired by a lecture presented by Stephen Lewis, who spoke to Western staff about the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. WHE's mission statement (To engage in a community response by mounting a campus-wide educational and fundraising campaign to send delegates to directly assist with the African HIV/AIDS crisis and to provide a sustainable learning and research opportunity) highlights its focus on sending people, not money, to a community in need in order to establish a sustainable project that helps those afflicted with the disease.

WHE sends student interns to Mwanza, Tanzania, to help manage a probiotic yogurt production initiative. Probiotics, as defined by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), are "live microorganisms administered in adequate amounts which confer a beneficial health effect on the host." The probiotic yogurt is produced and distributed by a group of local women in Mwanza (the "yogurt mamas") and it is believed to have a wide range of health benefits, including improving the immune system, preventing mother-to-child transmission of the HIV virus, and reducing disease-related symptoms.

In April 2006, I was accepted to travel as a WHE volunteer intern from the beginning of August (2007) until Christmastime of this year. This past year has been full of preparations and fundraising as I got my head wrapped around travelling to Tanzania. I served as the Fundraising Coordinator for the WHE Campus Fundraising & Awareness Committee - very lucky to be able to work with such a passionate and motivated group of individuals. By the end of the year, we fundraised a total of approximately $10,000 through various events:

A rave card from our fall "Support A Cow" campaign.

The campaign kickoff on the Concrete Beach! (above and below)

Yoga for Yogurt - a benefit event held during the Support a Cow campaign at the Moksha Yoga studio in London. In response to the success achieved by the first event, Yoga for Yogurt II was held in March.

Manning the WHE booth at the World AIDS Day Vigil in the UCC on December 1st (above).

Manning the WHE booth during our screening of "RENT" at The Spoke (below).

WHE's first charity pub night was held in March 2007 at the Barking Frog... a wonderful evening of support and celebration!

This year has also provided me and the rest of the WHE team with a number of opportunities to network with foreign scientists and dignitaries who are interested in or are involved with the project. From working lunches with scientists from Danone France, cocktail parties thrown by local London fundraisers/activists, awards luncheons (celebrating WHE being awarded the Scotiabank-AUCC Award of Excellence in Internationalization) attended by the Tanzanian High Commissioner Ombeni Sefure, a follow up visit to Western by the Mayor of Mwanza and other Tanzanian government officials, to my personal "high point" of the year - meeting Mr. Stephen Lewis in person before hearing him speak at the Under An African Sky: Songs of Hope and Heroes benefit event at the JLC... my involvement with WHE has opened doors to countless opportunities for learning from others and personal development, and I am confident that this trend will continue during my time overseas.

A working lunch with Danone France scientists in the fall of 2006.

On World AIDS Day, Western hosted the Mayor of Mwanza and several Tanzanian dignitaries to discuss the project.

Some of the WHE team at the kickoff party for "Under an African Sky" in November 2006.

The summer interns and I learning to make probiotic yogurt in Dr. Hekmat's nutrition lab at Brescia.

In April of this year, WHE welcomed a second student intern who will be my travel partner for the fall timslot. Alison Chen is a phenomenally motivated and positive individual who I have been lucky enough to be good friends with during my time at Western - I can't wait to experience this international adventure with her!

Now that the summer months are upon us, I will be shifting into high gear to prepare for our departure in early August. With vaccinations/passport/visa details either taken care of or in the works, I'm working hard on fundraising the remaining portion of the $8000 that I will need for my 5 month stay in Africa. On June 9th, I will be hosting "Tanzania On Tap", a benefit event at The Wheat King Bar and Grill in Newmarket, Ontario. The event will feature live entertainment (courtesy of The Rileys), raffles and an opportunity to support a great cause! Tickets are being pre-sold for $10, please contact me to reserve a spot on the guest list.

If you can't make it to the event but still want to contribute to the cause, please consider submitting an online donation through Western's secure "Giving" website. WHE can be selected as the recipient of donations by choosing "Special Groups: HFS - Western Heads East" on the donation form. Thanks in advance for your support!

PS - 'blogging' is a new experience for me... and the perfectionist in me is hating that I can't get my head around proper formatting... hopefully I'll learn fast!!